Here are some links to some interesting blog posts that I've read recently. They vary from the psychology of 'believing' in evolution to the language of birds. I think they're cool, so some other people might too!

Don't Believe in Evolution? Try Thinking Harder
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2015/06/29/418289762/don-t-believe-in-evolution-try-thinking-harder?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150629

Gentle Sex? Females Just As Feisty As Males Over Reproduction
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22630270.300-gentle-sex-females-just-as-feisty-as-males-over-reproduction.html (behind a pay wall)

What Can Be Done to Make Sure That Wind Energy and Africa’s Vultures Co-exist
http://theconversation.com/what-can-be-done-to-make-sure-that-wind-energy-and-africas-vultures-co-exist-43677

Babbler Birds Use Primitive Language to Communicate With Meaning, Study Show
http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-30/outback-babbler-birds-use-primitive-language-study-says/6582860

I read about a really cool trial that has been carried out in the Natural History Museum. The museum, home to priceless collections of animal, plant and insect specimens that have been collected for over a hundred years, has been infested by moths that are eating the exhibits. The clothing webbing moths, Tineola bisselliela, lay their eggs in the specimens and their larvae eat the keratin in the skin and the hair. (This was also covered in the Independent.)

But using the amazingness of pheromones, chemicals that produced by animals to cause changes in the behaviour of others, they have been able to reduce the moth population by half. Male moths are renowned for using their antennae to detect female sexual pheromones to locate potential mates, this is why the males of some species of moth have such large antennae. Males will fly from areas of low concentrations of female sexual pheromones and by detecting changes in the concentration they can slowly move towards the female, and this behaviour is what the Natural History Museum used to such great effect. By using a trap laced with female pheromones they managed to trap males, who then themselves became covered in the same pheromone, attracting yet more males. This species has a short window of reproduction, so trapping the males limited reporduction.

However this is not a perfect solution, as not all of the moths can be caught in such a way in such a large. Now they are turning to the power of parasitism! They are going to use a parasitic wasp, Trichogramma, to bring the numbers of the moth down further. These insects lay their eggs in the larvae of the moth. This form of parasitism is fascinating, with so many factors to investigate: how do females find their host? How do they know if the host already has an egg inside it? How many eggs should they lay in the host? Not to mention the crazy physiology, with some parasites keeping hosts alive while they eat them from the inside! But this form of biological control doesn't always work perfectly, and can lead to introducing a new species with negative effects on the wider environment: such as the cane toad in Australia.

Animals are used widely for controlling other species. For example, Harris hawks are used in London to control the pigeon population. Either using natural predators, tricking animals using their innate behaviours or other methods derived from their biology provide interesting ways of controlling our environment without the use for chemical insecticides, herbicides or fungicides. I remember a study I learned about as an under grad, carried out in China, where they planted different varieties in wheat alternately in fields. This planting method reduced the spread of wheat rust, due to a combination of the different heights that the varieties grew to effecting the transmission and the different varieties having different disease resistance. This sort of stuff is just awesome, showing that the more we learn from the nature the more we can do in the world. 

Just three cool papers that are worth a quick read:

Cunningham et al. (2015) Can behaviour buffer the impacts of climate change on an arid-zone bird? Ostrich 86: 119-126
Behavioural thermoregulation, particularly the use of cool microclimates, is one method by which organisms could avoid the worst effects of climate warming. However, retreat into cool microsites, e.g. shady vegetation or burrows, may carry important lost-opportunity costs. These could include reduced opportunity for foraging, breeding or territorial defence, each carrying implications for fitness. We investigated patterns of microclimate use and foraging behaviour by Southern Fiscals Lanius collaris in the Kalahari. We used Ivlev's electivity index to assess preference of breeding males for perch types with different thermal properties. We found that Southern Fiscals preferred to hunt from high, sunny perches at all times, except on hot afternoons (air temperature >35 °C), when they switched their preference to high, shaded perches. Black-bulb thermometers indicated shaded perches were always cooler than sunny perches, especially on hot afternoons. Therefore, Southern Fiscals could reduce thermoregulatory costs by switching foraging locations. However, Southern Fiscal foraging success rates were highest when hunting from sunny perches, and were reduced by c. 50% when hunting from shaded perches. Our data suggest that Southern Fiscals were making a trade-off on hot afternoons, compromising foraging intake in return for thermal benefits. We discuss potential costs and consequences of this trade-off under climate change. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/00306525.2015.1016469


Westrip & Bell (2015) Breaking down the species boundaries: selective pressures behind interspecific communication in vertebrates. Ethology DOI: 10.1111/eth.12379
Studying heterospecific communication provides an opportunity to examine the dynamics of cross-species social behaviour. It allows us to ask questions about the extent to which the transfer of information is adaptive or accidental and provides an empirically tractable context for manipulating relationships. To date, most studies of heterospecific communication have focussed on receivers. However, the selective pressures on signallers can be as important in determining the dynamics of interspecific communication. Here, we propose a simple framework for thinking about cross-species information transfer, which (i) considers whether information exchange is either accidental or adaptive and (ii) whether it is unidirectional or bidirectional. To clearly classify interactions, it is necessary to quantify all of the payoffs of interspecific communication to both signallers and receivers. This requires accurate characterisation of the currency influenced by cross-species communication (e.g. weight gain, foraging success, survival). However, quantifying the payoffs may be difficult, because each side may be benefiting via different currencies. To date, studies on heterospecific communication have focussed on only one dimension of a niche (usually antipredator or foraging signals). However, because niches are multidimensional, investigations should incorporate multiple aspects of a species’ niche, to get a better perspective on why we see certain patterns of information use between species.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eth.12379/abstract;jsessionid=27595B1F63B33763D53AC2405EBA6067.f03t03?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false

Flower et al. (2015) Dual parasitism of fork-tailed drongos by African and Jacobin cuckoos. Ostrich 86: 1-2
Different species of brood parasitic birds, which lay their eggs in the nests of host foster-parents, rarely target the same host species population. We report brood parasitism of Fork-tailed Drongos Dicrurus adsimilis in the southern Kalahari Desert by both African Cuckoo Cuculus gularis and Jacobin Cuckoo Clamator jacobinus serratus. Drongos are the only known host for the African Cuckoo, and were more frequently parasitised by this species (21.8% nests). Nevertheless, parasitism rates suggest that in the Kalahari, drongos are also an important host for Jacobin Cuckoo (4.6% nests). Jacobin Cuckoos likely compete with African Cuckoos for drongo hosts, as exemplified by the occurrence of both African and Jacobin Cuckoo eggs in the same drongo clutch. The drongo's defensive adaptations to parasitism by African Cuckoos, including egg rejection, may also curtail parasitism by Jacobin Cuckoos. The extent of competition between these cuckoo species and whether they possess adaptations to prevent one another's access to drongo hosts remains to be explored.

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2989/00306525.2015.1029032