Nectar-Feeding Behavior in the Mallee Ringneck, .

Opportunistic nectarivory occurs in many avian lineages around the world. In order to understand the implications of this behavior to plant reproduction via pollination and to other nectarivores via competition, more thorough descriptions of opportunistic nectar-feeding behavior are necessary. We observed nectar feeding of the mallee ringneck, , on flowers of the spotted emu bush, , in the temperate mallee of South Australia.

Frugivore Traits Predict Plant-Frugivore Interactions Using Generalized Joint Attribute Modeling.

Under an adaptive hypothesis, the reciprocal influence between mutualistic plants and frugivores is expected to result in suites of matching frugivore and plant traits that structure fruit consumption. Recent work has suggested fruit traits can represent adaptations to broad groups of functionally similar frugivores, but the role of frugivore traits and within-species variation in structuring fruit consumption is less understood. To address these knowledge gaps, we assess the presence of reciprocal trait matching for the mutualistic ecological network comprising of bats that feed on and disperse seeds.

Functional differences in echolocation call design in an adaptive radiation of bats.

All organisms have specialized systems to sense their environment. Most bat species use echolocation for navigation and foraging, but which and how ecological factors shaped echolocation call diversity remains unclear for the most diverse clades, including the adaptive radiation of neotropical leaf-nosed bats (Phyllostomidae). This is because phyllostomids emit low-intensity echolocation calls and many inhabit dense forests, leading to low representation in acoustic surveys.

Comparing whole-genome shotgun sequencing and DNA metabarcoding approaches for species identification and quantification of pollen species mixtures.

Molecular identification of mixed-species pollen samples has a range of applications in various fields of research. To date, such molecular identification has primarily been carried out via amplicon sequencing, but whole-genome shotgun (WGS) sequencing of pollen DNA has potential advantages, including (1) more genetic information per sample and (2) the potential for better quantitative matching. In this study, we tested the performance of WGS sequencing methodology and publicly available reference sequences in identifying species and quantifying their relative abundance in pollen mock communities.

Raspberry Pi nest cameras: An affordable tool for remote behavioral and conservation monitoring of bird nests.

Bespoke (custom-built) Raspberry Pi cameras are increasingly popular research tools in the fields of behavioral ecology and conservation, because of their comparative flexibility in programmable settings, ability to be paired with other sensors, and because they are typically cheaper than commercially built models.Here, we describe a novel, Raspberry Pi-based camera system that is fully portable and yet weatherproof-especially to humidity and salt spray. The camera was paired with a passive infrared sensor, to create a movement-triggered camera capable of recording videos over a 24-hr period.