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willjsmith.bsky.social
Will Smith
@willjsmith.bsky.social
830 followers 400 following 45 posts
Evolution at the wild-domestic interface ⛰️🏙️

I study Rock Doves in the Outer Hebrides.

@uniofnottingham.bsky.social @leverhulme.ac.uk

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=UW64SScAAAAJ&hl

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/William-Smith-134
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willjsmith.bsky.social
Will Smith @willjsmith.bsky.social · Mar 10
Studies of domestic pigeons have taught us lots about cognition, navigation, and genetics. If you’d like to learn why their wild cousins are also worthy of scientific attention, I’ve written a Rock Dove @currentbiology.bsky.social ‘quick guide’: doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.01.065
Reposted by Will Smith
snaildoc.bsky.social
Problems and progress in getting molluscan 🐌 genome assemblies, new paper out. Although the publication was much delayed, we recently redid the analysis, finding that actually not much ahs improved 😔 academic.oup.com/mollus/artic...
🧬 & 🖥️ #genomics #snails #molluscs
Molluscan genome assemblies—problems and progress
A reference genome assembly is a starting point for research (Davison & Neiman, 2021) in a wide variety of subdisciplines of biology, including mollusc
academic.oup.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Reposted by Will Smith
j-dunning.net
We are still interested in any found twite feathers for a study on the relationships and genetic diversity between the British groups - particularly now for birds of Scottish origin in the NE of England or, birds on the Avon.
DM me for me more info.
#birdringing
October 28, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Reposted by Will Smith
denisewawman.bsky.social
More Mapping the UK's Flat Flies Project results published today with Adrian Smith & @sheldonbirds.bsky.social 212 host-parasite interactions, including 70 not previously reported, & a recent switch to gulls by some Louse Flies, Hippoboscidae. @btobirds.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
Citizen science reveals host‐switching in louse flies and keds (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) during a period of anthropogenic change
A study of louse flies in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man, and Ireland found 212 different interactions between Hippoboscidae and their hosts, of which 70 were previously unrecorded. No louse flies ...
doi.org
November 1, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Will Smith
jezierskimt.bsky.social
New paper today in Proc B @royalsociety.org. We explored nest architecture in 3,685 species of birds, modelling the multivariate nature of nests, i.e. how shape, location or attachment co-occur. Then we explored how the environment affected nest architecture evolution. Spoilers in the title! 🪺🐦🌍
A wide range of abiotic and biotic variables leaves most variation in bird nest architecture unexplained | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Nests are the locations or containers for offspring, and mediate interactions between offspring and the environment. However, understanding how environmental factors shape the evolution of nest archit...
royalsocietypublishing.org
October 29, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Reposted by Will Smith
besmacro.bsky.social
Interested in island life and arthropods? There's a new PhD project advertised at the University of Birmingham to study the evolution of 'island syndromes' in a chosen group of island arthropods, with both museum and fieldwork-based research are expected. More details at: centa.ac.uk/studentship/...
2026-B22 The island syndrome in arthropods – CENTA
centa.ac.uk
October 24, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Reposted by Will Smith
evoneuro.bsky.social
New paper out today on hippocampus neuron morphology in homing and feral pigeons. 🧵

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

#neuroskyence #neuroethology #anatomy
Homing and feral pigeons differ in hippocampal formation neuron size: a Golgi study - Brain Structure and Function
Artificial selection for behavioural traits can significantly affect the anatomy of brain regions related to the behaviour under selection. The homing pigeon (Columba livia) is a prime example of how ...
link.springer.com
October 23, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Will Smith
jezierskimt.bsky.social
Do you like islands? And/or arthropods? Please get in touch with me (m.t.jezierski[at]bham.ac.uk) or another member of the supervisory team!

We will help you study island evolution in arthropods with a (funded) PhD @unibirmingham.bsky.social. 🪲🏝️🦋

centa.ac.uk/studentship/...

*Please share this!*
2026-B22 The island syndrome in arthropods – CENTA
centa.ac.uk
October 21, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Reposted by Will Smith
sheldonbirds.bsky.social
Interested in a PhD in ornithology? Funding available for projects at the interface of ecology, behaviour & evolution from Oct '26 working on long-term population studies of tits at Wytham, based in @biology.ox.ac.uk in the new Life & Mind Building in Oxford
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Examples of some recent papers from graduate students in my group - a full list of recent papers and preprints can be found here (https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?hl=en&user=pTdxVdIAAAAJ) and profile of the group here: https://egioxford.web.ox.ac.uk/members The annual Wytham Field Team Photo! Celebrating a successful field season with great food & good company - May 2025 Front view of the Life & Mind Building, which opened in Oct 2025: The new home of Biology at Oxford
October 20, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Will Smith
richardkbroughton.bsky.social
End of 24th yr of intensive Marsh Tit monitoring at Monks Wood. Similar juv recruitment to recent years (<30), half the number when project started. Some deaths of long-lived adults (5-7 yrs old), but our oldest bird survives (10.5 yrs). Crossbills, Siskins, Redpolls, Skylarks overhead. #ornithology
October 19, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Will Smith
jezierskimt.bsky.social
Beginner's luck is a thing, and with a balmy autumn night I was quite excited for my 9th ever moth-trapping night. But Clifden Nonpareil was not on the bingo card! Also, Least Carpet, Pink-barred Sallow and Rosy Rustic. #TeamMoth #leptember #Moths @willjsmith.bsky.social
September 30, 2025 at 7:56 AM
willjsmith.bsky.social
A very kind interpretation of a baby pigeon! Here are some wild Rock Dove chicks, who may not be winning beauty contests... 🫠

(nests visited for ongoing @uniofnottingham.bsky.social research in the Outer Hebrides, and for @btobirds.bsky.social @btoscotland.bsky.social #NestRecordScheme)
September 28, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Reposted by Will Smith
jenteo.bsky.social
🥳New paper out in the Journal of #ornithology

Assignment of wintering Barnacle Geese (Branta leucopsis) to breeding populations using genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

A nice collaboration between Wageningen University and NIOO-KNAW. 🤝
September 23, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Reposted by Will Smith
sjportugal.bsky.social
We're looking for a new postdoc on our new BBSCR grant (Graham Taylor/Tim Guilford/Cait Newport). See link below!

my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
September 19, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Will Smith
richardkbroughton.bsky.social
#BirdStudy welcomes submissions on all aspects of #ornithology, eg. distribution/abundance patterns; movements/dispersal; habitat effects; census, marking & tracking, behaviour; conservation. Main focus Europe, Atlantic, Afro-Palearctic Flyway, N Africa, but useful papers considered from any region.
September 11, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Will Smith
leverhulme.ac.uk
Comparing the feral city pigeon with its wild form, Early Career Fellow @willjsmith.bsky.social endeavors to reveal whether feral species are experiencing reverse-domestication or proceeding down a new evolutionary trajectory.
media.leverhulme.ac.uk/feature/wsmith @uniofnottingham.bsky.social
Left: A wild rock dove perched in a ruined building, Right: A feral pigeon captured in hand.
September 11, 2025 at 10:10 AM
willjsmith.bsky.social
A little write up @leverhulme.ac.uk summarising my research plans @uniofnottingham.bsky.social for the next few years: media.leverhulme.ac.uk/feature/wsmith. 🧬🐦🤓
September 11, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Reposted by Will Smith
valentinkiss.bsky.social
Perceptions of #pigeons are not trivial. How we see them (either as companions or gross rats with wings) shapes the behaviour and #management policies that structure pigeon populations and the #pathogens they carry.
Mumbai: Pigeon feeding ban sparks debate in India - BBC News
Feeding pigeons is common in Indian cities but is now controversial due to rising numbers and health risks.
www.bbc.com
September 2, 2025 at 10:29 AM
willjsmith.bsky.social
It's always exciting to get reports of the wild Rock Doves that @jezierskimt.bsky.social and I study in Uist. 'Green SI' is one of my favourites. It has been re-sighted 53 times since being ringed in 2022. It is a big fan of garden bird-feeders, and sees meadow-based foraging as too much effort.
September 2, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Reposted by Will Smith
stervander.com
A good 6 hours and 6 minutes left to apply! Don't be shy.
stervander.com Martin Stervander 🏳️‍🌈🇸🇪🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏛️🦉🦤🪶 @stervander.com · Aug 12
Join us as Assistant #Curator of Vertebrates @ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿NMS! Large collections of #birds & #mammals + very active specimen prep = cool place! The ad doesn't say, but I say there's a good chance of prolongation beyond 1y. Hurry up and apply/spread the word: careers.nms.ac.uk/job/748553!

🪶🧪 #museumjobs #job
Yours truly and our mounted Great Auk (Pinguinus impennis) specimen The bird collection store, busy with visiting researchers, mounts, and in the background our volunteers who capture data from the specimen labels. It's not always this packed, but we do have a fair number of volunteers and visitors. Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) in trays in the cabinets. The collections spaces are pretty new, fresh, and functional, which is not always the case for museum collections... A tray of African raptor eggs to illustrate the breadth of the bird collection, which holds som 70K skin specimens, 60K egg clutches, and 10K skeletons.
August 31, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by Will Smith
hernmoral.bsky.social
Expertly led by @claudiafontsere.bsky.social now published in Molecular Ecology! 🥳
Learn why from a genetic perspective whooping cranes should remain protected due to loss of genetic diversity and accumulation of inbreeding and load
#popgen #consgen
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
August 28, 2025 at 6:19 AM
Reposted by Will Smith
malinklumpp.bsky.social
How great was #EOU2025 in Bangor, Wales?!
So delighted to have presented my Master’s thesis project on tracing the geographic origins of behavioural variation in Common Reed Warblers using genomic data. Huge thanks to @bou.org.uk and @dornitholges.bsky.social for helping make this possible!
August 27, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Reposted by Will Smith
valentinkiss.bsky.social
Cities aren’t uniform. Neither is disease. 🦠🏙️
Psittacosis in #urban feral #pigeons shows fine-scale heterogeneity, even a few kilometres can make a big difference. City averages risk hiding the true #hotspots without dense spatial sampling

#DiseaseEcology #UrbanEcology #EOU25
August 23, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Reposted by Will Smith
rytikerttunen.bsky.social
Our new study in Molecular Ecology doi.org/10.1111/mec.... explores the northward expansion of the Eurasian #reedwarbler. Despite a fast range shift, genetic diversity wasn't lost and only weak founder effect signs were found. Let’s break it down: 🧵👇 1/6

#ornithology
August 21, 2025 at 12:51 PM
willjsmith.bsky.social
Reed Warbler range expansion paper just out, led by the amazing Nora Bergman 🧬🪶 with @informedbirds.bsky.social @katjaronka.bsky.social @fishcongen.bsky.social @rytikerttunen.bsky.social @frodefossoy.bsky.social and others

doi.org/10.1111/mec.70077
August 21, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Reposted by Will Smith
richardkbroughton.bsky.social
Wow! First genetically confirmed Willow Tit x Marsh Tit hybrid, Norway: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
I wrote in my book that previous hybridisation evidence is quite poor, so genetics needed: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/marsh-tit...
To me, looks like a Willow Tit with a bill spot. Birder's nightmare!
August 15, 2025 at 2:16 PM