Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Seth Harris

Jefferson García-Loor @jeffgarcialoor.bsky.social · 8d

Hi everyone, it's a pleasure to share with you our newest paper, lead by @melaniekaluppa.bsky.social!!! Have a look and enjoy it!!!

Cultural and morphological divergence of Darwin’s cactus finches (Geospiza scandens) across Galápagos Islands url: academic.oup.com/biolinnean/a...

Cultural and morphological divergence of Darwin’s cactus finches (Geospiza scandens) across Galápagos Islands

Abstract. Understanding the divergence of cultural traits, such as bird song, provides crucial insights into evolutionary processes. In geographically isol

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Seth Harris

Ari Strandburg-Peshkin @arispeshkin.bsky.social · 8d

⭐PhD position available!⭐
Come join us @imprs-qbee.bsky.social to study communication and collective behavior in animal groups! We're looking for someone excited to use computational approaches to tackle biological questions, using our full-group tracking datasets
imprs-qbee.mpg.de/121465/analy...

Analysis of communication and collective behavior in animal groups

imprs-qbee.mpg.de

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Darren Croft @darrencroft.bsky.social · 17d

We are hiring (Post number 2) - join us as a graduate research assistant to support killer whale research. Collaboration with @samellisq.bsky.social @drwhale.bsky.social Prof Dan Franks (York) start 1st Nov (or ASAP) end 31st Oct 2028. Apps close on 19th Oct.

jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...

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Reposted by Seth Harris

NANO @nano4ocean.bsky.social · 15d

#OceanOpportunities PhD position: Site-fidelity and feeding behaviour of fin whales at Antarctic feeding grounds - Deadline 02 October 2025
nf-pogo-alumni.org/26092025-6/

PhD position: Site-fidelity and feeding behaviour of fin whales at Antarctic feeding grounds - Deadline 02 October 2025 - NANO | NF-POGO Alumni Network for the Ocean

Background You will be part of the Marine Mammal Ecology Working Group in the AWI section Polar Biological Oceanography, Bremerhaven, in collaboration with the Institute of Marine Ecosystem and Fisher...

nf-pogo-alumni.org

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Reposted by Seth Harris

Andy Radford @andyradford.bsky.social · 16d

Interested in vocal #communication? How animals provide referential #information about danger? Then see our 🌟NEW🌟 paper by brilliant ANU #PhD student Chun-Chieh Liao out today in @asab.org Animal Behaviour. 🎉👏

#birds #choughs #fieldwork #ECR
With Rob Magrath and Rob Heinsohn
doi.org/10.1016/j.an...

White-winged choughs in Canberra, Australia - the bird species studied in the newly published work.

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Science Magazine @science.org · 19d

Zebra finches can not only distinguish the full range of their species’ vocalizations but also organize them by meaning—similar to what humans do, according to a new study in Science. https://scim.ag/4psyElY

Categorical and semantic perception of the meaning of call types in zebra finches

Vocal communication in social animals involves the production and perception of various calls that ethologists categorize into call types based on their acoustical structure and behavioral context. Wh...

scim.ag

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Reposted by Seth Harris

Journal of Experimental Biology @jexpbiol.bsky.social · Sep 2

In her review, Laura Stidsholt @bioacousticsau.bsky.social discusses how bat-borne acoustic devices are changing echolocation research in wild #bats by recording sensory & foraging behaviour across different species, habitats & levels of disturbance

journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/...

A screen shot of the PDF of the Review, Unlocking the mysteries of biosonar use and foraging behaviour in wild bats with on-board acoustic recording tags, but Laura Stidsholt. The publishing information states: © 2025. Published by The Company of Biologists | Journal of Experimental Biology (2025) 228, jeb250777. doi:10.1242/jeb.250777. The first sentence of the Abstract states: Since the discovery of biosonar by Griffin in the 1940s, laboratories have conducted detailed experiments on how bats produce and modify their biosonar calls, as well as on how they detect and process self-generated echoes when orienting and hunting in flight rooms

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Dugdale Research Group @hannahdugdale.bsky.social · 22d

Come & work with us - fully funded 4 year PhD on Social Ageing: Social environment effects on senescence, using an epigenetic clock www.rug.nl/about-ug/wor... @rug.nl @david-s-richardson.bsky.social @keesvanoers.bsky.social @seychelleswarbler.bsky.social photo: @charlisdavies.bsky.social

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Jonathan A. Green @jon-seabirds.bsky.social · 26d

Delighted to be cosupervising this funded PhD with @joewynnbirds.bsky.social on #migration in #birds #seabirds @liverpooluni.bsky.social. Start in early 2026! Register for our online briefing session. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

To lead or to follow: disentangling the genetic and cultural contributions to long-distance seabird migration at University of Liverpool on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - To lead or to follow: disentangling the genetic and cultural contributions to long-distance seabird migration at University of Liverpool, listed on FindAPhD.com

www.findaphd.com

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Reposted by Seth Harris

Coraline Bichet @coralinebcht.bsky.social · Sep 9

With my colleague Christophe Guinet we offer a 6-months position for a master student about sexual selection in southern elephant seals. Here for more details: www.linkedin.com/posts/corali...
@predateursmarins.bsky.social
@ecophycebc.bsky.social
@cebc-chizelab.bsky.social
@univ-larochelle.fr

6-monts internship proposal | Coraline Bichet

With my colleague Christophe GUINET we offer a 6-months internship position for a master student about sexual selection in southern elephant seals 🦭. Check the attached file (in French) for more detai...

www.linkedin.com

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Seth Harris @sethharris15.bsky.social · Aug 20

Snippet of song 🎵

Seth Harris @sethharris15.bsky.social · Aug 20

A week late but had a great time chatting all things bowhead song at the end of year poster session #MSc_MMS_St_A See thread to hear why nobody’s selling CDs of bowhead whale song 🎤🐋

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Pranav Minasandra @pminasandra.bsky.social · Aug 19

🧠 What does collective movement look like in cognitively advanced animals?

I have a new pre-print out for a super short solo-author paper I just submitted! I explore how the ability to forecast others' behaviours affects your own decision-making. Check it out: doi.org/10.1101/2025.08.14.670290

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Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · Aug 17

New #JRSocInterface paper: Individual vocal identity is enhanced by the enlarged external nose in male proboscis #monkeys: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #bioengineering

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LyrebirdLab @lyrebirdlab.bsky.social · Aug 18

Funded #PhD scholarship- Vocal mimicry in tooth-billed bowerbirds at the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment Western Sydney University ‪‪@animalecolab.bsky.social‬
@drbackhouse.bsky.social @westsyduhie.bsky.social‬
‬
Deadline: 30 Sept25 link: tinyurl.com/4uf92t5b

Lithograph of Tooth-billed bowerbirds C1925 by Henrik Gronvold

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Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · Aug 7

The effects of #sleep disturbance on a #songbird’s vocal performance #ProcB #OpenAccess #Behaviour royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

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Daniella Teixeira @daniteixeira.bsky.social · Jul 29

I'm excited to share our new (in press) paper on vocal individuality and acoustic recognition. We looked at Red-tailed Black-Cockatoos, Little Penguins, Little Owls, Tree Pipits and Chiffchaffs, with promising results. #bioacoustics #vocalindividuality www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Acoustic recognition of individuals in closed and open bird populations

Passive acoustic monitoring is firmly established as an effective non-invasive technique for wildlife monitoring. The analysis of animal vocalizations…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · Jul 11

#BiologyLetters A new study uncovers a physiological basis for teamwork in mole-rats and sheds light on how metabolism influences social behaviour in cooperative species. Read more: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #behaviour #biochemistry

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Eldar Rakhimberdiev @eldarrak.bsky.social · Jun 13

New PhD position in our group! Join us to study gull foraging ecology at sea using GPS and accelerometry data! You will be working here Amsterdam Movement Ecology group under supervision of @judyshamounb.bsky.social, @rooskentie.bsky.social and me. Apply here werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

Vacancy — PhD Position Gull Foraging Ecology in the North Sea - NO-REGRETS Project

Are you passionate about animal movement ecology? Interested in studying gull foraging ecology at sea? Apply for this unique PhD opportunity at the Department of Theoretical and Computational Ecology ...

werkenbij.uva.nl

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Cornish Jackdaw Project @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social · Jun 26

Societies might shape minds, but minds can shape societies. In this new paper we discuss how this feedback changes how we think about social and cognitive evolution. Led by @lucahahn.bsky.social

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

The coevolution of cognition and sociality | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Cognition serves to resolve uncertainty. Living in social groups is widely seen as a source of uncertainty driving cognitive evolution, but sociality can also mitigate sources of uncertainty, reducing...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Reposted by Seth Harris

Anna Jon-And @annajonand.bsky.social · Jun 10

Wrote a popular piece with @johanlind.bsky.social on why human language is so different from other animal communication. There’s a growing wave of studies suggesting key features of human language are present among animals. We propose a different perspective:
theconversation.com/animals-cant...

Animals can’t talk like humans do – here’s why the hunt for their languages has left us empty-handed

Many scientists see evidence of language in the sounds animals put together, but they may be kidding themselves.

theconversation.com

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Reposted by Seth Harris

EvolDir @evoldir.bsky.social · Jun 7

PhD positions in Evolutionary or Population Genomics and Bird Cognition are available at the University of Hong Kong. Applicants should have a biology-related degree. Details: www.simonywsin.com. #phd

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Anna N Osiecka 🍉 @aosiecka.bsky.social · Jun 10

Hallooo, are you looking for a really cool MSc project in bioacoustics/evolution of communication/linguistics?
Help me process our goldmine of birdsong recordings, and investigate whether and how conformance to various linguistic laws varies in the Anthus genus! 🔊 🐦🎵
docs.google.com/document/d/1...

MSc project

MSc thesis projects in animal communication Across many human languages, there are several general principles in temporal patterning: most frequent words are shorter (Zipf’s law of brevity), larger c...

docs.google.com

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Alper Yelimlieş @alperyelimlies.bsky.social · Jun 5

Excited to share our new preprint!
Unlike the North American yellow warblers, females in Galápagos commonly sing and duet with their paired partners. Here, we tested possible functions with a playback experiment: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Illustration of female and male yellow warblers and their respective songs. On top, two duets are shown in spectrograms with male parts marked in red and female parts marked in yellow. On the left are three female songs and on the right are three different male songs. Illustrations are courtesy of Lena Gies.

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Lucy Aplin @lucymaplin.bsky.social · Jun 4

Two paper just out from the #clevercockieproject!

@julia-penndorf.bsky.social reveals how cockies play politics when deciding who to aggress: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....
&
@barbaraklump.bsky.social describes a new 'drinking innovation':
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

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