@jtroscianko.bsky.social
Visual ecologist at Exeter University. I study how visual information affects the ecology, behaviour, survival and conservation of many different animals. Areas of interest include camouflage, signalling, visual modelling and artificial light at night
Despite advances, quantifying complex motion info remains challenging. @jtroscianko.bsky.social @kevinjgaston.bsky.social &co present BehaveAI, a #video analysis tool that sees motion as color, tracking animals & classifying #behavior in complex natural scenes @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4kTF1wX
Eye-opening findings on how light suppresses moth activity. Light attracts moths, but what if we've been missing a much more pervasive effect where even sky-glow light levels make them freeze?
Paper: doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
@uniexecec.bsky.social @esbriolat.bsky.social @kevinjgaston.bsky.social
Moths move significantly less when exposed to artificial nighttime light, new research from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter, Cornwall shows.
Read More: news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-e...
@uniexecec.bsky.social #ExeterEcology
Our BehaveAI paper has just come out!
Easy & effective tracking & behavioural classification, even with tiny (2px), fast moving, camouflaged objects.
Paper: doi.org/10.1371/jour...
Download: github.com/troscianko/B...
@uniexecec.bsky.social @kevinjgaston.bsky.social @jimamclgalloway.bsky.social
Many thanks to all authors, namely to @scienceanna.bsky.social, @lisandrinamari.bsky.social, @jtroscianko.bsky.social, V. Jelínek and T. Albrecht, to all participants that played the egg game, to our research institute @ivb-cas.bsky.social of @czechacademy.bsky.social. And of course, to all BIRDS!
#ASABWinter2025
The final schedule for Winter ASAB is finalised, and we've got an absolutely fantastic line-up.
We had 176 talk abstract submissions and just 24 slots - can't wait to see them.
asabwinter.github.io/2025/schedule/
@asab-meetings.bsky.social
Generally, if you can see the stuff easily moving around yourself in video footage, then this system will be able to track it. So multiple petri dishes would be fine. 4k footage might let you have even more. But real-time processing would get slow with very high definition.
Exactly - as it can easily track moving things 2px across or less, you can work with quite low-res footage (so easy to process on lightweight device), or find really tiny things in high-res footage to cover a larger area. You can classify things from flight behaviour or appearance too...
Yeah, this whole project started because we needed to automatically & reliably track moths against foliage moving in the wind.
The system is also lightweight enough to run real-time on a Raspberry Pi5
@uniexecec.bsky.social @kevinjgaston.bsky.social
This grass moth is often invisible in still frames, but easy to see in motion. BehaveAI can use this motion to track tiny & camouflaged moving objects in complex scenes. Its semi-automated annotation workflow also means this moth-tracker took only an hour to make.
Preprint: tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
BehaveAI can tell you who is doing what in each video frame. This example classifies behaviour from movement and sex from static appearance such as wing markings.
Preprint: tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
Git: tinyurl.com/BehaveAIgithub
Video: tinyurl.com/BehaveAIintro
@uniexecec.bsky.social
BehaveAI is live!
Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.
Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.
Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
Winter ASAB @asab.org on *Sensory Ecology* register and submit your abstracts now (abstract deadline just a month away)!
I'm organising the conference this year with @lauraakelley.bsky.social and Innes Cuthill
Register & get more info here: asabwinter.github.io/2025/
✨Out Now✨ The outcome of my 1st ever #guppy experiment (from 2021!) w @ccioannou.bsky.social & @jtroscianko.bsky.social
We asked: How detectable are guppies to visual predators under different env. conditions?👇
academic.oup.com/beheco/artic...
#ISBE #fish #behaviour @bristolbiosci.bsky.social
🧵1/9
Just a few days left to sign up for our light pollution & insect declines workshop - FREE registration & meals - deadline for registration March 21st, and deadline for expert scan suggestions 22nd.
www.visual-ecology.com/events/
@jtroscianko.bsky.social visited us @aplantaginis.bsky.social in #viikki and gave a fantastic talk about #ALAN and its implications on nocturnal #moths. Packed lecture room and lots of fun discussion. Thanks so much for visiting!
We are delighted to host an RCN symposium on light pollution as a driver of insect declines. May 12th-14th, Penryn. We will draw on academics, industry, planners & NGOs to explore issues & seek solutions. Free registration, but limited places!
www.visual-ecology.com/events/
@uniexecec.bsky.social
Yeah it's a great little sensor. Also check out the OSpRad project if you don't need the imaging aspect.
And yes, it can work with pulsed sources either crudely with a long (e.g. 1 second) exposure, or with hardware sync through the Arduino (not implemented, but would be easy enough).
New open-source hyperspectral imager you can 3D print for less than $450 from
@jtroscianko.bsky.social. The HOSI system can take panoramic hyperspectral images that meet the difficult requirements of artificial light at night (ALAN) research.
bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... #BMCBiology
Hyperspectral Imager paper out! High sensitivity UV to nearIR, full-field panoramas, radiance & reflectance, runs from a smartphone. Build the system for about $450 from 3D printed parts & off-the-shelf components.
Paper: doi.org/10.1186/s129...
Intro video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q8l...
Costs are very high for UV systems, e.g. a good UV lens alone typically costs over $8k. Then maybe $20-50k for the camera.
But even then you end up with a system that has very low sensitivity, will struggle with large dynamic ranges, and definitely can't take wide-angle/panoramic images
Exciting PhD opportunity with @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social , @padpadpadpad.bsky.social (Exeter) and myself (Bristol) on gulls, their microbiomes, and role in transmitting disease.
Details below - deadline 13 January!
Another thing I made this year: Real and implied birds.
In one year, I genetically engineered the boring Arabidopsis into a beautiful ornamental flower 🧬🌹
Here is how and why I gave this model organism a visual upgrade 🧵(1/7)
JOB OPPORTUNITY! I am hiring a postdoc for 18 months to investigate the links between temperature and antibiotic resistance. Ecoevo microbiology, plasmids, and some super fun stats, modelling, and bioinformatics. To starts in Feb 2025. Please share!
#exetercec
jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...
Tomorrow is the Conservation Christmas Lecture!🎄🌍🦤🧪
This year the focus will be 'feeding the world at least cost to the planet' hosted by @kjhockings.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social
Guest talks aren't recorded so make sure you're on campus! One not to miss...
New paper out! We show that heart cockles use bundled fiber optic cables to transmit light through "skylights" in their shell for their photosynthetic algae. The skylights filter out harmful UV radiation. These coral analogues are cool critters!! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪Why does warning signal variability persist in #aposematic species? Our new @sse-evolution.bsky.social paper explores this using data from 64,741 🤯 A.plantaginis, raised over 25 generations. Spoiler: no evidence that life-history traits constrain warning colours! academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...