Sean Rands

Excited to share that we have just been awarded a NERC Pushing the Frontiers grant to work on between-group cooperation in the Shark Bay dolphins. We will soon advertise a 3 year post-doc to join the team - drop me an email if you might be interested! Pls share widely 🙏🏻

Delighted to see this work out in PNAS. The idea that got me into butterflies, started on it in 2011 but took the intellectual energy of @benitoexplains.bsky.social, and the support of a great team, to develop it and put it all together.

Thanks to #NERC @ukri.org for funding 🙏🏻

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

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...

I still despise Oasis.

“Keep your voice down…”

Animal Vibration Lab showcased at the 2025 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition

The Animal Vibration Lab @ox.ac.uk will be at the @royalsociety.org summer science exhibition this week!

Sense elephant vibrations, face off with a tarantula, and handle seismic monitoring tools to uncover how vibrations help animals communicate and sense their environment 👇
bit.ly/3FYIhqX

A close up of hands using pinning forceps to transfer an Emperor moth specimen to the main drawer which can be seen in the background.

Very excited to say that we are seeking an Assistant Curator to join our entomology team! 😁🪲

For full details on this 2 year fixed-term post, head to our website:
➡️ careers.nms.ac.uk/job/727783

#Entomology #InsectCollection #EntoJobs #MuseumJobs

high up view of people visiting insect week event

child with insect face mask by the craft table

children visiting insect display

child looking at microscope by insect stall

#InsectWeek event @bristolbiosci.bsky.social was a huge success - over 200 visitors across all ages, some who had even cycled here from other cities, and there was lots of enthusiasm and fascination for the mini-beasts (woodlice, spiders, and ticks also featured!). Thanks to all who came & helped!

If you went to state school, do you ever feel British life is rigged against you? Welcome to the 93% Club | Alastair Campbell The civil service, judiciary and media are still dominated by the privately educated 7%. Lasting change is not a pipe dream – but it’s up to us, says writer and podcaster Alastair Campbell

This is an awesome idea (www.93percent.club), aimed at fostering state-educated professional networks both in university and beyond - and, I didn't realise it had aptly started here in Bristol. #StateSchoolProud

Great news, but we'll be sad to lose Steve here in Bristol!

🎉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!

Insect Week BRISTOL ENTOMOLOGY RESEARCH NETWORK

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

Soils and topography drive large and predictable shifts in canopy dynamics across tropical forest landscapes Tropical forests can vary enormously in their 3D structure and dynamics across surprisingly small spatial scales. However, the drivers that underpin this local-scale variation in forest structure an.....

So proud of Beibei Zhang for leading this paper in @newphyt.bsky.social showing how soils & topography shape variation in canopy dynamics across tropical forest landscapes 🌳🔃🌐

Link to 📃: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

A short 🧵

We are looking for a Research Assistant to contribute to our ongoing analysis of dolphin acoustic data from West Wales - collaboration between @wtsww.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social 🐬
Deadline is 29th June - please share widely!
www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

We've just launched AviList! - the new unified global taxonomic checklist for the world's birds, developed through the Working Group on Avian Classification, including BirdLife, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, IOC and others @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social www.avilist.org

Left: Colourful image of cells and neurons with the text "The Royal Society Publishing" Right: Phlosophical Transactions B. Submit a proposal to edit an influential themed issue in your field by 18 July. For more information visit bit.ly/PTBproposals

Next deadline for submitting a proposal for a special issue in @royalsocietypublishing.org #PhilTransB is July 18th. I'm on the editorial board and would highly recommend it as an opportunity for new networks, insights and highlighting your field. Find out more at bit.ly/PTBproposals

Comprehensive Analysis of RFID Performance of the iID BEEscience system https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.03.657638v1

Thank you to Louis and @morethanadodo.bsky.social for the fascinating look behind the scenes at your insect collection for our @bristolbiosci.bsky.social Amazing Insects field course! What a collection! 🫶🏻🦋🪲🪰

Front cover of 'Animal Behaviour', freshly published by Dorling Kindersley. Cover shows an adult elephant touching heads with an elephant calf.

Just received my publication-day copy of this lovely (very heavy) book (a revised edition of 2008's 'Animal Life'). It was a pleasure to contribute to both editions, and the new photos (there are lots and lots) are stunning. Well worth purchasing for the young behavioural biologists in your life!

Graphical abstract of: Running in the rain: Impact of water droplets on tandem running recruitment in a tropical ant

New research in #RESEcolEnt reports the impact of water droplets on tandem running recruitment in a tropical ant🐜

Light rain did not impact the time required to transport all nestmates🔽
doi.org/10.1111/een.13445

@sheborg.bsky.social @robwilsonmncn.bsky.social @callomac.bsky.social @wiley.com

🚨Anyone want a job?🚨
We have two #postdocs up for grabs! 🧪
- cell developmental biology/#evodevo/#neuroevodevo
- bioinformatics and molecular biology
Both working on brain evolution in Heliconiini butterflies
Details below! Please repost 🙏 1/n

Sounds like a niche that an unscrupulous degree-awarding institution should fill - could definitely be a 'Masters in Advanced Practice'...

Screenshot of the title and author list of a scientific paper published in Scientific Reports. The title reads: “Group personality, rather than acoustic noise, causes variation in group decision-making in guppy shoals.” Authors listed are Molly A. Clark, Ella Waples, Andrew N. Radford, Stephen D. Simpson, and Christos C. Ioannou.

Out now 🎉
The second paper from my Masters published in Scientific Reports!

We explored how acoustic noise affects collective behaviour in guppies 🐟

With fab co-authors: Ella Waples, @andyradford.bsky.social, Steve Simpson & @ccioannou.bsky.social

🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧵1/6

The Life Scientific - Tim Coulson on how predators shape ecosystems and evolution - BBC Sounds Professor Tim Coulson on how the wolves of Yellowstone National Park shape the ecosystem.

Really enjoyed chatting with @jimalkhalili.bsky.social on the Life Scientific episode that was broadcast this morning. Thank you for having me on.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Very grateful to @leverhulme.ac.uk for awarding me a Research Fellowship to continue my work on dolphin communication and social cognition 🙏 @researchdolphin.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social

Weak anthropogenic electric fields affect honeybee foraging Ecology; Entomology; Ethology

Excited to share that my first research article is now out in iScience:
“Weak anthropogenic electric fields affect honeybee foraging”
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Huge thanks to my co-authors and supervisors for their support throughout!
#pollinators #bees #ecology #electrosensory #beeresearch

So well deserved, Iain — congratulations!

Iain Couzin elected Fellow of the Royal Society In recognition of his outstanding contributions to research on animal collectives, the Royal Society has elected behavioural biologist Iain Couzin as Fellow.

Royal Society has elected @icouzin.bsky.social as a Fellow in recognition of contributions to research on animal collectives 🐟🦗🦈🐜

Congratulations to Max Planck Director and Prof @cbehav.bsky.social @uni-konstanz.de, Iain Couzin FRS!

@royalsociety.org @maxplanck.de

www.ab.mpg.de/679766/news_...

RES Vacancies - Royal Entomological Society Want to work with us? Keep an eye on this page for any paid or voluntary positions we have available at the Royal Entomological Society. You can also find a list of live entomological Job…

We have several vacancies for our Events Committee, Finance Committee and Membership Committee.

Have your say and play a vital role in helping to shape the future of the Society 🪲

📅 Deadline: 31 May - Read more and apply today 🔽

Hi everyone, I am launching a community science scheme "Spider Spies" where we are asking you, to send us pictures and if you're keen and able samples of Misumena vatia, the Flower Crab Spider to investigate their interactions with their host flowers and the invertebrate community around them.