Lauren Vane giving her talk at the ASAB Spring Conference 2026 in Bristol

James Robertshaw giving his talk at the ASAB Spring Conference 2026 in Bristol

CONGRATULATIONS to @laurenvane.bsky.social and #JamesRobertshaw on delivering such great talks at the #ASABSpring2026 conference. #ProudSupervisor

#ECRs #PhD #Masters #meerkats #mammals #bioacoustics
@asab.org @asab-meetings.bsky.social
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social

A collage of students in front of slides

Another great talk session this morning at #ASABSpring2026 : We covered meerkat sunning calls, fish colour patterning, cricket insecticide exposure, moth same-sex sexual behaviours, cold snap and heatwave effects on bees & farm bird song learning ☀️🐠🦗🦋🥶 🥵🐦‍⬛

Clemency, Josh and Lauren in front of a screen with their photos reading Panel Session Clemency White R&D Fellow (Defra), Lauren Vane (Phd Student), Josh Arbon (Herschel Smith Fellow)

Students in groups creating personal principles

After lunch #ASABSpring2026 workshop about creating positive fieldwork experiences by @clemencywhite.bsky.social, including a very interesting panel with @josharbon.bsky.social & @laurenvane.bsky.social, and a thoughtful exercise on developing our own personal principles ✍️

Women in Science A Journey Through the Discoveries and Challenges of Women Scientists Across History and the World

Happy International Day of Women & Girls in Science!

In celebration of the day, check out this virtual museum curated by UNESCO showcasing the discoveries of female-identifying scientists across history and the world.
www.unesco.org/en/virtual-s...

8 posters all describing influential women that have passed through Biological Sciences

To celebrate Women in STEM day on Wednesday 11 February we’ve printed some banners to highlight some of the incredible work that the women of Bio Sci at Bristol have achieved over the years!

Pop into the LSB for the remainder of Feb to check out who’s done what and when!

Super interesting article by @chameauleon.bsky.social.

Meerkats' little cousins, #dwarfmongooses, also battle with hot temperatures. Work led by @laurenvane.bsky.social shows how they gain less body mass on particularly hot days due to limited behavioural plasticity: doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

Very happy to have presented my poster today on vocal regulation of cooperation in meerkats at #ASABWinter2025 come chat to me tomorrow if you’re interested! 🤓

Andy has been such a fantastic mentor to so many this is the least recognition he deserves. I can’t put into words the transformative effect Andy’s guidance has had on how I conduct both my science and myself. Get yourself a mentor like Andy.

Certificate for winning Nature Award for Mentoring in Science

Professor Andy Radford with some of his mentees at the University of Bristol

Honoured & humbled to receive a #Nature #Award for #Mentoring in #Science yesterday. ☺️

Testament to the wonderful #ECRs I've been privileged to work with. THANK YOU to all who nominated me. 🙏

#proud #support

@natureportfolio.nature.com @bristolbiosci.bsky.social

www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2025/de...

What a fantastic afternoon!
13 #homeeducated children met 6 scientists and asked them brilliant questions about their research..

Huge thanks to our #homeed students and #research scientists for taking part in another brilliant ‘Meet Scientists’ event!
#STEM #outreach #scicomm #homeeducation

Very grateful for such a warm, fun research group made up of some truly brilliant scientists!

Dr Josh Arbon out birding.

Dr Josh Arbon with a meerkat in the Kalahari, South Africa.

👋to @josharbon.bsky.social who has completed a truly outstanding #NERC-funded postdoc investigating #pre-emptive #behaviour in relation to #intergroup #conflict 👏

Loads of exciting #research, new #methods learned & an awe-inspiring level of help provided to others 🥇

Good luck in #Cambridge, Josh

Meerkat pups in the Kalahari, South Africa

Rhesus macaques in Cayo Santiago

Dwarf mongoose staring at a camera, South Africa.

📢Two fully-funded #PhD opportunities to work with us:

Topic: Social monitoring & manipulation

UK-domiciled black-heritage scheme: tinyurl.com/aja54nr6

NERC DLTP: tinyurl.com/4jfy47pp

Cosupervisors: #PatrickKennedy @ljnbrent.bsky.social
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social
#bioacoustics #mammals #fieldwork

Dwarf mongoose

Rhesus macaques grooming

Meerkat

❓ Want to join us?
📢 Fully funded #PhD for UK-domiciled Black heritage candidates
🐵 Biological market monitoring & manipulation in social animals #mongooses #macaques #fieldwork

👥 With me, #LaurenBrent & #PatrickKennedy
🎓 @bristolbiosci.bsky.social

ℹ️ www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

🙏Share widely

Scientific productivity gap based on English-language peer-reviewed papers. Shown are the maximum % differences in the number of peer-reviewed papers published by female native English speakers from a high-income country (-45%), female non-native English speakers from a high-income country (-60%), and female non-native English speakers from a lower-middle income country (-70%), compared to male native English speakers from a high-income country (red flag).

Women, non-native English speakers & those form low-income countries are disadvantaged in science but by how much? We found that women with non-English first languages from low-income countries publish up to 70% fewer in English than their counterparts. 1/5
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
#languagebarriers

Consequently, mongooses gained less body mass on hot days, were not able to recoup losses on subsequent cool days, and body mass decreased with increasing consecutive hot days. This highlights the consequences of a warming world for species with limited behavioural plasticity.

We found no evidence that time above ground at the burrow, time spent inactive or distance moved whilst foraging were altered on hot days…

Using long-term data on wild dwarf mongooses, we show that despite ‘burning the candle at both ends’ with earlier and later foraging times, dwarf mongooses were unable to compensate for the consequences of hot weather ☀️…

Dwarf Mongooses Lose Body Mass in Hot Weather due to Limited Behavioural Plasticity Using long-term data from wild dwarf mongooses (Helogale parvula), we demonstrate that on hot days (≥ 35°C) compared to matched cooler ones (≤ 33°C), mongooses emerged and commenced foraging earlier ...

☀️New Paper!☀️ In @ecol-evol.bsky.social

Dwarf mongooses lose body mass in hot weather due to limited behavioural plasticity

With top co-authors: @josharbon.bsky.social, Amy Morris-Drake, @juliekern.bsky.social, @andyradford.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71963
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social

🧵⬇️

Juvenile meerkat in the Kalahari.

Masters by Research student Lauren Vane collecting data on wild meerkats in the Kalahari, South Africa.

Masters by Research student James Robertshaw out in the field with a meerkat on his head.

Dr Josh Arbon mimicking a meerkat... or vice versa.

Apparently, it is 'World #Meerkat Day'. 🤷‍♂️ So what better excuse to post some photos of the #field team in action with the little critters, with thanks to the Kalahari Meerkat Project who make it all possible.
@laurenvane.bsky.social @josharbon.bsky.social
James Robertshaw
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social

Weak anthropogenic electric fields affect honeybee foraging Ecology; Entomology; Ethology

Excited to share that my first research article is now out in iScience:
“Weak anthropogenic electric fields affect honeybee foraging”
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

Huge thanks to my co-authors and supervisors for their support throughout!
#pollinators #bees #ecology #electrosensory #beeresearch

Meerkat adult with 6 pups to look after.

I thought #parenting was tough at times, but this #meerkat group of 7 adults have 12 (yes, twelve) small bundles of fun to cope with! Thanks to @laurenvane.bsky.social for the stunning photo from #fieldwork in the Kalahari.

First field season of the PhD starting strong alongside brilliant scientists and adorable subjects in the Kalahari 🌞🌵

#ECR highlights from 2024 include:

🌟Lauren Vane🌟 defending her #Masters thesis, publishing her first #paper on how #noise might affect #mongoose decision-making & starting her #NERC @gw4alliance.bsky.social #PhD.
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
👏🥂

#ProudSupervisor
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social

Amazing women in STEM that I am privileged to work with.

More amazing #ECRs to celebrate on International Women's Day include these wonderful folk I am privileged to work with: Julie Kern, Lina Yousry, Ayla Webb, Maddie Gasparro, Yoonjung Yi, @sophienedelec.bsky.social, Pernille Sorensen & Lauren Vane.

#IWD2025 #WomeninStem
@bristolbiosci.bsky.social