Royal Society Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, UK. Interested in visual ecology, animal behaviour, illusions, and all things bowerbirdy www.laurakelleyresearch.wordpress.com
Laura Kelley
New research shows that displaying a pair of eyes on food packaging can be enough to stop some gulls pinching your food.
New research shows that displaying a pair of eyes on food packaging can be enough to stop some gulls pinching your food.
tcnv.link
I am hiring a postdoc for scRNA-seq research in Lund, Sweden on the visual systems of non-model inverts as part of an ERC project on the evolution and ecology of advanced color and polarization vision. Apply here or share the link with someone who may be interested! 🧪
lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
The Conversation UK
What an excellent topic for a study - who makes jokes during talks? 'Jokes eliciting whole-room laughter were rare (9%), while the majority fell flat or landed mildly, earning mostly quiet chuckles (67%)' Ouch!
Congratulations to Caitlin - the first paper from her PhD! 🥳
The impacts of human activity on bower appearance is striking (urban bower on left, rural on right). Rural males use human-made decorations when available (they love a clothes peg!) These objects may increase male attractiveness, but may also pose risks such as entanglement. @uniexecec.bsky.social
Nice article by the wonderful Marlene Zuk in National Geographic, featuring my and @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social research on Cornish herring gulls, and how kids got us into gulls 😊 @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
Another stick in the wall: we removed part of male great bowerbird bower walls to test effect on courtship displays. Males didn’t just focus on rebuilding the wall, they stepped up effort across all aspects of their display, showing they flexibly invest in multiple signals tinyurl.com/4ujmkw95
Sexier in the city? Urban male great bowerbirds decorate bowers with human-made objects, creating brighter and more varied displays than rural males. Males strongly prefer human-made objects over natural ones, possibly boosting their appeal to females! shorturl.at/lcNY2 @royalsocietypublishing.org
Interested in the interface of evolution 🧬 and ecology 🌳? Then you cannot miss #ExE2026! Hosted by @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful #Cornwall, this #conference has a stellar line-up of speakers and lots of pre-and post-conference workshops. Space is limited, so register now at evoxeco.uk!
Can we stop gulls from pinching food by sticking eyes 👀 on takeaway boxes? New paper in @ecol-evol.bsky.social suggests it is an effective solution for deterring some gulls from food sources, but not all! tinyurl.com/gulleyes
Read a summary in @uk.theconversation.com tinyurl.com/gulleyes2
Gulls are often seen as intruders in our daily lives. But researchers are discovering what really motivates them—and strategies to keep them away from your lunch.
🐦⬛Bowerbirds!🕺Sexual signals!🪹Bower construction!🚨Disruptions!
Our #EditorsChoice for the #AnimalBehaviourJournal:
“Male great bowerbirds upregulate multiple sexual signals following bower wall removal”
Read here:
doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2026.123480
Who is making jokes at scientific conferences? Which type of joke land?
To find out, we collected quantitative data on jokes at 14 scientific conferences – now published OA in @royalsociety.org ProcB:
doi.org/10.1098/rspb...
w/ @rcorreia.bsky.social @andreasantangeli.bsky.social and more
