Griffith University

BSc (Hons), PhD

Adjunct Member, Environmental Futures Centre
Email: j.f.cockrem@massey.ac.nz

Academic Position

Head of Comparative Physiology and Anatomy Group
Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences
Massey University
Palmerston North, New Zealand

Research Expertise

Dr Cockrem is a specialist in the study of individual variation and stress responses in birds and other animals. He is an endocrinologist who has studied stress and reproductive endocrinology in a range of birds including the kakapo, North Island brown kiwi, Adelie penguin, emperor penguin, yellow-eyed penguin, grey duck, mallard, house sparrow, Japanese quail, chicken, Houbara bustard, zebra finch and great tit.

He has extensive experience in the radioimmunoassay of avian hormones and in the non-invasive measurement of steroid hormones in animals. His research on stress also includes work with mammals, reptiles and amphibians, with studies in rats, New Zealand fur seals, New Zealand common dolphins, tuatara and cane toads. He has been a visiting scientist at the Roslin Research Institute, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, United States, and the National Wildlife Research Centre at Taif in Saudi Arabia.

Current Projects

as at September 2010

• Individual variation in corticosterone stress responses in birds 

• Identification of genes underlying individual differences in responses to stress in Japanese quail
• Review of individual variation in stress responses in animals
• Individual variation in stress responses and breeding success in grey-faced petrels
• Development of methods for the use of blubber progesterone and cortisol concentrations to determine pregnancy status and to measure stress in free-living dolphins
• Individual variation in corticosterone stress responses in amphibians
  
  

Selected Publications

• Narayan, E.J., Molinia, F.C., Christi, K.S., Morley, C.G. and Cockrem, J.F. (2010). Urinary corticosterone metabolite responses to ACTH and to capture, and annual patterns of urinary corticosterone in wild and captive endangered Fijian ground frogs (Platymantis vitiana). Australian Journal of Zoology 58: 189-197.
• Cockrem, J.F., Candy, E.J., Castille, S.A. and Satterlee, D.G. (2010). Plasma corticosterone responses to handling in Japanese quail selected for low or high plasma corticosterone responses to brief restraint. British Poultry Science 51: 453-459.
• Narayan, E.J., Molinia, F.C., Christi, K.S., Morley, C.G. and Cockrem, J.F. (2010). Annual cycles of urinary reproductive steroid concentrations in wild and captive endangered Fijian ground frogs (Platymantis vitianus). General and Comparative Endocrinology 166:172 - 179.
• Cockrem, J.F., Barrett, D.P., Candy, E.J. and Potter, M.A. (2009). Corticosterone responses in birds: individual variation and repeatability in Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) and other species, and the use of power analysis to determine sample sizes. General and Comparative Endocrinology 163: 158-168.
• Cockrem, J.F., Potter, M.A., Barrett, D.P. and Candy, E.J. (2008). Corticosterone responses to capture and restraint in emperor and Adelie penguins in Antarctica. Zoological Science 25: 291-298.
• Adams, N.J., Cockrem, J.F., Candy, E.J. and Taylor, G.A. (2008). Non-precocial grey-faced petrel chicks (Pterodroma macroptera gouldi) show no age-related variation in corticosterone responses to capture and handling. General and Comparative Endocrinology 157: 86-90.
• Cockrem, J. F. (2007). Corticosterone stress responses and avian personalities. J. Ornithol. 148 (Suppl. 2): S169-S178.
• Cockrem, J.F. (2006). The timing of breeding in the kakapo (Strigops habroptilus). Notornis 53: 153-159.
  
• Fraisse, F. and Cockrem, J.F. (2006). Corticosterone and fear behaviour in white and brown caged laying hens. British Poultry Science 47: 110-119.
• Cockrem, J.F., Potter, M.A. and Candy, E.J. (2006). Corticosterone in relation to body weight in Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) affected by unusual sea ice conditions at Ross Island, Antarctica. General and Comparative Endocrinology 149: 244-252.
• Adams, N.J., Cockrem, J.F., Taylor, G.A., Candy, E.J. and Bridges, J. (2005). Corticosterone responses of hand-reared and parent-reared grey faced petrel chicks (Pterodroma macroptera gouldi). Zoo Biology 24: 283-290.
• Cockrem, J. F. (2005). Conservation and behavioral neuroendocrinology. Hormones and Behaviour 48: 492-501.