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A new study from Lund University shows that migratory birds fly most efficiently at moderate speeds – precisely the pace they use during their long journeys across continents. Now, at the end of summer, when thrush nightingales leave Sweden for Southern Africa, they don’t fly flat out. Instead, they cruise at a steady pace – and according to the study from Lund, that’s no coincidence.Migratory bir

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/not-too-fast-not-too-slow-perfect-pace-migrating-birds - 2025-12-09

Staffan Bensch, professor at the Department of Biology, receives an ERC Advanced Grant for his project “Genetics of long-distance migration”. Congratulations Staffan, how does it feel?”It still feels quite surreal. I worked for a very long time on the application, which I submitted a year ago. The decision that came in June was initially a rejection, then changed to reserve, and after three months

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/staffan-bensch-receives-erc-advanced-grant-research-songbird-migration-behaviour - 2025-12-09

High above us, the atmosphere is teeming with life. Birds, bats and insects share the airspace, but divide it into different lanes of traffic. New research from Lund University in Sweden reveals how the atmosphere is an ecosystem, with complex ecological processes that affect how animals move between different altitude levels. We often consider the air as simply a void – but it is in fact alive an

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/hidden-highways-sky-mapped - 2025-12-09

A unique long-term study, in which samples were collected from the same population of blue tits over a 30-year period, shows that rising spring temperatures have doubled the incidence of avian malaria in southern Sweden. Researchers from Lund University in Sweden have collected samples every year from hundreds of blue tits in a single population at a local breeding area outside Lund. This has prov

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/warmer-nordic-springs-double-incidence-avian-malaria - 2025-12-09

Through the DNA analysis of old air samples collected by the Swedish Armed Forces, researchers at Lund University in Sweden can show that spore dispersal of northern mosses has shifted over the past 35 years. It now starts several weeks earlier, revealing how quickly nature’s calendar can reset in line with a warmer climate. “The samples have proved to be an unexpected, unique and very exciting ar

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/old-air-samples-military-reveal-climate-change - 2025-12-09

How should scientists handle deep disagreements? A new paper by researcher Juan Gefaell and Professor Tobias Uller at Lund University introduces a more constructive way to deal with disputes in ecology and evolutionary biology – by turning opponents into collaborators. “Despite some apparent challenges, it is feasible to apply adversarial collaboration to ecology and evolutionary biology disputes.

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/turning-scientific-rivals-partners - 2025-12-09

Compared with other migratory birds, the common swift follows a very unusual pattern when it migrates from the breeding areas in Europe to its wintering locations south of the Sahara. This is what researchers have observed in a major eleven-year international study of the birds. “Our study is very significant for understanding how organisms, in this case the common swift, can migrate from one part

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/rare-pattern-observed-migrating-common-swifts - 2025-12-09

Professor Anders Hedenström receives SEK 22,9 million from Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. Together with his colleagues Susanne Åkesson and Christoffer Johansson he will take a holistic approach to the factors that affect migratory birds and their flight from one part of the world to another. The project runs over a 5-year period. For birds, flying takes a lot of energy. Therefore, it is ext

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/sek-229-million-holistic-approach-migratory-birds - 2025-12-09

Insects have difficulties handling the higher temperatures brought on by climate change, and might risk overheating. The ability to reproduce is also strongly affected by rising temperatures, even in northern areas of the world, according to a new study from Lund University in Sweden. Insects cannot regulate their own body temperature, which is instead strongly influenced by the temperature in the

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/high-temperatures-threaten-survival-insects - 2025-12-09

Together with almost 6400 other researchers around the globe Johannes Rousk has been selected as Highly cited researcher 2020 by The Web of Science Group. Only about one per cent of the researchers within a scientific field are appointed. Johannes Rousk is proud. To be appointed is proof that your research is important and has reached out to peers who have found it useful and frequently cited you.

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/johannes-one-most-cited-researchers-world - 2025-12-09

A lot of people feed birds in the winter, but what is good for them and what is not? Andreas Nord, bird researcher at the Department of Biology in Lund knows the answer. “Fat is a lot better than crumbs from bread, pastry and buns. Fat is energy, bread is empty calories,” he says.Saffron is a popular “Christmas spice” for baking. For quite some time there have been warnings on social media about f

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/christmas-goodies-birds - 2025-12-09

The fluttery flight of butterflies has so far been somewhat of a mystery to researchers, given their unusually large and broad wings relative to their body size. Now researchers at Lund University in Sweden have studied the aerodynamics of butterflies in a wind tunnel. The results suggest that butterflies use a highly effective clap technique, therefore making use of their unique wings. This helps

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/butterfly-wing-clap-explains-mystery-flight - 2025-12-09

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have discovered the individual traits of fungi, and how their hyphae – that is, the fungal threads that grow in soil - behave very differently as they navigate through the earth’s microscopic labyrinths. The study was performed in a lab environment, and the underground system constructed synthetically from silicone. Using a microscope, researchers were able

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/soldiers-snakes-and-marathon-runners-hidden-world-fungi - 2025-12-09

The world's largest bird, the ostrich, has problems reproducing when the temperature deviates by 5 degrees or more from the ideal temperature of 20 °C. The research, from Lund University in Sweden, is published in Nature Communications. The results show that the females lay up to 40 per cent fewer eggs if the temperature has fluctuated in the days before laying eggs. Both male and female productio

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/ostriches-challenged-temperature-fluctuations - 2025-12-09

Overfishing, hunting and intensive agriculture and forestry can sometimes contribute to plants and animals becoming endangered. New research from Lund University in Sweden and University of Toronto can now show why this leads to entire populations becoming smaller in size, as well as reproducing earlier. The study is published in the journal PNAS. Researchers from Lund and Toronto are behind the s

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/why-overfishing-leads-smaller-cod - 2025-12-09

For the first time, a research team led by Lund University in Sweden has mapped out exactly what happens when spruce bark beetles use their sense of smell to find trees and partners to reproduce with. The hope is that the results will lead to better pest control and protection of the forest in the future. The Eurasian spruce bark beetle uses its sense of smell to locate trees and partners. The odo

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/breakthrough-fight-against-spruce-bark-beetles - 2025-12-09

Long life is common among bird parents that get help with childcare. This finding comes from researchers at the universities of Lund and Oxford who reviewed data from more than 9,000 studies. Being a parent can be tough. In general, animals that care for many offspring die young, at least in species where parents are not helped by others. However, in some species things are different and parents r

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/bird-parents-receive-help-live-longer - 2025-12-09

Many species of bee are threatened by global warming, but not all. The buff-tailed bumblebee is the world’s most common bee and will likely remain that way, as researchers from Lund University have discovered that this species benefits from a warmer climate. Through research into buff-tailed bumblebees collected by amateurs and researchers over a period of 150 years, biologists and climate researc

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/warmer-climate-making-worlds-most-common-bumblebee-even-more-common - 2025-12-09

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have investigated how the X and Y chromosomes evolve and adapt to each other within a population. The results show that breaking up coevolved sets of sex chromosomes could lead to lower survival rates among the offspring – something that could be of importance in species conservation, for example. The study is published in the journal PNAS. The results prov

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/new-study-sheds-light-how-x-and-y-chromosomes-interact - 2025-12-09

Jerker Vinterstare at Lund University has studied the crucian carp species. In his doctoral thesis, he shows that residues of antidepressant medication in the water can cause changes in fish behaviour, making them nervous and cowardly. He also shows that when predatory fish such as northern pike are in the vicinity, the crucian carp can change their body shape, eye size and colour, but also modify

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/fish-behaviour-and-appearance-affected-stress - 2025-12-09