MagBBB Research Group

BIRDBASE dataset tracks ecological traits for 11,589 species of birds Çağan Şekercioğlu was an ambitious, but perhaps naive graduate student when, 26 years ago, he embarked on a simple data-compilation project that would soon evolve into a massive career-defining achiev...

Introducing BIRDBASE, which aims to be the world's most comprehensive avian trait ecology database. Article links to open access paper, & data in Excel spreadsheet. phys.org/news/2025-09... #science #environment #ecology #eco #biology #bird #birds #birding #birdwatching #openaccess #datascience

Hoverflies on oil rigs… read this blog I wrote on our most recent lab paper exploring this phenomenon.

🚨 Master’s project!
Curious how birds find their way? 🧭🐦
Analyze decades of ringing data to study abnormal migratory routes and uncover what these deviations can reveal about the mechanisms guiding birds on their journeys. Drop me an email for details! #ornithology

www.vogelwarte.ch/de/wir/mitar...

Only one day left to apply for this 5 year Postdoc. Everyone with experience in electrophysiology and a keen interest in #neuroethology is welcomed to apply. More infos about our lab can also be found here: www.spatial-navigation.com
🐝🧠🇩🇪

Insect spatial memory is thought to be based on panoramic snapshots that are modelled as retinotopic images. This idea won't allow a distinction of landmarks from the scene. Unexpectedly, our data suggest that 🐝 learn 3D-objects as individual landmarks. #neuroethology
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Last call for any images of multiple moths on egg cartons before the season is over! Can you help us reach our target? Please repost!

The rig for conducting intracellular recordings from the 🐝🧠 is getting in shape. If you are interested using it here in Würzburg 🇩🇪 contact me. We have an open PhD position expected to be filled until spring 2026.
www.spatial-navigation.com/open-positio...

#neurethology

The first stage of our #Orientation and #Navigation project on #European #migratory #moths is now complete. Time to pack up the equipment and start planning for next year!

Congratulations! 🎉🥳

#ABL2025 Plenary Spotlight: Dr Floria Mora-Kepfer Uy ⭐

Join us on Nov 13-14 to learn how @avispatica.bsky.social Dr Mora-Kepfer Uy’s team uncovered captivating ways in which parasites reprogram the behaviour and lifespan of insects. 🐝🪱

Learn more about the conference: ablaoc25.sciencesconf.org

Spread the word: we’re #hiring! We offer two short-term #fellowships for master’s degree holders and PhD candidates for 6-12 months to excellent researchers, who are interested in doing research within one dedicated project of our SFB/CRC 1372. Find more information on www.sfb1372.de/jobs

If you are an early career researcher and at #EOU2025 come to the @nordicoikos.bsky.social booth and learn all about our @avianbiology.bsky.social review award. 🪶🏆 #birds #ornithology

www.avianbiology.org/authors/jab-...

A figure showing that light pollution prolongs avian vocal activity by nearly an hour. (A) Most diurnal bird species show bimodal vocalization patterns with peaks in the morning and evening; in light-polluted landscapes (yellow shading), the first vocalizations occur earlier in the morning and the last vocalizations occur later in the evening. (B) Globally—averaged across species, space, and season—onset of morning vocalization shifted 18 min earlier in the brightest landscapes versus the darkest landscapes. (C) Similarly, evening cessation was delayed by an average of 32 min. In (B) and (C), lines are means and shaded regions are 95% confidence intervals (CI) of model predictions.

Light pollution is causing birds around the world to sing for longer each day, prolonging their vocalizations on average by 50 minutes, according to a new study in Science.

Learn more: https://scim.ag/3Uz7vzP

#Red_underwing in a #flight_simulator.
#AnimalNavigation #MothMigration #ExperimentalBiology

Starting a new #moth #orientation and #navigation project in Austria.

Reminder! There are just two weeks left to apply for this postdoc position. Send in your applications before the end of August.

New paper out!
We found that in pipistrelle bats, social vocalizations carry a stronger phylogenetic signal than echolocation calls, suggesting the former evolve more slowly, while the latter remains flexible and shaped by the environment.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Neuroscience methods - YouTube Nanocourse: Approaches to Study Neural Circuits This course was taught by Anita Autry, Tiago Gonçalves, and Luke Sjulson at Albert Einstein College of Medici...

Neuroscience students asked us to teach a PRACTICAL course on experimental methods, and it is now on YouTube!

Please like and repost to help us get the word out!

www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Lecture 1: Signals and data acquisition
Focusing on hardware, digital/analog I/O, synchronization
🧵

PhD student in Evolution of Indo-Pacific birds The Department of Bioinformatics and Genetics is offering a four-year PhD position focused on analyzing population-level genomic data from museum bird samples. The project will employ cutting-edge gen...

*PhD position* 🦉

Would you like to do a PhD with Indo-Pacific birds and evolutionary genomics? Join us in Stockholm:

<deadline>
05 September 2025, 23:59

PhD student in Evolution of Indo-Pacific birds
recruit.visma.com/spa/public/a...

We are looking for a Postdoc (up to 5 years) who wants to study neural mechanisms of spatial memory in honeybees.

This includes tetrode recordings in behaving honeybees.

Application Deadline is 1st of October 2025.

More details:
www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/services/...

Magnetic coils at sunset, with the Alps on the horizon. Field experiments in moth navigation meet stunning Austrian landscapes.
#Fieldwork #AnimalNavigation #Magnetoreception #Moths #ScienceInTheWild #Migration

New flight simulators for diurnal (left) and nocturnal (right) Lepidoptera, developed in our lab and a home-based engineering lab, are ready for this season.
#AnimalNavigation #MigratoryMoth #ConpassSystems #Lepidoptera

Supporting early-career researchers On these pages we highlight the range of resources that we offer to early-career researchers.

We offer a number of practical ways to help early-career researchers meet their professional needs and challenges.

Read more:

www.biologists.com/about-us/ear...

#EarlyCareer #Researcher #Research #Academic #Academia #Laboratory #FieldWork #Travel #Opportunities #Career #Science

Had an amazing time at Gordon Neuroethology! Thought it would be useful to link up attendees so I made a starter pack. I'm going to tag everyone I added to crowdsource this - please reply/message me with all the others I missed!

Every few minutes, a dragonfly dives into water and takes off again, turning several forward somersaults as it ascends.

The purpose of the behavior? The quick dip cools the insect down, and the loop-the-loops help it dry off by flicking away the water. Learn more during #InsectWeek: scim.ag/40mKKBI

Bogong moths use a stellar compass for long-distance navigation at night - Nature Every spring, Bogong moths use the starry night sky as a compass to navigate up to 1,000 km towards their alpine migratory goal.

A fascinating study on 🦋 migratory moth navigation by David Dreyer and Eric Warrant has finally been published in Nature 🎉
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Visual physiology of Australian stingless bees - Journal of Comparative Physiology A Stingless bees engage in a range of visually guided behaviours that require relatively high spatial resolution and contrast sensitivity. Although the eyes of honeybees, bumblebees, carpenter bees, and...

Beautiful comparative study on the visual system of stingless australian bees. Featuring eye morphology & electroretinograms link.springer.com/article/10.1...

@pipilika.bsky.social

YouTube video by PNAS Caterpillars Detect Predators Using Electrostatic Charge | Cozzarelli Prize-Winning Research

The Cozzarelli Prize honors exceptional scientific research. Watch our interview with the Class VI winners in Applied Biological, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences to uncover the insights behind their award-winning work: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTjX...

Walter Benjamin Programme Monday, 26 May 2025, 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. CET

#ECR attention! Just finishing your #PhD and wondering if the DFG’s Walter Benjamin Programme might be a funding option for you? Come and find out in our info talk in our research career series #Prospects (in English). The link to the meeting will be published here:
➡️ www.dfg.de/en/research-...

This year we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of @biologists.bsky.social, our not-for-profit publisher, with specially commissioned content #biologists100 revisiting the Company's past and looking to the future

journals.biologists.com/journals/pag...