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GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist and science writer who writes about evolution, ethology and ecology, especially in birds
GrrlScientist
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by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
The newly-sequenced scarlet macaw genome will provide many important insights into avian and human biology, behaviours and genetics and will contribute to parrot conservation.... Read more »
Seabury Christopher M., Dowd Scot E., Seabury Paul M., Raudsepp Terje, Brightsmith Donald J., Liboriussen Poul, Halley Yvette, Fisher Colleen A., Owens Elaine, & Viswanathan Ganesh. (2013) A Multi-Platform Draft de novo Genome Assembly and Comparative Analysis for the Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao). PLoS ONE, 8(5). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062415.s019
Oleksyk Taras K, Pombert Jean-Francois, Siu Daniel, Mazo-Vargas Anyimilehidi, Ramos Brian, Guiblet Wilfried, Afanador Yashira, Ruiz-Rodriguez Christina T, Nickerson Michael L, & Logue David M. (2012) A locally funded Puerto Rican parrot (Amazona vittata) genome sequencing project increases avian data and advances young researcher education. GigaScience, 1(1), 14. DOI: 10.1186/2047-217X-1-14
Ried T, Schröck E, Ning Y, & Wienberg J. (1998) Chromosome painting: a useful art. Human Molecular Genetics, 7(10), 1619-1626. DOI: 10.1093/hmg/7.10.1619
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
This week's Caturday morning video smile is a lovely blend of science, animals and humour all rolled up into a short video.... Read more »
Dacke Marie, Baird Emily, Byrne Marcus, Scholtz Clarke H., & Warrant Eric J. (2013) Dung Beetles Use the Milky Way for Orientation. Current Biology, 23(4), 298-300. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.12.034
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
New research demonstrates that male soldiers' faces may predict their military rank and how many children they ultimately father... Read more »
Carré J. M, & McCormick C. M. (2008) In your face: facial metrics predict aggressive behaviour in the laboratory and in varsity and professional hockey players. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 275(1651), 2651-2656. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2008.0873
Wong E. M., Ormiston M. E., & Haselhuhn M. P. (2011) A Face Only an Investor Could Love: CEOs' Facial Structure Predicts Their Firms' Financial Performance. Psychological Science, 22(12), 1478-1483. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611418838
Tsujimura H., & Banissy M. J. (2013) Human face structure correlates with professional baseball performance: insights from professional Japanese baseball players. Biology Letters, 9(3), 20130140-20130140. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2013.0140
Stirrat Michael, Stulp Gert, & Pollet Thomas V. (2012) Male facial width is associated with death by contact violence: narrow-faced males are more likely to die from contact violence. Evolution and Human Behavior, 33(5), 551-556. DOI: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2012.02.002
Stirrat M., & Perrett D. I. (2012) Face Structure Predicts Cooperation: Men With Wider Faces Are More Generous to Their In-Group When Out-Group Competition Is Salient. Psychological Science, 23(7), 718-722. DOI: 10.1177/0956797611435133
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
Meet the peacock of the spider world and watch his lovely courtship dance! ... Read more »
Otto Jürgen C., & Hill David E. (2011) An illustrated review of the known peacock spiders of the genus Maratus from Australia, with description of a new species (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryinae). Peckhamia, 96(1), 1-27. http://peckhamia.com/peckhamia.html
Hill David Edwin . (2009) Euophryine jumping spiders that extend their third legs during courtship (Araneae: Salticidae: Euophryinae: Maratus, Saitis). . Peckhamia, 74(1), 1-27. http://www.peckhamia.com/peckhamia/PECKHAMIA 74.1.pdf
Otto Jürgen C., & Hill David E. . (2012) Contests between male Maratus vespertilio (Simon 1901) (Araneae: Salticidae). Peckhamia, 98(1), 1-17. http://www.peckhamia.com/peckhamia/PECKHAMIA_98.1.pdf
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
Female fairy-wrens teach their chicks a vocal password before they hatch to distinguish them from brood parasitic bronze-cuckoo chicks... Read more »
Colombelli-Négrel Diane, Hauber Mark E., Robertson Jeremy, Sulloway Frank J., Hoi Herbert, Griggio Matteo, & Kleindorfer Sonia. (2012) Embryonic Learning of Vocal Passwords in Superb Fairy-Wrens Reveals Intruder Cuckoo Nestlings. Current Biology, 22(22). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.09.025
Langmore Naomi E., Hunt Sarah, & Kilner Rebecca M. (2003) Escalation of a coevolutionary arms race through host rejection of brood parasitic young. Nature, 422(6928), 157-160. DOI: 10.1038/nature01460
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
Not known to manufacture and use tools in the wild, a captive cockatoo demonstrates that parrots can make tools to suit their needs... Read more »
Auersperg Alice M.I., Szabo Birgit, von Bayern Auguste M.P., & Kacelnik Alex. (2012) Spontaneous innovation in tool manufacture and use in a Goffin’s cockatoo. Current Biology, 22(21). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.09.002
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
GrrlScientist: a newly published study shows that beauty is in the right eye of the beholder for birds, providing the first demonstration in any animal of visual lateralization of mate choice... Read more »
Jennifer J. Templeton, D. James Mountjoy, Sarah R. Pryke, & Simon C. Griffith. (2012) In the eye of the beholder: visual mate choice lateralization in a polymorphic songbird. Biology Letters. info:/10.1098/rsbl.2012.0830
L. Workman, & R.J. Andrew. (1986) Asymmetries of eye use in birds. Animal Behaviour, 34(5), 1582-1584. info:/10.1016/S0003-3472(86)80235-4
Orsola Rosa Salva, Lucia Regolin, Elena Mascalzoni, & Giorgio Vallortigara. (2012) Cerebral and behavioural asymmetries in animal social recognition. Comparative Cognition , 110-138. info:/10.3819/ccbr.2012.70006
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
Female poison dart frogs' distinct preferences for mates with particular colours may be a first step in the process of speciation... Read more »
Corinne L. Richards-Zawacki, Ian J . Wang, & Kyle Summers. (2012) Mate choice and the genetic basis for colour variation in a polymorphic dart frog: inferences from a wild pedigree. Molecular Ecology, 3879-3892. info:/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05644.x
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
Wild green-rumped parrotlet parents give their babies their own individual names... Read more »
Karl S. Berg, Soraya Delgado, Kathryn A. Cortopassi, Steven R. Beissinger, & Jack W. Bradbury. (2011) Vertical transmission of learned signatures in a wild parrot. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. info:/10.1098/rspb.2011.0932
Ralf Wanker, Jasmin Apcin, Bert Jennerjahn, & Birte Waibel. (1998) Discrimination of different social companions in spectacled parrotlets (Forpus conspicillatus): evidence for individual vocal recognition. . Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology , 43(3), 197-202. info:/10.1007/s002650050481)
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
DNA obtained for the first time from extinct Carolina parakeets reveals their closest relatives and provides insight into the evolution of New World parrots... Read more »
Jeremy J. Kirchman, Erin E. Schirtzinger, & Timothy F. Wright. (2012) Phylogenetic relationships of the extinct Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) inferred from DNA sequence Data. The Auk, 129(2), 197-204. info:/10.1525/auk.2012.11259
Manuel Schweizer, Ole Seehausen, & Stefan T. Hertwig. (2011) Macroevolutionary patterns in the diversification of parrots: Effects of climate change, geological events and key innovations. Journal of Biogeography, 38(11), 2176-2194. info:/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02555.x
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
Two new owl species were discovered in the Philippine Islands and five more Philippine owls were given full species status... Read more »
P. C. Rasmussen, D. N. S. Allen, N. J. Collar, B. De Meulemeester, R. O. Hutchinson, P. G. C. Jakosalem, R. S. Kennedy, F. R. Lambert, & L. M. Paguntalan. (2012) Vocal divergence and new species in the Philippine Hawk Owl Ninox philippensis complex. Forktail, 1-20. info:/
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
Species at the opposite ends of the life span-brood value spectrum will be most likely to survive climate change... Read more »
Daniel Sol, Joan Maspons, Miquel Vall-llosera, Ignasi Bartomeus, Gabriel E. García-Peña, Josep Piñol, & Robert P. Freckleton. (2012) Unraveling the Life History of Successful Invaders . Science, 580-583. info:/
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
This striking mystery bird is a new species just discovered in the cloud forests of Peru!... Read more »
Glenn F. Seeholzer, Benjamin M. Winger, Michael G. Harvey, Daniel Cáceres A., & Jason D. Weckstein. (2012) A new species of barbet (Capitonidae: Capito) from the Cerros del Sira, Ucayali, Peru. Auk, 129(3), 551-559. info:/10.1525/auk.2012.11250
John P O'Neill, Daniel F Lane, Andrew W Kratter, Angelo P Capparella, & Cecilia Fox Joo. (2000) A striking new species of barbet (Capitoninae: Capito) from the eastern Andes of Peru. Auk, 117(3), 569-577. info:/10.1642/0004-8038(2000)117[0569:ASNSOB]2.0.CO;2
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
A new study shows that increasing carbon dioxide levels favours trees over grass, suggesting that large regions of Africa's savannas may be forests by the end of this century... Read more »
Steven I. Higgins, & Simon Scheiter. (2012) Atmospheric CO2 forces abrupt vegetation shifts locally, but not globally. Nature. info:/10.1038/nature11238
John Grace, Jose´ San Jose´, Patrick Meir, Heloisa S. Miranda, & Ruben A. Montes. (2006) Productivity and carbon fluxes of tropical savannas. Journal of Biogeography, 387-400. info:/10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01448.x
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
The world's smallest mammoth has been discovered on Crete, and it's the size of a newborn baby elephant!... Read more »
Herridge, V., & Lister, A. (2012) Extreme insular dwarfism evolved in a mammoth. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0671
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
Two recently published scientific studies show that bee populations are being ravaged by widespread use of a particular type of pesticide, the neonicotinoids.... Read more »
Henry, M., Beguin, M., Requier, F., Rollin, O., Odoux, J., Aupinel, P., Aptel, J., Tchamitchian, S., & Decourtye, A. (2012) A Common Pesticide Decreases Foraging Success and Survival in Honey Bees. Science, 336(6079), 348-350. DOI: 10.1126/science.1215039
Whitehorn, P., O'Connor, S., Wackers, F., & Goulson, D. (2012) Neonicotinoid Pesticide Reduces Bumble Bee Colony Growth and Queen Production. Science, 336(6079), 351-352. DOI: 10.1126/science.1215025
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
A new scientific paper uses a unique methodology to addresses this timeless question ... Read more »
Brusatte, S., Butler, R., Prieto-Márquez, A., & Norell, M. (2012) Dinosaur morphological diversity and the end-Cretaceous extinction. Nature Communications, 804. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1815
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
Using cutting-edge technologies and some imagination, a Harvard professor and his team find that ovaries in women of reproductive age contain stem cells that give rise to mature oocytes... Read more »
White, Y., Woods, D., Takai, Y., Ishihara, O., Seki, H., & Tilly, J. (2012) Oocyte formation by mitotically active germ cells purified from ovaries of reproductive-age women. Nature Medicine. DOI: 10.1038/nm.2669
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
Theropod dinosaurs used their long tails as a counterbalance to stabilise rapid or irregular movements ... Read more »
Libby, T., Moore, T., Chang-Siu, E., Li, D., Cohen, D., Jusufi, A., & Full, R. (2012) Tail-assisted pitch control in lizards, robots and dinosaurs. Nature, 481(7380), 181-184. DOI: 10.1038/nature10710
by GrrlScientist in GrrlScientist
17 is the minimum number of clues required to give a unique sudoku solution -- but how did mathematicians prove this? ... Read more »
Gary McGuire, Bastian Tugemann, & Gilles Civario. (2012) There is no 16-Clue Sudoku: Solving the Sudoku Minimum Number of Clues Problem. ArXiv. info:/arXiv:1201.0749v1
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