Dr Thomas Flower

Tel: +44 (0) 1223 334 430
Fax: +44 (0) 1223 336 676
Email: tpf24 at cam.ac.uk

Position held: NERC-funded PhD student
Supervisor: Nick Davies

Research
 


My research investigates adaptive functions for vocal mimicry in deceptive communication. I am principally interested in the strategies that signallers employ in deceptive communication, and how signallers vary their strategy depending upon the response of receivers. I study a wild population of fork-tailed drongos (Dicruris adsimilis), on the Kuruman River Reserve in the South African Kalahari desert. The Kuruman River Reserve was established by Professor Tim Clutton-Brock to conduct research on meerkats, and is now the base for several behavioural ecology research projects.




 

Fork-tailed drongos commonly associate with mixed species flocks of other species, which readily respond to the honest or ‘true’ alarm calls made by drongos in response to predators. But fork tailed drongos also appear to use dishonest or ‘false’ alarm calls to kleptoparasitise food items from the other species they follow, including meerkats, pied babblers and sociable weavers. The mechanism used by the fork-tailed drongo is simple: it waits until a target individual finds a food item, and then emits a false alarm call. This causes the targeted individual to flee for cover, enabling the drongo to steal the food item. Furthermore, it appears that drongos use mimicked alarm calls of other bird and mammal species in kleptoparasitism.

My PhD therefore investigates the following questions.
  • What is the ecological importance of kleptoparasitism to drongos?
  • Do drongos use deceptive vocal mimicry in kleptoparasitism?
  • Do drongos vary their alarm calling strategy depending upon the response of the species they are following?
  • How do drongos learn to use deceptive vocal mimicry in kleptoparasitism?
Prior to Cambridge

I worked as the field manager of the Kalahari Meerkat Project in South Africa from 2004 to 2007, run by Professor Tim Clutton-Brock (University of Cambridge) and Professor Marta Manser (University of Zurich). Research investigated the ecological causes and evolutionary consequences of cooperative breeding in mammals. Whilst working at the Kalahari Meerkat Project I did a 2 year research masters with the University of Pretoria, investigating competition for food in meerkats.
       
Publications
Tom Flower
 
Research
Publications
 
 
  • Flower, TP. (2011) Fork-tailed drongos use deceptive mimicked alarm calls to steal food. Proc. R. Soc. B 278, 1548–1555.
  • Clutton-Brock, T. H., Hodge, S. J., Flower, T. P. In press. Competition and kinship in cooperative meerkats.
  • Clutton-Brock, T. H., Hodge, S. J., & Flower, T. P. 2008. Group size and the suppression of subordinate reproduction in Kalahari meerkats. Animal Behaviour, 76, 689 – 700.
  • Hodge, S. J., Manica, A., Flower, T. P., & Clutton-Brock, T. H. 2008. Determinants of reproductive success in dominant female meerkats. Journal of Animal Ecology, 77, 92 – 102.
  • Flower, T.P. 2007. Competition for Food in Meerkats (Suricata suricatta). Msc thesis. University of Pretoria.
  • Hodge, S.J., Flower, T.P. & Clutton-Brock, T.H. 2007. Offspring competition and helper associations in cooperative meerkats. Animal Behaviour, 74, 957 – 964.

    Popular Science

  • Interview for BBC radio four program ‘Natural Despots’ in 2006.
  • Interviews for Los Angeles Times, Cape Argus and Animal Planet connected with the TV series Meerkat Manor.

   
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, U. K.