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New Mexico State University

Timothy Wright
timothy wright

Timothy F. Wright


Title: Assistant Professor
Research area: Animal behavior and evolution
Office location: FH 375
Laboratory Location: FH 301 and FH 455
Email Address: wright@nmsu.edu
Office Phone: 575-646-1136
Lab Phone: 575-646-4791
Lab Webpage: http://biology-web.nmsu.edu/twright/lab


Education:

  • Ph.D. : University of California San Diego
  • Post-doctoral work: University of Maryland, Smithsonian Institution

Courses Taught:

  • BIOL 322, Zoology: Syllabus Fall 2006;  Course Evaluations Fall 2006
  • BIOL 439, Animal Behavior: Syllabus Spring 2008; Course Evaluations Spring 2006
  • BIOL 550 Seminar on Developmental Plasticity and Evolution: Syllabus Spring 2007
  • BIOL 584, Animal Communication: Syllabus Spring 2007;  Course Evaluations Spring 2007
  • BIOL 587, Behavioral Ecology: Syllabus Fall 2007;  Course Evaluations Fall 2005

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Research Interests:
My research focuses on the function and evolution of vocal communication in parrots. Across the animal kingdom, the ability to learn vocal signals is restricted to a few evolutionarily distinct groups (songbirds, hummingbirds and parrots among birds; humans, bats and whales among mammals). Parrots are renowned for their vocal mimicry abilities in captivity, but less is known about how learning is used in the wild. Thus they present opportunities for understanding how learning shapes communication behavior, how the use of learned vocalizations differs between species, and why this ability evolved in the first place. These core interests have expanded through the years to a variety of related questions regarding the systematics of parrots, the evolution of their impressive longevity, and how best to conserve endangered parrot species that I approach collaboratively with other researchers and organizations.
We tackle these questions through a broad range of approaches including field observations, sound analysis, telemetry, captive studies, playback experiments, psychoacoustics and molecular population genetics and phylogenetics.  Students in my lab make use of these techniques or invent new ones as appropriate to investigate their own questions in behavior and evolution.

Selected Publications:

  • Wright, T.F., E.E. Schirtzinger, T. Matsumoto, J.R. Eberhard, G. Graves, J.J. Sanchez, S. Capelli,  H. Müller, J. Scharpegge , G.K. Chambers and R.C. Fleischer. in review. A multi-locus molecular phylogeny of the parrots (Psittaciformes): Support for a Gondwanan origin during the Cretaceous.  accepted pending revisions by Molecular Biology and Evolution.
  • Wright, T.F., C.R. Dahlin, A. Salinas-Melgoza. 2008. Stability and change in vocal dialects of the yellow-naped amazon. Animal Behaviour. in press. [PDF of Proofs]
  • Wright, T.F.  & C.R. Dahlin. 2007. Pair duets in the yellow-naped amazon (Amazona auropalliata): phonology and syntax. Behaviour  144:207-228. [PDF]
  • Wright, T.F. A. Rodriguez & R.C. Fleischer. 2005. Vocal dialects, sex-biased dispersal and microsatellite population structure in the parrot Amazona auropalliata. Molecular Ecology 14: 1197-1205. [PDF]
  • Wright, T.F., E. F. Brittan-Powell, R. J. Dooling, & P. C. Mundinger. 2004. Sex-linkage of hearing and song in the Belgian Waterslager canary. Proceedings of the Royal Society (London)B  Suppl.  Biology Letters 271:S409-S412. [PDF] [Suppl. Material]
  • Wright, T.F., K.A. Cortopassi, J.W. Bradbury & R. J. Dooling.  2003. Hearing and vocalizations in the orange-fronted conure, Aratinga canicularis. Journal of Comparative Psychology.117:87-95. [PDF]
  • Wright, T.F. & G.S. Wilkinson. 2001. Population genetic structure and vocal dialects in an amazon parrot. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B. 268:609-616. [PDF]
  • Eberhard*, J. R., T.F. Wright* & E. Bermingham. 2001. Duplication and concerted evolution of the mitochondrial control region in the parrot genus Amazona. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 18:1330-1342. [PDF]        *co-first authors
  • Wright, T.F., C.A. Toft , E. Enkerlin-Hoeflich, J. Gonzalez-Elizondo, M. Albornoz, A. Rodriguez-Ferraro, F. Rojas-Suarez, V. Sanz, A. Trujillo, S.R. Beissinger, V. Berovides A., X. Galvez A., A.T. Brice, K. Joyner, J.R. Eberhard, J. Gilardi, S.E. Koenig, S. Stoleson, P. Martuscelli, J.M. Meyers, K. Renton, A. M. Rodriguez, A C. Sosa-Asanza, F.J. Vilella, & J.W. Wiley. 2001.  Nest poaching in Neotropical parrots. Conservation Biology. 15:710-720. [PDF]  
  • Wright, T.F.  1996.  Regional dialects in the contact call of a parrot.  Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 263:867-872. [PDF]