Keyword: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

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An international research group found that wall lizards use specific behaviours more than colour or physical traits to settle territorial disputes. These results deepen our understanding of the complex social life of lizards.

An international team of researchers from the University of Turku, Finland, and the University of Tours, France, aimed to validate the use of infrared thermal imaging as a non-invasive tool for assessing stress responses in reindeer. Their findings suggest that this technology can improve the assessment of animal welfare. 

Researchers have clarified the evolutionary history of a previously poorly known group of ferns from the tropical rainforests of America using DNA methods. The study discovered many new fern species, 18 of which have now been given official names and species descriptions.

People living in the area of Finland have never been a homogeneous group. Our cultural, genetic and linguistic heritage all have a diverse background and are in a constant state of change. People, ideas, customs and diseases have always moved from place to place and left their mark on the population. In a major research consortium, researchers are studying how these marks are still visible in people.

Professor of Evolutionary Biology Virpi Lummaa from the University of Turku in Finland has received a major funding from the European Research Council ERC. Lummaa received the funding for a research project that focuses on how major societal changes in the past 300 years have influenced human kinship networks and how they, in turn, have influenced the evolutionary fitness of people in the 18th to 20th century Finland. Lummaa also investigates the same questions in Asian elephants, which have suffered from declines in population size during the past 50 years due to human influence.

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Living in a greener environment has an impact on the composition of oligosaccharides in mother's breastmilk, which in turn may affect the infant’s health. A study conducted at the University of Turku showed that greater diversity and proportion of green environments in the residential area were associated with increased diversity in the composition of the oligosaccharides in breastmilk.

Researchers used artificial nests to test two methods for reducing the nest predation of vulnerable and endangered ground-nesting birds. The study showed that red foxes can be more easily deceived into not eating bird eggs than raccoon dogs. The methods could be used alongside hunting and offer an alternative, non-lethal solution for creating protection for vulnerable prey.