Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
@birgitszabo.bsky.social
Researcher @ Gent University studying behaviour, cognition & welfare in reptiles (feathery & scaly). Passions: science, animals, cooking & eating, gaming, sleeping & weekends off. They/them
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
A huge congrats to Dr Jai Lake! Jai just gave his exit seminar at Macquarie on why lizards are social. To be slightly more precise, his PhD was about the mechanisms underlying sociality. Papers are submitted and in prep! Watch this space. Jai was cosupervised by Geoff While at Univ. Tasmania.
November 25, 2025 at 2:30 AM
A huge congrats to Dr Jai Lake! Jai just gave his exit seminar at Macquarie on why lizards are social. To be slightly more precise, his PhD was about the mechanisms underlying sociality. Papers are submitted and in prep! Watch this space. Jai was cosupervised by Geoff While at Univ. Tasmania.
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Adventure time! Off to Kartong Bird Observatory in the Gambia to test out #MotusWTS using a mobile #Sensorgnome and @lotektelemetry.bsky.social Nanotag!
Me and my load of tech and trusty duct tape will be repping @ecobird.bsky.social funded by @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social.
🐦📡
Me and my load of tech and trusty duct tape will be repping @ecobird.bsky.social funded by @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social.
🐦📡
November 20, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Adventure time! Off to Kartong Bird Observatory in the Gambia to test out #MotusWTS using a mobile #Sensorgnome and @lotektelemetry.bsky.social Nanotag!
Me and my load of tech and trusty duct tape will be repping @ecobird.bsky.social funded by @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social.
🐦📡
Me and my load of tech and trusty duct tape will be repping @ecobird.bsky.social funded by @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social.
🐦📡
New study on the way 📣
I am currently raising cute quails 🐥 to study the effects of enrichment on the development of the brain, cognition, behaviour, and health! I am learning loads of new skills @ecobird.bsky.social
I am currently raising cute quails 🐥 to study the effects of enrichment on the development of the brain, cognition, behaviour, and health! I am learning loads of new skills @ecobird.bsky.social
November 17, 2025 at 11:43 AM
New study on the way 📣
I am currently raising cute quails 🐥 to study the effects of enrichment on the development of the brain, cognition, behaviour, and health! I am learning loads of new skills @ecobird.bsky.social
I am currently raising cute quails 🐥 to study the effects of enrichment on the development of the brain, cognition, behaviour, and health! I am learning loads of new skills @ecobird.bsky.social
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Meet our Plenary Speaker Daniela Rößler
Fueled by curiosity and a deep love of natural history Daniela discovered a REM-like sleep state in spiders and uses integrative field, lab and comparative approaches to investigate the function, ecology, and evolution of sleep across the spider tree of life.
Fueled by curiosity and a deep love of natural history Daniela discovered a REM-like sleep state in spiders and uses integrative field, lab and comparative approaches to investigate the function, ecology, and evolution of sleep across the spider tree of life.
November 16, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Meet our Plenary Speaker Daniela Rößler
Fueled by curiosity and a deep love of natural history Daniela discovered a REM-like sleep state in spiders and uses integrative field, lab and comparative approaches to investigate the function, ecology, and evolution of sleep across the spider tree of life.
Fueled by curiosity and a deep love of natural history Daniela discovered a REM-like sleep state in spiders and uses integrative field, lab and comparative approaches to investigate the function, ecology, and evolution of sleep across the spider tree of life.
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
New amazing open Postdoc position, w/t opportunities to 1) get closely involved in our next @themanybirds.bsky.social study on innovation and problem-solving; 2) work with @ecobird.bsky.social on avian innovation, cognition & invasiveness. Advert: www.ugent.be/en/work/scie...
November 14, 2025 at 6:20 AM
New amazing open Postdoc position, w/t opportunities to 1) get closely involved in our next @themanybirds.bsky.social study on innovation and problem-solving; 2) work with @ecobird.bsky.social on avian innovation, cognition & invasiveness. Advert: www.ugent.be/en/work/scie...
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
The statistical fragility of animal cognition findings: a meta-meta-analytic reappraisal
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
The statistical fragility of animal cognition findings: a meta-meta-analytic reappraisal
ecoevorxiv.org
November 7, 2025 at 6:05 AM
The statistical fragility of animal cognition findings: a meta-meta-analytic reappraisal
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...
It took almost a year to write this review on causes and consequences of ranging in chicken 🐔! This was a huge collaborative effort by @ecobird.bsky.social @pec-exeter.bsky.social and @vitorhbf.bsky.social ! I am very proud of the outcome. You can check out the preprint here: doi.org/10.32942/X22...
Understanding individual range use in free-range chickens - a systematic review
doi.org
October 31, 2025 at 9:21 AM
It took almost a year to write this review on causes and consequences of ranging in chicken 🐔! This was a huge collaborative effort by @ecobird.bsky.social @pec-exeter.bsky.social and @vitorhbf.bsky.social ! I am very proud of the outcome. You can check out the preprint here: doi.org/10.32942/X22...
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
New preprint out on bioRxiv
🌳 doi.org/10.1101/2025... 🌳
Using data from 19 forest plots in Flanders, we found that forest structural complexity isn’t a consistent predictor of multidiversity and responses across taxa were mostly weak or inconsistent.
@ecobird.bsky.social | @fornalab.bsky.social
🌳 doi.org/10.1101/2025... 🌳
Using data from 19 forest plots in Flanders, we found that forest structural complexity isn’t a consistent predictor of multidiversity and responses across taxa were mostly weak or inconsistent.
@ecobird.bsky.social | @fornalab.bsky.social
Multitaxon assessment reveals inconsistent biodiversity responses to forest structural complexity in temperate forests
Increasing forest structural complexity is a key objective of future-proof forest management, with potential benefits for biodiversity. However, empirical evidence for consistent biodiversity-structur...
doi.org
October 29, 2025 at 12:55 PM
New preprint out on bioRxiv
🌳 doi.org/10.1101/2025... 🌳
Using data from 19 forest plots in Flanders, we found that forest structural complexity isn’t a consistent predictor of multidiversity and responses across taxa were mostly weak or inconsistent.
@ecobird.bsky.social | @fornalab.bsky.social
🌳 doi.org/10.1101/2025... 🌳
Using data from 19 forest plots in Flanders, we found that forest structural complexity isn’t a consistent predictor of multidiversity and responses across taxa were mostly weak or inconsistent.
@ecobird.bsky.social | @fornalab.bsky.social
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Excited to announce that Eli Garcia-Pelegrin and I are co-editing a special collection for Animal Cognition on "Social Cognition in a Human World". Do you study how urbanization, pollution, heat stress, fragmentation, ... affects cognition? We want to hear from you! link.springer.com/collections/...
Social Cognition in a Human World
As humanity exploits and reshapes the environment to accommodate for development and population growth demands, animals need to adapt to these human-induced ...
link.springer.com
October 22, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Excited to announce that Eli Garcia-Pelegrin and I are co-editing a special collection for Animal Cognition on "Social Cognition in a Human World". Do you study how urbanization, pollution, heat stress, fragmentation, ... affects cognition? We want to hear from you! link.springer.com/collections/...
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
This list can really assist peers in avoiding predatory publishers:
www.predatoryjournals.org @predatoryjournals.org
I have been receiving plenty of generic emails to join editorial boards in MDPI and Frontiers. At exactly the same time, friends receive the same generic emails..
www.predatoryjournals.org @predatoryjournals.org
I have been receiving plenty of generic emails to join editorial boards in MDPI and Frontiers. At exactly the same time, friends receive the same generic emails..
LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
October 2, 2025 at 10:12 AM
This list can really assist peers in avoiding predatory publishers:
www.predatoryjournals.org @predatoryjournals.org
I have been receiving plenty of generic emails to join editorial boards in MDPI and Frontiers. At exactly the same time, friends receive the same generic emails..
www.predatoryjournals.org @predatoryjournals.org
I have been receiving plenty of generic emails to join editorial boards in MDPI and Frontiers. At exactly the same time, friends receive the same generic emails..
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
New paper! 🦎
Urbanization reshapes the social behaviour of wall lizards
Now out in #BiologyLetters @royalsocietypublishing.org
🔗 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... @averymaune.bsky.social
Urbanization reshapes the social behaviour of wall lizards
Now out in #BiologyLetters @royalsocietypublishing.org
🔗 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... @averymaune.bsky.social
September 25, 2025 at 12:59 PM
New paper! 🦎
Urbanization reshapes the social behaviour of wall lizards
Now out in #BiologyLetters @royalsocietypublishing.org
🔗 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... @averymaune.bsky.social
Urbanization reshapes the social behaviour of wall lizards
Now out in #BiologyLetters @royalsocietypublishing.org
🔗 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... @averymaune.bsky.social
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Meet Chrissie Painting the new ASSAB president!
@cpaintingnz.bsky.social is a Senior Lecturer and behavioural ecologist at the University of Waikato. Her research seeks patterns in animal behaviour and morphology, with a particular focus on insect and arachnid mating systems.
🪰🕷️🪳
@cpaintingnz.bsky.social is a Senior Lecturer and behavioural ecologist at the University of Waikato. Her research seeks patterns in animal behaviour and morphology, with a particular focus on insect and arachnid mating systems.
🪰🕷️🪳
September 22, 2025 at 5:01 AM
Meet Chrissie Painting the new ASSAB president!
@cpaintingnz.bsky.social is a Senior Lecturer and behavioural ecologist at the University of Waikato. Her research seeks patterns in animal behaviour and morphology, with a particular focus on insect and arachnid mating systems.
🪰🕷️🪳
@cpaintingnz.bsky.social is a Senior Lecturer and behavioural ecologist at the University of Waikato. Her research seeks patterns in animal behaviour and morphology, with a particular focus on insect and arachnid mating systems.
🪰🕷️🪳
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Highlights of this year’s Ig Nobel recipients include a nutrition prize for studying the preferred pizza toppings of rainbow lizards at a seaside resort in Togo
go.nature.com/3I4wd8E
go.nature.com/3I4wd8E
Tipsy bats and perfect pasta: Ig Nobels celebrate ‘improbable’ research
Nature - The annual awards are a celebration of weird but thought-provoking science.
go.nature.com
September 21, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Highlights of this year’s Ig Nobel recipients include a nutrition prize for studying the preferred pizza toppings of rainbow lizards at a seaside resort in Togo
go.nature.com/3I4wd8E
go.nature.com/3I4wd8E
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
People who know reptiles well say they don't only experience fleeting pains and pleasures, but also lasting emotional states: happiness & sadness, or at least good & bad moods.
But how do you show this in a scientific way?
My latest for @nytimes.com on a clever @coldbloodedcog.bsky.social study:
But how do you show this in a scientific way?
My latest for @nytimes.com on a clever @coldbloodedcog.bsky.social study:
Do Reptiles Have Moods, Too?
www.nytimes.com
September 18, 2025 at 11:45 PM
People who know reptiles well say they don't only experience fleeting pains and pleasures, but also lasting emotional states: happiness & sadness, or at least good & bad moods.
But how do you show this in a scientific way?
My latest for @nytimes.com on a clever @coldbloodedcog.bsky.social study:
But how do you show this in a scientific way?
My latest for @nytimes.com on a clever @coldbloodedcog.bsky.social study:
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
📣 Hot off the press at #ProcB!
🔍 Our study checked data/code-sharing policies in 275 eco/evo journals and compliance in Proc B (n=2,340) & Ecology Letters (n=571). Policies exist, but clarity and strictness vary, affecting reproducibility.
🔗 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
🔍 Our study checked data/code-sharing policies in 275 eco/evo journals and compliance in Proc B (n=2,340) & Ecology Letters (n=571). Policies exist, but clarity and strictness vary, affecting reproducibility.
🔗 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
September 17, 2025 at 6:30 AM
📣 Hot off the press at #ProcB!
🔍 Our study checked data/code-sharing policies in 275 eco/evo journals and compliance in Proc B (n=2,340) & Ecology Letters (n=571). Policies exist, but clarity and strictness vary, affecting reproducibility.
🔗 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
🔍 Our study checked data/code-sharing policies in 275 eco/evo journals and compliance in Proc B (n=2,340) & Ecology Letters (n=571). Policies exist, but clarity and strictness vary, affecting reproducibility.
🔗 doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
New in #ProcB - From policy to practice: Progress towards #data- and #code-sharing in ecology and evolution @asanchez-tojar.bsky.social @eivimeycook.bsky.social tell us more in our blog royalsociety.org/blog/2025/09...
September 17, 2025 at 11:01 AM
New in #ProcB - From policy to practice: Progress towards #data- and #code-sharing in ecology and evolution @asanchez-tojar.bsky.social @eivimeycook.bsky.social tell us more in our blog royalsociety.org/blog/2025/09...
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Soon giving a talk at the University of Neuchâtel as part of the Biology seminar series.
www.unine.ch/biologie/wp-...
www.unine.ch/biologie/wp-...
September 17, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Soon giving a talk at the University of Neuchâtel as part of the Biology seminar series.
www.unine.ch/biologie/wp-...
www.unine.ch/biologie/wp-...
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Hot off the press! Check out our new paper on sleepy lizard aka shingleback skink fire cue discrimination led by @ecolojolly.bsky.social DM if you want a PDF.
September 17, 2025 at 2:38 AM
Hot off the press! Check out our new paper on sleepy lizard aka shingleback skink fire cue discrimination led by @ecolojolly.bsky.social DM if you want a PDF.
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Water anoles take a bubble of air down when they submerge, which they breathe like a tiny scuba tank, and now @lindseyswierk.bsky.social & co reveal that the reptiles may also be using the bubble like a gill, to breathe oxygen directly from the water
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
September 10, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Water anoles take a bubble of air down when they submerge, which they breathe like a tiny scuba tank, and now @lindseyswierk.bsky.social & co reveal that the reptiles may also be using the bubble like a gill, to breathe oxygen directly from the water
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Looking forward to discussing open methods in comparative cognition, including the challenge of 'species fair' task design as part of the ManyManys webinar series 🤩
🐒🦜🐜🐕👶🦎🐐🐟
📅 September 12, 11:00 a.m. (ET) on Zoom
🔗Registration: airtable.com/app0bcw8jYPv...
#openscience #bigteamscience
🐒🦜🐜🐕👶🦎🐐🐟
📅 September 12, 11:00 a.m. (ET) on Zoom
🔗Registration: airtable.com/app0bcw8jYPv...
#openscience #bigteamscience
September 4, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Looking forward to discussing open methods in comparative cognition, including the challenge of 'species fair' task design as part of the ManyManys webinar series 🤩
🐒🦜🐜🐕👶🦎🐐🐟
📅 September 12, 11:00 a.m. (ET) on Zoom
🔗Registration: airtable.com/app0bcw8jYPv...
#openscience #bigteamscience
🐒🦜🐜🐕👶🦎🐐🐟
📅 September 12, 11:00 a.m. (ET) on Zoom
🔗Registration: airtable.com/app0bcw8jYPv...
#openscience #bigteamscience
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Successful @ecobird.bsky.social #EOU2025 trip. Great presentations by @cesarepacioni.bsky.social, Jolien Van Malderen, Caoimhe Abdul-Wahab, Mélibée Morel and me! Well done team 👏 Loads of fun, and surprisingly good Welsh weather 😇
August 22, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Successful @ecobird.bsky.social #EOU2025 trip. Great presentations by @cesarepacioni.bsky.social, Jolien Van Malderen, Caoimhe Abdul-Wahab, Mélibée Morel and me! Well done team 👏 Loads of fun, and surprisingly good Welsh weather 😇
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
New paper alert 🚨 We test quantity discrimination in #magpies using both a cognitive task and playback experiment and find that birds can discriminate between quantities in both! Interestingly, performance in the two task was negatively correlated! 🐦
@mandyridley.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/behe...
@mandyridley.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/behe...
Response to intruder number is related to spontaneous quantity discrimination performance in a wild bird
The ability to discriminate between quantities is important for animal species. We show that wild magpies can discriminate both between different quantitie
doi.org
August 20, 2025 at 10:22 PM
New paper alert 🚨 We test quantity discrimination in #magpies using both a cognitive task and playback experiment and find that birds can discriminate between quantities in both! Interestingly, performance in the two task was negatively correlated! 🐦
@mandyridley.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/behe...
@mandyridley.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/behe...
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
🧪ETHOLOGY: Are reversal learning & inhibitory control linked? 🧠⏪🐦 Biagiotti Barchiesi et al. tested urban kelp gulls on reversal & detour tasks. Gulls adapted well, with those showing ledd inhibitory control performing better during reversal. No age effect found. 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/eth.... #Cognition
Are Reversal Learning and Inhibitory Control Related? Evidence From Urban Kelp Gulls (Larus dominicanus)
All urban Kelp Gulls successfully controlled impulsive behaviors in the detour task. In the reversal learning task, they made more errors during the reversal phase than the acquisition phase. Age had...
doi.org
August 21, 2025 at 9:43 AM
🧪ETHOLOGY: Are reversal learning & inhibitory control linked? 🧠⏪🐦 Biagiotti Barchiesi et al. tested urban kelp gulls on reversal & detour tasks. Gulls adapted well, with those showing ledd inhibitory control performing better during reversal. No age effect found. 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/eth.... #Cognition
Reposted by Birgit Szabo, PhD 🦎🐸🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Cognitive processes are robust to early environmental conditions in two lizard species
#Reptile #Learning #DevelopmentalPlasticity
doi.org/10.1093/behe...
#Reptile #Learning #DevelopmentalPlasticity
doi.org/10.1093/behe...
August 14, 2025 at 5:31 AM
Cognitive processes are robust to early environmental conditions in two lizard species
#Reptile #Learning #DevelopmentalPlasticity
doi.org/10.1093/behe...
#Reptile #Learning #DevelopmentalPlasticity
doi.org/10.1093/behe...