New Paper: Anthropogenic landscape change promotes asymmetric dispersal and limits regional patch occupancy in a spatially structured bird population

Professor Andrew Lowe

A new paper involving Environment Institute member Andrew Lowe as well as David Pavlacky Jr (University of Queensland), Hugh Possingham (University of Queensland), Peter Prentis (Queensland University of Technology), David Green (Simon Fraser University) and Anne Goldizen (University of Queensland) has been published in the Journal of Animal Ecology.

The paper titled ‘Anthropogenic landscape change promotes asymmetric dispersal and limits regional patch occupancy in a spatially structured bird population‘ investigates using patch occupancy surveys and molecular data for a rainforest bird, the logrunner (Orthonyx temminckii), to determine (i) the effects of landscape change and patch structure on local extinction; (ii) the asymmetry of emigration and immigration rates; (iii) the relative influence of local and between-population landscapes on asymmetric emigration and immigration; and (iv) the relative contributions of habitat loss to asymmetric emigration and immigration.

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New Paper: Why are birds’ eggs colourful? Eggshell pigments co-vary with life-history and nesting ecology among British breeding non-passerine birds

A new paper involving Environment Institute member Phill Cassey, as well as Gavin Thomas (Bristol University, Steven Portugal (University of Birmingham & the Royal Veterinatry College, Hertfordshire), Golo Maurer (University of Adelaide & University of Birmingham), Mark Hauber (City University of New York), Tomas Grim (Palacky University), George Lovell (University of St Andrews) and Ivan Miksik (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) has recently been published in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Phil Cassey, one of the authors on this paper

The paper titled, ‘Why are birds’ eggs colourful? Eggshell pigments co-vary with life-history and nesting ecology among British breeding non-passerine birds’  investigates how the concentrations of avian eggshell pigments vary among related species, and whether this variability is associated with either eggshell appearance and/or species life-history traits. Suprisingly, this element remains poorly understood as biologists have tended to focus on the structure and biochemistry of the avian eggshell instead.

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