Evolutionary biologist - Social Evolution & Senescence. Study wild birds & mammals and microbes @ #ExeterCEC in Cornwall. Rock climber & sea kayaker
University of Exeter, Cornwall
Joined December 2012
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* NEW #PhD * #Evolution #Ecology of Immune #Senesence in Wild Badgers with me, @B_Tschirren and our brilliant collaborators @ APHA, at @UniExeCEC in Cornwall. 50 year data sets+immune analyses.
PLEASE SHARE!
See animalsocieties.org and apply here: exeter.ac.uk/study/funding/a…
Andy Young retweeted
Male birds help their parents less than females because they’re too busy scouting for new places to live and breed, according to new research from @uni_exe_cec.
brnw.ch/21wO6Rv
@exetergses @uniofexeteresi @p_capi @animalsocieties
Andy Young retweeted
Why do the sexes differ in their #cooperation within families? @p_capi @animalsocieties &co use #RadioTracking of cooperative #birds to reveal that sex differences in cooperation can arise from tradeoff between cooperation & dispersal #PLOSBiology plos.io/3NZKSBn
Cool new #cooperation paper - purple-crowned fairy-wren helpers help breeders more when they are UNrelated to the opposite-sex breeder (a potential mate). Rare evidence suggestive of direct benefits of helping. Will check our weavers! Cool stuff @NikiTeunissen @AP_BirdBehavEco 👌
Our latest paper shows that how much fairy-wrens will help feed others' young depends on the type of breeders they are helping by doing so. It highlights how social context can play an important role in explaining cooperative behaviour.
Read it here: tinyurl.com/pcfwrsos
*New #evolution paper* Sparrow-weaver mothers lay larger eggs when they will have more help feeding chicks. Maternal reaction norms to help are *opposite* for egg size & nestling feeding rate. Cool. But why do this? 1 of 3. Fine work @p_capi. tinyurl.com/2djsp6zd #ExeterCEC
Please share if you like it 🤩 @UniExeCEC @UniofExeterESI @UniExeCornwall @UoE_Behaviour @RobbieAMcDonald @stubutchart @StuBearhop @ali__wilson @WaspWoman @nicholaraihani @BuryingBeetle @honeyguide @_EmCunningham_ @tomhouslay @PLOSBiology @RoyleResearch @lauraakelley @CommonTerns
Nice new paper from @Wild_Ecol_Cons - visitors (local income stream) keen to see wolves returning to protected areas on the German/Czech border... I would be too! 🤩. Great to have an evidence base for this. One of many stakeholders in a complex debate.
Visitors to #NationalParks are key stakeholders, but what are their attitudes towards returning #wolves? 🐺⁉️
We (@Wild_Ecol_Cons) investigated this in a NEW PAPER using visitor surveys in Bavarian Forest 🇩🇪 and Šumava National Parks 🇨🇿
authors.elsevier.com/a/1i67o…
A summary:
1/5
ALT A wolf in an animal enclosure at Bavarian Forest National Park (sourced from Wikimedia Commons)
@DaveHodgson00 and @erik_postma Of interest for rewilding / human-wildlife conflict elements of your fieldcourses... nitter.cf/animalsocieties/status…
Nice new paper from @Wild_Ecol_Cons - visitors (local income stream) keen to see wolves returning to protected areas on the German/Czech border... I would be too! 🤩. Great to have an evidence base for this. One of many stakeholders in a complex debate.
Great new paper on life-history trade-offs... meta-analytical confirmation of the missing (yet much invoked) -ve genetic covariance. So in a 'resource allocation trade-off' world, standing genetic variation within pops may lie more in resource acquisition than allocation. Cool.
Always good to start the workday with a manuscript accepted
➡️Did you ever wonder what's the evidence for life-history trade-offs at the genetic level?
The answer is coming out soon @Ecology_Letters, but if you can't wait, the #preprint is available at: doi.org/10.22541/au.16879519…
Nice new thought piece by @Gfalbery & colleagues on the impacts of host ageing on infectious disease dynamics
Age influences behaviour, which should affect our exposure and susceptibility to infection!
A bit belated, but I'm delighted to see this review out with @arsweeny and @webber_quinn. Give it a read if you're curious about behaviour, ageing, and disease: doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.…
2/3 We show helpers reduce mum's post-natal workload; may allow mums to invest > in egg (only mums can do). +/or: We know helpers increase overall nestling feeding rate (tinyurl.com/38kv8jp2); may increase mum's benefit from investing in egg. Or: not adaptive (modest effect!)
3/3 Why cool? -> helpers in cooperative breeders (e.g. us) could have cryptic maternally-mediated beneficial effects on pre-natal development. Our data implicate help not group size as mat reaction norms to *female* helpers (help twice as much as males; tinyurl.com/38kv8jp2)
Andy Young retweeted
Anyone looking for a PhD student interested in behaviour and evolution, but with an applied (welfare) twist? If so maybe you could join @C_C_Ioannou @erik_postma and me. Info + app at exeter.ac.uk/study/funding/a…. More on the group at sites.exeter.ac.uk/wilson-gr… Pls RTWT
Andy Young retweeted
Exciting PhD project for competitive funding (start date Sept/Oct '24), exploring how gut microbiota affect pesticide resistance in aphids! The project is based at UExeter's wonderful Cornwall campus @uniexecec in collab w @Rothamsted: tinyurl.com/wuddbhew
Andy Young retweeted
In many societies (incl. humans), helpers assist with the post-natal care of the young. @p_capi @ali__wilson & @animalsocieties show that mothers in a wild cooperatively breeding #bird lay larger eggs when there's more help with nestling care #PLOSBiology plos.io/47mfAvU
Andy Young retweeted
I did this course many moons ago and it was one of the most rewarding and enjoyable experiences of my life. Also got into a PhD program straight out of it.
LOVE #EVOLUTION? LOVE #BEHAVIOUR? Join our MSc in Evolutionary & Behavioural Ecology here at the @UniExeCEC in Cornwall, where we're training the next generation of researchers! Places still available for Sept start... exeter.ac.uk/study/postgradu… PLEASE RT!
@NeeltjeBoogert @ali__wilson @b_longdon @ExeterMarine @DaveHodgson00 @StuBearhop @RobbieAMcDonald @BrendanGodley @TomTreg @SensoryEcology @jTroscianko @erik_postma @FLyLabEx @chrislaing80 @VJHobson
@profcallum @nicholaraihani @ElzeHesse
@edzewestra @B_Tschirren
@CornishJackdaws