​In a recent blog post I mentioned the research of the Hot Birds Project and the new research into how pied babblers respond to high temperatures that is going on. Amazingly, a new paper which is really relevant to that sort of work has just come out in Science. This research, by Mariette and Buchanan looks at acoustic communication between parents and their offspring in birds. This isn’t the normal adult bird chirping to a chick but communicating to their unhatched offspring. Zebra finches acoustically signal high ambient temperatures (>26°C) to their unhatched embryos, resulting in developmental changes to the offspring. This is brought about solely by using acoustic cues. This type of work is especially exciting because it shows potential coping mechanisms that animals may have for changing climates, it is also an exciting meeting point of parental effects, phenotypic plasticity and climate science. I’ve put the abstract and link to the article at the end of the post.

Link to video to help explain the 'talking to their eggs when hot' paper: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/08/video-zebra-finch-call-prepares-their-eggs-climate-change?utm_source=newsfromscience&utm_medium=facebook-text&utm_campaign=zebrafinch-6739

The other cool paper that has come out recently is work looking at Atlantic canaries and inbreeding. Males who were inbred were worse at singing and females mated less often with inbred males, producing fewer eggs. So for canaries it seems that singing is a honest signal of male genetic quality, adding credence to the ‘good genes’ hypothesis – the idea that male signals are a true representation of their genetic quality and females choose mates for this reason. Work on lizards, mice and lemurs have shown that olfactory cues are linked to genes related to immunity. I love this kind of science, I find it so fascinating. It also has impacts for helping to understand conservation issues with species range and population sizes and how to ensure viable populations. Again, the abstract and link are below.

Mariette & Buchanan (2016) Prenatal acoustic communication programs offspring for high posthatching temperatures in a songbird. Science, 353:812-814
In many species, embryos can perceive and learn external sounds. Yet, the possibility that parents may use these embryonic capacities to alter their offspring’s developmental trajectories has not been considered. Here, we demonstrate that zebra finch parents acoustically signal high ambient temperatures (above 26°C) to their embryos. We show that exposure of embryos to these acoustic cues alone adaptively alters subsequent nestling begging and growth in response to nest temperature and influences individuals’ reproductive success and thermal preferences as adults. These findings have implications for our understanding of maternal effects, phenotypic plasticity, developmental programming, and the adaptation of endothermic species to a warming world.

De Boer et al. (2016) ‘Out of tune’: consequences of inbreeding on bird song. Proc Roy Soc B
The expression of bird song is expected to signal male quality to females. ‘Quality’ is determined by genetic and environmental factors, but, surprisingly, there is very limited evidence if and how genetic aspects of male quality are reflected in song. Here, we manipulated the genetic make-up of canaries (Serinus canaria) via inbreeding, and studied its effects upon song output, complexity, phonetics and, for the first time, song learning. To this end, we created weight-matched inbred and outbred pairs of male fledglings, which were subsequently exposed to the same tutor male during song learning. Inbreeding strongly affected syllable phonetics, but there were little or no effects on other song features. Nonetheless, females discriminated among inbred and outbred males, as they produced heavier clutches when mated with an outbred male. Our study highlights the importance of song phonetics, which has hitherto often been overlooked.

In the spirit of many of my previous blogs I am going to write about a new paper written by someone I know. This may sound like some sort of nepotism, not that many people really read my blog, but this new paper has actually made quite a splash and so I’m really just following a great new science story. If you want to see some of the other coverage then click on these links: Science, Sci News, Science Daily, or PLoS Blogs. (The abstract and link to the paper in question is at the bottom of the blog)
 
This new piece of research is a product of the Hot Birds team at the Fitz in Cape Town, with Tanja van de Ven (lead author) spending many gruelling hours in the Kalahari heat with fairly complex equipment. The team, and Tanja’s, aim is to investigate how birds cope with rising temperatures using species that already exist in the hard thermal conditions of the Kalahari. One of their papers looked at the impact of heat stress on foraging in pied babblers. However, Tanja’s work focuses on yellow-billed hornbills, a species of bird that nests inside trees, with the female sealing herself into this cavity. This reproductive adaptation is great for protecting your eggs and female from predators but it can limit your ability to control your temperature, as you’re pretty stuck (it also means that the female and chicks are 100% dependent on the male for their nutritional needs – such a cool system for male-female and parent-offspring dynamics!!!).
 
The obvious feature of this bird, hopefully you have either clicked on the link or already know what a hornbill looks like from your bird knowledge or from childhood exposure to the Lion King, is that they have a massive long bill. The beak of a bird is not just lifeless tissue like finger nails but very much a living structure and as such has a profusion of blood vessels. Just like the thermoregulation that takes place in humans, where capillaries close to the surface are constricted or relaxed to either conserve or radiate heat, hornbills appear to have the same ability with the blood vessels in their beak. As the ambient air temperature increases more blood is pushed into the hornbill’s beak, allowing heat to be lost through radiative heat transfer. This is similar to toucans, as a recent study has found, but in the toucan this process accounts for upto 60% of non-evaporative heat loss compared to just 8% in the hornbill. There are a number of potential reasons for this: the toucans have much larger bills, hornbills have a harder bill (maybe an ecological adaptation to how they forage?) and toucans start dilating their blood vessels at lower temperatures.
 
This type of research is crucial for understanding how organisms are physiologically adapted to their environment. It enables researchers to better understand the environmental limits that a species may be able to cope with and allow predictions as to the impacts of climate change. It’s also pretty cool too.
 
 
van de Ven et al. (2016) Regulation of heat exchange across the hornbill beak: functional similarities with Toucans? PLoS One
 
Beaks are increasingly recognised as important contributors to avian thermoregulation. Several studies supporting Allen’s rule demonstrate how beak size is under strong selection related to latitude and/or air temperature (Ta). Moreover, active regulation of heat transfer from the beak has recently been demonstrated in a toucan (Ramphastos toco, Ramphastidae), with the large beak acting as an important contributor to heat dissipation. We hypothesised that hornbills (Bucerotidae) likewise use their large beaks for non-evaporative heat dissipation, and used thermal imaging to quantify heat exchange over a range of air temperatures in eighteen desert-living Southern Yellow-billed Hornbills (Tockus leucomelas). We found that hornbills dissipate heat via the beak at air temperatures between 30.7°C and 41.4°C. The difference between beak surface and environmental temperatures abruptly increased when air temperature was within ~10°C below body temperature, indicating active regulation of heat loss. Maximum observed heat loss via the beak was 19.9% of total non-evaporative heat loss across the body surface. Heat loss per unit surface area via the beak more than doubled at Ta > 30.7°C compared to Ta < 30.7°C and at its peak dissipated 25.1 W m-2. Maximum heat flux rate across the beak of toucans under comparable convective conditions was calculated to be as high as 61.4 W m-2. The threshold air temperature at which toucans vasodilated their beak was lower than that of the hornbills, and thus had a larger potential for heat loss at lower air temperatures. Respiratory cooling (panting) thresholds were also lower in toucans compared to hornbills. Both beak vasodilation and panting threshold temperatures are potentially explained by differences in acclimation to environmental conditions and in the efficiency of evaporative cooling under differing environmental conditions. We speculate that non-evaporative heat dissipation may be a particularly important mechanism for animals inhabiting humid regions, such as toucans, and less critical for animals residing in more arid conditions, such as Southern Yellow-billed Hornbills. Alternatively, differences in beak morphology and hardness enforced by different diets may affect the capacity of birds to use the beak for non-evaporative heat loss.

  There are many species that do not just exist with one specific colour pattern. These different colourations are called polymorphisms, existing in a variety of taxa from crabs to lizards to birds. There have been many explanations for the existence of these differences within a species, from protecting against predators to being important for mate choice. There is even a species of lizard, the side-blotched lizard, that exists in three colour morphs that are linked to their behaviour that was famously studied by Barry Sinervo. The orange males are more dominant, the blue males cooperate and the yellow males mimic females. These three morphs live in a state of perpetual flux as none can get the upper hand in the mating game. Basically colour morphs are interesting and we’ve really not touched the surface in understanding the evolutionary mechanisms that lead to and maintain them.

Some really cool studies have been done at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute in Cape Town by Arjun Amar to investigate the two colour morphs of the black sparrowhawk (Accipiter melanoleucus). These majestic birds are either a white or black morph. A new paper has just come out showing that one of the factors that may be keeping these morphs going is the difference in hunting success that they face. Black morphs, unsurprisingly because of their colour, have a higher success in low light levels, while their white breather have the opposite success rates. These success rates tie in with the breeding season of these morphs and may go a long way to explaining the variation in morph distribution across the species South African range. Abstract below:

Tate et al. (2016) Differential foraging success across a light level spectrum explains the maintenance and spatial structure of colour morphs in a polymorphic bird. Ecology Letters
Detectability of different colour morphs under varying light conditions has been proposed as an important driver in the maintenance of colour polymorphism via disruptive selection. To date, no studies have tested whether different morphs have selective advantages under differing light conditions. We tested this hypothesis in the black sparrowhawk, a polymorphic raptor exhibiting a discrete white and dark morph, and found that prey provisioning rates differ between the morphs depending on light condition. Dark morphs delivered more prey in lower light conditions, while white morphs provided more prey in brighter conditions. We found support for the role of breeding season light level in explaining the clinal pattern of variation in morph ratio across the species range throughout South Africa. Our results provide the first empirical evidence supporting the hypothesis that polymorphism in a species, and the spatial structuring of morphs across its distribution, may be driven by differential selective advantage via improved crypsis, under varying light conditions.

These results tie in nicely with previous work that has looked at the ratio of morphs across South Africa. This work found that the Cape peninsula had a very high proportion of black morphs but that this was unlikely to do with a founder effect. More likely it was because of higher rainfall rates during the breeding season, fitting nicely with the recent hunting findings. However, as is often the case in biological systems, hunting and light are not the only potential drivers for polymorphism in this species. It turns out that black morphs have a lower parasite load than white morphs.
 
The great thing about this particular subsection of research on the black sparrowhawk is that it all initially came from the observation that there seemed to be more black morphs in Cape Town than normal. This simple natural history note has spawned a growing number of scientific papers and led to wonderful new insights into evolution. So the next time you notice something when walking about just think that it might be far more interesting than may initially be apparent!

Other black sparrowhawk papers:
 
Amar et al. (2014) Clinal variation in the morph ratio of Black Sparrowhawks Accipiter melanoleucus in South Africa and its correlation with environmental variables. Ibis

Lei et al. (2013) Differential Haemoparasite Intensity between Black Sparrowhawk (Accipiter melanoleucus) Morphs Suggests an Adaptive Function for Polymorphism. PLoS ONE

A new paper on how Arabian babblers learn has just come out in Ethology. I've pasted the abstract and link below. This new work shows that dominant individuals are the fastest to learn to shift a learnt skill into a new context, from lifting black rubber lids to lifting white rubber lids, and that learned skills are transmitted horizontally between groups. The study of animal learning and how information is transferred between individuals is a fascinating field of behavioural science. In group living species the ability to learn new information, be it foraging skills or the dominance structure in your group, may be crucial for survival and an individuals prospects of achieving a reproductive position. I know that Oded spent many hours in the field collecting this data and this is a great paper!

Keynan et al. (2016) Task-dependent differences in learning by subordinate and dominant wild Arabian babblers. Ethology, DOI: 10.1111/eth.12488
Learning and innovation abilities have been studied extensively in flocking birds, but their importance and relevance in cooperatively breeding birds have been relatively unexplored. We studied the acquisition of novel foraging skills in 14 groups of wild, cooperatively breeding Arabian babblers (Turdoides squamiceps). While in a previous study we found that subordinate individuals were usually the first to learn to remove black rubber lids from a foraging grid, here we show that dominant individuals were the first to succeed in shifting from these black rubber lids to newly introduced white rubber lids. We also found that in all groups where one forager learned to shift to the white lids, the rest of the foragers also learned to do so, suggesting that this behaviour may be transmitted among group members. Although dominant individuals were almost always the first to remove white lids, once starting to remove white lids, dominants and subordinates learned equally well to prefer white over black lids based on differential reinforcement (food was provided only under white lids). Together with our previous study, our results suggest that differences in learning between dominants and subordinates may be task-specific, which may represent different cognitive strategies: subordinates may explore a more diverse range of foraging opportunities, while dominants may be better at generalizing from familiar tasks to similar ones.

​I’ve not done this for a while so I thought I’d collate some recent(ish) papers that I found interesting and thought would be good to share. As my interest in mainly family dynamics there is a strong leaning to this in my selection of papers. Below at the names, abstracts and then links to the papers. I hope you enjoy them!!
 
Pilakouta et al. (2015) State-dependent cooperation in burying beetles: parents adjust their contribution towards care based on both their own and their partner's size. JEB, DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12712
Handicapping experiments on species with biparental care show that a focal parent increases its contribution when its partner is handicapped. Such results are interpreted as evidence for negotiation, whereby each parent adjusts its amount of care to that of its partner. However, it is currently unclear whether the focal parent responds to a change in its handicapped partner's behaviour or state. To address this gap, we conducted an experiment on the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides where we first generated different-sized males and females by varying the duration of larval development. We then used a 2 × 2 factorial design in which a small or large male was paired with a small or large female. Small females provided less direct care (food provisioning and interactions with larvae) than large females, and both males and females provided less direct care when paired with a small partner. Thus, the focal parent adjusted its contribution towards care based on both its own state and that of its partner. There was also evidence for negotiation between the two parents as the focal parent adjusted its contribution based on the amount of care by its partner. However, there was no evidence that negotiation accounted for how the focal parent responded to its partner's size. Our results have important implications for our understanding of biparental cooperation as they show that each parent adjusts its contribution not only based on the amount of care provided by its partner but also based on its own state and its partner's state.
LINK
 
Kilner et al. (2015) Parental effects alter the adaptive value of an adult behavioural trait. eLIFE, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07340
The parents' phenotype, or the environment they create for their young, can have long-lasting effects on their offspring, with profound evolutionary consequences. Yet, virtually no work has considered how such parental effects might change the adaptive value of behavioural traits expressed by offspring upon reaching adulthood. To address this problem, we combined experiments on burying beetles (Nicrophorus vespilloides) with theoretical modelling and focussed on one adult behavioural trait in particular: the supply of parental care. We manipulated the early-life environment and measured the fitness payoffs associated with the supply of parental care when larvae reached maturity. We found that (1) adults that received low levels of care as larvae were less successful at raising larger broods and suffered greater mortality as a result: they were low-quality parents. Furthermore, (2) high-quality males that raised offspring with low-quality females subsequently suffered greater mortality than brothers of equivalent quality, which reared larvae with higher quality females. Our analyses identify three general ways in which parental effects can change the adaptive value of an adult behavioural trait: by influencing the associated fitness benefits and costs; by consequently changing the evolutionary outcome of social interactions; and by modifying the evolutionarily stable expression of behavioural traits that are themselves parental effects.
LINK
 
Gasperin & Kilner (2015) Friend or foe: inter-specific interactions and conflicts of interest within the family. Ecological Entomology, DOI: 10.1111/een.12259
1. Interactions between species can vary from mutually beneficial to evolutionarily neutral to antagonistic, even when the same two species are involved. Similarly, social interactions between members of the same species can lie on a spectrum from conflict to cooperation.
2. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether variation in the two types of social behaviour are interconnected. Is the fitness of the various classes of social partner within species (such as parent and offspring, or male and female) differently affected by interactions with a second species? Moreover, can inter-specific interactions influence the outcome of social interactions within species?
3. The present experiments focus on the interactions between the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides Herbst and the phoretic mitePoecilochirus carabi G. Canestrini & R. Canestrini. The approach was to measure the fitness of burying beetle mothers, fathers, and offspring after reproduction, which took place either in the presence or absence of mites.
4. We found that male, female, and larval burying beetles derive contrasting fitness costs and benefits from their interactions with the mite, despite sharing a common family environment. From the mite's perspective, its relationship with the burying beetle can, therefore, be simultaneously antagonistic, neutral, and possibly even mutualistic, depending on the particular family member involved. We also found that mites can potentially change the outcome of evolutionary conflicts within the family.
5. We conclude that inter-specific interactions can explain some of the variation in social interactions seen within species. It is further suggested that intra-specific interactions might contribute to variation in the outcome of interactions between species.
LINK
 
Kuijper & Johnstone (2015) Parental effects and the evolution of phenotypic memory. JEB, DOI: 10.1111/jeb.12778
Despite growing evidence for nongenetic inheritance, the ecological conditions that favor the evolution of heritable parental or grandparental effects remain poorly understood. Here, we systematically explore the evolution of parental effects in a patch-structured population with locally changing environments. When selection favors the production of a mix of offspring types, this mix differs according to the parental phenotype, implying that parental effects are favored over selection for bet-hedging in which the mixture of offspring phenotypes produced does not depend on the parental phenotype. Positive parental effects (generating a positive correlation between parental and offspring phenotype) are favored in relatively stable habitats and when different types of local environment are roughly equally abundant, and can give rise to long-term parental inheritance of phenotypes. By contrast, unstable habitats can favor negative parental effects (generating a negative correlation between parental and offspring phenotype), and under these circumstances even slight asymmetries in the abundance of local environmental states select for marked asymmetries in transmission fidelity.
LINK
 
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.
LINK

A great new piece of research has just been published by some of my old colleagues at the Fitz in Cape Town (Susie Cunningham and Arjun Amar). It’s work that I help with at its inception, and it shows that pied crows have changed their distribution in South Africa and it’s mainly due to changes in climate and the distribution in power lines. A great piece of research that shows how the twin human impacts of climate change and habitat modification are shaping the natural world.
 
Cunningham et al. (2015) Electric crows: powerlines, climate change and the emergence of a native invader. Diversity and Distributions, DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12381
 
Abstract
Aim
Climate change and other anthropogenic global change drivers act in complex, mutually exacerbating ways to alter the abundance and distribution of species. In South Africa, pied crows Corvus albus have increased in numbers and range in recent decades. Popular opinion links these changes to urbanisation and infrastructure development, but there has been no empirical test of this idea. We aimed to clarify the drivers of pied crow population changes in South Africa.
Location
South Africa.
Methods
We used publicly available long-term datasets, the Southern African Bird Atlas Project and University of Delaware Gridded Climate Database, and spatial data from government bodies, to assess relationships between pied crow population and range changes, land use, infrastructure, urbanisation and climate change.
Results
Pied crow numbers have increased significantly in the past three decades, but rate of increase varied geographically, with crows declining in the northeast and increasing in the south-west of South Africa. Pied crow population changes were strongly correlated with climate change. Crows have benefited most from climate warming in the shrubland biomes of south-western South Africa. Pied crows are tree nesters, and within these shrublands, there is a strong positive relationship between the rate of population increase and the density of powerline infrastructure, which may facilitate pied crows’ increase by providing nesting sites.
Main conclusions
Pied crow numbers have increased in response to climate warming, with their spread facilitated by electrical infrastructure in south-western South Africa, providing a clear example of compound influence of multiple global change drivers promoting a significant change in species range and reporting rate. Pied crows are generalist predators and there is popular concern about their ecological impact in areas where increases have occurred. We highlight the importance of understanding the ecosystem-level implications of increased numbers of pied crows in South Africa's shrubland biomes.

Link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ddi.12381/abstract

This is just a short little post about some science that I read in the papers this week. These two stories were interesting for very different reasons.

The first one is something that you've probably seen on Facebook, but just in case you haven't I thought I'd share it. Danish researchers have predicted the distribution of mammals if humans have never existed: http://i100.independent.co.uk/article/what-the-world-would-look-like-if-humans-had-never-existed--WJmrb1dBlHg

This comes hot on the heals of other work that shows we are the most efficient hunter on the planet: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/forget-jaws-it-is-humans-who-are-the-worlds-top-predator-say-scientists-10464301.html

But work like this, while interesting, should not be taken as gospel. There are many assumptions that go into a prediction like this. And a big one that many people will probably point out is the assumption that we were the cause of the Pleistocene mega fauna extinction. To my understanding we most likely were, but there is still debate.

The second story is about ants who self medicate: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/ants-are-able-to-selfmedicate-by-changing-diet-when-they-are-unwell-in-first-for-insectkind-10467040.html

This is just cool research. It's by Finnish researchers and show that ants infected with a fungus will eat hydrogen peroxide, something that healthy ants won't do. Doing so reduces their risk of dying by 15%, but comes with a 20% risk of death. However, this fungal infection is deadly and can wreck colonies. The ants also dosed themselves. This adds to work showing that animals eat plants when sick or rub specific vegetation on them to reduce parasite load. It's also interesting because it shows a species with very limited cognitive capacity can appear to have such self awareness.

Sorry if the links aren't as easy to use. I'm writing this on my phone!

I had the amazing opportunity to go back to the Fitz last week to give a talk and get an award. Somehow I'd managed to get an award for the best PhD thesis submitted to the Science Faculty. The best part was that I got to go back to UCT, give a talk about the babblers and catch up with some friends I've not seen for a while.

So this is a random blog to inform people of the cool work that is being done by people at the Fitz (which is a great place to go and study birds).

Firstly, there were three people (my old office mates) who were away. Susie Cunningham, who is an amazing expert on the bill tip organ of kiwi and how they use it to find food (as well as the bill tip organ of a number of other birds), was away in the UK. Susie is working on the effects of heat on birds, with a view to understanding how climate change will impact bird populations [one of Susie's papers]. Secondly, Susie's PhD student and fellow Kalahari veteran Tanja van de Ven. Tanja is studying the same hornbill population that I helped Mike Finnie set up and looking at temperature effects on these amazing birds, using some cool thermal imaging video! Thirdly, Marie-Sophie Garcia-Heras (a mouthful of a name!) who is doing a PhD investigating factors that influence the movement of black harriers.

But I did get to see some people, and spend some time in the pub (where all serious science is done). Arjun Amar, who is now collaborating with Susie on the red-winged starlings that inhabit the campus, has been really successful with his work on sparrowhawks. Arjun has recently been involved in some slightly controversial but really important work on grouse and bearded vultures. Margaux Rat has just started a post doc with Susie on the Hot Birds Project after finishing her PhD on social weavers. Margaux's PhD was looking at the social interactions of this species that lives in such large complex colonies, she's got some papers in the works so watch this space! I also got to catch up with Chevonne Reynolds, who's just wrapping up her thesis investigating the much maligned Egyptian goose (which I always get told is actually a shell duck!) and she's recently had a paper published in Diversity and Distributions.

So all amazing scientists doing great work. If your interested in any of the stuff they are doing then look them up and I'm sure they'd be happy to speak to you!

The Fitz is a great place to do research and the people are one of the things that makes it.

As part of my job at Sense About Science, I have to read one of the UK's many newspapers every morning. We switch regularly, and so I've had the complete frustration of the Telegraphs science reporting, the bombasticness of the Daily Mail and the complete lack of any science reporting in the propaganda rag that is the Express. At the moment I'm on the Times, which seems to do a fairly good job, Tom Whipple seems to have his head screwed on. Most of what we are looking for is related to human health type stuff, whether it's chemical scare stories or misreporting on vaccines and the safety of drugs. As a zoologist I'm more interested in the stuff to do with animals or behaviour and so have started keeping stories that are in that field, not misreporting stuff but just interesting. 

So I'm going to start a series of blogs that are my take on a few stories clipped from the Times!

First up, yesterday's (6/6/15) reporting on a study that looked at how men behaved after they were 'shown' to be weak.Researchers tweeked the data they presented to 50 male participants after they had them do a hand strength test, telling half they were average and the other half they were below average, the same as the average woman. The test subjects had been informed that the test was of "the effects of exertion on decision making." They then had to fill out a form about themselves, which had some interesting results. Those who were told they had thee strength of a woman exaggerated their heigh by ~0.78 inches and reported twice as many previous relationships as the other group, in addition they claimed higher levels of aggressiveness and athleticism. 

This is a really cool study that shows that slights to a man's masculinity can result in him overcompensating. As the researchers point out, this is not just an interesting aspect of our behaviour but something that has everyday impacts in the world. In many societies men wield a large amount of power and how they perceive slights effects their behaviour. There are probably a number of evolutionary reasons for this relating to intrasexual conflict, but that's a can of evolutionary psychology worms that I will steer clear of!

Story two, ugly men can get good looking women but they have to be persistent (and vice versa)! Researchers at the University of Texas in Austin found that when a couple was asymmetric in attractiveness that it took longer from their first meeting to their first date. Couples who had 'love at first sight' were usually very closely matched in attractiveness, while those who took more than 9 months to get together didn't correlate at all. This is interesting as it raises lots of questions about the different features that inform mate choice in humans, do we perform assortative mating? and when we don't what are the features that we use, money? social status? or more intangibles like humour? or smell? This gives me the very tangential opportunity to link to a cool study that showed a link between physical ability and attractiveness!


Final story, spiders at sea.This was a cool little piece about why spiders are so good at colonizing new places, as they are frequently the first colonizers of new land. They do this by ballooning (video of it LINK), where they let out strands of silk that carry them away. Ballooning can result in spiders landing on water, be it lakes or the sea, but new research has shown that spiders are not only able to balloon but they can sail too! By dropping spiders from 21 species onto water researchers found that the spiders 'sailed' using their raised front legs to slide across the water, or 'anchored' themselves by releasing silk to stop themselves being blown away. Species that used ballooning more frequently to disperse were 'more eager' to using sailing. This is just some cool natural history that helps in understanding dispersal.


Hope some of those stories were interesting.