Interesting last student talk of the day by Owen Wright about whether agri-environment schemes reduce virus prevalence in honeybees #CLEScon

@redmenrus Gold plated tweet. Croydon is the centre of the universe. London? 15 mins. Gatwick? 15 mins. m25? 15 mins. Coast. Ok half hour but still.

Social network plasticity decreases disease transmission in a eusocial insect science.sciencemag.org/content/362/64…

New #PhD opportunities in #AnimalBehaviour CRAB with Darren Croft Lauren Brent Natalie Hempel Jo Madden, Tim Fawcett & Safi Darden psychology.exeter.ac.uk/research/centr… #NERC NERC GW4+ Doctoral Training Partnership #findaphd #graduatejobs Apply now!

A jumping spider native to southeastern Asia secretes a nutritious fluid to feed her spiderlings—and they continue drinking even after reaching sexual maturity on.natgeo.com/2BFoqce

Private #amphibian traders urged to help prevent the spread of #Bsal, a lethal flesh-eating fungus, after new study finds the UK’s wild #newt populations seem to be safe for now: zsl.org/science/news/u…

Important new ZSL Science paper on the 'Apparent absence of Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans in wild urodeles in the United Kingdom' out today in Scientific Reports - findings are also summarised in our updated factsheet: gardenwildlifehealth.org/portfolio/amph… #wildlifehealth #bsal #chytrid

Our new paper out today shows that wild UK #amphibians appear to be free of #Bsal. However, as we know Bsal is present in captive collections across Europe, biosecurity measures need to be increased to prevent infection spilling over. #chytrid Mitigating Bsal in Europe nature.com/articles/s4159…

We re-screened archived samples originally collected from wild UK newts as part of the Big Swab in 2011, with none of the newts testing positive for Bsal, which combined with ongoing surveillance work by Garden Wildlife Health show an apparent absence of Bsal in wild UK amphibians.

We also used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate the true prevalence of Bsal infection in the newts and ponds that were sampled, given that all of the swabs came back negative. The results of this model show that Bsal is unlikely to have been present in the sampled ponds.

Our findings show that the wild UK amphibians are likely naive to Bsal infection, and that introduction of the pathogen could potentially have catastrophic effects, as seen in mainland Europe. Vigilance, surveillance and increased biosecurity in amphibian trade are essential.

A team of researchers, led by scientists ZSL & including experts from the University of Exeter , are urging private #amphibian owners to protect the UK’s wild #newt population from the catastrophic devastation that #Bsal could cause. ex.ac.uk/b98

.Thomas Price Becky Boulton, *eye* am sure you've... seen... this by now, but keep an eye open (but not too open!) for this next time you're on sweat bee field work. (Actually, you should *bee* okay: as Hauke Koch points out, probably Meliponini rather than Halictidae)

4 years and 1,388 behavioural trials after, first paper from my PhD is officially out in Scientific Reports ! Leadership during cooperation in #guppies is heritable and linked to social traits in males. With Darren Croft and Safi Darden #openaccess #fishsci nature.com/articles/s4159…

A very merry time had by all at the CRAB Christmas lunch and quiz. Thanks to Katie Hall and @joeawilde for the organisation.

Important academic question from CRAB....which one is best? Uni of Exeter Doctoral College ExeterPsychology

After a 4.5h defence, I finally passed my PhD yesterday and popped a cork into the ceiling as is the exeter CRAB tradition! Thanks to my examiners Natalie Hempel Luca Borger and supervisor Pheasants@Exeter! Time for a Twitter handle change!!! #AcademicChatter #PhDone

@asab_tweets first virtual conference - motivated by climate concerns & stimulated by covid. Appropriately entitled "How pathogens affect behaviour" 🪰🐛🪱🤧 -> -> 🐝🐸🐭🐒🤮😷 16 July. FREE to all. All welcome

Absolutely buzzing🐝to share my first research article! Using the BEEHAVE model, we found that antibiotic treatments can dramatically reduce honey bee colony-level fitness. So grateful to have been able to work alongside these great co-authors! besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.11…