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Reposted by Matteo Beccardi

Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · 20d

When we hypothesised female terns to have lower mercury levels than males due to egg laying, @matteobeccardi.bsky.social et al designed an elegant experiment to prove the effectiveness of this pathway. That proof just got published & the open access paper can be found here: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

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Institute of Avian Research 'Vogelwarte Helgoland' @ifv-whv.bsky.social · 20d

Out now in Environmental Pollution: 'Experimental evidence for maternal offloading of mercury pollution via reproduction'
By @matteobeccardi.bsky.social, @commonternproject.bsky.social, @pablosalmon.bsky.social, @icbm-uol.bsky.social & @oscarvedder.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2025.127121

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Matteo Beccardi @matteobeccardi.bsky.social · 21d

A special thanks to all who contributed to this work!
@ifv-whv.bsky.social, @oscarvedder.bsky.social, @commonternproject.bsky.social, @pablosalmon.bsky.social, Justine Bertram and Peter J Schupp

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Matteo Beccardi @matteobeccardi.bsky.social · 21d

I'm happy to share with you our new paper out now in Environmental Pollution!
Here, we experimentally studied the maternal offloading of mercury pollution via reproduction in an avian model species.

Read the paper here for more details👇
doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

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Giulia Masoero @giumasoero.bsky.social · Aug 19

#Birds and #ClimateChange
⚠️ spoiler alert ⚠️

Check out my #EOU2025 #poster in advance about #AlpineSwifts and Extreme Temperatures...

Interested? Come chat at the poster session Wednesday afternoon!
link: osf.io/cfe46

@eounion.bsky.social #ornithology

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Alexander Lees @alexanderlees.bsky.social · Aug 22

So much cool avian vagrancy research presented and discussed at our #EOU2025 symposium today. Thanks to everyone who presented and attended @pauldufour80.bsky.social
@joewynnbirds.bsky.social
#Ornithology

Joe Wynn – Whole-genome resequencing reveals the origin of a rapidly emerging ‘reverse’ songbird migration.

Ádám Tisza – Long-distance relatives: genetic structure and diversity of eastern imperial eagle populations across Eurasia.

Lucinda Zawadzki – Using stable isotope analysis to determine the natal origin of vagrants

Georg Langebrake – Comparing different genetic encoding mechanisms of a novel migratory route in the Eurasian blackcap.

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European Ornithologists' Union @eounion.bsky.social · Aug 21

#EOU2025 delegates birding at the beautiful South Stack nature reserve

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European Ornithologists' Union @eounion.bsky.social · Aug 18

#EOU2025 at the start with a plenary by Tim Birkhead!
Fascinating talk about long term studies of seabirds in Wales!

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Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · Aug 1

Out now in Environmental Research – Anna’s new paper in which she assesses the levels of 118 contaminants in unhatched eggs and dead chicks found in the last and endangered population of gull-billed terns in Central Europe, breeding at Neufelderkoog: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

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Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · Jul 17

Ooooh, one of our beautiful terns made it to the cover of the issue of Ethology that contains Melina's study on individual behavioral responses to novel stimuli: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Matteo Beccardi @matteobeccardi.bsky.social · Jul 9

Are you interested in the effects of mercury contamination on seabirds?
Check out the latest @commonternproject.bsky.social paper pubblished in Environmental Research!👇

"Mercury levels in chicks of a long-lived seabird – parental effects and links with growth and survival".
doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

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Institute of Avian Research 'Vogelwarte Helgoland' @ifv-whv.bsky.social · Jul 8

New publication by @commonternproject.bsky.social with @coralinebcht.bsky.social, @mmoiron.bsky.social, @matteobeccardi.bsky.social & @icbm-uol.bsky.social: 'Mercury levels in chicks of a long-lived seabird – parental effects and links with growth and survival'. doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

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Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · Jul 7

And here it is - Justine's last thesis chapter got accepted too and can now be read as an open access paper in Environmental Research: doi.org/10.1016/j.en...

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Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · Jul 2

Cute findings for a hot Wednesday morning.

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Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · Jun 29

Hatching is hard work. ❤️

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Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · Jun 19

Arrival was earlier, but it does not look like we are going to end up with many more birds this year than last. I guess the 'silent reservoir' was used up, such that we now wait for new recruits from last year's cohort to start making up for the severe losses HPAI induced in 2022 and 2023.

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Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · Jun 19

Three weeks ago, the little one on the picture on the left was found cold and almost dead. But yesterday, it was the first chick from 'island A' to get its transponder. Happy fledging, little survivor. May you recruit to produce many little survivors yourself. ❤️

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Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · Jun 11

The facial expression of a parent with teenagers. I can relate. 😂

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Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · Jun 8

Weekend loveliness: retrapping a gull-billed tern carrying a GPS and getting to know a few of the newest colony members.

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Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · Jun 5

The tracking of the gull-billed terns of @gullbilledterns-de.bsky.social is going really well and we're seeing lots of interesting variation in space use. Here's two examples of tracks collected across the last 8 days:

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Andreas Nord @cyanistesnord.bsky.social · May 22

I am looking for a postdoc wanting to use functional genomics to understand why birds 🐦 struggle with climate warming in @erc.europa.eu project #HotLife. Ideal candidate is a molecular evolutionarybiologist. Join us at @biologylu.bsky.social. Details 👇
shorturl.at/wijEq

Would appreciate a re-post!

Post-doctoral fellow in functional genomics and ecophysiology

Subject description The goal of the project is to uncover the mechanisms explaining why global warming and heatwaves reduce reproductive success and cause excess mortality in wild and domesticated war

lu.varbi.com

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Swiss Ornithological Institute @vogelwarte.bsky.social · Jun 4

Individual routes of common terns Sterna hirundo are adaptive: they can be flexibly adjusted to environmental variation, as shows Kürten et al. in a new paper based on data from light-level geolocators. Read more on doi.org/10.1098/rspb... . @birgenhaest.bsky.social

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Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · Jun 2

68 nests with chicks now. ❤️

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Common Tern Project @commonternproject.bsky.social · May 28

Here’s a video of a fun pilot study on tern personality aspects, in which Melina tested how the birds respond to a novel object placed at their nest. Linea from nest 431 did not care much about an orange cone making an appearance. :-)

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Ethological Society @ethoges.bsky.social · May 28

ETHOLOGY: How do breeding common terns react to novelty? 🐦🪺🔺😲 Castano et al. find that females take consistently longer than males to return to the nest after encountering a novel object—and that responses vary by reproductive stage but not age.
#AnimalBehavior #OpenAccess doi.org/10.1111/eth....

Individual Behavioral Responses to Novel Stimuli in Breeding Common Terns (Sterna hirundo)

We analyzed behavioral responses of 42 breeding terns to novel stimuli, considering intrinsic characteristics. The response was repeatable, stronger (i.e., individuals approached slower) in females a...

doi.org

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