👏 A proud moment for #CEB! Emeritus Professor Leigh Simmons has been announced as the 2026 Hamilton Lecturer at @isbe2026.bsky.social, one of the most prestigious honours in behavioural ecology. #BehaviouralEcology #ISBE2026 #UWA #EvolutionaryBiology

#CEB PhD student @nirjana-dewan.bsky.social presenting her research on white-tailed black cockatoo genomics at #AOC2025!

An important ontogenetic perspective into the relationship between cognition and social interactions! Congrats @lizziespeechley.bsky.social! With collaborators @stephanielking.bsky.social @ceb-uwa.bsky.social Ben Ashton, Alex Thornton and Leigh Simmons

Applications are currently being accepted for UBC's ✨️ Biodiversity Postdoctoral Fellowship ✨️ (two positions!!), due Jan. 15 Please share far and wide 🚀 (See thread)

Our new review paper on the role of chemical pollutants in shaping biological invasions is out now @royalsocietypublishing.org Led by #IssacLigocki with a group of talented people 👇 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

What is sexual selection all about... definitionally and mathematically? A super talented PI, Jussi Lehtonen, is looking for a postdoc to work it all out! Deadline end of this month. ats.talentadore.com/apply/postdo...

#AES2025 Day2, Jackson Randell discusses the importance of understanding genetic purging and its implications for trapdoor spider conservation 🕷️ @austevolsoc.bsky.social @brunobuzatto.bsky.social @rowanlym.bsky.social @reneecatullo.bsky.social

#AES2025 so nice, @avantikadeep.bsky.social gave presentations twice! This one short talk on gliding lizards 🦎 Day 2 @austevolsoc.bsky.social

@AES2025 very thorough phylogeny and evolution of agamids (dragons) by Ian Brennan

🚨 Postdoc in evolutionary genomics of heat stress adaptation position at @ucddublin.bsky.social. 📍 Dublin, Ireland Closes: 15th Oct 2025 🔗 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOV094/u...

Who doesn’t enjoy a good animal behaviour video at #AES2025? Andrea Piccinini surely had captured our attention by presenting his work on post-copulatory mating behaviour in mygalomorph spiders 🕷️ @austevolsoc.bsky.social

Day 1 at #AES2025 CEB member @avantikadeep.bsky.social presented her PhD plan to investigate intra-sexual competition in Western Australian magpies 🦅🐧🪺 @mandyridley.bsky.social @lizziespeechley.bsky.social

#AES2025 started with a blast with @brainiants.bsky.social talking about the effect of inbreeding on survivorship and fecundity in European royal families! Keep them coming @pebblemouse.bsky.social

🚨Massive congratulations to our CEB member @jenkelley01.bsky.social and the global collaboration team on their investigation asking why some prey use warning colouration while others use camouflaging in @science.org. Read the article below 👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

At CEB seminar today, @dutourmylene.bsky.social walked us through 10 years of her research at the crossroads of animal cognition, behavioural ecology, bioacoustics — exploring how animals code & decode information, use syntax & vocal mimicry, & engage in intra- & interspecific communication 🐦🦅🐓🐍🚶‍♀️

Yesterday (Sep 23), the #RSWA Royal Society of Western Australia hosted Poster Day 2025 — a fantastic showcase of pioneering research across WA 🌿🔬 9 PhD students from our Centre for Evolutionary Biology #CEB participated, and 3 won prizes for best posters! 🏆 Check out their posters below 👇 1/11

Thanks also to @royalsocietypublishing.org for letting me write a blog about this fantastic team effort: royalsociety.org/blog/2025/09...

CEB seminar late post: PhD candidate Andrea Piccinini shared the first observation of post-copulatory mate guarding behaviour in a WA wishbone spider (Aname sp.)—a rare insight into mygalomorph mating behaviour.👏 #EvolBio #SpiderBehaviour #SexualSelection #UWA #Mygalomorphs

Not every day you get to wear the aprons once used by Leigh Simmons and Joe Tomkins in the legendary dung beetle lab—where so much cool science on sexual selection and evolutionary ecology has been cooked up (sometimes literally 🪲💩) @invertebrateissy.bsky.social @ceb-uwa.bsky.social

🐸 Last week at CEB, Shengyao discussed the population genomics of the Howard River toadlet (Uperoleia daviesae), a short-range endemic frog threatened by urbanisation near Darwin. Read the paper here: doi.org/10.1007/s105... @reneecatullo.bsky.social #EvolBio #FrogConservation #UrbanEcology #UWA

Last week at CEB, Jackson discussed the conservation and population genomics of south-western Australian trapdoor spiders. Such genomic approach is important for their conservation.🕷️ @reneecatullo.bsky.social @rowanlym.bsky.social @brunobuzatto.bsky.social #LeighSimmons #ConservationGenomics #UWA

At CEB meeting, we heard from PhD student Avantika, who will study WA magpies to better understand how female magpies use aggression & vocalisation in social & reproductive competition. 🪶🦅 @mandyridley.bsky.social @lizziespeechley.bsky.social #LeighSimmons #UWA #AnimalBehaviour #SexualSelection

Presenting at the CEB ✅ Was awesome having a large and engaged crowd! More presentations and emotional-support beetles to come.

This afternoon, CEB talk was presented by @hasbeanbeetle.bsky.social, who is studying elytral melanisation as female ornamentation in seed beetles. The live beetle props entertained our audience! 🪲🐞 Aadhi is supervised by Dr Natasha Lebas, Assoc Profs Joe Tomkins & Jason Kennington, & Dr Rob Dugand

Attending the Australian Mammal Society meeting in Toowoomba. Great work from my two students Lucy and Cameron presenting their work yesterday!

Big thanks to the Australian Mammal Society and my amazing supervisor team for this great science 💕 @ausmammals.bsky.social #AusMamSoc2025

Scientists have discovered that the kultarr – one of Australia’s most elusive marsupials – is actually three different species.

The kultarr is officially three species! So proud of this work and a big thanks to Australia's amazing museum network and my great supervisor team @kennytravouillon.bsky.social @reneecatullo.bsky.social @planigale.bsky.social bakerecologylab.wordpress.com onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

At CEB meeting this afternoon, PhD student @kultarrcam.bsky.social discussed the findings of two new species of carnivorous marsupial kultarr (Dasyuridae: Antechinomys) in Arid Australia! 🐀🐭 @kennytravouillon.bsky.social @reneecatullo.bsky.social @planigale.bsky.social bakerecologylab.wordpress.com

New preprint about open science in eco-evo! We sampled 110 journals, 550 articles, and assessed whether data and code are accessible: (1/5) ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v... #ScientificPublishing #OpenScience #ecology #conservation #EvolutionaryBiology #paleobio #systematics #archeology

Check out new #CEB paper by @gblackburn.bsky.social et al. that found that Western Australia magpies sing less when exposed to anthropogenic noise, but not necessarily louder. 🐦🚧 This may save energy, yet could cost social & territorial signals. doi.org/10.1111/ibi.... #Bioacoustics #UrbanEcology

At CEB meeting this afternoon, PhD student Harriet Kate O’Roarty discussed her research project focusing on the sex-specific effects of #macronutrients on the Indian meal moth #life-history traits. 🥗🦋🪲🦗 Harriet is supervised by #LeighSimmons #YongFoo #NinaWedell

Our new paper, led by Masters student Holly, finds that magpies are capable of quantity discrimination, and this ability is affected by group size.

Can magpies count? 🦅 New CEB #cognition paper shows WA magpies pick the bigger food reward & birds from SMALLER groups out-count those in larger ones: first evidence that group size shapes quantity skills within a species #HollyHunter @gblackburn.bsky.social #BenjaminJAshton @mandyridley.bsky.social

Had a great run presenting in front of fellow CEB-ists! Onto the real thing tomorrow! 🐜💪🏼

@brainiants.bsky.social discussed her PhD proposal this afternoon where she plans to study variation in intraspecific cognition & its relation to complex behaviors, specifically combat and group foraging in Western Australian ants. 🐜 @mandyridley.bsky.social @notthebestsam.bsky.social #LeighSimmons

Beautiful drawing by the lead author @nirjana-dewan.bsky.social! Congratulations team #WJasonKennington #JosephLTomkins #RobertJDugand 🎉

Do female choice and male-male competition work differently or the same? 👩‍❤️‍👨 🥊 A new study from CEB in @journal-evo.bsky.social using artificial selection on fruit flies suggests an alignment in the outcomes of mate choice and intrasexual competition. 🪰🚨 doi.org/10.1093/evol...

Do female choice and male-male competition work differently or the same? 👩‍❤️‍👨 🥊 A new study from CEB in @journal-evo.bsky.social using artificial selection on fruit flies suggests an alignment in the outcomes of mate choice and intrasexual competition. 🪰🚨 doi.org/10.1093/evol...

🚨New paper alert! Predator-free havens breed the wild out of wildlife. LeBas et al. show that recognising the fecundity–anxiety trade-off can keep both booming numbers & predator wariness in threatened species—best of both worlds. 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.bi... #Conservation #Ecology #Evolution #WildOz

🎉 Huge congrats to PhD student @gabrielmelhado.bsky.social who received an award at the #ASABSpring2025 conference in Liverpool for presenting his research on how pharmaceutical pollution impacts the behaviour and immune system of our Aussie native rainbowfish. Way to go, Gabriel! 🐠🔬

It made me think of the University of Western Australia and the wonderful time I spent there (too long ago)! @ceb-uwa.bsky.social

Darwin came to town! @beetlebonking.bsky.social @brainiants.bsky.social @upama.bsky.social #UWAOpenDay #EvolBio #EnvironmentalScience

Come find us at the Ezone 207, Zoology stall for UWA Open Day today! Drop by to chat about all things animal behaviour, conservation, and evolutionary biology. Come find out what research at CEB is all about! #UWAOpenDay #EvolBio #SaferPharma #EnvironmentalScience

PhD student Naledi April Matenge led today's CEB seminar on small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) in sperm that can play key roles as biomarkers for male fertility and embryonic development. 🧬 Naledi is supervised by @pebblemouse.bsky.social and @1jonevans.bsky.social

How does long-term (multigenerational exposure) by widespread pharmaceutical pollution affect the interplay between behavioural, life-history and reproductive traits in fish? Open access paper now out in @animalecology.bsky.social: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

PhD project on bird conservation at UQ with @martinemaron.bsky.social and April Reside. Student needed asap in 2025

Today at the UWA School of Biological Sciences Postgraduate Conference, we heard from our brilliant PhD researchers on everything from arachnids to marsupials to magpies! 🕷️🦅🐀 Below is a thread of their presentations 🧵

Does baiting feral cats, foxes and dingoes work? Read the full paper by @ceb-uwa.bsky.social DECRA Research Fellow Yong Zhi Foo, and colleagues @danielwanoble.bsky.social, @tagsecology.bsky.social here: doi.org/10.1016/j.bi...

Threatened species are often bred in predator-free havens, but doing so can make them less “predator-savvy” if these animals are released back into the wild. Luckily, new research has found a way to keep haven-bred prey mammals “street smart” - house them with native predators! 🌍🧪 #conservation