Centre for Evolutionary Biology at UWA

#AES2025 Day2, Jackson Randell discusses the importance of understanding genetic purging and its implications for trapdoor spider conservation 🕷️
@austevolsoc.bsky.social @brunobuzatto.bsky.social @rowanlym.bsky.social @reneecatullo.bsky.social

#AES2025 so nice, @avantikadeep.bsky.social gave presentations twice!
This one short talk on gliding lizards 🦎 Day 2 @austevolsoc.bsky.social

@AES2025 very thorough phylogeny and evolution of agamids (dragons) by Ian Brennan

🚨 Postdoc in evolutionary genomics of heat stress adaptation position at @ucddublin.bsky.social.
📍 Dublin, Ireland
Closes: 15th Oct 2025
🔗 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOV094/u...

Who doesn’t enjoy a good animal behaviour video at #AES2025? Andrea Piccinini surely had captured our attention by presenting his work on post-copulatory mating behaviour in mygalomorph spiders 🕷️ @austevolsoc.bsky.social

Day 1 at #AES2025 CEB member @avantikadeep.bsky.social presented her PhD plan to investigate intra-sexual competition in Western Australian magpies 🦅🐧🪺
@mandyridley.bsky.social @lizziespeechley.bsky.social

#AES2025 started with a blast with @brainiants.bsky.social talking about the effect of inbreeding on survivorship and fecundity in European royal families!

Keep them coming @pebblemouse.bsky.social

🚨Massive congratulations to our CEB member @jenkelley01.bsky.social and the global collaboration team on their investigation asking why some prey use warning colouration while others use camouflaging in @science.org. Read the article below 👇

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

At CEB seminar today, @dutourmylene.bsky.social walked us through 10 years of her research at the crossroads of animal cognition, behavioural ecology, bioacoustics — exploring how animals code & decode information, use syntax & vocal mimicry, & engage in intra- & interspecific communication 🐦🦅🐓🐍🚶‍♀️

Huge congratulations to all 9 CEB PhD students for showcasing their science at #RSWA Poster Day! 🌟
Special shoutout to the 3 prize winners @hasbeanbeetle.bsky.social, @kultarrcam.bsky.social @stephaniellaura.bsky.social 🏆👏
Exciting future ahead for ecology, evolution, & behaviour research in WA! 🇦🇺 🦘

🪶 How Magpies Learn Syntax 🏆
@stephaniellaura.bsky.social investigates the ontogeny of magpie vocalisations, showcasing how call sequences are socially learned, structured, and passed down across generations 🧠🐦🐣🔊 10/11
@mandyridley.bsky.social

🌏 Not Just Ningaloo: Reptile Endemism in Cape Range
@leviloveslizards.bsky.social highlights reptile diversity of Cape Range National Park: ~97 species, many endemic, & studies the drivers of endemism, isolation & populations that may represent undescribed species 🦎🐸 9/11
@reneecatullo.bsky.social

🐒 Male Coalition Strategies in Toque Macaques
Lakshani Weerasekara examines cooperation and conflict in macaques, focusing on how males form coalitions and what factors influence coalition success 🐵👬🥊 8/11
@mandyridley.bsky.social @cyrilgrueter.bsky.social

📊 Flow Fighters
Harry Mortimer studies how fish adapt to multiple stressors — combining behaviour, morphology, and physiology to understand resilience to changing water flow and temperature 🐟 🌊🌡️ 7/11
@jenkelley01.bsky.social @pebblemouse.bsky.social

🐭 Cryptic Kultarr 🏆
@kultarrcam.bsky.social studies hidden biodiversity in carnivorous marsupials, uncovering strong genetic and morphological evidence for multiple distinct species of kultarr across Australia🧬🏜️🐀 6/11
@reneecatullo.bsky.social @kennytravouillon.bsky.social @planigale.bsky.social

🦎 Life on the Rocks: Rapid Adaptation in the Wild
@blrapalai.bsky.social investigates how ornate dragon lizards adapt their dorsal colouration to human-altered habitats, & how land clearing and altered outcrop conditions drive rapid changes in camouflage & survival🐉 🏞️ 5/11
@jenkelley01.bsky.social

🪶 Intrasexual Competition in Magpies
@avantikadeep.bsky.social studies female–female competition in cooperative breeders, investigating socio-ecological drivers and the implications of intrasexual competition for group dynamics.🐦🦅🗣️ 4/11
@mandyridley.bsky.social @lizziespeechley.bsky.social

🕷️ Sexual Selection & Diversification in Australian Wishbone Spiders
Andrea Piccinini investigates the taxonomy, mating behaviour, and evolutionary diversification of Aname spiders in the Northern Jarrah Forest, revealing new insights into cryptic diversity and sexual selection.🕸️🎥👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨💂 3/11

🐞 Ornaments Aren’t Just for Males 🏆
@hasbeanbeetle.bsky.social is studying female beetle ornaments, testing whether traits such as melanisation are used in mate choice, conflict, or resistance to harm — showcasing that ornaments may have functions beyond mate acquisition. 🐞👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨🥊 2/11

Yesterday (Sep 23), the #RSWA Royal Society of Western Australia hosted Poster Day 2025 — a fantastic showcase of pioneering research across WA 🌿🔬
9 PhD students from our Centre for Evolutionary Biology #CEB participated, and 3 won prizes for best posters! 🏆
Check out their posters below 👇 1/11

From policy to practice: Progress towards data- and code-sharing in ecology and evolution | Royal Society Edward Ivimey-Cook tells us more about a new study that reviewed the clarity, strictness, and timing of data- and code-sharing policies across 275 journals in ecology and evolution, and assessed autho...

Thanks also to @royalsocietypublishing.org for letting me write a blog about this fantastic team effort:

royalsociety.org/blog/2025/09...

CEB seminar late post: PhD candidate Andrea Piccinini shared the first observation of post-copulatory mate guarding behaviour in a WA wishbone spider (Aname sp.)—a rare insight into mygalomorph mating behaviour.👏
#EvolBio #SpiderBehaviour #SexualSelection #UWA #Mygalomorphs

Not every day you get to wear the aprons once used by Leigh Simmons and Joe Tomkins in the legendary dung beetle lab—where so much cool science on sexual selection and evolutionary ecology has been cooked up (sometimes literally 🪲💩)
@invertebrateissy.bsky.social @ceb-uwa.bsky.social

🐸 Last week at CEB, Shengyao discussed the population genomics of the Howard River toadlet (Uperoleia daviesae), a short-range endemic frog threatened by urbanisation near Darwin.
Read the paper here: doi.org/10.1007/s105...
@reneecatullo.bsky.social #EvolBio #FrogConservation #UrbanEcology #UWA

Last week at CEB, Jackson discussed the conservation and population genomics of south-western Australian trapdoor spiders. Such genomic approach is important for their conservation.🕷️
@reneecatullo.bsky.social @rowanlym.bsky.social @brunobuzatto.bsky.social #LeighSimmons
#ConservationGenomics #UWA

At CEB meeting, we heard from PhD student Avantika, who will study WA magpies to better understand how female magpies use aggression & vocalisation in social & reproductive competition. 🪶🦅
@mandyridley.bsky.social @lizziespeechley.bsky.social #LeighSimmons #UWA #AnimalBehaviour #SexualSelection

Presenting at the CEB ✅ Was awesome having a large and engaged crowd!

More presentations and emotional-support beetles to come.

This afternoon, CEB talk was presented by @hasbeanbeetle.bsky.social, who is studying elytral melanisation as female ornamentation in seed beetles. The live beetle props entertained our audience! 🪲🐞

Aadhi is supervised by Dr Natasha Lebas, Assoc Profs Joe Tomkins & Jason Kennington, & Dr Rob Dugand

Attending the Australian Mammal Society meeting in Toowoomba. Great work from my two students Lucy and Cameron presenting their work yesterday!

Big thanks to the Australian Mammal Society and my amazing supervisor team for this great science 💕
@ausmammals.bsky.social
#AusMamSoc2025