Eleanor Caves

Email: eleanor.caves at gmail.com

Former MPhil student (supervisor: Claire Spottiswoode)

I am an MPhil student (from October 2011) in the Behavioral Ecology Group, where I am working with Claire Spottiswoode. My research interests are broadly on the evolution of signals—be it acoustic or visual—and social behaviors.

The research for my MPhil will focus on the evolution of color and pattern in eggs, using two families heavily parasitized by brood parasites, African Warblers and Weaverbirds, and applying models of avian vision during data analysis. By studying two broad attributes of visual signals color and pattern, I hope to address such questions as: do the eggs of parasitized species have a broader range of egg phenotypes than those of species that do not serve as hosts? Does the relationship between various components of egg appearance differ in parasitized versus non-parasitized species?

Prior to Cambridge In May 2011, I completed my B.A. in Biology at Pomona College in Claremont, California. While there, my thesis research focused on the inter-annual comparisons of the foraging behavior of Cassin’s auklets, and the relationships between foraging, climactic conditions, and reproductive success. I conducted the research for this project on the Farallon Islands, and attached small Time-Depth Recorders to adult breeding auklets to generate detailed dive profiles

Most recently, I spent 12 weeks working at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute working in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Tyack. His lab is currently involved in projects gathering baseline data on the social behaviors of deep-diving cetaceans, with particular emphasis on group cohesion and social communication in free-ranging Long-Finned Pilot Whales. My project focused on analyzing audio recordings of wild Pilot Whales and categorizing their vocalizations. I also participated in three weeks of fieldwork in the Alboran Sea, placing Digital Acoustic Recording Tags on wild Pilot Whales.

		In 2010, I worked for the Ecology of Bird Loss Project in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, on a project comparing seed dispersal on islands with native avifauna (Saipan, Tinian, and Rota) and an island that has lost all of its avifauna to extinction (Guam). My independent project focused on seed dispersal from intact, native forests into areas of degraded secondary forest on Guam and Saipan. I found that, in the absence of birds, seed dispersal has nearly completely ceased. This has major implications for the rate at which native forests will reclaim degraded areas on Guam and Saipan.

Previously, in 2009, I worked as a Seabird Monitoring Intern for PRBO Conservation Science on the Farallon Islands, as part of a long-term monitoring project gathering data on the health of seabird populations in the Gulf of California. While there, my duties included banding of adults and chicks, mist-netting, diet sampling, visual diet surveys, and breeding success surveys. I also assisted with a Northern Elephant Seal monitoring project while there.