What makes an urban bird?

This blog post is provided by Jenny Ouyang and tells the #StoryBehindthePaper for the paper “Changes in the rearing environment cause reorganization of molecular networks associated with DNA methylation”, which was recently published in Journal of Animal Ecology. In their paper they explore the impact of urbanisation on DNA methylation in young birds. Urbanization is one of the most prevailing forms of habitat change, causing … Continue reading What makes an urban bird?

Beyond simple habituation: Anthropogenic habitats influence the escape behavior of spur-winged lapwings in response to both human and non-human threats

This blog post is provided by Bar-Ziv Michael, Sofer Aran, Gorovoy Adel and Spiegel Orr and tells the #StoryBehindthePaper for the paper “Beyond simple habituation: Anthropogenic habitats influence the escape behavior of spur-winged lapwings in response to both human and non-human threats“, which was recently published in Journal of Animal Ecology. In their paper they use a unique “Jack-Truck” to simulate a jackal predator, and explore … Continue reading Beyond simple habituation: Anthropogenic habitats influence the escape behavior of spur-winged lapwings in response to both human and non-human threats

Studying Abroad With A Bahamian Coastal Fish

This blog post tells the #StoryBehindThePaper from the perspective of one author, Matt Jenkins, for the article “Natural and anthropogenic sources of habitat variation influence exploration behaviour, stress response and brain morphology in a coastal fish” by Matt Jenkins, Jack Cummings, Alex Cabe, Kaj Hulthén, Nils Peterson, and Brian Langerhans, which was recently published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. As the human population continuously … Continue reading Studying Abroad With A Bahamian Coastal Fish

Urbanization alters predator‐avoidance behaviours

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 Animal Ecology studied two urban prey species to examine whether urbanisation changed their predator-avoidance behaviour. Lead author Dr Travis Gallo, an Urban Wildlife Postdoctoral Researcher at the Urban Wildlife Institute, Lincoln Park Zoo, tells us … Continue reading Urbanization alters predator‐avoidance behaviours