Every bird lover should know this!

Land-use change undermines the stability of avian functional diversity - Nature Large-scale analyses of bird species traits reveal that land-use change reduces resilience of key ecological functions more than previously thought.

Land-use change undermines the stability of avian functional diversity - new #OA @nature.com paper with @patrickawalkden.bsky.social @josephtobias.bsky.social, combining #PredictsProject with #Avonet doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Behavioural ecology in the twenty-first century - Nature Ecology & Evolution This Perspective discusses how the field of behavioural ecology has contributed to fundamental science and tackling global challenges, ranging from understanding how natural selection leads to adaptat...

This Perspective discusses how the field of behavioural ecology has contributed to fundamental science and global challenges, ranging from understanding how natural selection leads to adaptation to optimizing biocontrol of pest species www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Free to read: rdcu.be/eRKbv

So much fun & learning happened in this PhD that it seemed impossible it could all fit in three years. Tremendous thanks to my supervisor @josephtobias.bsky.social , former lab mates & many friends @ra-barber.bsky.social, and Cris and Gavin for making the final day truly enjoyable.

Scatterplot showing positive correlation between avian wing bone length and temperature across ~1500 bird species, along with diagrams comparing wing bones with low versus high proportional length

Another unexpected angle on bird wing evolution: skeletal measurements suggest that wing bone length is shaped not only by aerodynamics of flight but also by thermoregulation (1/4)
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#macroecology #ornithology 🧪🌎🌐🪶

Macroecological rules predict how biomass scales with species richness in nature Despite advances in theory and experiments, how biodiversity influences the structure and functioning of natural ecosystems remains debated. By applying new theory to data on 84,695 plant, animal, and...

New 🗒️led by Alex Pigot - Macroecological rules predict how biomass scales with species richness in nature -Standing biomass increases with richness when large-bodied spp are numerically rare but independent when spp size & abundance are uncoupled. @ucl.ac.uk - Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

This is my first PhD paper @imperiallifesci.bsky.social! and absolutely amazing teamwork with @josephtobias.bsky.social, @alexanderlees.bsky.social, Chenyue Yang, and @homewaylin.bsky.social. (8/8)

🚨This paper is #OpenAccess and presents FOUR new global datasets – elevational ranges, flight modes, aerial lifestyle scores, and hand-wing areas for all birds – to facilitate research in ecology & evolution. Download here: doi.org/10.6084/m9.f.... (7/8)

Our results support the ‘thin-air’ hypothesis, suggesting that elevational constraints on flight efficiency are a general mechanism shaping wing evolution in flying animals. (6/8)

We also show that wing-shape gradients are generally steeper at highest elevations, where aerodynamic and physiological challenges are most extreme. (5/8)

The results of phylogenetic analyses on all extant birds confirm that species living at higher elevations have increased wing elongation (hand-wing index) and wing area, even accounting for 8 factors related to climate, habitat and species ecology, including migration. (4/8)

However, testing this idea is not straightforward and previous results are mixed, partly because other factors associated with higher elevation - including elevational migration and differences in foraging ecology – may drive parallel or opposing trends in wing morphology. (3/8)

Flying animals are proposed to have longer and larger wings at higher elevations to provide increased lift and improved flight efficiency, compensating for ‘thin-air’ effects including low air density and low oxygen supply. (2/8)

White-fronted Ground-tyrant, a resident species at extreme high elevations in the tropical Andes with very elongated wings. Photo: Matti Rekilä.

Do montane birds evolve more efficient wing shapes for flying at high elevations? Our global analysis published today suggests that they do! 🧵(1/8)⬇️ www.cell.com/current-biol....

Drivers of avian genomic change revealed by evolutionary rate decomposition - Nature Genomic evolutionary rates are decomposed to identify the dominant lineages and genes driving rate variation across the phylogeny of birds.

🚨 Macro-scale analyses linking bird traits and genomics reveal that the ancestors of modern birds underwent major pulses of evolutionary change related to ecological niche expansion immediately after the Cretaceous–Palaeogene transition. 🧪🌐🪶 www.nature.com/articles/s41... @jyang19.bsky.social

Arts of 2024 🎨 (from four.. continents! 😲🙊)

Big news! 🎉 My first PhD chapter has been published in @PLOSBiology, and it just made the cover! 🐦🌍 Perfect time to dive into the key findings from our global study on sexual selection in birds. 🧵👇
📖 Read the paper: doi.org/10.1371/jour...

per alström BirdLife Finland Dec 2023 Lecture given at BirdLife Finland's 50th Anniversary and Bongariliitto's annual meeting in Helsinki, 9 December 2023. Title: Bird identification and taxonomy...

A must watch lecture on 50 years of advances in avian taxonomy & identification from Pär Alström youtu.be/YDuUMbUOXJs?...