Zoology (Scholarly Publications)
Recent Submissions
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Capture heats up sharks
(2022)Catch-and-release fishing is an important component of ecotourism industries and scientific research worldwide, but its total impact on animal physiology, health and survival is understudied for many species of fishes, ... -
Endothermy makes fishes faster but does not expand their thermal niche
(Functional Ecology, 2021-06-30)Regional endothermy has evolved several times in marine fishes, and two competing hypotheses are generally proposed to explain the evolutionary drivers behind this trait: thermal niche expansion and elevated cruising speeds. ... -
Small islands and large biogeographic barriers have driven contrasting speciation patterns in Indo-Pacific sunbirds (Aves: Nectariniidae)
(2022)Birds of the Indo-Pacific have provided biologists with many foundationalinsights. This study presents evidence for strong phylogeographic structure in two sunbird species from the heart of this region, the olive-backed ... -
Joint development recovery on resumption of embryonic movement following paralysis
(2021)Fetal activity in utero is a normal part of pregnancy and reduced or absent movement can lead to long-term skeletal defects, such as Fetal Akinesia Deformation Sequence, joint dysplasia and arthrogryposis. A variety of ... -
Mechanical Stimulation via Muscle Activity is Necessary for the Maturation of Tendon Multiscale Mechanics during Embryonic Development
(2021)During embryonic development, tendons transform into a hypocellular tissue with robust tensile load-bearing capabilities. Previous work suggests that this mechanical transformation is due to increases in collagen fibril ... -
Abnormal fetal muscle forces result in defects in spinal curvature and alterations in vertebral segmentation and shape
(2017)The incidence of congenital spine deformities, including congenital scoliosis, kyphosis, and lordosis, may be influenced by the in utero mechanical environment, and particularly by fetal movements at critical time-points. ... -
Techniques for Studying Mechanobiology
(Elsivier, 2018)Lying at the intersection between engineering and biology, mechanobiology is a nascent field of study that investigates adaptation of the structure and behavior of tissues in response to mechanical loading. While mechanobiology ... -
Short-term foetal immobility temporally and progressively affects chick spinal curvature and anatomy and rib development
(2019)Congenital spine deformities may be influenced by movements in utero, but the effects of foetal immobility on spine and rib development remain unclear. The purpose of the present study was to determine (1) critical time-periods ... -
Effects of abnormal muscle forces on prenatal joint morphogenesis in mice
(2019)Fetal movements are essential for normal development of the human skeleton. When fetal movements are reduced or restricted, infants are at higher risk of developmental dysplasia of the hip and arthrogryposis (multiple joint ... -
Investigating the mechanistic basis of biomechanical input controlling skeletal development: exploring the interplay with Wnt signalling at the joint
(University of Edinburgh (datashare), 2018)Embryo movement is essential to the formation of a functional skeleton. Using mouse and chick models, we previously showed that mechanical forces influence gene regulation and tissue patterning, particularly at developing ... -
Quantifying the tolerance of chick hip joint development to temporary paralysis and the potential for recovery
(2021)Background: Abnormal fetal movements are implicated in joint pathologies such as arthrogryposis and developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH). Experimentally induced paralysis disrupts joint cavitation and morphogenesis ... -
Integrated analysis of Wnt signalling system component gene expression
(2022)Wnt signalling controls patterning and differentiation across many tissues and organs of the developing embryo through temporally and spatially restricted expression of multi-gene families encoding ligands, receptors, ... -
WlzWarp: An Open-Source Tool for Complex Alignment of Spatial Data
(2022)Background: The spatio-temporal organisation of many biological processes such as gene-expression and neuronal activity is critical to understanding the overall biological behaviour, phenotype and disease. This is ... -
Spatio-temporal variability in the deposition of beach-cast kelp (wrack) and inter-specific differences in degradation rates
(Inter-Research Science Center, 2021)Coastal habitats dominated by marine macroalgae typically exhibit high rates of pri- mary productivity and play a key role in local and regional carbon cycles and stores. In temperate regions, large brown algae (i.e. ... -
Tramps in transition: genetic differentiation between populations of an iconic "supertramp" taxon in the Central Indo-Pacific
(2022)The island monarch ( Monarcha cinerascens) was an original example of the “supertramp strategy ”. This involves well-developed dispersal specialisation, enabling a species to colonise remote islands but leaving it competitively ... -
Geometric analysis of chondrogenic self-organisation of embryonic limb bud cells in micromass culture.
(Springer Nature, 2022)Spatial and temporal control of chondrogenesis generates precise, species-specific patterns of skeletal structures in the developing vertebrate limb. The pattern-template is laid down when mesenchymal cells at the core ... -
Evolution in the understorey: The Sulawesi babbler Pellorneum celebense (Passeriformes: Pellorneidae) has diverged rapidly on land-bridge islands in the Wallacean biodiversity hotspot
(2021)Tropical islands hold great treasures of Earth's biodiversity, but these fragile ecosystems may be lost before their diversity is fully catalogued or the evolutionary processes that birthed it are understood. We ran ... -
Sustainable harvesting of the ecosystem engineer Corallina officinalis for biomaterials
(2019)Macroalgae are of increasing interest for high-value biotechnological applications, but some seaweeds, such as coralline red algae, cannot be grown in cultivation cost-effectively. Wild harvesting of seaweeds, particularly ... -
The avifauna of Ankobohobo Wetland, a neglected Important Bird Area in northwestern Madagascar
(2020)We present here the first detailed inventory of the birds of Ankobohobo Wetland in northwest Madagascar, based on data collected annually in June and July 2010–2018. These wetlands consist of a c. 35 km2 area of mangroves ... -
Fish body sizes change with temperature but not all species shrink with warming
(2020)Ectotherms generally shrink under experimental warming, but whether this pattern extends to wild populations is uncertain. We analysed ten million visual survey records, spanning the Australian continent and multiple decades ...