MothProf

Out today in @plosbiology.org (1/5)

Siblings and non-parental adults provide alternative pathways to cultural inheritance in juvenile great tits 🐦🧩

Link to study:
10.0.5.91/journal.pbio...

Co-authors:
@lucymaplin.bsky.social
@galarconnieto.bsky.social

🚨 Calling researchers, students, technicians in cognition 🚨

We’re running a 10-min anonymous survey on how animal cognition is defined and studied across disciplines (from ecology, ethology, psychology, neurology, etc). 🧠✨

Scan the QR code & share widely

#AnimalCognition #ResearchSurvey #Science

Text: Society for the Study of Evolution Dobzhansky Prize to recognize the accomplishments and future promise of an outstanding early-career evolutionary biologist. Nominations due December 1, 2025.

Nominations are now open for the Dobzhansky Prize, which recognizes the accomplishments and future promise of an outstanding early-career evolutionary biologist. The award includes $5000 and an award talk at the in-person Evolution meeting. Deadline: December 1
shorturl.at/p70wY

Wiley set to earn $44m from AI rights deals, confirms “no opt-out" for authors The US publisher is the latest to capitalise on deals to give tech firms access to its authors’ content to train their Large Language Models (LLMs).

Everybody makes money out of academic authors except the authors...News.

Wiley is the latest academic publisher to reach a multi-million deal to allow access to its content to AI developers, with no opt out, let alone payment, for the authors who created that content.

As forests are cut down, butterflies are losing their colours The insects’ brilliant hues evolved in lush ecosystems to help them survive. Now they are becoming more muted to adapt to degraded landscapes – and they are not the only things dulling down

"As forests are cut down, butterflies are losing their colours"

With amazing photos by @rgarciaroa.bsky.social, as always, also part of the research team.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A social media card with the Company of Biologists logo in the top left and a photo of a woman standing in shallow water placing a small bucket inside of a larger bucket in the top right who is a previous recipient of a Travelling Fellowship. Underneath these it says 'Are you an early career researcher planning to do a collaborative visit to another lab? You could be eligible for funding from us.' In the bottom right is a button stating 'Find out more.'

Apply by 24 October. Our Travelling Fellowships offer PhD students and postdocs up to £3,000 for undertaking collaborative visits to other laboratories. Find out more and apply at biologists.com/grants/trave...

The Star of ‘Good Boy’ Didn’t Know He Was in a Horror Movie (He’s a Dog)

lol I swear there were like 8 different times I burst out laughing while reading this article about the new horror movie "Good Boy," told entirely from the perspective of the dog in a family that moves into a haunted house: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/m... (gift link)

Noise pollution and artificial light at night alter selection pressures on sexual signals in an urban adapter Abstract. Human-induced environmental changes can have major impacts on how individuals communicate. Species using sexual signals may experience especially

How do light and noise pollution impact selection on sexual signals? We tested mate attraction and bat predation on túngara frogs. Light and noise interact in complex ways, and light pollution shifts selection on male calling:

doi.org/10.1093/jeb/...

@andrewdcronin.bsky.social et al.

i looked at the methodology for this and it is
a. sex addiction counseling group in texas did a surveymonkey and extrapolated the results to the entire us population which is the sort of research design that earns you an ff on an intro methods class (the extra f is for extra effort), and
b. p-hacked

Analysis of communication and collective behavior in animal groups

⭐PhD position available!⭐
Come join us @imprs-qbee.bsky.social to study communication and collective behavior in animal groups! We're looking for someone excited to use computational approaches to tackle biological questions, using our full-group tracking datasets
imprs-qbee.mpg.de/121465/analy...

Praying mantises spotted in England for first time ‘may have blown over from Europe’ Breeding populations of praying mantis exist on the Isle of Wight and in the Channel Islands, but not in mainland England

They're coming! The mantises are coming!

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

#ISBE2026 Call for Abstracts is now open! Submit your abstract by 15 December 2025 on www.isbe2026.com

@behavecol.bsky.social

📢🚨Please share! We’re hiring! 📢🚨Have a strong interests in wildlife ecology and gut microbiome bioinformatics? 3 year Senior Research Associate for NERC Pushing the Frontiers grant. Apply here: vacancies.uea.ac.uk/vacancies/18.... Informal enquiries welcome! drgldavidson.github.io/ACMEresearch

This 2025 competition is for young people to design a poster that contains images and information about the animal behaviour of one, or multiple species of non-human animals. You can draw, paint, sketch or digitally create artwork that captures, describes and explains the behaviour of animals. There are no restrictions on the type of drawing, painting or poster that you create, it must include information on the behaviour of the animals you are highlighting. The winning infographic in each category will be published in our scientific journal Animal Behaviour.

We are very excited to see the entries are coming in... make sure we have yours by the 18th October, the end of #biologyweek. Help us to celebrate animal behaviour. 🦧🦩🐸🕷️🦋

Warn, hide or stand out? How colour in the animal world is a battle for survival A global experiment has helped explain why some animals use stealthy patterns to hide from predators, while others use warning colours to avoid being eaten.

theconversation.com/warn-hide-or...

we have gone from a world in which we were told not to cite wikipedia because it was unreliable to a world where wikipedia might be the only reliable source left on the internet and we all owe a lot to the pedantic nerds who got us there

A white-fronted bee-eater (Merops bullockoides) decides whether to consume a warningly colored white-barred acraea butterfly (Telchinia encedon).

Researchers in Science report a globally replicated experiment that uncovers which factors explain the relative success of warning coloration and camouflage as antipredator color strategies.

Learn more in this week's issue: https://scim.ag/4mBCl6i

So glad to have been a part of this excellent study!

ron burgundy from parks and recreation says " you 'd be a fool not to pick me " ALT: ron burgundy from parks and recreation says " you 'd be a fool not to pick me "

Do you love research & writing & all things animal behavior? Well our journal, Animal Behavior, recruiting up to 5 (count em!) new Associate Editors!

Editors serve three-year terms beginning January 2026. If you're interested, email Exec Editor Scott Sakaluk (sksakal@ilstu.edu) by Oct 31!

Vacancy — Postdoc Position in Decision Making in Birds Are you an expert in animal behavior? Do you have experience working with birds? The Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) is looking for a motivated researcher to investigate the ro...

I have a job opening in my lab. If you are interested in bird behaviour and predator prey interactions please take a look! werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

Background: A glowing lightbulb. Text: American Society of Naturalists, Society for the Study of Evolution, Society of Systematic Biologists, Inclusiveness, Diversity, Equity, Access Award. Deadline: October 15, 2025.

Submit your nominations for the tri-society IDEA Award by October 15! This award recognizes a person at any career stage who has strengthened the ecology and evolutionary biology community by promoting inclusiveness and diversity in our fields. www.evolutionsociety.org/society-awar...

Wood tiger moth on leaf. Photo: Juhani Maamela.

Funded PhD position available 🎉 Come and work with me in Helsinki to uncover the pathways producing colourful tiger moth wings. Lots of options for genomics, CRISPR, fieldwork, behaviour experiments… Email with questions! jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...

Please share!🙏
🚨 PhD Oportunity in Avian Behavioural Ecology in Spain
The BirdBond Project (MNCN & IREC) studies how pair bonds form, change & affect reproduction/survival in the spotless starling 🐦

Fully funded PhD with me, @uniexecec.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social @btobirds.bsky.social working on insectivorous bird declines - hopefully esp. House martin www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Postdoc: Effects of urbanisation on plant distributions For a KNAW funded project we are looking for a postdoc to execute a pilot project on the use of historical plant distribution data to investigate effects of urbanisation on plant species. Based on ava...

We are looking for a postdoc for to use historical plant distribution data to investigate effects of urbanisation on plant species. Do you have a PhD in plant ecology, strong data handling and analysis skills, and a curious mindset? Respond by 26 September: nioo.knaw.nl/en/vacancies...

PhD position available on New Zealand's sheet-web spiders, focusing on web building behavior. Candidates with relevant degrees and skills encouraged to apply. More info: http://www.aut.ac.nz/ #phd

A vibrant red-eyed tree frog clings to a branch beside text promoting the British Ecological Society's "Capturing Ecology 2025" competition, closing in 2 weeks on 30 September.

Two weeks to go before Capturing Ecology closes! 

Explore our 8 categories and enter your best photos 📸 that champion the wonders of ecology. 

Competition closes on 30 September. 

https://f.mtr.cool/bbujqjypnj

Accepting applications for Graduate Students! PhD & MSc

I am seeking highly motivated individuals to join my research team.

Application details here: https://bit.ly/4mlBd6x

Deadline 01 Dec 2025

Please share widely!

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Biology Department

Living the dream xkcd.com/3140/

Job Alert! The University of Tübingen is hiring a FULL PROFESSOR (W3) in FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY! Come and join our institute, and maybe our new excellence clusters @terra-cluster.org and @greenrobust.de. @gfoesoc.bsky.social @britishecologicalsociety.org @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social Please repost!