Veera Norros: Species of wood-inhabiting fungi display different reproductive and dispersal strategies—which is the winning strategy in changing environments?

In this new post, Finnish Senior Research Scientist, Veera Norros, present her latest work ‘Spore production monitoring reveals contrasting seasonal strategies and a trade-off between spore size and number in wood-inhabiting fungi’. She discusses the importance of season for fungi spore-production, the vulnerability of wood-dependant species, and the challenges to conciliate research and family. About the paper Habitat loss and climate change divide species into … Continue reading Veera Norros: Species of wood-inhabiting fungi display different reproductive and dispersal strategies—which is the winning strategy in changing environments?

Carl G. Lundblad: Understanding the evolutionary causes of variation in an overlooked life-history trait, incubation period.

In this new post, Carl G. Lundblad, a new ecological researcher working at Oregon State University, ORE, USA, shares his paper: Intraspecific variation in incubation behaviours along a latitudinal gradient is driven by nest microclimate and selection on neonate quality—recently shortlisted for the Haldane Prize for Early Career Researchers. Like many wildlife ecologists, I was drawn to the field through a lifelong fascination with the … Continue reading Carl G. Lundblad: Understanding the evolutionary causes of variation in an overlooked life-history trait, incubation period.

Tara-Lyn Camilleri: Parental sugar consumption modifies offspring life history and physiology

In this blog post, Tara-Lyn Camilleri, a Ph.D. candidate at Monash University in Australia, discusses her newly published paper, “Maternal and paternal sugar consumption interact to modify offspring life history and physiology”. About the paper Varying the environment of an organism can alter their physiology, which in turn alters their development time, lifespan, the rate they reproduce, the survival rate of their offspring, their body … Continue reading Tara-Lyn Camilleri: Parental sugar consumption modifies offspring life history and physiology

Dustin Marshall: Mother-offspring conflicts: Temperature can change selection on offspring size

Professor Dustin Marshall, Australian Research Council Fellow and the Head of the Marine Evolutionary Ecology Research Group / Centre for Geometric Biology at Monash University, discusses with us his recently accepted paper “Temperature-mediated variation in selection on offspring size: a multi-cohort field study.” What is the background to your paper? We know offspring size varies enormously and understanding this variation is a long-standing goal of … Continue reading Dustin Marshall: Mother-offspring conflicts: Temperature can change selection on offspring size