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Author Archives: Sarah Marley

Persistence (and a bit of luck) pays off: Costs of reproduction in mountain ungulates

January 21, 2020by Sarah Marley Leave a comment

Fitness costs of reproduction are expected when resources are limited. This can drive the evolution of life‐history strategies and can affect population dynamics, particularly if females change their allocation of […]

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Birds in paradise: biogeography in the subtropics

January 3, 2020by Sarah Marley 1 Comment

Biogeography is often more complicated than the species-area relationship as discussed in a Journal of Animal Ecology paper testing multiple extensions of island biogeography theory. Sam Ross, lead author of […]

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Determinants of micro- and macroparasite diversity in birds: the fruits of comparing apples and oranges

June 6, 2019by Sarah Marley Leave a comment

Identifying the factors shaping variation in parasite diversity among host species is crucial to understand wildlife diseases. A recent paper in Journal of Animal Ecology investigated the role of host […]

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The invisible interplay between herbivorous insects and their monitoring ants on a chemically diverse plant

May 21, 2019by Sarah Marley Leave a comment

Plants exhibit impressive genetic and chemical diversity, and this variation is important for structuring ecological communities. A recent paper in the Journal of Animal Ecology investigated this with regard to […]

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Manipulation of gut microbiota during critical developmental windows affect host physiological performance and disease susceptibility across ontogeny

April 30, 2019by Sarah Marley Leave a comment

Colonisation of gut microbiomes during early life can shape metabolism and immunity of adult animals. However, most data are derived from antibiotic‐treated or germ‐free laboratory mammals. Furthermore, few studies have […]

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Which GLM?

April 22, 2019by Sarah Marley 1 Comment

Many papers refer to the use of GLMs in their analyses – but are you sure you know to which statistical approach they refer? Professor Daniel Blumstein and Associate Professor […]

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Do spatial sampling scales influence the understanding of ant-plant interaction network architecture?

April 19, 2019by Sarah Marley Leave a comment

Despite great interest in metrics to quantify the structure of ecological networks, the effects of sampling and scale remain poorly understood. However, a recent paper published in Journal of Animal […]

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Disentangling disease transmission in Madagascar fruit bats

April 16, 2019by Sarah Marley Leave a comment

Bats can carry various diseases, including many which are transferable to humans. A recent study published in the Journal of Animal Ecology investigated disease extent, seasonality, and mechanisms of transmission […]

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Lovers and fighters, and how their coexistence affects their evolution within an eco-evolutionary feedback loop

April 9, 2019by Sarah Marley Leave a comment

Eco-evolutionary dynamics are well studied but the term is applied to a wide variety of effects and interactions. Yet comparing these different types of studies on eco-evolutionary dynamics will inform […]

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Urbanization alters predator‐avoidance behaviours

April 2, 2019by Sarah Marley Leave a comment

Urbanisation is changing the natural landscape at a global scale. This obviously alters habitat structures, but what is the influence on predator-prey dynamics? A recent paper in the Journal of […]

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The Umwelt Approach

March 21, 2019by Sarah Marley 1 Comment

Following our #DiversityInEcology theme, Ben Whittaker discusses mental health from the perspective of the umwelt. Cognitive philosophers use the term umwelt to describe the epicentre of being. Your umwelt is […]

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Diversity in Ecology

Weak effects of geolocators on small birds

March 19, 2019by Sarah Marley 1 Comment

Biologging is a powerful tool and often utilised to study animal movement patterns. But how can researchers be sure that the tag itself does not negatively impact the study animal? […]

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Hungry lizards catch the worms

March 12, 2019by Sarah Marley Leave a comment

Parasite transmission is dependent upon host diet and habitat use. A recent paper in the Journal of Animal Ecology examined over 350 species of lizard in search of a link […]

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Parasitism and Host Diet Quality in Natural Populations

March 10, 2019by Sarah Marley Leave a comment

Parasite-host relationships can be amazingly complex. Parasites can even alter host diets. But how exactly does this work? Dr Charlotte Narr, a Research Scientist at Colorado State University’s Natural Resource […]

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Live fast, don’t die young

March 9, 2019by Sarah Marley Leave a comment

Understanding the trade-offs between survival and reproduction is essential for the study of population dynamics. A recent paper in the Journal of Animal Ecology used a novel statistical framework to reveal previously […]

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A high cost of infidelity for swift parrots

February 12, 2019by Sarah Marley 1 Comment

A recent paper published in the Journal of Animal Ecology has found that a chronic shortage of females in a critically endangered parrot species has led to love triangles, sneaky […]

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Penguin niche-partitioning resilient to climate change

February 5, 2019by Sarah Marley 1 Comment

Competition for limited food resources can be particularly fierce where similarly-related species overlap. Harriet L. Clewlow is a PhD student based at the British Antarctic Survey and linked with University of […]

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Explaining population variability in marine fishes

January 29, 2019by Sarah Marley Leave a comment

Populations are not stable. But despite decades of study, the drivers of population variability are yet to be fully understood. A new study in the Journal of Animal Ecology suggests that […]

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Should I tell my colleagues I am gay?

January 22, 2019by Sarah Marley 1 Comment

Following our #DiversityInEcology theme, Conor Ryan discusses his experiences of judging whether to be ‘out’ to colleagues and crew members during boat-based fieldwork. A congenital ecologist, Conor’s career began in the […]

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Diversity in Ecology

A Colourful Distribution

January 15, 2019by Sarah Marley Leave a comment

Skinks come in a variety of colours and patterns. But why and how are these colour polymorphisms maintained? Genevieve Matthews, a PhD student at Monash University, has been studying skinks […]

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