Caren B Cooper, Bird Populations Studies, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY 14850 USA
caren.cooper@cornell.edu, @CoopSciScoop

Education

Ph.D., Biology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (2000)
M.S., Zoology & Physiology, University of Wyoming (1993)
B.S., Zoology, North Carolina State University (1988)
National Student Exchange, Humboldt State University (1987)

Employment

Research Associate, Cornell Lab of Ornithology (2001 to present)
Post-doctoral Fellow, Biology, Tufts University (2001)

Grants

2011, USDA, HATCH: Improving Contributions of Local, Nature-based Recreation to Sustainable Environmental Quality of Rural Communities (collaborator-PI)
2007, NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, Partnership in International Research and Education – Golondrinas de las Americas (co-PI)
2005, NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, Informal Science Education – NestWatch (co-PI)
2002, North American Bluebird Society Grant
1998, NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION, Dissertation Improvement Grant
1997, Graduate Research and Development Award of the Graduate Student Assembly, Virginia Tech
1997, Sigma Xi Graduate Student Research Award
1985, Lloyd T. Weeks Endowment Scholarship (Undergraduate)

Professional Activities

Co-editor Special Feature in Ecology & Society, "Eco-social Resilience from Models of Public Participation in Scientific Research"

Senior Fellow in the Environmental Leadership Program (class of 2011), a network of visionary, action-oriented leaders working for a just and sustainable future

Climate Presenter for Climate Reality, trained in 2007 by Al Gore

Reviewer for Animal Behaviour, Auk, Behavioral Ecology, Behaviour, Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology, Biological Conservation, Biology Letters, Condor, Ecology, Ecological Monographs, Ecography, Environmental Management, Ethology, Human Ecology Research, Ibis, J. Animal Ecology, J. Applied Ecology, J. Avian Biology, J. of Biogeography, J. Field Ornithology, Oecologia, Ornis Fennica, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Wildlife Research, Wildlife Society Bulletin, Zoological Studies, ActionBioScience (online)  (also for Sigma Xi proposals and NASA proposals; reviewed Australian dissertation)

Publications in Review/Revision

  • Cooper, C. B., T. B. Phillips, A. A. Dayer, E. Marx, E. Maibach, A. Leiserowitz, and R. Bonney. Why are bird watchers highly engaged in climate change? The importance of connection with nature. Ecology & Society, in revision.
  • Stager, M,  D. R. Ardia, C. B. Cooper, E. Rakhimberdiev, J. Rivers, V. Massoni, J. Pérez-Emán, V. Harriman, D. R. Norris, M. Quiroga, M. Liljesthröm, P. E. Allen, F. A. Pratolongo, D. W. Winkler.  Latitudinal variation in growth rates among nestling Tachycineta swallows. Journal of Avian Biology, in review.
  • Voss, MV and CB Cooper. Incubation Patterns Reflect Temporal Changes in Developing Clutches.  Auk: revised, in review again.
  • Smith, J., R. L. Boulton, C. B. Cooper, D. N. Jones, and S. J. Reynolds. Raising the heat on the thermal ecology of birds: does modern technology help or hinder? Ibis: in revision.

Journal Articles

  • Cooper, C. B. 2012. Links and distinctions among citizenship, science, and Citizen Science. Democracy & Education 21:13.
  • Stager, M., E. Lopresti, F.A. Pratalungo, D. R. Ardia, D. Caceres, C. B. Cooper, E. Iñigo-Elias, J. Molina, N. Taylor, and D. W. Winkler. 2012. Reproductive biology of a narrowly endemic swallow, Tachycineta stolzmanni, in dry, seasonal forest in coastal Peru. Ornithologica Tropica 23:95-112.
  • Bonter, D.N. and C.B. Cooper. 2012 A process for improving data quality and a strategy for ensuring sustainability in a citizen science project.  Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 10:305-307.
  • Cooper, C.B., K. A. Loyd, T. Murrante, M. S. Savoca, and J. Dickinson. 2012. Natural history traits associated with detecting mortality with residential bird communities: can citizen science provide insights? Environmental Management: online first - DOI 10.1007/s00267-012-9866-x.
  • Liljesthrom, M, C. B. Cooper, and J. Reborera. 2012. Clutch investment decreases with time of breeding and female condition in the Chilean Swallow, Tachycineta meyeni. Condor 114:377-384.
  • Dor, R., C. B. Cooper, I. J. Lovette, and D. W. Winkler. 2012. Clock gene variation in Tachycineta Swallows: is there an association with latitude or breeding phenology? Ecology & Evolution 2:95-105.
  • Dor, R, IJ Lovette, RJ Safran, SM Billerman, GH Huber, Y Vortman, A Lotem, A McGowan, MR Evans, CB Cooper, DW Winkler. 2011. Low variation in the polymorphic Clock gene poly-Q region across multiple populations of Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica).  PLoS One 6(12):e28843.
  • Cooper, C. B., M. A. Voss, D. R. Ardia, W. D. Robinson, and S. H. Austin. 2011. Light increases the rate of embryonic development: implications for latitudinal trends in incubation period. Functional Ecology 25:769-776.  doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2011.01847.x
  • Cooper, C. B. 2011. Media Literacy as a Key Strategy toward Improving Public Acceptance of Climate Change Science. BioScience 61: 231-237. doi:10.1525/bio.2011.61.3.8
  • Cooper, C. B. and J. Smith. 2010. Gender patterns in bird-related recreation in the USA and UK. Ecology and Society 15(4):4. [online]URL:http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol15/iss4/art4/.
  • Voss, M. A. and C. B. Cooper. 2010. Using a free on-line Citizen Science project to teach observation and quantification of animal behavior. American Biology Teacher 72:437-443. doi: 10.1525/abt.2010.72.7.9
  • Lambrechts, M. M, F. Adriaensen, D. R. Ardia, A. V. Artemyev, F. Atiénzar, J. Bańbura, E. Barba, J. Bouvier, J. Canorodon, C. B. Cooper, R. D. Dawson, M. Eens, T. Eeva, B. Faivre, L. Z. Garamszegi, A. E. Goodenough, A. G. Gosler, A. Grégoire, S. C. Griffith, L. Gustafsson, L. S. Johnson, W. Kania, O. Keišs, P. E. Llambias, M. C. Mainwaring, R. Mänd, B. Massa, T. D. Mazgajski, A. P. Møller, J. Moreno, B. Naef-Daenzer, J. Nilsson, A. C. Norte, M. Orell, K. A. Otter, C. R. Park, C. M. Perrins, J. Pinowski, J. Porkert, J. Potti, V. Remes, H. Richner, S. Rytkönen, M. Shiao, B. Silverin, T. Slagsvold, H.G. Smith, A. Sorace, M. J. Stenning, I. Stewart, C. F. Thompson, P. Tryjanowski, J. Török, A. J. van Noordwijk, D. W. Winkler, and N. Ziane. 2010. The design of artificial nestboxes for the study of secondary hole-nesting birds: a review of methodological inconsistencies and potential biases. Acta Ornithologica 45:(1-26). DOI 10.3161/000164510X516047
  • Cooper, C. B., M. A. Voss, and B. Zivkovic. 2009. Extended laying interval of ultimate eggs in Eastern Bluebirds. Condor 111:752-755.
  • Bonney, R., C. B. Cooper, J. Dickinson, S. Kelling, T. Phillips, K. Rosenberg, and J. Shirk. 2009. Citizen Science: A new paradigm for increasing science knowledge and scientific literacy. BioScience 59:977-984.
  • Ford, H. A., J. R. Walters, C. B. Cooper, S. J. S. Debus, and V. A. J. Doerr. 2009. Extinction debt or habitat change? Ongoing losses of woodland birds in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia.  Biological Conservation 142:3182-3190.
  • Cooper, C.B. Susan J. Daniels, and Jeffrey R. Walters. 2008. Can we improve estimates of juvenile dispersal distance and survival? Ecology 89:3349-3361.
  • Cooper, C. B., J. L. Dickinson, T. Phillips and R. Bonney 2008. Science Explicitly for Nonscientists. Ecology and Society 13 (2): r1. URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol13/iss2/resp1/ 
  • Cooper, C.B. and D. Bonter. 2008. Artificial nest site preferences of Black-capped Chickadees. Journal of Field Ornithology 79:193-197. 
  • Cooper CB, J. Dickinson, T. Phillips, and R. Bonney. 2007. Citizen Science as a Tool for Conservation in Residential Ecosystems. Ecology and Society 12(2):11. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol12/iss2/art11/.
  • Cooper, CB, WM Hochachka, AA Dhondt.  2007. Contrasting natural experiments confirm competition between house finches and house sparrows.  Ecology 88: 864-870.
  • Ardia, D., C. B. Cooper, and A. A. Dhondt.  2006. Warm temperatures lead to early onset of incubation, shorter incubation periods and greater hatching asynchrony in tree swallows at the extremes of their range.  Journal of Avian Biology 37:137-142. 
  • Cooper, C. B., W. Hochachka, T. B. Phillips. A. A. Dhondt.  2006. Geographic and seasonal gradients in hatching failure in eastern bluebirds reinforce clutch size trends. Ibis 148:221-230.
  • Allen, P. E. and C. B. Cooper. 2006. La Ciencia ciudadana como herramienta para el monitoreo de la biodiversidad [Citizen Science as a Tool for Biodiversity Monitoring].  Page 17-32 in Especies, espacios y riesgos. Pisanty, I. and M. Caso (editors). First North American Workshop on Capacity Building for Biodiversity Conservation: Monitoring Species, Spaces and Common Threats. Instituto Nacional de Ecologa: Semarnat, Mexico, DF.
  • Cooper, C. B. and H. Mills.  2005.  Software to quantify incubation behavior from time series recordings. Journal of Field Ornithology 76:352-356.
  • Cooper, C. B., W. Hochachka, G. Butcher, and A. A. Dhondt.  2005. Egg viability as a constraint on seasonal and latitudinal trends in clutch size.  Ecology 86:2018-2031.
  • Cooper, C. B., W. M. Hochachka, and A. A. Dhondt.  2005. Latitudinal trends in within-year reoccupation of nest boxes and their implications.  Journal of Avian Biology 36:31-39.
  • Cooper, C. B., J. Priddy, and J. R. Walters. 2002. Landscape patterns and dispersal success: simulated population dynamics in the Brown Treecreeper.  Ecological Applications 12:1576-1587.  
  • Cooper, C. B. and J. R. Walters.  2002.  Experimental evidence of disrupted dispesal causing decline of an Australian passerine in fragmented habitat. Conservation Biology 16:471-478.
  • Cooper, C. B. and J. R. Walters.  2002.  Independent Effects of Woodland Loss and Fragmentation on Brown Treecreeper Distribution.  Biological Conservation 105:1-10.
  • Cooper, C. B., J. R. Walters, H. A. Ford. 2002. Effects of remnant size and connectivity on the response of Brown Treecreepers to habitat fragmentation.  Emu 102:249-256.
  • Cooper, C. B. 2002. Movements of experimentally displaced Brown Treecreepers, Climacteris picumnus, in a variegated landscape.  Corella 26:110-113.
  • Walters, J. R., H. A. Ford, and C. B. Cooper. 1999.  Ecological basis of Brown Treecreeper sensitivity to habitat fragmentation: a preliminary assessment.  Biological Conservation 90:13-20. 
  • Cooper, C. B. and S. H. Anderson.  1996.  Use of constructed wetlands by dabbling ducks on the National Elk Refuge, WY.  Wetlands 16: 557-563.

Book Chapters

  • Cooper, C. B. and A. Balakrishnan. Citizen Science perspectives on e-participation in urban planning. Contributed chapter to Citizen e-participation in Urban Governance. In press.
  • Cooper, C.B., W. M. Hochachka, and A. A. Dhondt. 2012. The opportunities and challenges of Citizen Science as a tool for ecological research in Citizen Science: Public Collaboration in Environmental Research (J. L. Dickinson, and R. Bonney, Eds.). Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY.
  • Waters, J. R., C. B. Cooper, S. J. Daniels, G. Pasinelli, and K. Schiegg. 2004. Conservation biology, Pages 197-209 in Ecology and Evolution of Cooperative Breeding Birds (ed. W. D. Koenig and J. Dickenson), Cambridge University Press.