Return of the swifts!

 
During the past few weeks, the sound of summer has yet again been echoing around the Ecology building. This familiar sound comes from swifts returning from Africa to breed here in Lund, some of them under the roof of the Ecology house, where they have no less than 144 nestboxes to choose from! Some of these swifts are carrying light loggers packed with information about their whereabouts during the past year, and hopefully this will help us learn more about the life of these amazing birds. Have a look at what’s going on in flat no 2A!

More about the ongoing swift research or how to build a swift-house under your own roof!

New insight in beetle flight!

Recently CAnMove PI Christoffer Johansson et al published new data (in J. R. Soc. Interface) on beetle flight, showing that the aerodynamic wake of flying beetles is highly complex and includes novel aerodynamic features that distinguish them from the wakes of other animals. By flying beetles in the windtunnel, it was discovered that the elytra - the hard protective, covert wing - of a flying dung beetle both boost lift and reduce aerodynamic efficiency. Although adding to weight support, the wake of the elytra interacts negatively with the wings, resulting in reduced aerodynamic efficiency.

Composite image showing the integrated spanwise circulation distribution (green line) at mid downstroke (τ ≈ 0.5) with the corresponding velocity and vorticity field (only major vortex structures are shown) and beetle in the background for reference. Blue represents clockwise and red anti-clockwise vorticity.

The function of the covert wings during flight has been debated for a long time, and the new results suggests an evolutionary trade-off between maximizing aerodynamic force and efficiency for beetles, but also a tradeoff between flight and wing protection on the ground. Watch the beetle flight on the CAnMove YouTube Channel.

New season for the CAnMove field blog!

For many of you, the field season has already started, and first out blogging about his research is Tom Evans, reporting from Fågelsundet outside Gävle. For those of us who remain in the office all summer, the blog is a really nice way of getting a taste of life in the field!

Do you want to share share your field experiences - please contact Helena Osvath.

The blog is found on: http://canmovefieldblog.blogspot.se/ or via canmove.lu.se

Are you of good standing?

Tomorrow we will find out. We are very happy that Carla Cederbaum, Assistant Research Professor in Mathematics from Duke University, NC, will host a workshop on how to be of good standing - especially as a woman in science.

As scientists, we are people interested in science. We want to learn new facts, new trends, new ideas, and new methods from other scientists. We concentrate on the science. The facts, the data, the quality, and convincingness of arguments, that is all that matters. But is this really true? (How) does physical appearance and emotional state have an impact on how we are perceived and who listens to us?

In this workshop, we will get a feeling for what impressions we - as female scientists and as individuals - make on others when giving scientific presentations. We will experiment with possible changes of body language, gestures, mimics, slides, timing, and usage of our voice in a safe environment and without the pressure of a conference or job interview. We will also discuss strategies to deal with nervousness and perfectionism.