Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

University of Bristol Biological Sciences @bristolbiosci.bsky.social · 22h

What a phenomenally successful Y1 Retreat for 205 students in North Devon!

Two days of woodland surveys, GPS hunts, sustainability workshops, pond dipping, bat walks, evening lectures and a pub quiz, a Marine Conservation Society beach clean, and a Shark Trust eggcase hunt!

200 students stand with staff for a photo, waving at the camera

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University of Bristol Biological Sciences @bristolbiosci.bsky.social · 2d

🌴 Zanzibar’s Forests at Risk🌴

Pemba’s Ngezi-Vumawimbi Reserve-home to rare orchids, endangered trees & endemic wildlife-is threatened by a resort plan to convert c.17% into villas. 🌿

What’s at stake?

➡️Tim Caro & 13 biologists' @ScienceMagazine letter bit.ly/4mFJ13h

A car driving down the road into the forest

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

Martin How @drmartinjhow.bsky.social · 6d

Prof Tim Caro and I both feature in this BBC World Service radio show about why zebra have stripes. Catch it at 8:30pm GMT on Fri 3rd Oct or replay on the link below. @bristolbiosci.bsky.social @ecologyofvision.bsky.social

BBC World Service - CrowdScience, Why are some animals black and white?

Why are zebras so stripy? Why do penguins wear tuxedos?

www.bbc.co.uk

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

Andy Radford @andyradford.bsky.social · 10d

Fancy joining us?
Check out this excellent @royalsociety.org Career Development Fellowship:
royalsociety.org/grants/caree...
If you're eligible & are interested in social behaviour, vocal communication or anthropogenic impacts on wildlife, feel free to DM or email me.
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social

Career Development Fellowship | Royal Society

This scheme provides the most talented early career scientists from underrepresented groups in STEM with research funding and high-quality training opportunities to build a strong base for a successfu...

royalsociety.org

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University of Bristol Biological Sciences @bristolbiosci.bsky.social · 22d

Huge welcome to Venky! We can't wait to see what the future holds 😀

Vengamanaidu Modepalli @venky-vnm.bsky.social · 23d

Exciting news to share! I have started my new role as a Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology / Director of MSc Bioinformatics program at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol @bristolbiosci.bsky.social

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

Francesco Cerini @francescocerini.bsky.social · 23d

Great to have this finally out! A whole summer of experiments at @bristolbiosci.bsky.social to look for behavioural and morphological signals of collapse in protists population🔬 Thanks to @duncanobrien.bsky.social @expecocons.bsky.social @dzchilds.bsky.social and John Jackson for the great team work

Dr Chris Clements @expecocons.bsky.social · 23d

📢 new publiction led by @francescocerini.bsky.social in Ecology

We look at how press vs. pulse disturbances effect population collapse and how predictable that collapse is 🧪🔬

@duncanobrien.bsky.social @dzchilds.bsky.social

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Multivariate signals of population collapse in a high‐throughput ecological experiment

Anticipating population declines is a crucial goal of conservation ecology. Recent conceptual work suggests that populations facing growing stressors should exhibit sequential shifts in behavior, mor....

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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University of Bristol Biological Sciences @bristolbiosci.bsky.social · Sep 4

Congratulations to our amazing MSc Science Communication for a Better Planet students, who recently gave wonderful final presentations on their summer placements and projects!

We wish them all the best of luck with their future careers!

The Sci Comm cohort stand in a huddle with clouds in the background

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

Lauren Brent @ljnbrent.bsky.social · Aug 27

Animal Behaviour from Exeter and Bristol, plus some of our alumni, went to @behaviour2025.bsky.social in Kolkata and had mountains of rice. @crab-exeter.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social

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University of Bristol Biological Sciences @bristolbiosci.bsky.social · Aug 27

We love these! Check out the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025 – the best pictures so far, at the link below: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Wildlife of the Year Award 2025 – the best pictures so far

The photo taken by Bidyut Kalita, is among several highly commended in this year's Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

www.bbc.co.uk

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University of Bristol Biological Sciences @bristolbiosci.bsky.social · Aug 22

Corridors of nectar-rich plants encourage pollination and brighten up city streets at the same time.

Find out more at the link below:

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘Bee buffets’: the pollinator pathways turning drab alleys into insect havens

Corridors of nectar-rich plants encourage pollination and brighten up city streets at the same time

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

Tommaso Jucker @tommaso-jucker.bsky.social · Aug 14

Many thanks to @leverhulme.ac.uk for funding this work! Keep your eyes peeled for a quantitative test of some of these ideas usign airborne LiDAR, which is coming soon!
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social @cabot-institute.bsky.social

Real-world example of how airborne LiDAR data can be used to advance our understanding of forest edge effects.

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

Sam England @samjakeengland.bsky.social · Jul 24

Why do treehoppers look so weird?! Our latest paper, out this week in @pnas.org, suggests a perhaps unexpected reason - static electricity ⚡ We show that treehoppers can detect the electrostatic cues of predators and that their crazy shapes may boost their electrosensitivity! doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Electroreception in treehoppers: How extreme morphologies can increase electrical sensitivity | PNAS

The link between form and function of an organism’s morphology is usually apparent or intuitive. However, some clades of organisms show remarkable ...

doi.org

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

Andy Radford @andyradford.bsky.social · Jul 23

🎉NEW PAPER🎉 out today - our review in #ProcB about post-contest acoustic signalling. Started piecemeal and alone years ago, the brilliance and energy of #ECRs @josharbon.bsky.social & Amy Morris-Drake gave it impetus. ☺️

@royalsocietypublishing.org
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

After the fight: post-contest acoustic signalling | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Animal contests often involve acoustic signals at different stages, but empirical work has primarily focused on usage before and during antagonistic interactions. Far less attention has been paid to p...

doi.org

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

Costanza Zanghi @coszan.bsky.social · Jul 14

✨Out Now✨ The outcome of my 1st ever #guppy experiment (from 2021!) w @ccioannou.bsky.social & @jtroscianko.bsky.social

We asked: How detectable are guppies to visual predators under different env. conditions?👇
academic.oup.com/beheco/artic...

#ISBE #fish #behaviour @bristolbiosci.bsky.social
🧵1/9

Enhanced conspicuousness of prey in warmer water mitigates the constraint of turbidity for predators

Abstract. Changes in environmental conditions impact predator-prey interactions by altering behaviour through sensory and non-sensory (e.g. metabolic or co

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

Stephen Montgomery @ebablab.bsky.social · Jul 10

New from @gadusmo.bsky.social’s PhD thesis 👐🏼 with @dickmerrill.bsky.social, Jake Morris, Camilo Salazar and Carolina Pardo-Díaz

‘Repeated evolution of reduced visual investment at the onset of ecological speciation in high-altitude #Heliconius butterflies’ 1/n 🧪

academic.oup.com/evlett/advan...

Repeated evolution of reduced visual investment at the onset of ecological speciation in high-altitude Heliconius butterflies

Abstract. Colonization of new habitats is typically followed by divergent selection acting on traits that are immediately important for fitness. For exampl

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

The Royal Society @royalsociety.org · Jul 12

Much like humans, plants can go through difficult life phases, but how do they know when to move on? Dr Jim Fouracre explores what makes plant biology so unique, and how they know when to grow up:
#SummerScience

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiHq...

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

University of Bristol Biological Sciences @bristolbiosci.bsky.social · Jul 3

Last week we held our Insect Week showcase and had around 200 visitors to the LSB across the afternoon!

We had visitors from as far as Bath and Taunton which is incredible!

Thank you to all those who helped on the day!

#insects #insectsofintagram #wearebristoluni #wearebristol

Staff and children in the Atrium of the Life Sciences Building

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University of Bristol Biological Sciences @bristolbiosci.bsky.social · Jul 3

Last week we held our Insect Week showcase and had around 200 visitors to the LSB across the afternoon!

We had visitors from as far as Bath and Taunton which is incredible!

Thank you to all those who helped on the day!

#insects #insectsofintagram #wearebristoluni #wearebristol

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

Andy Radford @andyradford.bsky.social · Jul 3

Apparently, it is 'World #Meerkat Day'. 🤷‍♂️ So what better excuse to post some photos of the #field team in action with the little critters, with thanks to the Kalahari Meerkat Project who make it all possible.
@laurenvane.bsky.social @josharbon.bsky.social
James Robertshaw
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social

Masters by Research student Lauren Vane collecting data on wild meerkats in the Kalahari, South Africa.

Masters by Research student James Robertshaw out in the field with a meerkat on his head.

Dr Josh Arbon mimicking a meerkat... or vice versa.

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

Dr Chris Clements @expecocons.bsky.social · Jun 24

Brilliant and important work from @kerrys189.bsky.social out today in @natecoevo.nature.com

What is our best path to conserving global bird diversity?

Find out here

@bristolbiosci.bsky.social

Kerry Stewart @kerrys189.bsky.social · Jun 24

New paper!
"Threat reduction must be coupled with targeted recovery programmes to conserve global bird diversity" www.nature.com/articles/s41....

Great working with @mgs-cielo-azul.bsky.social, @josephtobias.bsky.social, @cpcarmona.bsky.social, @expecocons.bsky.social, Chris Venditti and Jo Baker.

Threat reduction must be coupled with targeted recovery programmes to conserve global bird diversity - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Projections of extinctions of bird species and losses of functional diversity over the next 100 years suggest that even immediate and widespread threat abatement would be insufficient to prevent losse...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

Andy Radford @andyradford.bsky.social · Jun 30

🌟CONGRATULATIONS🌟 to Lola von Kietzell on completing a brilliant #Masters field season with the wonderful white-winged #choughs. 👏

Thanks to Chun-Chieh Liao & Rob Magrath (@scienceanu.bsky.social) for in-field support & @josharbon.bsky.social for additional advice. 👍

@bristolbiosci.bsky.social

Masters student Lola von Kietzell setting up a cheese trial as part of a field experiment.

Masters student Lola von Kietzell with one of her white-winged chough study groups in Canberra, Australia.

Masters student Lola von Kietzell with her field playback equipment.

Masters student Lola von Kietzell and PhD student Chun-Chieh Liao looking for their study white-winged choughs in Canberra, Australa.

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

Stephanie L King @stephanielking.bsky.social · Jun 19

Huge loss for @bristolbiosci.bsky.social - you’ll be sorely missed @ebablab.bsky.social!! Hope @camzoology.bsky.social know just how lucky they are! 🦋🧠🍾

Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge @camzoology.bsky.social · Jun 18

🎉We are delighted to announce that Professor Stephen Montgomery @ebablab.bsky.social‬ will be the 3rd Prince Philip Professor of Ecology and Evolution.

We look forward to welcoming him next year!

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

University of Bristol Biological Sciences @bristolbiosci.bsky.social · Jun 17

For #InsectWeek head over to us here in the LSB on Tuesday 24 June to discover the amazing world of insects!

See these creatures up close, learn about the research, and do some awesome crafting!

All are welcome, and it's FREE admission!

12-6pm, Tues 24 June!

bristentnet.weebly.com/insect-week

Insect Week

BRISTOL ENTOMOLOGY RESEARCH NETWORK

bristentnet.weebly.com

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University of Bristol Biological Sciences @bristolbiosci.bsky.social · Jun 17

For #InsectWeek head over to us here in the LSB on Tuesday 24 June to discover the amazing world of insects!

See these creatures up close, learn about the research, and do some awesome crafting!

All are welcome, and it's FREE admission!

12-6pm, Tues 24 June!

bristentnet.weebly.com/insect-week

Insect Week

BRISTOL ENTOMOLOGY RESEARCH NETWORK

bristentnet.weebly.com

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Reposted by University of Bristol Biological Sciences

Sinead English @englishse.bsky.social · Jun 17

For #InsectWeek, come to @bristolbiosci.bsky.social Tuesday 24 June to discover the world of insects! See these creatures up close, learn about the research, do some crafting! All welcome, free admission, 12-6pm. @harrysiviter.bsky.social @drlucyalford.bsky.social bristentnet.weebly.com/insect-week

Poster describing the insect week event with a picture of a butterfly.

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