GrrlScientist , GrrlScientist , GrrlScientist , GrrlScientist , GrrlScientist

246 posts · 450,721 views

GrrlScientist is the blog pseudonym for an evolutionary biologist/ornithologist who writes about E3: Evolution, Ecology and Ethology, and the subtle relationships between these phenomena, especially in birds.

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  • July 15, 2015
  • 03:03 PM
  • 585 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
  • 221 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 11, 2015
  • 01:42 AM
  • 512 views

Birth of the blue morphos

by GrrlScientist in The Invisible Scientist

SUMMARY: Today’s “Museum Monday” features a visit to London's Natural History Museum’s new Sensational Butterflies exhibition, where we watch a time-lapse video of their blue morpho butterflies emerging from chrysalises ... 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
  • 523 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  

  • May 5, 2015
  • 08:44 AM
  • 555 views

Journal Club: Birdfeeding favours non-native bird species

by GrrlScientist in The Invisible Scientist

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
  • 709 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
  • 766 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
  • 739 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  

  • March 12, 2015
  • 02:54 AM
  • 620 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
  • 711 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
  • 556 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
  • 721 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
  • 614 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
  • 774 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  

  • December 4, 2014
  • 08:51 AM
  • 897 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  

  • August 16, 2014
  • 06:27 AM
  • 1,228 views

True facts about anglerfish | @GrrlScientist

by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist

To the female anglerfish, the human male is a very loud, annoying and unnecessarily complicated pair of gonads. Continue reading...... Read more »

Miya Masaki, James W Orr, Rachel J Arnold, Takashi P Satoh, Andrew M Shedlock, Hsuan-Ching Ho, Mitsuomi Shimazaki, Mamoru Yabe, & Mutsumi Nishida. (2010) Evolutionary history of anglerfishes (Teleostei: Lophiiformes): a mitogenomic perspective. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 10(1), 58. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-10-58  

Widder E. A. (2010) Bioluminescence in the Ocean: Origins of Biological, Chemical, and Ecological Diversity. Science, 328(5979), 704-708. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1174269  

  • August 14, 2014
  • 09:30 AM
  • 1,143 views

Competition for ecological niches limits evolution of new species | @GrrlScientist

by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist

A recently published study finds that competition for ecological niches limits the evolution of new species. Further, this study finds that speciation rate slows or even stops as available ecological niches fill up. Continue reading...... Read more »

Price Trevor D., Hooper Daniel M., Buchanan Caitlyn D., Johansson Ulf S., Tietze D. Thomas, Alström Per, Olsson Urban, Ghosh-Harihar Mousumi, Ishtiaq Farah, & Gupta Sandeep K. (2014) Niche filling slows the diversification of Himalayan songbirds. Nature. DOI: 10.1038/nature13272  

FJELDSÅ Jon. (2013) The global diversification of songbirds (Oscines) and the build-up of the Sino-Himalayan diversity hotspot. Chinese Birds, 4(2), 132-143. DOI: 10.5122/cbirds.2013.0014  

Richman Adam D. , & Price Trevor. (1992) Evolution of ecological differences in the Old World leaf warblers. Nature, 817-821. DOI: 10.1038/355817a0  

Kennedy Jonathan D., Weir Jason T., Hooper Daniel M. , Tietze D. Thomas, Martens Jochen, & Price Trevor D. (2012) Ecological limits on diversification of the Himalayan core Corvoidea. Evolution, 66(8), 2599-2613. DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2012.01618.x  

Harmon Luke J., Schulte James A., Larson Allan, & Losos Jonathan B. (2003) Tempo and Mode of Evolutionary Radiation in Iguanian Lizards. Science, 301(5635), 961-964. DOI: 10.1126/science.1084786  

  • July 30, 2014
  • 10:46 AM
  • 1,088 views

Influenza: How the Great War helped create the greatest pandemic the world has ever known | @GrrlScientist

by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist

The Great War helped create the influenza pandemic of 1918, which eventually brought an early end to the Great War. Continue reading...... Read more »

Gamblin S. J. (2004) The Structure and Receptor Binding Properties of the 1918 Influenza Hemagglutinin. Science, 303(5665), 1838-1842. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1093155  

Barry John M. (2004) The site of origin of the 1918 influenza pandemic and its public health implications (Commentary). Journal of Translational Medicine, 2(3). DOI: 10.1186/1479-5876-2-3  

Humphries M. O. (2014) Paths of Infection: The First World War and the Origins of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. War in History, 21(1), 55-81. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0968344513504525  

Osterholm Michael T. (2005) Preparing for the Next Pandemic. New England Journal of Medicine, 1839-1842. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp058068  

  • July 5, 2014
  • 09:22 AM
  • 779 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
  • 571 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  

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