Author: Sarah Marley

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Understanding ecosystem function (and each other)

Proponents of interdisciplinary work can range from grant reviewers to department chairs, but what goes into this type of collaboration? Alva Curtsdotter (ecologist) and Amanda Laubmeier (mathematician) talk about the process behind their recent paper on dynamic food web modelling. Alva: There has for some time now been an increasing interest in using dynamic food web models in ecosystem function research. These mathematical models describe … Continue reading Understanding ecosystem function (and each other)

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Streamlining Biologging Technology

The understanding of the interplay of movement, behaviour and physiology that biologging offers has applied relevance for a range of fields, including evolutionary ecology, wildlife conservation and behavioural ecology. In recognition of this, the Journal of Animal Ecology has an upcoming Special Feature on Biologging  (submissions due 20th September). Bio-telemetry devices are used ubiquitously across vertebrates in studies of movement and behavioural ecology and can provide scientists with … Continue reading Streamlining Biologging Technology

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Stopovers for sickly songbirds

The understanding of the interplay of movement, behaviour and physiology that biologging offers has applied relevance for a range of fields, including evolutionary ecology, wildlife conservation and behavioural ecology. In recognition of this, the Journal of Animal Ecology has an upcoming Special Feature on Biologging  (submissions due 20th September). This blog posts is written to accompany a recent publication in the Journal of Animal Ecology. Lead-author Dr Arne … Continue reading Stopovers for sickly songbirds

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Diversity in Ecology

Becoming Dr Daddy: The concerns of a PhD parent

Following our #DiversityInEcology theme, this blog talks about the challenges of academic parenthood from the perspective of Andy Seaton, a PhD student at the University of St Andrews. I am just coming to the end of my first year as a PhD candidate in ecological statistics.  I am also a father to a 3 year-old boy and partner to a recent PhD graduate (Dr Mummy) who has … Continue reading Becoming Dr Daddy: The concerns of a PhD parent

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I Set Out To Track Birds, but Ended Up Tracking Predators

The understanding of the interplay of movement, behaviour and physiology that biologging offers has applied relevance for a range of fields, including evolutionary ecology, wildlife conservation and behavioural ecology. In recognition of this, the Journal of Animal Ecology has an upcoming Special Feature on Biologging  (submissions due 20th September). But sometimes, you don’t end up tracking exactly what you expect… This was the case for Dylan Smith, an … Continue reading I Set Out To Track Birds, but Ended Up Tracking Predators

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Biologging: squiggly lines, new methods and big ideas

The understanding of the interplay of movement, behaviour and physiology that biologging offers has applied relevance for a range of fields, including evolutionary ecology, wildlife conservation and behavioural ecology. In recognition of this, the Journal of Animal Ecology has an upcoming Special Feature on Biologging  (submissions due 20th September). An advantage of biologging is that it can be applied to a wide range of animal species. To demonstrate … Continue reading Biologging: squiggly lines, new methods and big ideas

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Diversity in Ecology

Did they choose my brain, my gender, or my race?

Following our #DiversityInEcology theme, this blog post talks about having (and overcoming!) imposter syndrome. Isabel Rojas-Ferrer is a cognitive ecologist who was recently invited to participate in a roundtable discussion with the Minister of Science of Canada. Learn how this experience changed her reasoning about imposter syndome. During my second year of my master’s degree I started feeling undeserving of my position as a graduate student. At … Continue reading Did they choose my brain, my gender, or my race?

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Stressed-Out Squirrels

A recently-published paper in the Journal of Animal Ecology has discovered that the grey squirrel (one of the most impacting alien invasive species in Europe) causes an increase in chronic stress in the native red squirrel. Lead author Dr Francesca Santicchia is a research fellow at the University of Insubria in Italy. She had studied the relationships among parasites, physiological stress, and personality in grey squirrel … Continue reading Stressed-Out Squirrels

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Defining a mating system of a cryptic deer species

The understanding of the interplay of movement, behaviour and physiology that biologging offers has applied relevance for a range of fields, including evolutionary ecology, wildlife conservation and behavioural ecology. In recognition of this, the Journal of Animal Ecology has an upcoming Special Feature on Biologging  (submissions due 20th September). A benefit of biologging is that it provides the opportunity to study animals that are notoriously difficult to directly … Continue reading Defining a mating system of a cryptic deer species

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Ecological inference from occupancy estimates depends on sampling scale

Understanding animal occupancy should be relatively simple – but actually requires some complex thinking. In this blog post, Jonathon J. Valente (Postdoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Migratory Bird Center) and Quresh S. Latif (Biometrician, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies) delve into the surprisingly tricky question of ‘how many sites are occupied?‘ Occupancy has long been a focus in ecology. Estimating probability of site occupancy … Continue reading Ecological inference from occupancy estimates depends on sampling scale

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