Ecology Podcast

In this podcast for Functional Ecology, Assistant Editor, Frank Harris, sits down with William K. Oestreich—a postdoctoral fellow at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, USA—to discuss his recently published paper ‘Acoustic signature reveals blue whales tune life history transitions to oceanographic conditions’.

Will’s paper suggests that blue whales use flexible cues, perhaps including individual sensing of food availability and social information from other individuals (blue whale songs are audible over hundreds of kilometres) to match timing of feeding and migration with ecosystem processes. This flexibility could be key to survival of this endangered population in an era of rapid global change

Article: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.14013

Plain language summary: https://fesummaries.wordpress.com/2022/02/02/blue-whales-flexibly-time-feeding-and-migration-to-match-ocean-conditions/

Transcript: https://functionalecologists.com/2023/03/15/acoustic-signature-reveals-blue-whales-tune-life-history-transitions-to-oceanographic-conditions-podcast-transcript/

In this podcast for Functional Ecology, Assistant Editor, Frank Harris, sits down with Thomas Chouvenc—Assistant Professor at the University of Florida—to discuss his recently published paper ‘Eusociality and the transition from biparental to alloparental care in termites.'

Thomas’ paper shows that, in eusocial insects, colony foundation is a critical bottleneck, where the founding individuals must engage in a temporary (but obligatory) parental care phase that may ultimately reflect on the family unit conditions of their sub-social ancestors.

Article: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.14183

Podcast Transcript: https://functionalecologists.com/2023/03/01/eusociality-and-the-transition-from-biparental-to-alloparental-care-in-termites-podcast-transcript/

PLS: https://fesummaries.wordpress.com/2022/09/20/parental-care-behaviors-shifted-from-parents-to-offspring-in-social-insects/

For Black History Month, the British Ecological Society (BES) journals are celebrating the work of Black ecologists from around the world and sharing their stories. The theme for UK Black History Month this year is Time for Change: Action Not Words. In this very special podcast episode, British Ecological Society Journals podcast is collaborating with Anne Chisa, host of The Root Of The Science Podcast, to produce a panel discussion for Black History Month 2022! Do follow their Twitter account and support Anne however you can! In this podcast, we discuss the journeys of our guests, talk through the challenges that black ecologists (and scientists) face, and look at actions that can be taken to foster a more diverse and inclusive academic landscape.

A transcript of this podcast is available here: https://functionalecologists.com/2022/11/07/bes-collaborates-with-the-root-of-the-science-podcast-for-a-special-panel-discussion-with-daniel-pauly-nasiphi-bitani-and-mthokosizi-moyo-for-bhm-2022

Check out all of the British Ecological Society's BHM 2022 blogposts here: https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/black-history-month-2022/

For Black History Month, the British Ecological Society (BES) journals are celebrating the work of Black ecologists from around the world and sharing their stories. The theme for UK Black History Month this year is Time for Change: Action Not Words. Sandra is a PhD candidate in the Xenopoulos Aquatic Ecology Lab, Canada. In this podcast, we sit down to discuss being an 'aFISHionado', growing up as a global citizen of the world, the need to explore and consider the great ecological research coming out of the African continent, and how to go about creating a fairer and more diverse ecosystem in ecology and academia.

A transcript of this recording is available here: https://functionalecologists.com/2022/10/24/sandra-klemet-nguessan-discusses-how-to-cultivate-a-more-equitable-and-diverse-landscape-in-ecology-and-academia-with-frank-harris-podcast-transcript

Check out Sandra's website to stay up-to-date with her journey and research: https://sandraklemetnguessan.wordpress.com/

Check out all of the British Ecological Society's BHM 2022 blogposts here: https://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/black-history-month-2022/

The latest Methods in Ecology and Evolution brought to you in 3 minutes… more or less!

In this episode we interview Roland Kays about his recent publication 'The Movebank system for studying global animal movement and demography'. Read the full article here: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/2041-210X.13767

You can also check out Roland's podcast 'Wild Animals' for crazy stories about animals by the people who study them. For more exclusive content check out the MEE blog and social media.

Music: “You’re no help” by Silent Partner (CC BY-SA 3.0).

The latest Methods in Ecology and Evolution brought to you in 3 minutes… more or less!

In this episode we interview Dr Josh Cullen about their recent publication titled "Identifying latent behavioral states in animal movement with M4, a non-parametric Bayesian method". Read the full article here: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/2041-210X.13745

For more exclusive content check out the MEE blog and social media.

Music: “You’re no help” by Silent Partner (CC BY-SA 3.0).

The latest Methods in Ecology and Evolution brought to you in 3 minutes… more or less!

In this episode we interview Cassandra Konecny and Graham Brownlee about their recent publication titled “Adapting a propane turkey fryer to manipulate temperature in aquatic environments”. Read the full article here: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/2041-210X.13662

For more exclusive content check out the MEE blog and social media.

Music: “You’re no help” by Silent Partner (CC BY-SA 3.0).

The latest Methods in Ecology and Evolution brought to you in 3 minutes… more or less!

In this episode we interview Dr Ana Sequeira about their recent publication titled “A standardisation framework for bio-logging data to advance ecological research and conservation”. You can read the full article here: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/2041-210X.13593

For more exclusive content check out the MEE blog and social media.

Music: “You’re no help” by Silent Partner (CC BY-SA 3.0).

In this podcast for Functional Ecology, Assistant Editor, Frank Harris, sits down with Phoebe Griffith—a researcher from the Institute of Zoology, London, and the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Oxford University—to discuss her recently published paper ‘Using functional traits to identify conservation priorities for the world's crocodylians.’ To understand better the functional diversity of crocodylians, Griffiths et al. collected a database of functional traits of all species of crocodylians. These traits are measurable qualities – such as skull shape or saltwater tolerance – that allow us to understand the different ecological role of species, and how similar and different species are from one another.

Read the paper here: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.14140

For those that are hard of hearing, a transcript of the interview is available here: https://fesummaries.wordpress.com/2022/08/05/conserving-the-ecological-diversity-of-crocodylians/

Check out Phoebe's Edge of Existence blogpost for some great pictures and content: https://www.edgeofexistence.org/blog/crying-crocodile-tears-the-disappearing-diversity-of-crocodilians-and-their-ecological-roles/

To find out about and support ongoing croc conservation efforts, please do check out the following links:

1. https://www.edgeofexistence.org/fellow/jailabdeen-a/

2. https://www.edgeofexistence.org/fellow/emmanuel-amoah/

Crocodylians have surprisingly diverse ecological roles, from the huge, highly aquatic and mostly fish-eating gharial to the tiny African dwarf crocodiles which can catch prey on land below the rainforest canopy. Sadly, over half of all crocodylians are threatened with extinction. If these threatened species go extinct, we will lose the diversity of ecological roles that they represent. Functional diversity is an important aspect of biodiversity to understand and conserve.

Listen to MEEin3 to hear the latest methods in ecology and evolution in just three minutes...more or less!

In this episode, find out about Dr Chloe Robinson's method 'Propylene glycol-based antifreeze is an effective preservative for DNA metabarcoding of benthic arthropods' https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/712232