Making the most of #BES2018 – Highlights of events to make you a teaching pro!

It can be tricky being an academic, managing so many competing demands can mean that we might struggle to find time to be a great teacher as well as carrying out our research. With the release of the packed programme for the BES Annual Meeting, now is a great time to start thinking about how you might be able to fit in a few events … Continue reading Making the most of #BES2018 – Highlights of events to make you a teaching pro!

Divergent Migration in Lake Sturgeon

Studying aquatic animals has never been easy. Hidden from view beneath the water surface, they can be hard to find let-alone study in terms of their long-range movements. A recent paper published in the Journal of Animal Ecology investigated migratory behaviour in lake sturgeon. Lead author Steven Kessel from the Daniel P. Haerther Center for Conservation and Research at the John G. Shedd Aquarium is here to … Continue reading Divergent Migration in Lake Sturgeon

It’s a bear! Adopting a ‘computer vision for animal ecology’

How can automated image processing be applied for detecting, counting and identifying animals in natural landscapes? A recent review article published in the Journal of Animal Ecology covers this exact question! Dr Ben Weinstein is a postdoctoral fellow at Oregon State University interested in community ecology, Bayesian modeling and data science. He studies a wide range of taxa including tropical hummingbirds, Antarctic whales, and temperate trees. … Continue reading It’s a bear! Adopting a ‘computer vision for animal ecology’

Badgers and Disease Ecology

Traditionally one of the UK’s most charismatic (and certainly distinctive) mammals, the badger has received mixed attention in recent times as a result of their involvement in disease transmission.  To celebrate National Badger Day, Dr Andy Robertson  describes the long-term study of these animals in Woodchester Park.  Dr Robertson is a NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellow at the University of Exeter’s Environment and Sustainability Institute, and … Continue reading Badgers and Disease Ecology

Field Reports: Tim Coulson

We are back with another episode of the Field Reports podcast. I spoke to Prof. Tim Coulson of the University of Oxford about his fieldwork stories of taking a wrong boat reaching a wrong island, and more about integrating modelling and empirical field studies. About Tim.     Video trailer: Full podcast: Read the blog post written by Tim about modelling and empirical studies here. … Continue reading Field Reports: Tim Coulson

When Some Choughs Do Better Than Others

Red-billed choughs are a species of conservation concern, as discussed a recent Journal of Animal Ecology publication investigating their effective population size.  Amanda Trask, lead author of the study, recently finished her PhD at the University of Aberdeen on conservation genetics and demographics of one of the last remaining red-billed chough populations in Scotland, and is currently working as a Research Ecologist with the British Trust for … Continue reading When Some Choughs Do Better Than Others

Field reports with Nathan Sanders

For the first episode of our podcast, I interviewed Nathan Sanders, a ‘former professional wrestler’ and an ecologist at the University of Vermont. We talk about his first fieldwork experience, ants, plants, a skunk, why study biodiversity, WARM and SALT projects that he is involved in, advice for students, and many personal stories. More about Nate: http://www.natesanders.org     Here is a short video teaser for the … Continue reading Field reports with Nathan Sanders

Introducing Field Reports podcast

Do you have stories of fieldwork that you would like to share?  Maybe about the day you first saw a wild elephant, or the biggest ant that has ever crawled on your pants, or perhaps fieldwork failures, challenges and surprises? Do you want to talk about science, or your ‘Attenborough’ moments, or maybe just communicate to the general public about what you do when you … Continue reading Introducing Field Reports podcast