Battle of the sexes – Niche contraction in females but not males in high density island populations
Darren O’Connell on his recent paper showing competition between males and females of the Olive-backed Sunbird in Sulawesi, Indonesia
Kingfisher Evolution in the Wallacea Region
Studying diversification in the Todiramphus kingfishers of Sulawesi often brought to mind the adage, ‘what is rare is beautiful’. Though I certainly also learned that rare beauties can be incredibly frustrating! While I could be guaranteed to catch my other main study taxa, Zosterops white-eyes, by the dozen in the right habitat, Collared Kingfishers (Todiramphus …
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Welcome to Eco Evo in 2018
Hello and welcome to the start of another academic year at Trinity College Dublin. You’re on EcoEvo@TCD, the blog of the TCD Zoology and Botany Departments. It was started in 2012 and houses writing from postgraduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and staff of the Departments. Follow this blog for updates on the research carried …
Range extension for the Dwarf Sparrowhawk
Biodiversity monitoring work can often be disheartening. Typically, we end up documenting a decline in whatever species we are working with. So it’s always a pleasure to have the opportunity to deliver some positive news. A stroll with my collaborator Adi Karya around his university campus in Kendari city provided an unexpected opportunity to do …
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The avifauna of Kabaena Island
Most of us start off in ecological research for the fieldwork. I always dreamed of following in the footsteps of Darwin or Wallace, discovering species and exploring new lands. While I haven’t quite reached the level of my august peers (yet!), my PhD has allowed me to take a step on the road towards following …
Delicious Cuscus
Studying island bird biogeography in the tropics for my PhD has presented me with many weird and wonderful opportunities. None more so than accidentally becoming a mammologist along the way. My study region of Sulawesi, Indonesia, is home to the westernmost marsupial species in Asia, the Cuscus. Cuscus are like marsupial sloths, living life in …
Firehawks: waking up to stories of the Dreamtime
Fire is an essential part of the ecology of many savannah and grassland ecosystems. In some cases, fire is the only way of removing older grasses that are no longer profitable for herbivores to consume. As well as having benefits for local ecology, grassland fires also offer great feeding opportunities. I have seen large groups …
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EGG heads talk ecological genetics in Dublin
Using genetics to understand ecology is fascinating. The data reveal things that often cannot be found by observation alone, such as patterns of cryptic diversity, migration pathways and the source of colonising populations. But life in ecological genetics research is peculiar because we sit on a border between two fairly different fields of science. In …
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Please consider this a polite spanking
The recent hilarious #SixWordPeerReview hashtag on Twitter got me thinking about the first ever review I got for my first ever paper (thanks @Phalaropus for the reminder!). I thought I’d share it here (and if you want to see if you agree with the reviewer, the paper was eventually published in Global Ecology and Biogeography: Cooper et al 2008). …
A year of discoveries – 2012
With the end of the year and the inevitable onslaught of re-edited best of 2012 countdown shows, I decided to join the year’s long nostalgic trip with a look at some of my favourite scientific discoveries of 2012. As the obvious breakthroughs such as the Higgs boson etc will be covered ad lib elsewhere I …