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Some interesting papers

10/30/2012

This isn't going to be a big commentary on some new research but there are a couple of things that I have read recently that are quite interesting, for a variety of reasons. They are really diverse and so I will put the html address and a brief comment on them.

First one: Brault et al (2012) Detecting Deception in Movement: The Case of the Side-Step in Rugby Plos ONE
As a rugby player I just really liked the idea behind this paper, and found it amazing that so much money could be spent on research into side-stepping.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0037494

Second one: Hocking et al (2012) Leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx) use suction and filter feeding when hunting small prey underwater Polar Biology
This was cool because it just shows that even apex predators need to be flexible in their foraging habits, and the amazing way in which animals can adapt to different food sources.
I have put the link to the summary on the Nature website.
http://www.nature.com/news/leopard-seals-suck-up-krill-like-whales-1.11672?WT.ec_id=NEWS-20121030

Final one: Węgrzyn (2012) Intensity of mouth coloration in Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla nestlings affects food distribution among siblings but not provisioning of the whole brood Ibis
I liked this paper because it goes against many preconceptions about gape colour in nestling signalling. Normally, it is assumed that a more vibrant gape colour will increase provisioning to a nestling but the opposite occurs in this case. I love papers that go against norms and expectations.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ibi.12004/full

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Sweet home kalahari (where the skies are so blue)

10/30/2012

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So I am off back up to the babbler project, a couple of weeks later than I had orginally planned. The birds are breeding late this year, after what seems to have been a chaotic winter (lots of the dominants seem to have died or gone missing). But I will not just be going up for a couple of weeks but for two and a half months, while writing up my PhD! With the amazingly poor quality of the internet in the remote north Northen Cape, I will have limited access to papers. Therefore, starting from next week I will be on a paper binge: downloading any paper that might in some sense be useful. I am hoping that being in the kalahari will help with my writing up, seeing the birds usually makes me happy and so, fingers crossed, they can push me through to the finish. The only problem with seeing the birds again is that my mind will start finding new questions to ask about their behaviour, and develop new experiments. But maybe that will help me write a decent proposal for a post doc, who knows!

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The rhino with no horn

10/18/2012

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On Wednesday a former Fitz PhD student, who now works for WWF South Africa's Rhino program, came to give us a talk about WWF's new 5 point plan to reduce rhino poaching in South Africa. It was a depressing talk, in so much as the story of the rhino goes. Rhino's were far more widespread in Africa than they are today, now they are only really in the southern part of the continent. At the start of the century black rhino (Diceros bicornis) were also numerous and white rhino (Ceratotherium simum) were almost extinct, and now this situation has been reversed. South Africa has been pivitol in the conservation of the white rhino, but since 2007 poaching in the country has sky rocketed. However, this talk offered hope and inspiration, because WWF had plans to tackle poaching. One of the hopes that WWF and the department of environmental affairs had was to try to reduce the demand from the major consumer of rhino horn: Vietnam. In Vietnam it is used as a cancer cure, but more commonly among the nouveau riche as a hangover cure. But the first step in negotiating with Vietnam seems to have been snubbed, LINK. It is understandable why many poor Africans would engage in poaching, when horns are so valuable and they are so poor, but for a developing countries government not to see the error of its ways is unforgivable. If demand can be reduced then it will become less profitable, and there is one thing that behaviour ecology has taught me: individuals are far less likely to engage in risky behaviours if the pay-off's are low. I think that if we can change the consumers habits, make them see bloody pictures of poached rhinos, then we can make this awful trade unprofitable. This needs to stop, now.

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Fire & data

10/16/2012

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Yesterday I learnt a very important lesson, that I probably should have already learned. Back up your data! I was happily doing some sound analysis, and it's rare to be happily doing sound analysis for those who have never done it, when I noticed the smell of burning plastic. I looked to my left and saw smoke issuing from my desktop, as if Kiss were about to walk out from behind my computer. I turned the computer off at the mains, raced to get the techie and then we took it to a safe place and then opened it up. There was a small flickering flame on the back of the CD drive, and a light blow on it put it out. Fortunately everything was OK. But for a good few minutes I had visions of my last few weeks work disappearing. My heart was racing because I had not backed up for about 3 weeks! Lesson learned, weekly back ups!

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Do fledglings choose wisley?

10/10/2012

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So here is the abstract for my first primary authored paper. Here is the link if anyone wants to download it LINK. I would have loved to publish it open access, but there is no way I can afford $3000. Open access prices are a JOKE (but that is another blog! But if anyone can't access it and wants a copy then email me.

ABSTRACT
Many cooperative bird species have an extended period of post-fledging care. Despite the fact that this period of care can last up to several months, it remains a relatively understudied stage of chick development. This period, when young are actively begging but highly mobile, provides an opportunity for young to maximise the amount of care they receive by selectively choosing particular adults to beg from. In pied babblers Turdoides bicolor (a cooperatively breeding passerine), fledglings closely follow foraging adults and beg for food regularly (a behavioural interaction termed social foraging). Using a combination of natural observations and experimental manipulations, we found that fledgling pied babblers preferentially socially forage with adult care-givers who have high foraging success, since this results in young receiving more food. By supplementally feeding adults to artificially increase their foraging success, we increased the proportion of time that fledglings chose to socially forage with them, confirming that fledglings are selectively choosing dyadic interactions with the best adult foragers. These results indicate that pied babbler fledglings are sensitive to and can respond to short-term changes in adult foraging success, enabling themto maximize their nutritional intake, a behavioural adjustment that has long-term benefits in this system.

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TED talks

10/10/2012

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This may not be a new thing to people, but I have only just found out about them. TED talks are a collection of talks given by many different speakers, who are all leaders in their fields. The speakers can be anything from authors and scientist, to philosophers and comedians. They are usually about 15 minutes long. They are really interesting and very diverse, often coming at things from a new angle. I throughly recomend them, although they are add

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1st pub!!

10/1/2012

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I can't put a link to it yet but yesterday I had my first primary author paper accepted. I wont say anything about it just yet, as I want to put a link to it, and post the abstract, when it finally gets published. I just wanted to thank Mandy Ridley, there is no way I would have been able to do this without you. All those drafts that she read through, and helpful tips while I was doing my research, not to mention actually setting up the population and data protocols in the first place! I just want to say thanks and dedicate it to you.

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my thoughts on science

Some interesting papers

Sweet home kalahari (where the skies are so blue)

The rhino with no horn

Fire & data

Do fledglings choose wisley?

TED talks

1st pub!!

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