Peter L. Hurd

Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
T6G 2E9

Ph : 780.492-3578
Fax : 780.492-1768
e-mail: phurd@ualberta.ca

Research

I am a member of the comparative cognition and behaviour group and study social behaviour of non-human animals. I'm specifically interested in communication and other social behaviour which takes place between animals with conflicting interests.

I use both mathematical modelling and empirical data to find answers to questions like:

Do animals bluff when threatening each other? What makes a threat credible?
Why are some individuals more aggressive than others?
What makes an animal concede defeat to it's opponent?
How much do opponents in a fight cooperate to decide upon a winner?

Teaching

Psycho 104: Basic Psychological Processes (section A2)
PSYCO 402/505: Bootstrapping, Randomization and Experimental Statistics

Departmental Teaching Honour Roll, Fall 2001, P104.

Education and Employment

Assistant Professor	2001	Department of Psychology, University of Alberta
Lecturer (Biostatistics)	2000	School of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin
Post-Doctoral Fellow	1999	Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin	with Mike Ryan
Ph.D.	1997	Ethology group, Zoology Institute, Stockholm University	with Magnus Enquist
M.Sc.	1993	Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University	with Ron Ydenberg
B.Sc. (with Highest Honours)	1990	Departments of Biology & Psychology, Carleton University	with Pat Weatherhead.

Selected Publications

Hurd PL & Enquist M, 2001. Threat display in birds. Can. J. Zool. 79: 931-942.

Hurd PL & Enquist M. 1998. Conventional signalling in aggressive interactions: the importance of temporal structure. J. theor. Biol. 192:197-211. (Download jt970611.pdf [275k])

Hurd PL, 1997. Cooperative signalling between opponents in fish fights. Anim. Behav. 54 :1309-1315. (Download ar970531.pdf[150k])

Hurd PL, 1997. Is signalling of fighting ability costlier for weaker individuals? J. theor. Biol. 184:83-88. (Download jt960246.pdf[268k])

Hurd PL, Wachtmeister C-A & Enquist M, 1995. Darwin's principle of antithesis revisited: a role for perceptual biases in the evolution of intraspecific signals. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 259:201-205. (Download prs259201.pdf[269k])

Hurd PL, 1995. Communication in discrete action-response games. J. theor. Biol. 174:217-222. (Download jt950093.pdf[634k])

Hurd PL, Weatherhead PJ & McRae SB, 1991. Parental consumption of nestling feces: good food or sound economics? Behav. Ecol. 2:69-76.

Full list.

Pictures:

1) Pete's head, West Coast Trail, Photo by KJB; 2-4) Sixpack Fleataxi; 5) Brian Kuchinka on approach to Slesse's South Ridge Route; 6) Bouldering in Sollentuna with T Ekefalk; 7) KRW in 24hr daylight of Lappland; 8) Short walk in the snow, Photo GKH.

Local Cruft

Links:

Rtips, (not StatsRus), a super-useful list of frequently asked questions about R usage.