Deadline for submitting an abstract to give a talk or poster is this Friday!

We are looking for a Postdoc (up to 5 years) who wants to study neural mechanisms of spatial memory in honeybees. This includes tetrode recordings in behaving honeybees. Application Deadline is 1st of October 2025. More details: www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/services/...

‪Come join us at the @asab.org Winter Conference 2025: how sensory info affects behaviour. 15th & 16th Dec, abstracts due end Aug. More info and registration asabwinter.github.io/2025 Co-hosted with @jtroscianko.bsky.social and Innes Cuthill

New from #ProcB: Immediate and longer-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientific productivity in #ecology and #evolution royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... | #COVID #COVID19

🚨 🪺🐦🦠 PhD opportunity in my lab for UK home fee students. Feel free to contact me for informal enquiries. Please share! shorturl.at/wUo8r

It may feel as though we live in dark times, but here in the UK there are LOADS of science festivals celebrating ideas, sparking curiosity & sharing the latest research (for both adults & kids). Someone told me recently they didn’t know where to look, so I made a list. Here goes… [deep breath]: 1/8

In the current challenging climate of finding reviewers, how long is too long to wait for a manuscript to be reviewed? My PhD student has had her first manuscript in review for six months now, journal has only managed to obtain one review so far 🤷‍♀️

Job alert🐦 2yr post-doc position with Prof. Sue Healy on project "Mistakes in Action: From the Normativity of Goal-Directedness to Novel Investigations of Avian Nest Construction"🪺 Start asap. Contact: sdh11[at]st-andrews.ac.uk @uniofstandrews.bsky.social

Black margins are important for size discrimination - female green swordtails prefer larger males but preference is lost when black margins on tail are absent. Seems they can't judge which male is bigger without black margin! shorturl.at/6GKA2 @uniexecec.bsky.social @royalsocietypublishing.org

We have a fully funded International 4-year position (combined Master of Research+PhD) to study visual navigation in jumping spiders. Project will be supervised by @pipilika.bsky.social, @mherberstein.bsky.social, @dinrao.bsky.social & Ximena Nelson. At Macquarie University, Sydney. Details below

Sign up for ASAB spring meeting, the best conference for early career researchers in my humble opinion!

Postdoc @ evol-lab. A Leverhulme funded 3-year postdoc studying body shape evolution (through a sexual conflict lens) on Exeter's Penryn (UK) campus. Starts April 2025. Contact David Hosken @ U of Exeter for detail.

Congratulations Emma! 🥳

Some great PhD opportunities for 2025 in our fab department @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful Cornwall: 1) How does pollution impact behavioural evolution? Project with @ali--wilson.bsky.social spans behaviour, genetics and ecotox, working with cherry shrimp. More info: tinyurl.com/yvthn7xn

How does pollution impact behavioural evolution? We're looking for an awesome PhD student to find out. Project spans behaviour, genetics + ecotox, working with cherry shrimp @exetercec.bsky.social. Cosupervised with @lauraakelley.bsky.social and Dave Spurgeon at CEH. App + info tinyurl.com/yvthn7xn

Congratulations to Menno van Berkel on passing his PhD viva yesterday! 🐦🪺 Huge thanks to @sjportugal.bsky.social and Neeltje Boogert for being excellent examiners and Alex Thornton for being a fab cosupervisor!

Join our team! We're looking for a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Marine Ecology and Conservation to support our partnership with the University of Khorfakkan, United Arab Emirates (UAE). To find out and apply, visit: jobs.ac.uk/job/DKJ244/l... #ConservationJobs #ConservationCareers #MarineResearch

It's nice to be back!

Good people at #ASABSpring2024, I am advertising a fully funded PhD studentship on perceptual processing during mate choice in 🐟. More details here: www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...

New bowerbird paper! Male great bowerbirds build display courts that are linked to mating success, and we found that object availability 🧱 rather than male building ability 👷 explains variation in court quality rb.gy/vznmm7

I love ordering things from @OrdnanceSurvey as they use mis-printed maps and offcuts as packing paper, which makes me inordinately happy 🗺️

The excellent @KathrynBullough (funded by @royalsociety) flying the flag for PhDs at Exeter's Cornwall campus @UniExeCEC @UniofExeter. Interested in doing a PhD? Wonder what it's like? 👇 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HvjwyOjz1I

Curious about Weber's Law? We (@KathrynBullough, @kuijperbram, @EleanorCaves) have a Quick Guide out in @CurrentBiology this week, free access here https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1huZ93QW8S2RNJ

Any gardeners know who the methodical predator might be? Canna lily in Cornwall.

Normally our deutzia is absolutely hooching with bees when flowering, it's eerily quiet this year 🥺

Finally have a moment for a short thread about new @Ecology_Letters paper led by the amazing @EleanorCaves, available here https://bit.ly/3IzkCvH We tested whether female green swordtails assess male body size in absolute or relative terms. Why is this important? Read on…

Auspicious double rainbow for a day conference with the folks from up the road, pretty good view too!

Behold the fancy wing feathers of the male great argus 👇 The shading on the ocelli ('eyespots') creates the illusion of 3D spheres to humans, but do female birds think the same? We asked some chickens...and it seems so! https://bit.ly/3Ui3n5k

The new messages icon on my phone does really horrible things to my vision 👀

Came off my bike today and hit head hard on the ground (I'm fine), but a helpful illustration of the importance of bike helmets!

Baking for lab members when family members are around 👀

Advice please! Need to track fish during behav expts to measure time in set areas, visits, track length etc. Using Biobserve Viewer but cameras on last legs. Don't need anything too fancy, usually just tracking one fish per expt for ~10 mins. Any suggestions?

Can animal patterning create or conceal 3D form for camouflage? https://bit.ly/3MNkBUc 📷Shipher Wu (Uropyia meticulodina - yes that wing is actually flat!)

This @Nigella_Lawson chocolate Guinness cake might just be my new favourite cake. So good. https://www.nigella.com/recipes/chocolate-guinness-cake

Not to stress parents out more than they already are, but the 6 year old has covid again, after we all had it in January (symptoms both times) #CovidIsNotOver

New entertainment watching neighbour trying to stop gulls nesting on their usual roof spot: Attempt 1. Wave duster at them at random intervals. Efficacy 1/10, gulls not bothered.

Been a hectic day, but happy #InternationalDayOfWomenInScience to the amazing women I get to do science with (or just generally hang out with due to work!)

I've just received a reference request for a former student that is asking me comment on their general health, as well as the amount of sick leave and parental leave they have taken. Is that even legal?!

Awfully British complication of wearing masks at work - can't sniff the milk to check if it's gone off before adding to tea 🤢

I've been using this rolling pin for over a decade and only just noticed the smiley face! 🙂

Kid 1 off school waiting for (lost?) PCR test result, kid 2 off nursery as no staff due to covid. I'm trying to finish writing and costing a grant due next week.

So it begins #startofterm

Will I ever be able to spell iridescence on the first attempt?

Naughtily hijacking the #ABS2021 hashtag to encourage behavio(u)ral researchers to help us understand how female great bowerbirds may be tricked by male displays. Each game takes ~1-2 minutes, thanks for your help! https://bit.ly/3qJJvdk

Our @falmouthexeter gardeners are fab - free salad and veg plugs available to reduce waste from local business surplus. Just take a container and help yourself. I scored some broad beans too! https://fxplus.ac.uk/news/plant-partnership-launches/

Possibly my favourite spot on @UniExeCornwall campus at the moment, even if it is in the car park!

Lovely people of Twitter! Please be our surrogate bowerbirds and tell us how forced perspective illusions affect your perception, each expt takes ~2 mins! 1)https://bit.ly/2Ulim4n 2)https://bit.ly/3qJJvdk 3)https://bit.ly/2UkGS5G 4)https://bit.ly/3qPTJcb Thanks! 🐦

Enjoyed a small slice of normality yesterday catching up with the lab in 3D for the first time in ages. Had drinks on the beach to say farewell to some who will be much missed as they head off on exciting new adventures, and welcome to new group members 🍻

It is a truth universally acknowledged that kids always come down with some minor illness that requires staying home from school/nursery at the most inconvenient time for their parents. Sigh.

The results are in! Behold our wondrous attempts to emulate bird building and decorating skills! https://fo.am/blog/2021/05/06/bower-experiment-results/ @FoamKernow @royalsociety