Lochlan W

The sensory ecology of caterpillars - Journal of Comparative Physiology A Caterpillars (larval Lepidoptera) are one of the most ecologically and evolutionarily significant taxa on Earth. As both feeders and food, they shape the dynamics of enumerate ecosystems on land. Key ...

Do you work (/want to work) with caterpillars? Or sensory systems? Or BOTH?! Well good golly do we have the paper for you! We explain the senses that caterpillars have, what they use them for, and how anthropogenic sensory pollution might be messing it all up 🐛 doi.org/10.1007/s003...

The sensory ecology of caterpillars - Journal of Comparative Physiology A Caterpillars (larval Lepidoptera) are one of the most ecologically and evolutionarily significant taxa on Earth. As both feeders and food, they shape the dynamics of enumerate ecosystems on land. Key ...

🐛📢🐛New paper alert! Lovely review of caterpillar sensory ecology led by @samjakeengland.bsky.social (@humboldt-foundation.de fellow) with friends and colleagues @rochellemeah.bsky.social @benitoexplains.bsky.social and Callum McLellan!
🐛⚡🐛👁️🐛🤝🐛👃🐛
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

From preferences to pollination: do hummingbirds and bees differ in how they choose flowers?

#PhD position!

Comparing #foraging and #cognition in #hummingbirds and #bumblebees

Fieldwork in the Canadian Rockies, lab experiments at @newcastleuni.bsky.social, and ecological modelling at @uniofstandrews.bsky.social

Details (including my email) here: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...

Multispecies sensory networks and social foraging strategies: Implications for population decline in procellariiform seabirds | PNAS Multispecies sensory networks, where different species prioritize different sensory modalities and then use heterospecific information in a likely ...

Granger et al. Multispecies sensory networks and social foraging strategies: Implications for population decline in procellariiform seabirds www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... #ornithology #seabirds

Perception of aerodynamical looming stimuli Clémençon et al. show that predator size and velocity are two key parameters for the perception of the aerodynamical signature of approaching predators (aerodynamical looming stimuli). They report tha...

How do animals recognise incoming stimuli as predators? In this paper from the Casas' lab, they tested aerodynamical looming, and they show that size and velocity of the incoming object activated wind-sensitive neurons in 🦗. These responses are similar to visual looming! www.cell.com/current-biol...

Sensory receptor expansion and neural accommodation in butterfly color vision https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.30.685642v1

PSD-95 drives binocular vision maturation critical for predation Postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD-95) is a signalling scaffold within the postsynaptic density of excitatory synapses which drives silent synapse maturation during critical periods (CP). Binoculari...

Another big piece of work from our lab is out on bioRxiv. Learn about the role of PSD-95 for hunting behavior in mice here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

At the edge of darkness: A framework for the evolution of visual systems in dim light Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

I've unlocked a new science badge!! 🎉🛡️🎉

This thoughtful piece by @meganlinnay.bsky.social expands beautifully on a short review I wrote, citing 'the Sumner-Rooney cost-benefit model' of eye loss 🥲 honoured!

For anyone interested in evolution in low light, have a read! 👉 doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Coral reef spiders…. Underwater?! 😱

Sensory expectations shape neural population dynamics in motor circuits Nature - Experiments with human volunteers and macaques show that expectations produced by probabilistic cueing of future sensory inputs shape motor circuit dynamics in order to increase the...

Thrilled that our paper is out today in Nature!
www.nature.com/articles/s4...

PNAS Science Sessions – Webs and Leaps: Hunting adaptations of spiders. Available on all podcast platforms, subscribe and listen now!

Spiders are precision hunters, not just creepy crawlies. 🕷️ This PNAS Science Sessions episode dives into cutting-edge research on spider webs that hear, silk-powered lifts, and REM sleep-like states in jumping spiders. Tune into this Halloween Special: https://ow.ly/W5NO50XhCZ7

🧠🌟🐭 Excited to share some of my postdoc work on the evolution of dexterity!

We compared deer mice evolved in forest vs prairie habitats. We found that forest mice have:
(1) more corticospinal neurons (CSNs)
(2) better hand dexterity
(3) more dexterous climbing, which is linked to CSN number🧵

We had a rather unexpected presenter at our lab meeting this morning 😄🪲🎓

As someone who still manually writes references (🫣), are there any recommendations for easy to use citation managers? I've had some trouble with EndNote and importing relatively older PDFs

Reposting for the Monday morning scrollers! Funded PhD opportunity with me @multipleye-lab.bsky.social @bristolbiosci.bsky.social - spiders, their eyes, and their babies under long- and short-term light pollution!

This is so exciting!!! Looking forward to seeing new development (heh) in the spider eye field 🕷️👁️

Scanning and active sampling behaviours emerge from conserved insect neural circuits https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.13.682010v1

Octopus track chemosensory plumes to find food

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

The first preprint from my PhD work is out! We used C. elegans to define and manipulate heterogeneous groups, exploring how individuals with different behavioural phenotypes interact and shape collective behavior. Check it out here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

What a lovely 'spotlight' of @talboger.bsky.social's work on style perception! Written by @aennebrielmann.bsky.social in @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social.

See Aenne's paper below, as well as Tal's original work here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Foraging as an ethological framework for neuroscience The study of foraging is central to a renewed interest in naturalistic behavior in neuroscience. Applying a foraging framework grounded in behavioral …

Pleased to have this review out in @cp-trendsneuro.bsky.social. In it we discuss various aspects of the intersection between foraging behaviors and neuroscience, and offer some future directions: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Golden eagle on the nest in Finland (by O. Karlin)

🦅PhD position 🦅 in my new group at @fbm-unil.bsky.social in Switzerland, studying how the social and resource landscapes shape the learning process for soaring flight. Deadline: Oct 30. Pls repost! career5.successfactors.eu/career?caree...

This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important

🐝 Can #ElectricFields from #powerlines disrupt #honeybee foraging? A new #iScience study says yes — AC & +DC fields cut landings by 71% 🌸⚡

🧾Read here: www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

#ElectricPollution #PollinatorHealth #Entomology #Agroecology #EcoResearch #InsectScience #SaveTheBees #FieldEcology

Most people are right- some left-handed or ambidextrous - and so are honey buzzards when turning in thermals! But, unlike us, mastering flight means these birds must overcome laterality as they grow. A gem of a preprint led by @enourani.bsky.social. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A multisensory, bidirectional, valence encoder guides behavioral decisions A key function of the brain is to categorize sensory cues as repulsive or attractive and respond accordingly. While we have some understanding of how sensory information is processed in the sensory pe...

How is valence computed in the brain? Check out our new preprint about a single cell that integrates excitatory and inhibitory input across modalities according to valence and impacts behavioral decisions. An exciting collaboration across many labs. Enjoy reading!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Overcoming Innate Lateralization Improves Avian Flight Performance https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.24.678238v1

Insect populations are declining at an unprecedented rate The most diverse group of organisms on the planet are in trouble and the consequences could be dire.

I still think this #SciComm deserves a #Pulitzer.

#InsectApocalypse
www.reuters.com/graphics/GLO...

Congratulations to Anna Stöckl receiving the prestigious Walther-Arndt award from the German Zoological Society. #dzg2025 @anna-stoeckl.bsky.social 🥳🥂

Carrion crows can learn precise tool use Animal training can teach carrion crows to use a stick tool to retrieve food. With increasing practice, they not only demonstrate great skill and achieve their objective in a few steps, they also respond flexibly to varying conditions in the experiment.

Carrion crows can be trained to use stick tools with precision and flexibility, demonstrating advanced motor and cognitive skills not typically seen in their wild behavior. doi.org/g927xw