Brett K. Sandercock

Courses

• BIOL 201  Organismic Biology (5-credits, every Fall).
• BIOL 543  Ornithology (3-credits, every Spring).
• BIOL 823  Demographic Methods (3-credits, Fall of even years).

Research Focus

My research interests are in population biology, primarily the behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology of terrestrial vertebrates.  My interests in behavioral ecology have included studies of sexual selection, mating systems, and parental care in shorebirds and grouse.  In evolutionary ecology, I have published on life history evolution in birds, and the demography of animals and plants.  I have expertise in quantitative ecology and am interested in estimation of demographic parameters with mark-recapture methods, and modeling population dynamics with projection matrices.  I have used a mixture of manipulative experiments and observational approaches as part of field studies of marked individuals in wild populations.  My study species have often been selected as model study systems for organisms where management and conservation issues are relevant.

Selected Research Publications

• Casey, A.E., K.L. Jones, B.K. Sandercock, and S.M. Wisely.  2008.  Heteroduplex molecules cause sexing errors in a standard molecular protocol for avian sexing.  Molecular Ecology Resources, in press.
• Dalgleish, H.J., D.C. Hartnett, B.K. Sandercock, and A.R. Kula. 2008. Responses of two bunchgrasses to nitrogen addition in tallgrass prairie: the role of bud bank demography. American Journal of Botany, in press.
• Kosciuch, K.L., J.W. Rivers, and B.K. Sandercock. 2008. Stable isotopes identify the natal origins of a generalist brood parasite. Journal of Avian Biology, in press.
• Kosciuch, K.L., and B.K. Sandercock.  2008. Experimental removal of Brown-headed Cowbirds increases productivity of the parasite and their songbird host. Ecological Applications 18:537-548.
• Sandercock, B.K., W.E. Jensen, C.K. Williams and R.D. Applegate. 2008. Demographic sensitivity of population change in the Northern Bobwhite: a life-stage simulation analysis. Journal of Wildlife Management 72:970-982.
• Strum, K.M., M. Alfaro, B. Haase, M.J. Hooper, K.A. Johnson, R.B. Lanctot, A.J. Lesterhuis, L. López, A.C. Matz, C. Morales, B. Paulson, B.K. Sandercock, J. Torres-Dowdall and M.E. Zaccagnini.  2008. Plasma cholinesterases for monitoring pesticide exposure in Nearctic-Neotropical migratory shorebirds. Ornithología Neotropical 19 (Suppl.):641-651.
• Hagen, C.A., J.C. Pitman, B.K. Sandercock, R.J. Robel and R.D. Applegate. 2007. Age-specific survival and probable causes of mortality in female Lesser Prairie-chickens.  Journal of Wildlife Management 71: 518-525.
• Mong, T.W., and B.K. Sandercock. 2007. Optimizing radio retention and minimizing radio impacts in a field study of Upland Sandpipers.  Journal of Wildlife Management 71:971-980.
• Reed, A.W., G.A. Kaufman, and B.K. Sandercock. 2007. Demographic response of a grassland rodent to environmental variability. Journal of Mammalogy 88:982-988.
• Sandercock, B.K.  2006. Estimation of demographic parameters from live encounter data: a summary review. Journal of Wildlife Management 70:1504-1520. 
• Kosciuch, K.L., T.H. Parker and B.K. Sandercock. 2006. Nest desertion by a cowbird host: an anti-parasite behavior or a response to egg loss?   Behavioral Ecology 17:917-924.
• Sandercock, B.K., K. Martin and S.J. Hannon. 2005a. Demographic consequences of age-structure in extreme environments: population models for arctic and alpine ptarmigan. Oecologia 146: 13-24.
• Sandercock, B.K., K. Martin and S.J. Hannon. 2005b. Life history strategies in extreme environments: comparative demography of arctic and alpine ptarmigan. Ecology 86: 2176-2186.
• Sandercock, B.K., T. Székely and A. Kosztolányi. 2005. The effects of age and sex on the apparent survival of Kentish Plovers breeding in southern Turkey. Condor 107: 582-595.
• Sandercock, B.K. and S.R. Beissinger. 2002. Estimating rates of population change for a neotropical parrot with ratio, mark-recapture and matrix methods. Journal of Applied Statistics 29: 589-607. 
• Sandercock, B.K. and A. Jaramillo. 2002. Annual survival rates of wintering sparrows: assessing demographic consequences of migration. Auk 119: 149-165.
• Shefferson, R.P., B.K. Sandercock, J. Proper, and S.R. Beissinger. 2001. Estimating dormancy and survival of a rare herbaceous perennial using mark-recapture models. Ecology 82: 145-156.
• Sandercock, B.K., S.R. Beissinger, S.H. Stoleson, R.R. Melland, and C.R. Hughes. 2000. Survival rates of a neotropical parrot: implications for latitudinal comparisons of avian demography. Ecology 81: 1351-1370.
• Sandercock, B.K. 1997. Incubation capacity and clutch size determination in two calidrine sandpipers: a test of the four-egg threshold. Oecologia 110: 50-59.