Fred Cooke
Fred Cooke
Professor & Senior Chair,
CWS/NSERC Wildlife
Ecology Chair
Department of Biological Sciences
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, British Columbia
Canada V5A 1S6
fcooke@fraser.sfu.ca
Voice: (604
) 291-5610 or (604) 946-8163
FAX: (604)
291-3496
Biographical Sketch
Fred Cooke has been interested in birds from his earliest memories. His
fascination with natural history led him into biology and he completed
both hi
s undergraduate and graduate training at Cambridge University, UK.
His Ph D in fungal genetics was far removed from his present interests of
Avian Ecology. It was his appointment to a faculty position at Queen's
University in Kingston, Ontario as an Assis
tant Professor of Genetics which
allowed him to expand his interests in genetics to include the genetics of
the colour phases of the Lesser Snow Goose, an Arctic nesting bird with
much potential for research into population genetics. This research took
an
increasing part of Fred's overall research activity and led to one of
the most complete long term population studies of a bird species. 25 years
of intensive work has culminated in the recent publication of a major book
on the project, co-authored with R
obert Rockwell (American Museum of
Natural History) and David Lank. In 1985 Fred received a Killam Fellowship. and in 1988 received
the prestigious Brewster Award of the American Ornithologists Union.
Recently Fred left Queen's to
fill the Senior Research Chair of Wildlife
Ecology at Simon Fraser University. Fred is also a member of the Behavioural Ecology
Research Group at SFU.
Research Interests
My research is at
the interface between population ecology and population
genetics. In particular I am concerned with the environmental factors
causing variability in life history traits in birds. Because the work of
the Chair relates to bird species of conservation conce
rn in BC, we have
identified certain key water bird species for particular study. We try to
understand the species throughout its annual cycle and this may lead us to
interesting study sites. We have carried out research from Wrangel Island,
Russia in the
North to Chitre, Panama in the South. Our study species also
include
Harlequin Ducks, Eared Grebes, Marbled Murrelets and Tufted
Puffins. To
date I have 14 post-docs and graduate students working on
various bird
conservation projects on BC birds. It is a n exciting
environment for
research.
Recent Publications
Most of my recent work has
been in collaboration with several graduate
student's post-docs, and
faculty associates. However, there are two
notable books which collate
much of my resea rch over the years.
F Cooke, R.F.Rockwell and
D.B.Lank (1995) The Snow Geese of La Perouse Bay,
Natural Selection in
the Wild.
F.Cooke and P.A.Buckley (1987) Avian Genetics; a
population and ecological
approach.
Associ ated Students &
Post-doctoral Fellows
As Senior Research Chair, I maintain close
links with all of the students
and post-docs in our group. However, I'm
most actively involved in
supervising the following individuals: