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Laura Kelley

@lauraakelley.bsky.social
1.4K followers 942 following 634 posts

Royal Society Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, UK. Interested in visual ecology, animal behaviour, illusions, and all things bowerbirdy www.laurakelleyresearch.wordpress.com

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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Butterfly wing patterns in flight create illusions that misdirect predator attacks 🦋 www.nature.com/articles/s41... with @grahancock.bsky.social @jtroscianko.bsky.social @scienceanna.bsky.social @esbriolat.bsky.social
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
We used virtual mates and genetic algorithms to ask swordtail fish to design their ideal mate. Males all liked larger females but females did not share a clear preference for male appearance. Led by @kathrynbullough.bsky.social @grahancock.bsky.social in @royalsocietypublishing.org shorturl.at/rCeR2
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charlesefferson.bsky.social @charlesefferson.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
This fall, the Dept of Ecology and Evolution @ the Univ of Lausanne will be looking for an associate professor in behavioral ecology and cultural evolution. If that sounds like you, please apply. CH is an outstanding place to live and work. ⛰️🚄🔥 wwwfbm.unil.ch/releve/appli...
wwwfbm.unil.ch
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Stare them down 😂
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Sexier in the city? Urban male great bowerbirds decorate bowers with human-made objects, creating brighter and more varied displays than rural males. Males strongly prefer human-made objects over natural ones, possibly boosting their appeal to females! shorturl.at/lcNY2 @royalsocietypublishing.org
The ground is covered in leaf litter. On the ground are two parallel walls made of sticks that form a corridor. At each entrance there are objects scattered around including grey plastic, green pieces of glass, grey stones, white snail shells and red items.
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Michael Bok @mikebok.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
I am hiring a postdoc for scRNA-seq research in Lund, Sweden on the visual systems of non-model inverts as part of an ERC project on the evolution and ecology of advanced color and polarization vision. Apply here or share the link with someone who may be interested! 🧪 lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/...
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Congratulations to Caitlin - the first paper from her PhD! 🥳
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
What an excellent topic for a study - who makes jokes during talks? 'Jokes eliciting whole-room laughter were rare (9%), while the majority fell flat or landed mildly, earning mostly quiet chuckles (67%)' Ouch!
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The Conversation UK @uk.theconversation.com · 19/03/2026
New research shows that displaying a pair of eyes on food packaging can be enough to stop some gulls pinching your food.
tcnv.link
Why drawing eyes on food packaging could stop seagulls stealing your chips
New research shows that displaying a pair of eyes on food packaging can be enough to stop some gulls pinching your food.
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Can we stop gulls from pinching food by sticking eyes 👀 on takeaway boxes? New paper in @ecol-evol.bsky.social suggests it is an effective solution for deterring some gulls from food sources, but not all! tinyurl.com/gulleyes Read a summary in @uk.theconversation.com tinyurl.com/gulleyes2
A grey and white herring gull stood on a car roof.
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Nice article by the wonderful Marlene Zuk in National Geographic, featuring my and @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social research on Cornish herring gulls, and how kids got us into gulls 😊 @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
nationalgeographic.com
Why do gulls steal our food? Scientists experimented with French fries to find out.
Gulls are often seen as intruders in our daily lives. But researchers are discovering what really motivates them—and strategies to keep them away from your lunch.
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Another stick in the wall: we removed part of male great bowerbird bower walls to test effect on courtship displays. Males didn’t just focus on rebuilding the wall, they stepped up effort across all aspects of their display, showing they flexibly invest in multiple signals tinyurl.com/4ujmkw95
A grey/brown male great bowerbird is looking towards the camera and in the background is a U shaped structure made of sticks, called a bower. Part of one of the walls is missing. In front of the bower is a pile of white, green and red objects called decorations that the male uses as part of his display.
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Erik Postma @erikpostma.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Interested in the interface of evolution 🧬 and ecology 🌳? Then you cannot miss #ExE2026! Hosted by @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful #Cornwall, this #conference has a stellar line-up of speakers and lots of pre-and post-conference workshops. Space is limited, so register now at evoxeco.uk!
ExE 2026
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Lectureships available with priorities in evolutionary biology, behavioural and sensory ecology, ecology and plants!
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
New bowerbird paper out, we asked whether male great bowerbirds care about the light environment around the bower where they display to females. Short answer: not really. What they do care about is having a display arena with strong visual contrast on the ground. 🐦 tinyurl.com/2v7rycdz
A u shaped structure made out of sticks called a bower, built under a small tree. In front of the bower is a pile of grey, white and green objects that make up the display court. The whole scene is in dappled sunlight and shade created by the tree above.
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Michael Wagner @michiwagner4.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
🚨 Postdoctoral Opportunity for Female Scientists🚨 The University of Vienna is awarding at least 20 fully funded 4 year postdoctoral positions to outstanding female scientists Interested? Get in touch via direct message careers.univie.ac.at/en/postdoc/e... #MicroSky 🧪 #PostDoc @univie.ac.at
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Sean Rands @seanrands.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
We're open for abstract submission, and look forward to welcoming you all to Bristol in March! asab-spring-conference2026.github.io @asab-meetings.bsky.social #ASABSpring2026
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Thank you so much to everyone who came, it was lovely to catch up with old friends, meet new ones and hear about a lot of amazing sensory science!
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
And we're off! Innes Cuthill giving the public lecture on concealment in the animal kingdom #asabwinter2025
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Rachael Shaw @wild-minds.bsky.social · 17/11/2025
PhD scholarship alert! Are you interested in cognitive evolution? Do you want to know how development influences cognitive traits? Do you love hanging out with birds in the forest? If the answer to these questions is yes, please apply to work with us! 1/2 🧪 www.wgtn.ac.nz/scholarships...
Ella holds a fluffy and sleepy looking toutouwai chick during banding and fits an orange band to its leg
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
Turns out gulls don't like being shouted at (or stared at!) New paper led by excellent masters students @uniexecec.bsky.social with @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...
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Lauren Sumner-Rooney @laurensr.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Key info 🗝️ 💶Fees and stipend included! 🌍Open to students worldwide! 👥 Fabulous co-supervisors @ecologyofvision.bsky.social and @mcgregorlab.bsky.social 📆Start Sept 2026 👩🏽‍💻Online info event 24th Nov ⏰Deadline December 15th Spread the word! 🗣️ Have Qs? Contact me! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
findaphd.com
Funded PhD - The impacts of light pollution on plasticity and evolution in spider visual systems at University of Bristol on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Funded PhD - The impacts of light pollution on plasticity and evolution in spider visual systems at University of Bristol, listed on FindAPhD.com
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Christos C. Ioannou @ccioannou.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
📣 @asab.org grants BOOSTED! 📣 We've increased most of our research-related grants by 50%, effective from the next deadline of 1st Feb 2026. Check out what we offer here: www.asab.org/grant-overview
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Gabrielle Davidson @drgdavidson.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
🚨🔊 Fully funded PhD!! 🚨🔊 Are you interested in wildlife gut microbiomes? Love birds, fieldwork and bioinformatics? Want to join a collaborative and supportive team? Looking for training to become an independent scientist? Please apply! Informal enquiries welcome! www.uea.ac.uk/course/phd-d...
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
Also managed to track down some immature male great bowerbirds today, they were displaying at trees to get some practice in (paper on this shorturl.at/jqOQt). Found these two sites due to the birds making a right racket!
A tree trunk with several pieces of red plastic, green leaves and stones nearby.A tree trunk with a few green objects nearby.
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
One of the risks of bowerbirds sharing space with a university - sometimes scientific equipment (and samples) get pinched! Soy sauce containers also seem to be popular
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Back in the land of bowers this week! Investigating how male courtship signals are affected by urbanisation #greatbowerbirds @uniexecec.bsky.social
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ASAB Spring 2027 @asab-meetings.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
For those that have registered for #ASABWinter2025, you should have received an email last week asking you to confirm your attendance. If you haven't, please check your spam folders! And don't forget, only one week left until the conference grant deadline (Oct 1) www.asab.org/conference-g...
asab.org
Conference Attendance Grants — ASAB
Conference Attendance Grants help PhD students and others with limited funds to attend ASAB conferences and workshops
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
Deadline for submitting an abstract to give a talk or poster is this Friday!
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Jerome Beetz @beetzjerome.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
We are looking for a Postdoc (up to 5 years) who wants to study neural mechanisms of spatial memory in honeybees. This includes tetrode recordings in behaving honeybees. Application Deadline is 1st of October 2025. More details: www.biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de/en/services/...
biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de
Postdoctoral Position (f/m/d) at the Chair of Behavioral Physiology & Sociobiology
Biocenter of the University of Würzburg Am Hubland 97074 Würzburg
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
‪Come join us at the @asab.org Winter Conference 2025: how sensory info affects behaviour. 15th & 16th Dec, abstracts due end Aug. More info and registration asabwinter.github.io/2025 Co-hosted with @jtroscianko.bsky.social and Innes Cuthill
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Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · 23/04/2025
New from #ProcB: Immediate and longer-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on scientific productivity in #ecology and #evolution royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... | #COVID #COVID19
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Gabrielle Davidson @drgdavidson.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
🚨 🪺🐦🦠 PhD opportunity in my lab for UK home fee students. Feel free to contact me for informal enquiries. Please share! shorturl.at/wUo8r
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk
Designing Microbial Interventions to Study Behavioural Effects in Wild Birds (DAVIDSON_U25DTPR) | Doctoral Training Partnership
This project is open to Home Fee Status applicants only. The gut microbiome influences how animals behave and interact with their environment via the microbiome–gut–brain axis (MGBA).
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Helen Czerski @helenczerski.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
It may feel as though we live in dark times, but here in the UK there are LOADS of science festivals celebrating ideas, sparking curiosity & sharing the latest research (for both adults & kids). Someone told me recently they didn’t know where to look, so I made a list. Here goes… [deep breath]: 1/8
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
In the current challenging climate of finding reviewers, how long is too long to wait for a manuscript to be reviewed? My PhD student has had her first manuscript in review for six months now, journal has only managed to obtain one review so far 🤷‍♀️
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Shoko Sugasawa @shokosugasawa.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Job alert🐦 2yr post-doc position with Prof. Sue Healy on project "Mistakes in Action: From the Normativity of Goal-Directedness to Novel Investigations of Avian Nest Construction"🪺 Start asap. Contact: sdh11[at]st-andrews.ac.uk @uniofstandrews.bsky.social
A pair of zebra finches sitting in a nestbox. The male is holding a cotton string in its bill.
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
Black margins are important for size discrimination - female green swordtails prefer larger males but preference is lost when black margins on tail are absent. Seems they can't judge which male is bigger without black margin! shorturl.at/6GKA2 @uniexecec.bsky.social @royalsocietypublishing.org
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Ajay Narendra @pipilika.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
We have a fully funded International 4-year position (combined Master of Research+PhD) to study visual navigation in jumping spiders. Project will be supervised by @pipilika.bsky.social, @mherberstein.bsky.social, @dinrao.bsky.social & Ximena Nelson. At Macquarie University, Sydney. Details below
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
Sign up for ASAB spring meeting, the best conference for early career researchers in my humble opinion!
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Hosken Lab Cornwall @evol-lab-ex.bsky.social · 17/12/2024
Postdoc @ evol-lab. A Leverhulme funded 3-year postdoc studying body shape evolution (through a sexual conflict lens) on Exeter's Penryn (UK) campus. Starts April 2025. Contact David Hosken @ U of Exeter for detail.
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Congratulations Emma! 🥳
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Some great PhD opportunities for 2025 in our fab department @uniexecec.bsky.social in beautiful Cornwall: 1) How does pollution impact behavioural evolution? Project with @ali--wilson.bsky.social spans behaviour, genetics and ecotox, working with cherry shrimp. More info: tinyurl.com/yvthn7xn
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Alastair J Wilson @ali--wilson.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
How does pollution impact behavioural evolution? We're looking for an awesome PhD student to find out. Project spans behaviour, genetics + ecotox, working with cherry shrimp @exetercec.bsky.social. Cosupervised with @lauraakelley.bsky.social and Dave Spurgeon at CEH. App + info tinyurl.com/yvthn7xn
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Congratulations to Menno van Berkel on passing his PhD viva yesterday! 🐦🪺 Huge thanks to @sjportugal.bsky.social and Neeltje Boogert for being excellent examiners and Alex Thornton for being a fab cosupervisor!
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Exeter Marine @exetermarine.bsky.social · 28/10/2024
Join our team! We're looking for a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Marine Ecology and Conservation to support our partnership with the University of Khorfakkan, United Arab Emirates (UAE). To find out and apply, visit: jobs.ac.uk/job/DKJ244/l... #ConservationJobs #ConservationCareers #MarineResearch
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 25/09/2024
It's nice to be back!
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 25/04/2024
Good people at #ASABSpring2024, I am advertising a fully funded PhD studentship on perceptual processing during mate choice in 🐟. More details here: www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...
exeter.ac.uk
Award details | Funding and scholarships for students | University of Exeter
Location: Centre for Ecology and Conservation, Penryn Campus, Cornwall The University of Exeter’s Centre for Ecology and Conservation is inviting applications for a PhD studentship fully-funded by t...
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 05/02/2024
New bowerbird paper! Male great bowerbirds build display courts that are linked to mating success, and we found that object availability 🧱 rather than male building ability 👷 explains variation in court quality rb.gy/vznmm7
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Laura Kelley @lauraakelley.bsky.social · 17/10/2023
I love ordering things from @OrdnanceSurvey as they use mis-printed maps and offcuts as packing paper, which makes me inordinately happy 🗺️
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