Pretty amazed that my one of my papers is the #TopCitedArticle in its journal @respublications.bsky.social @wiley.com. Nice to have recognition for its impact. Link: doi.org/10.1111/icad...

Hoverflies on oil rigs… read this blog I wrote on our most recent lab paper exploring this phenomenon.

Really cool story about long-distance pollen transport by migratory hoverflies. The actual research paper is here: doi.org/10.1111/1365...

📢 New paper out!
Cetacean strandings in Scotland have risen 125% over the past 30 years. Our study gives the first comprehensive picture of when, where, and which species strand, providing a baseline to guide conservation.

👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@sbohvm.gla.ac.uk @strandings.bsky.social

New paper! doi.org/10.3390/micr...
We demonstrate a novel microplastic vector from aquatic to terrestrial environments. #Microplastics ingested at larval stage remain in the gut through to adult emergence in #hoverflies. 🧪🌍🌐

@ejigu.bsky.social
@koralwotton.bsky.social
@mdpiopenaccess.bsky.social

Presented my paper www.researchgate.net/publication/... at the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Biological Recorders Conference @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social today.

Showing how key pollinator groups respond to urban enhancements, hopefully encouraging other councils to follow suit!

Hey #Drosophila Sky and #Dros25 folks, I'm looking to help someone screen some candidate genes in muscle via RNAi.

Any recommended Gal4s? Right now planning on Mef2-GAL4, but in past have noticed this driver has some lethality in parent stock (in my old lab), so another option would be good.

After devouring all the aphids, the larvae have dispersed from their feeding site to pupate. This is the final stage before adult emergence. Not much to do now but patiently wait.

Below is a small individual which in the next week will eclose as an adult hoverfly!

#Pollinator diversity is threatened by human activities, but urban green spaces can help. It was found that enhancing public spaces with #wildflowers and ornamental plants increased pollinator diversity and mitigated urbanisation’s impact. tinyurl.com/4cye24mz
(1/2)

Spent the week #microCT scanning marmalade hoverfly muscles in the SHArD lab @uoearchhist.bsky.social! Getting good 3D reconstructions from the terabyte of data generated…

I’m trying to work out if #muscle morphology differs between #migrant and non-migrant types of this species through #ageing.

Awesome stuff! We've also recently put out some work on urban spaces for pollinators, showing plantings with non-native ornamental flowers and natives attracted higher pollinator diversity than natives alone. Hoverflies appear to be true generalists it seems

Slowly but surely my hover babies are hatching... Let the aphid devouring begin!

Episyrphus larvae can hunt up to 1000 aphids each to provide nutrients vital for growth and pupal development.

See the video below of a successful hunt! 🐛🌐

New sea turtle research!

This new study explores how individual green turtles adjust the timing of their nesting patterns in response to warming oceans.

Watch the video for more.

Full paper - doi.org/10.1098/rspb...

🦑🌐🌍🦤🧪🐢
#AcademicSky
@brendangodley.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social

Ever wondered what hoverfly sperm look like? 🪰💡… Well, me neither!

But as you might imagine, they are really tiny: around 15 microns. 🔬 That’s approximately 100 times smaller than a 1mm measurement you’d find on a ruler. 📏

Female marmalade hoverflies store sperm (left pic) in spermathecae (right).

Now we can see eggs laid over the denser areas of aphid blooms it’s time to wait several days for them to hatch into larvae 🐣 that will be hungry for our little green friends 🐛

Inside the small oval shaped eggs, critical developmental phases are occurring so it’s best to leave them to it.

With several fecund female Episyrphus balteatus hoverflies now on our coriander, we might see some egg laying over the next few days - given these flies are happy with the aphids!

The warm indoor temperature and presence of aphids should provide sufficient cues to signal oviposition (egg laying).

Aphids tucking into your plants at home?

Try a natural biological control agent (feed them to aphidophagous hoverflies).

Follow this post for progress on aphid eradication via their natural predators!

I’ve been trying to look in to this in our flies recently. Any tips on how discern the spermathecae from other reproductive organs and what the sperm actually look like would be ace.

Here is the press release: news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-e...

& full paper: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/epdf/10....

& my favourite quote: “The reasons for this [sex difference] are unclear, but it’s possible that males prioritise fighting and mating, leaving little energy left for migration.”

Female hoverflies are WAY better than males at migrating!

At the beginning of their 1000km+ migrations in Denmark the sex ratios are 50:50, but by the time they get to Spain it is 90% female!

On flight sims females flew 9x further and have better immunity and lifespan!

@flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Multiple factors contribute to female dominance in migratory bioflows | Open Biology Migration is a widely observed phenomenon supported by morphological, physiological and behavioural traits that vary with season and sex in many species. Recently, the genetic components underpinning migration in the marmalade hoverfly (Diptera: Syrphidae)...

New paper out today from our lab. doi.org/10.1098/rsob...

We unpick the morphological 🧑‍🧒, physiological 🔬, behavioural 📟 and transcriptomic 🧬 differences contributing to female sex bias in migrating #hoverflies. See my work on flight performance in this paper 🪰💪🪽

@uniexecec.bsky.social

Photo of Campbell's monkeys sat in trees. New Research. Joint spatial modeling of cluster size and density for a heavily hunted primate persisting in a heterogeneous landscape. Andrew Houldcroft et al. (2024) Ecography.

New Paper! 🐒🌍🦤🧪

@andyhouldcroft.bsky.social built upon his MSc Conservation & Biodiversity project to develop a mapping model using monkeys in Guinea Bissau which aims to boost conservation & promote human-wildlife coexistence
@uniexecec.bsky.social #ExeterGSES

news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-e...

Ecology and Conservation Isles of Scilly field course YouTube video by University of Exeter

A highlight of studying with us is the fieldwork!

In the second year students visit the Isles of Scilly, a group of islands a 2-hour sailing journey from the Cornish coast, renowned for their extraordinary climate that borders on the subtropical.

youtu.be/xI1phDwZlKc?...

#ExeterCEC 🌍🦤

Download the new @strandings.bsky.social app, Beachtrack! 📲

By recording beach walks you can easily & effectively help monitor Scottish coastlines. Knowing where people are and aren't walking gives us a clearer picture of what’s happening along the shore🦭🌊

Pollinators respond positively to urban green space enhancements using wild and ornamental flowers Green spaces enhanced for nature are higher in pollinator diversity and are more resilient to urbanisation than unenhanced green spaces. Additional non-native floral plantings at enhanced sites attr...

Pollinators respond positively to urban green space enhancements using wild and ornamental flowers @royentsoc.bsky.social resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...