Lucy Aplin

2 months ago | galwaybeo.ie | Lucy Aplin

Condensation is the grim reality for many homeowners and renters across Ireland - especially during the cold winter, as dampness can cause mould damage. Not only are draughty rooms and black mould bad for inhabitants' health but they can also impact house value. There are various viral "hacks" floating around social media that attempt to tackle the problem, but not all are successful, leave rooms freezing cold and might simply waste time and money.

2 months ago | corkbeo.ie | Lucy Aplin

Condensation is the grim reality for many homeowners and renters across Ireland - especially during the cold winter, as dampness can cause mould damage. Not only are draughty rooms and black mould bad for inhabitants' health but they can also impact house value. There are various viral "hacks" floating around social media that attempt to tackle the problem, but not all are successful, leave rooms freezing cold and might simply waste time and money.

2 months ago | biorxiv.org | Michael Chimento |Edwin S. Dalmaijer |Barbara C. Klump |Lucy Aplin

AbstractHuman-modified environments offer novel resources, but their exploitation can be a source of human-wildlife conflict. Residents of Sydney have reported increasing cases of bin-opening behavior by sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita), with evidence this behavior is socially learned between birds. Households protected their bins, yet cockatoos have learned to defeat these defences. In response, residents increase their defence-level, setting the stage for a behavioral "arms race".

Nov 25, 2024 | biorxiv.org | Yixuan Zhang |Xinyi Jiang |Lucy Aplin |Daiping Wang

AbstractSocial network structure plays a key role in shaping processes in animal populations. These networks often show distinct patterns in humans and other large mammals, with relationship strengths organized into different tiers. Here, we used continuous fine-scale tracking of four large captive colonies of zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), revealing that zebra finches consistently have 1-2 closest contacts, 6-7 close contacts, and 22-24 strong contacts.

Nov 14, 2024 | journals.plos.org | Michael Chimento |Gustavo Alarcón-Nieto |Lucy Aplin

Citation: Chimento M, Alarcón-Nieto G, Aplin LM (2024) Immigrant birds learn from socially observed differences in payoffs when their environment changes. PLoS Biol 22(11): e3002699. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002699Academic Editor: Lars Chittka, Queen Mary University of London, UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELANDReceived: May 23, 2024; Accepted: September 24, 2024; Published: November 14, 2024Copyright: © 2024 Chimento et al.