|
|
 |
|
Home / Exhibits / Curators / Daniel Brooks
Daniel M. Brooks, Ph.D.
Title: Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, Houston Museum of Natural Science
Joined the Museum staff full-time in 1999.
Learn more about Dan Brooks':
Generally describe the collections you are responsible for.
I oversee all of the Vertebrates specimens (animals with backbones) in the Museum. This not only includes the Farrish Hall of Texas Wildlife, and Frensley/Graham Hall of African Wildlife, but also Collections of primarily birds and mammals. The Museum’s Vertebrate Zoology collection contains roughly 3000 specimens. Birds represent approximately 65% of the collection, and mammals approximately 30%, with herps and fish being represented to a lesser extent. The Texas coastal bend region is the major part of the collection, with other holdings including Africa, and to a lesser extent, Latin America. A constant effort is made to encourage and facilitate the use of the collections for research by students, scholars and interested scientists. I also provide tours, training, and content for Exhibits relating to Vertebrate Zoology. For example, in 2000, we renovated signage in the Farrish Hall of Texas Wildlife, and the Frensley/Graham Hall of African Wildlife was completely re-done ground up 2001–04. (http://www.drdantime.netfirms.com/index.html)
Personal Notes
HMNS responsibilities - What do you do at the Museum?
Most of my time is spent in the following areas:
- Curating and managing the collection
- Scouting, creating and planning new exhibits
- Education, Outreach and Research
Why did you decide to work in a Museum?
My fascination with critters began at a very young age, when my father and I kept exotic gamebirds as a hobby. My mother was very good about keeping me cultured though, enrolling me in Nature classes at HMNS and other places when I was a kid, and later taking me to visit larger museums in the northeast when we were visiting family or vacationing. It was during one of these visits, that I recall being completely overwhelmed at the mount of a Dodo bird at AMNH in New York – how did they recreate something that was extinct? I was extremely fascinated with extinction, birds and Endangered species at the time (I was in my teens)...
But I think my actual decision to work in a museum was influenced by the mentors who actually trained me. I was in awe of these personal heroes, and wanted to be like them; most of them still walk among us, others have passed on, but what they have collectively provided me with is hardly forgotten. They include: Dean Amadon, Keith A. Arnold, Richard E. Bodmer, John F. Eisenberg, J. Knox Jones, Jr., Nancy Crocker-Mulligan, Duane A. Schlitter, Stuart D. Strahl, and Richard D. Strauss.
What is your favorite specimen, and why? Is it on exhibit?
The Okapi (Okapia johnstoni, HMNS VM 505) mount in the African Wildlife Hall is among my favorite of specimens in the museum for many reasons. First and foremost, they are rather rare in terms of animals on display. However, everything the Okapi represents, from exploration to history to conservation of rare species, is a fascinating story in itself:
At a time when most of Africa seemed more alien to explorers than distant planets are today, Dr. David Livingstone, a young Scot of humble means, marched into the heart of darkness, hoping to help Africa’s people. Livingstone’s writings lifted the shroud of mystery from Africa and invigorated the anti-slavery crusade. When Livingstone had not been heard from for several years, his absence had become a matter of international concern. It was then that the New York Herald dispatched their explorer-journalist Henry Stanley in 1869 to search for Livingstone. Stanley finally found Livingstone in November 1871 in a small southeast African town, and greeted Livingstone with the famous quote, which is still know today, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume”.
Part of Stanley’s journey took him through the deep, dark Congo Basin, where some historians believe he was the first explorer to witness the rare Okapi. Stanley was surprised by the Wambutti pygmies’ indifference to the animal, explaining they sometimes caught a similar animal in their traps.
Meanwhile, in England, rumors of the strange jungle beast reached the ears of Philip Lutley Sclater, Secretary of the Zoological Society of London at the time. In 1899, Sclater set out to search for the Okapi, as part of a Cecil Rhodes-British Government team led by Sir Harry H. Johnston. After talking to the local people, Sclater assumed the strange animal must be a forest-dwelling zebra. Johnston later provided Sclater with two pieces of Okapi skin bearing stripes, supporting the theory that the Okapi was a zebra, but he couldn’t explain the strange, two-toed tracks he found because zebras walk on just one toe. Sclater thought the tracks had been made by another animal, perhaps an antelope. The mystery was solved when an okapi skull was discovered - it was a type of forest giraffe.
Johnston was actually the first explorer to view a live Okapi, and it was named for him, Okapia johnstoni, although the animal was not viewed in a European Zoo until 1918. Nonetheless, the discovery of the Okapi in 1900 created such excitement to foreign scientists that the American Museum of Natural History sent Herbert Lang and James Chapin to explore the region from 1909 – 1915, with subsequent expeditions following...
What are your favorite museums?
Besides the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Natural History Museum in London and the American Museum of Natural History are my two faves.
Education - Academic background
Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fish. Science, Texas A&M University (12/98) – Magna Cum Laude
Dissertation title: “Competition and coexistence in Neotropical birds: a latitudinal comparison” - Keith Arnold, Dissertation Chair
M.Sc. in Biology, Texas Tech University (5/93) - Sigma-Xi
Thesis title: "Distribution, habitat association, and factors determining assemblage composition of mammals in the Paraguayan Chaco" - Richard Strauss, Thesis Chair
B.S. in Zoology, State Univ. of New York at Oswego (5/89) - OCSA Honors
Current Credentials / Honors
2007-current Committee Member, Katy Prairie Conservancy’s Stewardship, Science, and Education Committee http://www.katyprairie.org/
2004-current Committee Member, Texas Ornithology Society Editorial Board
http://www.texasbirds.org/publications.html
2003-current Committee Member, Assoc. of Field Ornithologists Bergstrom Award http://www.afonet.org/english/bergs.html
2001-current Coordinator, AFO/AOU Editorial Assistance Program
http://www.afonet.org/english/journal.html#EDIT
2000-current Chair, Cracid Specialist Group
http://www.cracids.org
Current research projects / interests:
My research interests cover a number of topics and taxa. I am particularly interested in community ecology, as well as natural history and conservation of Neotropical birds and mammals in lowland regions east of the South American Andes, (-especially the Peruvian Amazon, Paraguayan Chaco, and eastern Bolivian panhandle). To view a map of the regions I have worked, . Specific activities I’m currently involved in include, but are not limited to:
• Natural History and Ecology of Vertebrates in Sub-saharan Africa.
• Natural History of Texas Vertebrates.
• Community ecology of doves in residential areas of southeastern Texas.
• Evolution and speciation in select taxa of nocturnal birds: owls and potoos.
• Distributional patterns in MesoAmerican endemic birds.
• Macroecology and conservation of Neotropical gamebirds.
• Mammalian and avian biogeography and biodiversity in the eastern panhandle of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, with descriptions of new species.
• Size assortment in an Amazonian Felid community.
• Studies in western the Amazonian basin: patterns and processes of avian community structure; primate phylogeography and community dynamics; return rates of game species subsequent to overhunting.
Students
Dissertation Students
- 2007-cur: Christina Riehl (Princeton Univ., NJ)
Social behavior of the Greater Ani (Penelope albipennis) in the Panama Canal Zone
- 2005-cur: Laura Cancino (Kent Univ., OH)
Population genetics of the White-winged Guan (Penelope albipennis)
- 2005-cur: Kim Dingess (Indiana Univ., Indianapolis, IN)
http://www.oneonta.edu/academics/anthro/dingess.html Vocal communication of the Dusky Titi Monkey (Callicebus donacophilus)
- 2004-08: Nico Dauphiné (Univ. Georgia, Athens, GA) http://www.forestry.uga.edu/h/feature/peru/ Bird Conservation in the Cordillera de Colán, Northern Peru
- 2003-05: Lark Coffey (Univ. Texas Medical Branch - Galveston)
The Cotton Rat (Sigmodon hispidus) as a vector of Venezuelan Encephalitic Virus. Thesis Students
- 2005-2007: Miguel Moreno (Univ. Tolima, Colombia)
Habitat use and phenology of plants consumed by the Blue-billed Curassow (Crax alberti) in the Reserva Natural El Paujil, Serrania de las Quinchas, Colombia.
- 2000-2007: Erick Baur (Univ. Florida, Gainesville, FL)
Resource use by sympatric Galliforme species and the impacts of human disturbance in a lowland tropical forest.
- 2000-06: Jose Manual Rojas (Univ. Gabriel Moreno, Santa Cruz, Bolivia)
The small mammal community of Bolivia’s Chiquitano Valley, with analysis of biogeographic relationships.
- 1998-99: Ana Mamani-F. (Univ. Gabriel Moreno, Santa Cruz, Bolivia)
Natural history, population density and hunting patterns of Chaco Chachalacas (Ortalis canicollis) in Izozog, Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Directed Studies in Biology
- 2003: Heather Daniel (League City ISD)
Community ecology of doves in residential areas of the upper Texas coast.
- 2002-07: Carlos Delgado (Univ. Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia)
The small mammal community of Antioquia region.
- 2000: Daniella Muallem (Rice University)
Effects of channelization upon abundance and diversity of water dependent birds in Houston Bayous.
- 1996: Claudia Garcia (University of Houston - Downtown)
A phylogenetic assessment of Crax (Aves, Cracidae) using behavioral and ecological characters. Selected Publications
(Please click on those in bold, below, to access the publication.)
Books
Brooks, D.M., L. Cancino and S.L. Pereira. 2006. Conserving Cracids: the most Threatened Family of Birds in the Americas. Misc. Publ. Houston Mus. Nat. Sci. No. 6, Houston, TX.
(http://www.cracids.org/AP_engl_ebook.pdf)
Brooks, D.M., and F. Gonzalez-F. 2001. Biology and Conservation of Cracids in the New Millenium. Misc. Publ. Houston Mus. Nat. Sci. No. 2, Houston, TX.
Brooks, D.M. and S.D. Strahl. 2000. Cracids: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/actionplans/Cracids/home.pdf)
Brooks, D.M. F. Olmos and A.J. Begazo. 1999. Biology and Conservation of the Piping Guans (Pipile). Spec. Monogr. Ser. CSG 1.
Strahl, S.D., S. Beaujon, D.M. Brooks, A.J. Begazo, G. Sedaghatkish, and F. Olmos (Eds.). 1997. The Cracidae: their Biology and Conservation. Hancock House Publishers, WA. xvii + 506 pp.
Brooks, D.M., R.E. Bodmer and S. Matola (Eds.). 1997. Tapirs: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. vii + 164 pp. (http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/iucn-ssc/tsg/action97/)
Selected Book Chapters
Brooks, D.M. 2002. Curassows, Guans and Chachalacas. Pp. 413-424. In: Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd Ed., Vol. 8, Birds I (M. Hutchins, J.A. Jackson, W.J. Bock and D. Olendorf, Eds.). Gale Group, Farmington Hills, MI.
--. 2002. Motmots. Pp. 31-38. In: Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd Ed., Vol. 10, Birds III (M. Hutchins, J.A. Jackson, W.J. Bock and D. Olendorf, Eds.). Gale Group, Farmington Hills, MI.
--. 2002. Toucans. Pp. 125-136. In: Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd Ed., Vol. 10, Birds III (M. Hutchins, J.A. Jackson, W.J. Bock and D. Olendorf, Eds.). Gale Group, Farmington Hills, MI.
--. 2002. Cotingas. Pp. 305-324. In: Grzimek’s Animal Life Encyclopedia, 2nd Ed., Vol. 10, Birds III (M. Hutchins, J.A. Jackson, W.J. Bock and D. Olendorf, Eds.). Gale Group, Farmington Hills, MI.
--. 2001. Chapter 1: Habitat conservation, biodiversity and wildlife natural history in northwestern Amazonia. Pp. 11-16 In: Under the Canopy: Myth and Reality in the Western and Northwestern Amazonian Basin (D.L. Beneke, Ed.). Fresno Art Museum, CA.
Brooks, D.M. and A.J. Begazo. 2001. Macaw density variation in the western Amazonian basin. Pp. 427-438 In: Avian Ecology and Conservation in an Urbanizing World (J.M. Marzluff, R. Bowman and R. Donnelly, Eds.). Kluwer Acad. Publ., Mass.
Brooks, D.M., L. Pando-V., A. Ocmin-P., and J. Tejada-R. 2001. Resource separation in a Napo-Amazonian gamebird community. Pp. 213-225 In: Biology and Conservation of Cracids in the New Millenium (D.M. Brooks and F. Gonzalez-F., Eds.). Misc. Publ. Houston Mus. Nat. Sci. No. 2, Houston, TX.
Brooks, D.M. and J.F. Eisenberg. 1999. Estado y biologia de los tapires neotropicales: perspectiva general. Pp. 409-413 In: Manejo y Conservacion de Fauna Silvestre en America Latina. (T.G. Fang, O.L. Montenegro, y R.E Bodmer, Eds.). Instituto de Ecologia, La Paz, Bolivia.
Brooks, D.M. 1999. Pipile as a protein source to rural hunters and Amerindians. Pp. 42-50 In: Biology and Conservation of the Piping Guans (Pipile) (D.M. Brooks, A.J. Begazo and F. Olmos, Eds.). Spec. Monogr. Ser. CSG 1.
Brooks, D.M. 1997. ¿Son la competencia, el tamaño y la superposición de dietas pronosticadores de la composición de Ramphastidae? Pp. 283 - 288 In: Manejo de Fauna Silvestre en la Amazonia. (T.G. Fang, R.E Bodmer, R. Aquino, y M. Valqui, Eds.).
Bodmer, R.E. and D.M. Brooks. 1997. Status and action plan of the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris). Pp. 46-56 In: Tapirs: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan (Brooks, D.M., R.E. Bodmer and S. Matola, Eds.). IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. (Spanish and Portuguese versions In: pp. 107-117 and 134-144, respectively). (http://www.tapirback.com/tapirgal/iucn-ssc/tsg/action97/ap97-19.htm)
Garcia, C. and D.M. Brooks. 1997. Evolution of Crax sociobiology and phylogeny using behavioral and ecological characters. Pp. 401-410 In: Cracidae: their Biology and Conservation. (S.D. Strahl, S. Beaujon, D.M. Brooks, A. Begazo, G. Sedaghatkish, and F. Olmos Eds.). Hancock House Publishers, WA.
Selected Journal Articles
Eisermann, K. and D.M. Brooks. 2006. Unusual and noteworthy nesting records for Guatemala. Cotinga 26: 48-51.
Brooks, D.M., L. Pando-V., A. Ocmin-P., and J. Tejada-R. 2005. The relationship between environmental stability and avian population changes in Amazonia. Orn. Neotrop. 16: 289-296.
Brooks, D.M., A.L.Porzecanski, J.J. Weicker, R.A. Honig, A.M. Saavedra and M. Herrera. 2005. A preliminary assessment of avifauna of the Bolivian Chiquitano Forest and Cerrado. Orn. Neotrop. 16: 85-99.
Brooks, D.M., R.J. Baker, R.J. Vargas-M., T. Tarifa, H. Aranibar, J.M. Rojas. 2004. A New Species of Oryzomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from an Isolated Pocket of Cerrado in Eastern Bolivia. Occas. Pap. Texas Tech Univ. 241: 1-11.
Brooks, D.M., L. Pando-V., A. Ocmin-P., and J. Tejada-R. 2004. Resource separation in a Napo-Amazonian tinamou community. Orn. Neotrop. 15: 323-328.
Brooks, D.M. 2003. The role of size assortment in structuring Neotropical bird communities. Tx. J. Sci. 55: 59-74.
Brooks, D.M., J.M. Rojas, H. Aranibar, R.J. Vargas and T. Tarifa. 2002. A
preliminary assessment of mammalian fauna of the Eastern Bolivian Panhandle.
Mammalia 65: 509-520.
Muallem, D.M. and D.M. Brooks. 2001. Avian diversity and abundance along a gradient of bayou development in Houston. Bull. Texas Ornithol. Soc. 23: 20-24.
Brooks, D.M. 1998. Habitat variability as a predictor of rarity in Neotropical mammals. Vida Silv. Neotrop. 7: 115-120.
Brooks, D.M., L. Pando-V. and A. Ocmin-P. 1999. Comparative behavioral ecology of Cotingas in the northern Peruvian Amazon. Orn. Neotrop. 10: 193-206.
Brooks, D.M. 1997. Avian seasonality at a locality in the central Paraguayan Chaco. Hornero 14: 193-203.
--. 1997. The influence of habitat structure upon species evenness and diversity. Tx. J. Sci. 49: 247-254.
CDs
Brooks, D.M. 2004. . Misc. Publ. Houston Mus. Nat. Sci. No. 5.
--. 2004. . Misc. Publ. Houston Mus. Nat. Sci. No. 4, Houston, TX.
--. 2002. . Misc. Publ. Houston Mus. Nat. Sci. No. 3, Houston, TX.
--. 2001. . Misc. Publ. Houston Mus. Nat. Sci. No. 1, Houston, TX.
Suggested websites for more information/research
African Bird Club – www.africanbirdclub.org/
African Watering Hole Cam – www.africam.com/public/index.jsp
American Society of Mammalogists - www.mammalsociety.org
Birds of the Upper Texas Coast - www.texasbirding.net
Cracid Specialist Group - www.cracids.org
Neotropical Bird Club - www.neotropicalbirdclub.org
Neotropical Ornithological Society - www.neotropicalornithology.org
Ornithological Societies of North America - www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/OSNA
Southwestern Association of Naturalists - www.biosurvey.ou.edu/swan
Texas Ornithological Society - www.texasbirds.org/
Suggest Reading Recommendations
Behavioral Ecology (Krebs and Davies)
Biogeography (Brown)
Biology and Conservation of Cracids in the New Millenium (Brooks and Gonzalez)
Birds of Africa (Urban, Fry and Keith)
Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania (Zimmerman et al.)
Bird Life of Texas (Oberholser)
Colored Key to the Wildfowl of the World (Scott)
Cracidae: their Biology and Conservation (Strahl et al.)
Ecology (Begon, Harper and Townsend)
Endemic Bird Areas of the World (Stattersfield et al.)
Finches and Sparrows (Clement et al.)
Guide to the Birds of Colombia (Hilty and Brown)
Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America (Howell and Webb)
Island Africa (Kingdon)
Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals (Kingdon)
Mammalian Radiations (Eisenberg)
Mammals of the Neotropics (Eisenberg)
Mammals of North America (Hall)
Mammals of Texas (Davis)
Manual of Neotropical Birds (Blake)
National Geographic Society Field Guide to African Wildlife (Alden et al.)
Neotropical Companion (Kricher)
Neotropical Rainforest Mammals (Emmons and Feer)
Neotropical Wildlife Use and Conservation (Redford and Robinson)
Principles of Systematic Zoology (Mayr)
SASOL Birds of Southern Africa (Sinclair et al.)
Tapirs: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan (Brooks and Bodmer)
Threatened Birds of the World (Birdlife)
Walker’s Mammals of the World (Nowak)
|
|
|
|
|
