by Whiting | Jan 25, 2017 | Behaviour, Cane toads
By Jodie Gruber The cane toad (Rhinella marina) has been spreading rapidly across northern Australia since its introduction to control sugar cane beetles in 1935. While toads have been the focus of considerable research, we still have a poor understanding of how...
by Whiting | Jul 20, 2016 | Animal signals, Behaviour, Publications, Sexual selection, Water skink project
by Fonti Kar Animals often find themselves in direct competition with other individuals for resources and mates. Because fighting is costly, many species honestly signal their fighting ability to avoid injury (non-escalated fights). For example, in flat lizards...
by Whiting | Jul 6, 2015 | Animal signals, Behaviour, Visual ecology
Marco Barquero’s hard work has paid off! For his PhD, Marco travelled far and wide in his quest to study signalling in Jacky Dragons. Chapter 1 has just been published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. Marco studied three populations for which we had...
by Whiting | Jun 29, 2014 | Behaviour, Dispatches from the field, Lab news, Social behaviour, Tree skink project
Part I By Martin Whiting This post is long-overdue! Here, we are reporting on two field trips to our new study site in Albury, in New South Wales, close to the border with Victoria. In December of last year, Martin, Dan and Geoff While (University of Tasmania) went on...
by Noble | Jun 21, 2014 | Behaviour, Publications, Sexual selection, Water skink project
By Dan Noble When it comes to animal athletics lizards have been model systems for exploring the relationships between ecology and physical performance. Our two recent papers, one in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society and the second in Behavioral...
by Whiting | May 21, 2014 | Behaviour, Habitat use, Lab news, Lizard ecology, Publications
In the Kalahari Desert of southern Africa sociable weaver nests are a prominent feature in the landscape. These large nests typically occupy camelthorn trees and provide a refuge to a range of organisms, including Kalahari tree skinks (Trachylepis spilogaster). They...
