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I was involved in this study, how did I miss this in 2019?! Brilliant!

The impacts of human activity on bower appearance is striking (urban bower on left, rural on right). Rural males use human-made decorations when available (they love a clothes peg!) These objects may increase male attractiveness, but may also pose risks such as entanglement. @uniexecec.bsky.social

🤣 only temporarily, they do rebuild very quickly and they have a long breeding season!

Congratulations Lauren, brilliant news!

Yes, birds incorporating human stuff in their architecture is fascinating! We've been investigating use of anthropogenic materials on bowers, and this interesting (& depressing) paper by @seabirdsentinel.bsky.social came out recently too shorturl.at/zPyvs

Anthropogenic pollution is widespread in Great Bowerbird bowers in northern Australia - Microplastics and NanoplasticsWhile the occurrence of anthropogenic pollution in bowerbird bowers has been well-known and documented for many years, there are limited studies detailing the scale of this occurrence, and even fewer discussing why bowerbirds utilise synthetic objects as bower decorations, and the potential impacts of using these items. Here, we examine the presence of various types of pollution, such as plastics, glass, and metal, in Juwe/Jurerrk, or Great Bowerbird (Chlamydera nuchalis) bowers (n = 17) across rural and remote northern Australia. Using a novel 3D scan technology to capture complete imagery of bower sites, we documented anthropogenic items (n = 2911) in all bowers; hard plastics were the most commonly found item (64.8%, n = 1887), with many pieces still intact and recognisable (e.g., bottle caps, clothes pegs, and tile spacers). In line with the species’ decoration colour preferences, the majority of items were white (70.7%), grey (16.7%), or green (10.3%). While the presence of anthropogenic items may increase the number of available ‘desirable’ decorations and improve mating success, they could pose an entanglement risk, cause mortality, and leach micro/nano-plastics and associated pollutants into the wider bower sites. This detailed record of the prevalence of anthropogenic pollution in bowers, including sites located within a National Park, provides a much-needed baseline for future research, allowing bowerbirds to become sentinels for their terrestrial ecosystems. Graphical Abstractshorturl.at

Bowers usually have greys/whites as a background on the display arenas, then the male also has green and red objects close to the bower as decorations that he uses in courtship displays. These toys weren't right on the bower so he likes them, but they're not his favourites!

I wonder if the nursery staff ever go round and reclaim their stuff!

Found this bower too - probably an immature male(s) learning how to build and display, but will keep an eye to see if it neatens up and some decorations appear

This bower was located next to a nursery, something tells me the male bowerbird owner has been pinching from the kids 😆

Whilst ASAB Winter is FREE to attend, ASAB offer conference grants to contribute towards travel and accommodation costs. Deadline 1st October shorturl.at/LmmkA

Conference Attendance Grants — ASABConference Attendance Grants help PhD students and others with limited funds to attend ASAB conferences and workshopsshorturl.at

Any questions, just get in touch!

Accept; no revisions 😉

Noooooooo

I'm so sorry Rob, what a stressful time it must be for you all.

5) Like your organisms smaller? PhD studentship with @padpadpadpad.bsky.social on understanding how temperature may alter the ecology and evolution of AMR.

4) More cool immunity stuff, this time with rodents! @btschirren.bsky.social Autoimmunity gone wild: understanding the interactive effects of environmental stress and genetic risk in the development of autoimmune disease in a wild rodent 🐭🦠 www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...

Blimey, thank you so much! ☺️

If it's any consolation, rural bowers still look like the one on the right. Although even these males have a pretty strong preference for the brighter colours of anthropogenic objects if given the choice!

3) Badgers! What happens to their immune systems as they age? With @andyyoung.bsky.social and @btschirren.bsky.social

2) Herring gulls! What role do they play in spreading disease and antimicrobial resistance? With @neeltjeboogert.bsky.social and @padpadpadpad.bsky.social