Social feedback influences the size of a badge of status

The pukeko is one of New Zealand's iconic species. The blue and black birds, with their distinctive red bills, can be seen throughout the country, and are particularly common in the rolling hills of New Zealand's North Island.

These birds have a fascinating and complex social lives. Pukeko are cooperative breeders, and multiple male and female adult birds will join together as a family unit to cooperatively defend a territory, lay eggs in a single communal nest, and take care of the offspring together.



Cody Dey just published a new paper in Proceedings of the Royal Society B exploring status signalling in these highly social birds.

Signalling dominance and submission is critical for social groups to function smoothly, and with minimal conflict among group members. Cody hypothesized that pukeko might use their prominent red frontal shield to communicate dominance status.

In his paper, Cody describes an experiment where he cosmetically altered the size of pukeko's red frontal shields, and then recaptured the same birds a week later. Cody found that birds that had their shield sizes reduced, so that they appeared more subordinate, were treated as more subordinate by other group members. After a week of this treatment, the birds had reduced their true shield size.



This result demonstrates that the pukeko's red frontal shield accurately represents their social status, and changes to reflect their recent social interactions. This paper also lends insight into the dynamic nature of status signalling in animal societies. A signal of prestige and status may not strictly reflect an animal's intrinsic strength or health, but is also influenced by how the animal is treated by other members of the social group.

Cody also made an excellent short film about this research! You can find a high resolution version of the movie on Vimeo.

For more information about Cody's research, check out his website!

Alice Wilson Award

I was humbled and incredibly surprised to learn a few weeks ago that I won the Royal Society of Canada's Alice Wilson Award. I have been touched by the response I have received, including some nice press from McMaster University. This award has made me reflect that I have been really lucky, and I have worked with some great people over the past few years. This award is really a testament to the opportunities and support I've received from all of my colleagues and friends during my PhD and my postdoctoral fellowship. I am so grateful to everyone who has taught me and worked with me, and I want to pass the credit on to all of you. Thank you!

Underwater in Lake Tanganyika

During our field season in Zambia in 2013, we logged a lot of dive hours studying the cichlids of Lake Tanganyika, so the photos above the surface don't really do justice to how we spent most of our time! Here are some photos of our field season, from the perspective below the surface. Photo credits to Susan Marsh-Rollo, Kelly Garvy, Isaac Ligocki, and Adam Reddon for many of these beautiful shots! 

In the shallow water, there are many of the more colourful fishes in Lake Tanganyika. 

Such as Eretmodus cyanostictus!




Ctenochromis horei.




Shoals of scale-eaters (Perissodus microlepis).




Cyathopharynx furcifer (top) and the beautiful Julidochromis marlieri.




The always-entertaining Ophthalmotilapia ventralis, and a Julidochromis ornatus (bottom left).




In the deeper water, there are bigger stretches of sand, and shell beds, as well as rocks and cobble, and the fish species change.




Nkupi (Boulengerochromis mircolepis), the largest cichlid in the world. This is a pair guarding a nest.




Lamprologus lemairii always look grumpy.




Lepidiolamprologus elongatus are the underwater wolves of Lake Tanganyika.




One of our main study species,  Neolamprologus pulcher.




More Neolamprologus pulcher, showing off their highly social behaviour.

Telmatochromis temporalis, another cichlid that we worked with extensively. 

A Telmatochromis temporalis pair.

A beautiful Neolamprologus tetracanthus. 

A pair of shell-dwelling Lamprologus ocellatus. 

Working underwater! 

A few photos from fieldwork in New Zealand

I was lucky enough in 2010 and 2012 to travel to New Zealand's North Island with Cody Dey to conduct research on a cooperatively breeding bird, the pukeko. I'm posting just a few photo highlights of the beautiful field site at Tawharanui Regional Park. For more details on the study system, Cody's research, and the fieldwork, check out Cody's research website and blog!

New Zealand locals!

A pukeko and his reflection.

On the same theme, a pied stilt and his reflection. 

Tawharanui sunset. 

Watching pukeko social interactions took up a good piece of our time!

We also conducted a side project on supplemental feeding in endangered pateke. 

The beach at Tawharanui is one of the main attractions of the park. 

It's easy to see why!

It rains a lot, which means that there are also a lot of rainbows.

The tui, an iconic New Zealand bird, and one of my favourites. 

Tawharanui is an Open Sanctuary, and saddlebacks were recently re-introduced! For more information, check out this article.

A pukeko adult and juvenile. 

A noble-looking pukeko!




A pohutukawa tree (a.k.a., New Zealand Christmas tree) in bloom.

Beautiful sunrise over Christian Bay.

A few photos from fieldwork in Zambia

If I had been wise, I would have kept a blog while I was in Africa! But I didn't, so in lieu of interesting blog posts, here are just a few photos from our 2013 field season at Lake Tanganyika in Zambia. For much better and more entertaining blog posts from the field season, check out Kelly Garvy's blog and Isaac Ligocki's blog!

Edit: Check out this post for underwater photos from the field season!

Tanganyika Science Lodge, our home base. 

We lived in stone huts on the edge of Lake Tanganyika.

No running water, but we had toilets that flushed using gravity from elevated barrels that were filled with water. 

The dining hall at the Tanganyika Science Lodge!

The dining table makes a great lab bench for fish dissections.

The Mobile Health Services boat in the nearby town of Mpulungu. There was another, nearly-identical boat that declared, "Wherever, Whenever". But this particular boat apparently has more time constraints. 

The amazing view of Lake Tanganyika at 6am.

The amazing view of Lake Tanganyika at 6pm.




The lake was not always so calm!

A common sight; boats rigged up with sails made from grain sacks. 

Another common sight; boats overloaded with people.




The whole crew!

Welcome to the blog!

Welcome to the blog! I am a postdoctoral research fellow in behavioural and physiological ecology. Currently, my research focuses on using genomic, physiological, and behavioural tools to understand the evolution of social behaviour in cichlid fishes, and also to understand how social fishes are influenced by changes in the environment. On the blog, I will post news and updates related to my research. I'll also post other related behavioural, physiological, and conservation research, and occasionally bits and pieces related to conservation, outdoor adventure, and other interesting things.

Enjoy!