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George Lynn Cross Research Professor of Zoology
Phone: (405)325-2751
RM/Lab:SH301
Fax: (405)325-6202
Current Research Interests and Subject Areas Available for Graduate Research
My general interests are evolutionary and ecological aspects of behavior. I am particularly interested in combining direct behavioral observations with experimental testing of evolutionary hypotheses in the field. This process can be greatly enriched through the use of simple mathematical models. The topics I have focused on in my own work include: (1) siblicide (fatal sibling aggression and enforced starvation) in egrets and herons; (2) parent-offspring conflict; and (3) sexual conflict in relation to parental care and how that affects the evolutionary stability of monogamy in birds.
My current research involves a series of field-experiments on the evolutionary stability of monogamy in house sparrows (in collaboration with Trish Schwagmeyer and others). We have handicapped individual parents (by attaching small lead weights to their tails) to examine how the unburdened partner responds. For other pairs, we have lightened the parental load by providing artificial nutrients directly to the nestlings. Currently, we are manipulating male hormone levels (by inserting time-release hormones into free-living adults) to explore how the normal patterns of fluctuating concentrations influences parental care and extra-pair mating activity.
Graduate students working with me usually design and pursue projects that are unrelated to my own research efforts, but we have also accommodated projects that complement the egret and sparrow programs. Students working with me have studied a broad variety of field and lab problems, including parental breeding strategies in penguins (Tim Lamey and Colleen St. Clair); (b) brood reduction in skuas (Cammie Lamey); (c) nursing competition in grasshopper mice (Jim Moodie); (d) mixed paternity, badge sizes, and effects of nest parasites in house sparrows (Robin Whitekiller); (e) nursery competition and mating system variation in a Peruvian frog (Lynn Haugen); and (f) parental division of labor in house sparrows.
M.S., University of Minnesota
B.S., Cornell University
Margaret Morse Nice Medal (2007), Wilson Ornithological Society
Selected publications:
Schwagmeyer, P.L. and D.W. Mock. 2008. Parental provisioning and offspring fitness: size matters. Animal Behaviour 75:291-298.
Edly-Wright, C., P.L. Schwagmeyer, P.G. Parker, and D.W. Mock. 2007. Genetic similarity of mates, offspring health and extrapair fertilization in house sparrows. Animal Behaviour 73:367-378..
Kopisch, A., P.L. Schwagmeyer, and D.W. Mock. 2005. Individual consistency in parental effort across multiple stages of care in the house sparrow, Passer domesticus. Ethology 111:1062-1070.
Bartlett, T.L., D.W. Mock, and P.L. Schwagmeyer. 2005. Division of labor: Incubation and biparental care in the house sparrow, Passer domesticus. Auk 122:835-842.
Schwagmeyer, P.L., H.G. Schwabl, and D.W. Mock. 2005. Dynamics of biparental care in house sparrows: hormonal manipulations of paternal contributions. Animal Behaviour 69:481-488.
Mock, D.W., P.L. Schwagmeyer, and G.A. Parker. 2005. Male house sparrows deliver more food to experimentally subsidized offspring. Animal Behaviour 70:225-236.
- Mock, D.W. 2004. More than Kin and Less than Kind: The Evolution of Family Strife. Harvard Univ. Press (Belknap).
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