Visit Blog Website
65 posts · 70,662 views
A Nature Network blog that makes newly published research about evolution, ecology, ethology and birds accessible to the public. By GrrlScientist.
GrrlScientist
65 posts
Sort by: Latest Post, Most Popular
View by: Condensed, Full
- July 15, 2015
- 03:03 PM
- 644 views
Journal Club: Starlings on Prozac: How pharmaceuticals may affect wildlife
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: Recent research suggests that the commonly prescribed psychiatric drug, Prozac, occurs at environmentally relevant concentrations that can significantly alter behaviour and physiology in wild birds .. Read more... Read more »
Bean, T., Boxall, A., Lane, J., Herborn, K., Pietravalle, S., & Arnold, K. (2014) Behavioural and physiological responses of birds to environmentally relevant concentrations of an antidepressant. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 369(1656), 20130575-20130575. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0575
Crockett, M., Siegel, J., Kurth-Nelson, Z., Ousdal, O., Story, G., Frieband, C., Grosse-Rueskamp, J., Dayan, P., & Dolan, R. (2015) Dissociable Effects of Serotonin and Dopamine on the Valuation of Harm in Moral Decision Making. Current Biology, 25(14), 1852-1859. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.05.021
Markman, S., Müller, C., Pascoe, D., Dawson, A., & Buchanan, K. (2011) Pollutants affect development in nestling starlings Sturnus vulgaris. Journal of Applied Ecology, 48(2), 391-397. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2664.2010.01931.x
- May 18, 2015
- 05:29 AM
- 248 views
Birth of the blue morphos
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: Today’s “Museum Monday” features a visit to the Natural History Museum’s new Sensational Butterflies exhibition, where we watch a time-lapse video of their blue morpho butterflies emerging from chrysalises The Natural History Museum’s filmmakers recently captured a time-lapse video of the first of their blue morpho butterflies emerging from their chrysalises. These butterflies are now on view in their “Sensational Butterflies” exhibition. Several species of butterflies are........ Read more »
Vukusic P., C. R. Lawrence, & R. J. Wootton. (1999) Quantified interference and diffraction in single Morpho butterfly scales. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 266(1427), 1403-1411. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1999.0794
- May 5, 2015
- 08:55 AM
- 559 views
Journal Club: Birdfeeding favours non-native bird species
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: Feeding wild birds on bread and seed encourages high densities of introduced bird species at the expense of native species, thereby altering urban bird communities, according to a new study... Read more »
Galbraith Josie A. . (2015) Supplementary feeding restructures urban bird communities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1501489112
Fuller Richard A., Paul R. Armsworth, Olga Barbosa, & Kevin J. Gaston. (2007) Garden bird feeding predicts the structure of urban avian assemblages. Diversity and Distributions, 14(1), 131-137. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2007.00439.x
- March 20, 2015
- 03:55 AM
- 762 views
How chemistry affects the evolution of life
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: In this fascinating video, Professor Ros Rickaby from Oxford chats with Professor Simon Conway-Morris at Cambridge about how Earth’s changing chemistry has affected evolution, and how this can sometimes lead to evolutionary convergence... Read more »
Williams R. J. P. (1981) The Bakerian Lecture, 1981: Natural Selection of the Chemical Elements. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 213(1193), 361-397. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.1981.0071
Cook L. M., I. J. Saccheri, & J. Mallet. (2012) Selective bird predation on the peppered moth: the last experiment of Michael Majerus. Biology Letters, 8(4), 609-612. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2011.1136
Dhingra A., & H. Daniell. (2004) Enhanced translation of a chloroplast-expressed RbcS gene restores small subunit levels and photosynthesis in nuclear RbcS antisense plants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 101(16), 6315-6320. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0400981101
- March 17, 2015
- 08:31 AM
- 827 views
Gender equality in science: it takes a village
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: Late last year, a metastudy was published showing that, since 2000, things are improving for women working in most STEM-based fields, although there are some notable exceptions... Read more »
Ceci S. J., S. Kahn, & W. M. Williams. (2014) Women in Academic Science: A Changing Landscape. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 15(3), 75-141. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1529100614541236
Smith Kristin A., Fiona M. Watt, & Susan L. Solomon. (2015) Seven Actionable Strategies for Advancing Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Cell Stem Cell, 16(3), 221-224. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2015.02.012
- March 13, 2015
- 02:20 AM
- 800 views
How photosynthesis is inspiring solar power research
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: To meet humanity’s growing energy demands, scientists are taking lessons from plants, which perfected the process of capturing the sun’s rays and transforming that into starch. Might scientists be able to adapt the photosynthetic process pioneered by plants and adapt it to meet human demands? ... Read more »
Barber James. (2007) Biological solar energy. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 1007-1023. DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2006.1962
Porter G. (1950) Flash Photolysis and Spectroscopy. A New Method for the Study of Free Radical Reactions. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 200(1061), 284-300. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1950.0018
Porter G. (1966) Studies of Triplet Chlorophyll by Microbeam Flash Photolysis. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 295(1440), 1-12. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1966.0222
Porter G. (1978) The Bakerian Lecture, 1977: In Vitro Models for Photosynthesis. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 362(1710), 281-303. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.1978.0134
Tyndall J. (1861) The Bakerian Lecture: On the Absorption and Radiation of Heat by Gases and Vapours, and on the Physical Connexion of Radiation, Absorption, and Conduction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1-36. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1861.0001
Cogdell R. J., P. I. Molina, & L. Cronin. (2013) The use and misuse of photosynthesis in the quest for novel methods to harness solar energy to make fuel. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 371(1996), 20110603-20110603. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2011.0603
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Computer Science / Engineering
- Physics
- Ecology / Conservation
- Biophysics
- Conservation
- Botany
- Energy
- Chemical Biology
- Environment
- Evolutionary Biology
- Sustainability
- Analytical Chemistry
- Applied Physics
- Chemical Engineering
- Environmental Chemistry
- Nanoscience
- Environmental Engineering
- Materials
- Biochemistry
- Climate Change
- March 12, 2015
- 02:54 AM
- 668 views
Science, climate change and controversy
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: It’s inevitable: as science progresses, controversy happens. But sometimes, the public sees controversy where none exists. How to remedy that? ... Read more »
Darwin C. (1839) Observations on the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, and of Other Parts of Lochaber in Scotland, with an Attempt to Prove That They Are of Marine Origin. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 39-81. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1839.0005
- March 11, 2015
- 10:14 AM
- 765 views
Citizen science is making scientists of everyone
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: Citizen science is getting a lot of attention these days, which might make you think it is a new social phenomenon. But in fact, nothing is further from the truth.... Read more »
Blackawton P. S., Airzee S. , Allen A., Baker S., Berrow A., Blair C., Churchill M., Coles J., Cumming R. F.-J., & Fraquelli L. (2011) Blackawton bees. Biology Letters, 168-172. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.1056
Silvertown Jonathan. (2009) A new dawn for citizen science. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 24(9), 467-471. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2009.03.017
- February 24, 2015
- 03:11 AM
- 601 views
Shelf Life: the Olinguito’s Skull
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: Instead of travelling to remote locations in faraway countries, scientists sometimes discover a new species by looking a little more closely at an old specimen in a museum drawer.... Read more »
Helgen Kristofer M., Roland Kays, Lauren Helgen, Mirian Tsuchiya, Aleta Quinn, Don Wilson, & Jesus Maldonado. (2013) Taxonomic revision of the olingos (Bassaricyon), with description of a new species, the Olinguito. ZooKeys, 1-83. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.324.5827
- February 9, 2015
- 01:30 PM
- 763 views
Slime mould and researcher set to play piano duet
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: A single-celled organism will perform a piano duet with a computer musician at Plymouth University on 1 March 2015. The public is invited. ... Read more »
Nakagaki Toshiyuki, Yamada Hiroyasu, & Tóth Ágota. (2000) Intelligence: Maze-solving by an amoeboid organism. Nature, 407(470). DOI: 10.1038/35035159
Saigusa Tetsu, Toshiyuki Nakagaki, & Yoshiki Kuramoto. (2008) Amoebae Anticipate Periodic Events. Physical Review Letters, 100(1). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.100.018101
Miranda Eduardo R. , Adamatzky Andrew, & Jones Jeff . (2011) Sounds Synthesis with Slime Mould of Physarum polycephalum. Journal of Bionic Engineering, 107-113. arXiv: 1212.1203
- January 14, 2015
- 10:41 AM
- 649 views
Journal Club: Birds pick nest materials with camouflage in mind
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: A recent study by a research team in Scotland reveals that birds intentionally choose colour-matching materials to camouflage their nests thereby reducing predation risk. Read more... Read more »
Bailey Ida E., Kate Morgan, Simone L. Meddle, & Susan D. Healy. (2015) Birds build camouflaged nests. The Auk, 132(1), 11-15. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1642/auk-14-77.1
- January 5, 2015
- 02:32 PM
- 811 views
Journal Club: Halfsider: a bizarre half-male half-female bird
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: A “halfsider” -- half male and half female bird -- has been mentioned in the news over the holidays. More properly known as bilateral gynandromorphs or tetragametic chimæras, these unusual birds are actually two genetically distinct individuals -- twins -- fused into one being. But what is it like to be such an individual? A recently published paper shares observations of the behaviour and social life of one such individual living in the wild.... Read more »
Peer Brian D. (2014) Observations of a Bilateral Gynandromorph Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) . The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 126(4), 778-781. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1676/14-025.1
Agate R. J., J. Wade, S. Mann, J. Wingfield, C. Schanen, A. Palotie, & A. P. Arnold. (2003) Neural, not gonadal, origin of brain sex differences in a gynandromorphic finch. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100(8), 4873-4878. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0636925100
Chue Justin. (2011) Sex determination and sexual differentiation in the avian model. FEBS Journal, 278(7), 1027-1034. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1742-4658.2011.08032.x
- Biology
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Learning
- Genetics
- sex determination
- Evolutionary Biology
- gender
- Reproduction
- Zoology
- Hormones
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Developmental Neuroscience
- Anatomy
- Comparative Psychology
- Behavioral Biology
- Developmental Psychology
- Cell Biology
- Evolutionary Psychology
- December 4, 2014
- 08:51 AM
- 970 views
Journal Club: Do pufferfishes hold their breath when inflated?
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: A newly-published study by a team of Australian scientists reveals that inflated pufferfish do not hold their breath, that they continue to obtain oxygen across their gills as usual. ... Read more »
McGee Georgia Evelyn, & Clark Timothy Darren. (2014) All puffed out: do pufferfish hold their breath while inflated?. Biology Latters, 10(12). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2014.0823
- July 5, 2014
- 09:22 AM
- 803 views
True Facts About The Fruit Bat
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: This amusing video shares a few facts about the amazing megabats -- the largest flying mammals alive in the world today. Orphaned baby fruit bats. ... Read more »
Simmons Nancy B., Jörg Habersetzer, & Gregg F. Gunnell. (2008) Primitive Early Eocene bat from Wyoming and the evolution of flight and echolocation. Nature, 451(7180), 818-821. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature06549
Pettigrew J. D., S. K. Robson, L. S. Hall, K. I. McAnally, & H. M. Cooper. (1989) Phylogenetic Relations Between Microbats, Megabats and Primates (Mammalia: Chiroptera and Primates). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 325(1229), 489-559. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.1989.0102
Eick G. N. (2005) A Nuclear DNA Phylogenetic Perspective on the Evolution of Echolocation and Historical Biogeography of Extant Bats (Chiroptera). Molecular Biology and Evolution, 22(9), 1869-1886. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msi180
- July 3, 2014
- 02:25 AM
- 604 views
Journal Club: DNA analysis indicates Bigfoot may be a big fake
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: A new genetic analysis of 'yeti' hair samples reveals they actually originated from dogs, horses, bears or other known mammals. ... Read more »
Sykes Bryan C., Mullis Rhettman A., Hagenmuller Christophe, Melton Terry W., & Sartori Michel. (2014) Genetic analysis of hair samples attributed to yeti, bigfoot and other anomalous primates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0161
MacLeod Norman. (2014) Molecular analysis of ‘anomalous primate’ hair samples (commentary). Proceedings of the Royal Society B. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0843
Hailer F., B. M. Hallstrom, D. Klassert, S. R. Fain, J. A. Leonard, U. Arnason, & A. Janke. (2012) Nuclear Genomic Sequences Reveal that Polar Bears Are an Old and Distinct Bear Lineage. Science, 336(6079), 344-347. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1216424
- June 20, 2014
- 07:31 AM
- 1,022 views
Journal Club: Passenger pigeon extinction: it’s complicated
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
A newly published study reveals that the extinction of the passenger pigeon likely was due to the combined effects of their natural dramatic population fluctuations and human over-exploitation. Read more... Read more »
Hung Chih-Ming, Shaner Pei-Jen L., Zink Robert M., Liu Wei-Chung, Chu Te-Chin, Huang Wen-San, & Li Shou-Hsien. (2014) Drastic population fluctuations explain the rapid extinction of the passenger pigeon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1401526111
Hung Chih-Ming, Lin Rong-Chien, Chu Jui-Hua, Yeh Chia-Fen, Yao Chiou-Ju, & Li Shou-Hsien. (2013) The De Novo Assembly of Mitochondrial Genomes of the Extinct Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius) with Next Generation Sequencing. PLoS ONE, 8(2). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0056301
Groenen Martien A. M., Archibald Alan L., Uenishi Hirohide, Tuggle Christopher K., Takeuchi Yasuhiro, Rothschild Max F., Rogel-Gaillard Claire, Park Chankyu, Milan Denis, & Megens Hendrik-Jan. (2012) Analyses of pig genomes provide insight into porcine demography and evolution. Nature, 491(7424), 393-398. DOI: 10.1038/nature11622
Frankham Richard. (1995) Effective population size/adult population size ratios in wildlife: A Review. Genetical Research, 66(02), 95-107. DOI: 10.1017/S0016672300034455
- May 22, 2014
- 05:03 AM
- 872 views
Journal Club: Wild mice actually enjoy running on exercise wheels
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: Wild mice frequently and voluntarily run on an exercise wheel if provided access to them in nature, even in the absence of a food reward -- findings that dispel the idea that wheel running is an artefact of captivity, indicative of a neurotic or repetitive stereotyped behaviour that may be associated with poor welfare. ... Read more »
Meijer J. H., & Robbers Y. (2014) Wheel running in the wild. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 281(1786), 20140210-20140210. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0210
Sherwin C.M. (1998) Voluntary wheel running: a review and novel interpretation. Animal Behaviour, 56(1), 11-27. DOI: 10.1006/anbe.1998.0836
Kavanau J. L. (1967) Behavior of Captive White-Footed Mice. Science, 155(3770), 1623-1639. DOI: 10.1126/science.155.3770.1623
- May 2, 2014
- 06:12 AM
- 1,081 views
Journal Club: Hummingbirds: still evolving endless forms most wonderful
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: A new study finds that the rising Andes are tied to the rapid speciation of hummingbirds. This study also predicts that hummingbirds will evolve twice as many species as what we see today. ... Read more »
McGuire Jimmy A. , Witt Christopher C. , Remsen, Jr. J.V. , Corl Ammon , Rabosky Daniel L. , Altshuler Douglas L. , & Dudley Robert . (2014) Molecular Phylogenetics and the Diversification of Hummingbirds. Current Biology. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.016
Hoorn C., Wesselingh F. P., ter Steege H., Bermudez M. A., Mora A., Sevink J., Sanmartin I., Sanchez-Meseguer A., Anderson C. L., & Figueiredo J. P. (2010) Amazonia Through Time: Andean Uplift, Climate Change, Landscape Evolution, and Biodiversity. Science, 330(6006), 927-931. DOI: 10.1126/science.1194585
Mayr G. (2004) Old World Fossil Record of Modern-Type Hummingbirds. Science, 304(5672), 861-864. DOI: 10.1126/science.1096856
Doorn G. S. v., Noest A. J., & Hogeweg P. (1998) Sympatric speciation and extinction driven by environment dependent sexual selection. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 265(1408), 1915-1919. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.1998.0520
- April 16, 2014
- 09:17 AM
- 781 views
Journal Club: What’s old is new again: newly discovered songbird family is ancient
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: Scientists analysing songbird DNA discovered that the spotted wren-babbler is neither a wren nor a wren-babbler, nor even a babbler. Instead, it represents an old evolutionary family that has no close living relatives. ... Read more »
Alström Per, Hooper Daniel M. , Liu Yang, Olsson Urban, Mohan Dhananjai , Gelang Magnus , Hung Le Manh, Zhao Jian , Lei Fumin, & Price Trevor D. (2014) Discovery of a relict lineage and monotypic family of passerine birds. Biology Letters, 10(3). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2013.1067
- April 9, 2014
- 03:46 PM
- 752 views
Journal Club: Telomere length: a new measure of chronic stress in wildlife?
by GrrlScientist in Maniraptora
SUMMARY: Two independent studies find a positive relationship between social environment and telomere length. The first study -- that nearly everyone has heard about -- is in children. The second study -- that few have heard about -- is in pet grey parrots. The second study raises the question: might telomere length be developed as a new way to measure chronic stress -- in animals? ... Read more »
Aydinonat Denise, Penn Dustin J., Smith Steve, Moodley Yoshan, Hoelzl Franz, Knauer Felix, Schwarzenberger Franz, & Saretzki Gabriele. (2014) Social Isolation Shortens Telomeres in African Grey Parrots (Psittacus erithacus erithacus). PLoS ONE, 9(4). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093839.t001
Shalev Idan, Entringer Sonja, Wadhwa Pathik D., Wolkowitz Owen M., Puterman Eli, Lin Jue, & Epel Elissa S. (2013) Stress and telomere biology: A lifespan perspective. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 38(9), 1835-1842. DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2013.03.010
topics
join us!
Do you write about peer-reviewed research in your blog? Use ResearchBlogging.org to make it easy for your readers — and others from around the world — to find your serious posts about academic research.
If you don't have a blog, you can still use our site to learn about fascinating developments in cutting-edge research from around the world.
Research Blogging is powered by SMG Technology.
To learn more, visit seedmediagroup.com.