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Alexander Schlatmann

@aaschlatmann.bsky.social

317 followers 261 following 30 posts

PhD Candidate @ University of Groningen 🇳🇱 interested in animal behaviour, communication, migration, eco-evolutionary dynamics and speciation mechanisms | Birder

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Alexander Schlatmann @aaschlatmann.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

Note the (barely visible) thin, wavy larval fin fold: a transient membranous structure running along the dorsal, caudal, and ventral edges

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Alexander Schlatmann @aaschlatmann.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

From egg to hatchling! Swipe through the larval development of the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

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Alexander Schlatmann @aaschlatmann.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Conclusion: We found no olfactory kin discrimination in begging blue tit nestlings. To assess the importance of olfaction in kin recognition across birds, more work is needed. Current evidence suggests colony-breeding birds (e.g. seabirds) may rely more on olfaction than species that breed solitary.

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Alexander Schlatmann @aaschlatmann.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

An extra exploratory analysis showed no difference in growth and survival between cross-fostered and non-cross-fostered nestlings shortly before fledging, adding further support to our results and (re)confirming that cross-fostering doesn’t negatively affect nestling growth and survival.

Blue tit nestlings shortly before fledging

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Alexander Schlatmann @aaschlatmann.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

We replicated most previous findings, including stronger begging responses from lighter nestlings and after longer food deprivation. However, nestlings did not show stronger begging responses (in probability or duration) toward kin versus nonkin nestmates.

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Alexander Schlatmann @aaschlatmann.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Apart from cross-fostering, we followed the exact same experimental procedures as used before. We temporarily food-deprived nestlings and presented odour samples from related versus unrelated (yet familiar) cross-fostered nestmates at 30, 90 & 150 min after the onset of food deprivation.

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Alexander Schlatmann @aaschlatmann.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

The authors hypothesised olfaction to mediate kin-biased sibling competition in nests where relatedness varies due to extra-pair paternity. To test this, we replicated the original experiment but cross-fostered two nestlings per brood at hatching to disentangle familiarity from relatedness effects.

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Alexander Schlatmann @aaschlatmann.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Across animal taxa, olfaction often mediates kin-biased behaviour. While birds also display kin-biased behaviour, it remains unknown through which mechanism(s) they can discriminate kin from nonkin.

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Alexander Schlatmann @aaschlatmann.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

NEW PAPER OUT 📃: My first ever paper, which reports on my Master’s research, is now out in Animal Behaviour. Can blue tit nestlings sense their relatedness to their nestmates through smell? 🧵 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #OpenAccess #OpenScience #Preregistration #AcademicSky🧪

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