Dom Cram

Climate, ecological dynamics, and the seasonal distribution of birds in mountains Ecological dynamics related to energy use and competition drives the seasonal distribution of birds in mountains across the world.

Why is there such variation in the birds encountered as you go up or down a mountain? New paper in #ScienceAdvances examines how climate and ecological interactions drive bird distributions in mountains throughout the year:

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1/10 ⬇️

Delighted to see our paper featured on the cover of the Journal of Animal Ecology @animalecology.bsky.social @britishecologicalsociety.org

Thanks Pam Hurkens for the lovely image of a heavily pregnant meerkat being weighed at our field site.

(8/8) Overall: higher food availability drives faster gestational weight gains, producing chonky, healthy pups.

Social factors have no effect - surprising because after birth, growth IS adjusted to rivals in meerkats and other social mammals.

Thanks for reading, follow for more meerkat science!

(7/8) And what about those adorable pups?

Faster weight gains during pregnancy produced heavier pups. Pups' rapid prenatal growth did not shorten their telomeres (a marker of cellular stress), so heavier pups were more likely to survive to adulthood. In meerkats, growing fast in utero pays off!

Two meerkats having a violent fight, teeth bared.

(6/8) What about social effects on pregnancies?

Meerkats are cooperative AND competitive, and females often kill rivals' pups. We asked whether this intense social environment shapes pregnancies. Surprisingly, it didn't! Gestational growth and birth timing were unchanged by social conditions.

(5/8) How do environmental factors affect pregnancies? ☀️🌧️

As expected, rain and greater food availability 🐛🦂 were correlated with rapid weight gains. We confirmed this by experimentally feeding mothers a daily hard boiled egg (their favourite!). Fed mothers gained weight much faster than controls.

(4/8) We found (as expected) lots of variation and a two-phase pregnancy: an initial flat phase and a second steady growth phase.

(3/8) To find out, we weighed 381 females every 2 days through their ~75-day pregnancies (>12,000 weights!). We used ultrasound scanners to count in utero litter sizes, scanning the mum's belly while she sunned herself in the morning. Here's a clip of a 1-inch long fetus. Look at his little heart 💓

(2/8) We wondered whether mothers conceal or accelerate their pregnancies to avoid conflict with rival females in the group. This conflict can be fatal!

We also predicted that food availability would dictate growth patterns (gestating pups is hungry work!).

A tiny meerkat pup aged just a few weeks, emerging from the birth burrow in the Kalahari Desert.

🚨 New paper 🚨

(1/8) In meerkats, pregnancy isn’t one-size-fits-all. Some mothers gain weight steadily, others delay all growth until the final weeks 📈

What drives this striking variation, and how does it affect the (adorable) pups?

OA PAPER: doi.org/10.1111/1365...
Details (+cute pics!) below👇

Positive interactions dominate among marine microbes, six-year study reveals A six-year analysis of marine microbes in coastal California waters has overturned long-held assumptions about how the ocean's smallest organisms interact.

Cooperation, the foundation of life.

"Positive interactions—where one microbe's growth promoted another's—were much more common than negative interactions like competition or predation"
phys.org/news/2026-01...

Strongly recommend you watch the video Abstract for this @currentbiology.bsky.social paper about Veronika the tool-using cow 🐮🧹
The last 30 seconds is particularly heart-warming.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

Predator defence in anemonefishes

Applications closing 5th Jan for Fully funded PhD through @iapetusdtp.bsky.social

Studying behaviour and ecology of anemonefishes. Need to be happy to spend lots of time in Papua New Guinea and need to be SCUBA qualified.

iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...

Why matriarchs reign supreme in the meerkat world As a corner of Africa heats up, new research shows how the future of the species rests with powerful matriarchs making tough choices for survival.

Lovely piece on how meerkats deal with climate change by @chameauleon.bsky.social in National Geographic: www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti... I had the pleasure to chat with Camille about the importance of understanding how extreme heat changes food availability 🐛 for meerkats

Medfly

UEA campus

Please share 📢

We have a Postdoc position available here @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social to develop innovative genetic control strategies for insect agricultural pests in collaboration with @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social

vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/19...

Delighted to see our work picked up by @theguardian.com this is a real window of opportunity for us to reduce carbon emissions to give the bears a hope at survival before it really is too late.

Sterilization and contraception increase lifespan across vertebrates - Nature Data collected from zoos and aquariums worldwide show that hormonal contraception or permanent surgical sterilization in mammals increase life expectancy, with different mechanisms in males and female...

Interesting new paper in Nature on how sterilization and castration increases lifespans across vertebrates. Accords with life history theory, which says that there is a trade off in investing in survival and in reproduction.

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

A polar bear strides across ice floes in a cold, icy environment.

Dr Alice Godden from @biouea.bsky.social has been the lead researcher on a study that has found that polar bears may be adapting to climate change.

Read more: https://bit.ly/3YmeMVg

#PolarBears #ClimateChange #ResearchMatters #ThisIsUEA

Very happy to share this large-scale study from my postdoc with @alexeimaklakov.bsky.social. Lifespan-extending downregulation of insulin signalling reduces germline mutation load. Many thanks to our collaborators @alicegodden.bsky.social @immler.bsky.social Johnny de Coriolis and Hanne Carlsson.

Ecological Perspectives on Aging Controlled settings may offer limited insight into the complexities of aging in natural and variable ecosystems. Artwork by Zahida Sultanova.

Controlled settings may offer limited insight into the complexities of ageing in natural and variable ecosystems, and why (and how) ageing patterns vary so widely across individuals, populations, and species.

We call for more research on ecology of ageing!

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

⚠️Please share: Deadline 2 Dec⚠️

Funded PhD in my group:
🧬How does parental ageing shape the next generation?
🐾Find out by studying meerkats!

This PhD combines:
🧪Epigenetic clocks
✨Bioinformatics
📊Ecological data
🌍African fieldwork
💡Big evolutionary questions

⏬APPLY⏬
www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d...

Behavioural ecology in the twenty-first century - Nature Ecology & Evolution This Perspective discusses how the field of behavioural ecology has contributed to fundamental science and tackling global challenges, ranging from understanding how natural selection leads to adaptat...

Behavioural ecology in the 21st century..... www.nature.com/articles/s41... @asgriffin.bsky.social

PhD opportunity!

Focusing on ecological processes offers an adaptive approach to conservation at a time of rapid environmental change

But how do we measure & conserve these processes?

This PhD will explore the use of species traits to assess ecosystem condition
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

📢 JOB ALERT!
Interested in #Bioacoustics, #Linguistics and the #Evolution of #Language? We are seeking a #ResearchAssistant to join our project 'Convergent Evolution of Vocal Communication: Exploring the Parallels between #Birdsong and Human Speech'.👇 www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...

Historical genomics of the declining red squirrel in Britain | Aries Dr Anders Bergström, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia Professor Cock van Oosterhout, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia Dr Selina Brace…

A PhD project on historical genomics in the declining red squirrel in Britain is available in my group, through the @aries-dtp.bsky.social. Use historical genomes to track the effects of decline and genetic rescue in this charismatic species. aries-dtp.ac.uk/studentships...

Evolutionary genetics meets ecological immunology: insights into the evolution of immune systems Immune genes show remarkably consistent evidence of selection, modification, and diversification across the tree of life. Parasites are a key force in…

Two weeks ago now @jennytung.bsky.social and I published a new review in Current Opinion in Genetics and Development, entitled “Evolutionary genetics meets ecological immunology: insights into the evolution of immune systems.” www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
A thread below...

Coevolution of cooperative lifestyles and reduced cancer prevalence in mammals While cooperative mammals evolve reducing cancer prevalence, oncogenes can be maintained by selection in competitive species.

Why do whales and elephants have much lower rates of cancer than expected?
"Species with a lower cancer prevalence and mortality
risk are those with a higher presence of cooperative and caring habits, while the opposite is found....:"
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The Study of Mutualism, Past, Present, and Future* | The American Naturalist Abstract After a fitful start, the conceptual study of mutualism (mutually beneficial interspecific interactions) is now flourishing. In 1994, I reviewed the status of the field as reflected in the pe...

ASN Address: The Study of Mutualism, Past, Present, and Future by Bronstein

Read now ahead of print!
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in Gamebirds: A One Health Approach to Understanding and Mitigating the Risk of AMR Evolution and Spread through Ecosystems at University of Exeter on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in Gamebirds: A One Health Approach to Understanding and Mitigating the Risk of AMR Evolution and Spread through Ecosystems at University of Exeter, list...

*PhD opportunity @uniexecec.bsky.social* How does antimicrobial resistance spread through ecosystems?

Combine fieldwork (rodent trapping 🐭, habitat surveys 🌳, pheasant sampling 🦤), molecular techniques, GIS, and spatial modelling to understand AMR evolution and spread. 🔬🦠🧪
Please repost!

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher Eating Viceroy Butterfly https://stevecreek.com/scissor-tailed-flycatcher-eating-butterfly/

🐞🧬🦅 join us for a PhD position researching how birds evolve resistance to prey toxins. If you’re excited about wild chemical arms races, we’d love to hear from you. @shabmohammadi.bsky.social @livuni-ives.bsky.social @livuni-ismib.bsky.social @mpi-ce.bsky.social

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...