Connor Panter

Plants with higher dispersal capabilities follow ‘abundant-centre’ distributions but such patterns remain rare in animals - Nature Communications The hypothesis that species are most abundant at the centre of their geographic range has been widely debated. Here, by analysing over 3,600 species, the authors find that this pattern is generally no...

Why do some species peak in abundance at the centre of their range, while others don’t?

In our new Nature Communications paper, we show that these patterns are common in plants with high dispersal ability, but remain rare in animals.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#macroecology | #biogeography

American Kestrel being swabbed for prey DNA

Portrait of male american kestrel with vineyard background

Some recent photos from the field… One of the data points we collect from raptors is eDNA diet swabs, which is done by scrubbin’ microscopic prey 🧬 remains from their beaks. This can help us describe what American Kestrels are eating on California farms.

#AmericanKestrel #RaptorResearch #WildAg

Bushy‐Crested Hornbills Successfully Hunting Flying Bats in Gomantong Caves, Malaysia We observed a group of bushy-crested hornbills (Anorrhinus galeritus) surprisingly hunting bats as they fly out of a large roosting cave in Bornean Malaysia, but not when they are roosting inside the....

Bushy‐Crested Hornbills Successfully Hunting Flying Bats in Gomantong Caves, Malaysia - Tella - 2025 - Ecology and Evolution - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Great to see that the Lesser Whitethroat is staying around in the willow scrub area by the pond.
Also, many Chiffchaffs coming to the water in the shade - such delightful warblers when you observe them carefully.
#wildlifegardening #warblers #ornithology 🌿 #ukwildlife

Cover image of the June issue of Nature Ecology & Evolution showing an illustration of a woodpecker flying into woodland at the edge of a typical UK farmland landscape. The cover line reads "Land-use legacies"

Our June issue is now live! www.nature.com/natecolevol/...

Featuring research on:

🧬Airborne eDNA
💰Costs of biological invasions
🌡️Genomic predictions of temperature adaptation

Cover illustration by Marco Lawrence, based on Bradfer-Lawrence et al. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Biomass and abundance trends diverge as the North American avifauna undergoes widespread demographic declines | doi.org/10.1002/oik.... | Oikos | #ornithology 🪶

Seasonal diet composition of partially migrating red deer (Cervus elaphus) in temperate forests of the Western Carpathians - European Journal of Wildlife Research European Journal of Wildlife Research - Wild ungulates play a pivotal role in shaping temperate Carpathian forests, with their feeding behaviour influencing forest community dynamics, regeneration...

Today's paper...

Seasonal diet composition of partially migrating red deer (Cervus elaphus) in temperate forests of the Western Carpathians | Smolko et al. 2025 | European Journal of Wildlife Research

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

We have had a lucky start of the spring season. Yesterday we tagged an adult territorial male in the north of Spain. A beautiful and combative individual. We named him Gaitzarra aka the bad guy.
#GoldenEagle
#RaptorResearch

A LEAP Forward in Wildlife Conservation: A Standardized Framework to Determine Mortality Causes in Large GPS-Tagged Birds | doi.org/10.1002/ece3... | Ecology and Evolution | #ornithology #RaptorResearch 🪶

Habitat selection by an extraordinary savannah raptor: environmental factors driving abundance of the Secretarybird Sagittarius serpentarius in the Serengeti National Park (Tanzania) | www.tandfonline.com/... | Bird Study | #ornithology 🪶

Applications are open for the African Raptor Leadership Grant: raptorresearchfoundation.org/grants-awards/
This grant is ideal for raptorphiles keen to do the FitzPatrick's Conservation Biology MSc programme: science.uct.ac.za/fitzpatrick/...
Application deadline: 30 June
#AfricanOrnithology

nice!!

“Science has no passport, no gender, no ethnicity, no political party.”

EC President Ursula von der Leyen, announcing a €500M initiative to attract top global talent.

In a fractured world, science remains a unifying force – rooted in diversity, driven by curiosity, and shared by all humanity.

Unveiling the Myth: Harpy Eagle Harpia harpyja Attacks on a Human in the Amazon Forest We report here on an unexpected attack by a harpy eagle on a 29-year-old woman near a tourist camp in the French Guiana Amazon rainforest.

Interesting new Nature Note published in Ecology and Evolution documenting an attack on a human by Harpy Eagle doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

A reminder that all wild animals can be dangerous!

#ornithology

Closing soon! I highly recommend applying for this travel award -- my time in Australia was rewarding and super fun! I got to meet and work with amazing researchers and do fieldwork in incredible places with fascinating and diverse species 🦘🇦🇺🐨

Raptor Poisoning in Europe between 1996 and 2016: A Continental Assessment of the Most Affected Species and the Most Used Poisons

meridian.allenpress.com/rapt/article...

Reintroduced White Storks (Ciconia ciconia) Have Similar Diets to Their Wild Conspecifics We explored the dietary composition and compared pellet morphology using pellet analysis (n = 23) between two White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) groups to assess reintroduction effectiveness that consiste....

New paper out "Reintroduced White Storks (Ciconia ciconia) Have Similar Diets to Their Wild Conspecifics" available open access in Ecology & Evolution #ornithology

doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

A LEAP Forward in Wildlife Conservation: A Standardized Framework to Determine Mortality Causes in Large GPS‐Tagged Birds A novel framework for determining the causes of mortality of large GPS-tagged birds, the LIFE EUROKITE Assessment Protocol (LEAP), was developed. LEAP integrates GPS tracking data, site investigation...

Late to the BlueSky party... but wanted to share a new paper of ours:

"A LEAP Forward in Wildlife Conservation: A Standardized Framework to Determine Mortality Causes in Large GPS-Tagged Birds" - a huge collaboration between #raptor researchers in Europe!

doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

#ornithology

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