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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 - 2025-10-15

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 - 2025-10-15

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 - 2025-10-15

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 - 2025-10-15

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 - 2025-10-15

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 - 2025-10-15

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 - 2025-10-15

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 - 2025-10-15

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 - 2025-10-15

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 - 2025-10-15

Researchers at Lund University in Sweden have discovered that bird blood produces more heat in winter, when it is colder, than in autumn. The study is published in The FASEB Journal. The secret lies in the energy factories of cells, the mitochondria. Mammals have no mitochondria in their red blood cells, but birds do, and according to the research team from Lund and Glasgow this means that the blo

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/birds-blood-functions-heating-system-winter - 2025-10-15

Great reed warblers normally migrate by night during its month-long migration from northern Europe to Sub-Saharan Africa. However, researchers have now discovered that during the few occasions when it continues to fly during daytime, it flies at extremely high altitudes (up to 6300 meters). One possible explanation for this unexpected and consistent behaviour could be that the birds want to avoid

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/migratory-songbirds-climb-extreme-altitudes-during-daytime - 2025-10-15

A new study may have uncovered why wall lizards have become the most successful reptile in the Mediterranean region. The results reveal how drastic changes in sea levels and climate 6 million years ago affected species formation in the area. The researchers believe they can now explain why the lizards became so diverse and widespread, something that has puzzled biologists since the 19th century. T

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/new-species-formed-when-mediterranean-dried - 2025-10-15

Great tits living in cities are genetically different from great tits in the countryside. This is what researchers have found in a unique study, where they examined populations of great tits in nine large European cities. The researchers compared the city bird genes with the genes of their relatives in the countryside. It did not matter if the great tits lived in Milan, Malmö or Madrid: in order t

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/stressful-life-city-affects-birds-genes - 2025-10-15

Researchers in Lund, Copenhagen and Norwich have shown that harmful mutations present in the DNA play an important – yet neglected – role in the conservation and translocation programs of threatened species. “Many species are threatened by extinction, both locally and globally. For example, we have lost about ten vertebrate species in Sweden in the last century. However, all these species occur el

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/genomics-informed-decisions-can-help-save-species-extinction - 2025-10-15

Extreme differences in flight altitude between day and night may have been an undetected pattern amongst migratory birds – until now. The observation was made by researchers at Lund University in Sweden in a study of great snipes, where they also measured a new altitude record for migratory birds, irrespective of the species, reaching 8 700 metres. Great snipes are shorebirds that breed in Sweden,

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/astonishing-altitude-changes-marathon-flights-migratory-birds - 2025-10-15

For the first time, researchers have been able to prove that city lights limit the ability of nocturnal animals to navigate by natural light in the night sky. Instead, they are forced to use streetlamps, neon light or floodlights to orient themselves. The findings are published in Current Biology. Some animals, including migratory birds, seals and moths, use light from the moon, stars and Milky Wa

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/artificial-light-disrupts-dung-beetles-sense-direction - 2025-10-15

There is an increasing awareness that pollinating insects need flowers rich in pollen and nectar. A new study shows that trees can be just as important for survival – at least for the red mason bee, and probably for other wild bees too. Researchers have investigated the types of habitats and flowers in the agricultural landscape that benefit the reproduction of the red mason bee – a common solitar

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/bees-need-more-trees - 2025-10-15

How do birds avoid collision when flying in dense foliage and other cramped environments with many obstacles? And what does flying in such complex environments entail for the birds? These were the questions Per Henningsson of Lund University in Sweden pondered before engaging the help of the family’s own pet budgie to get some answers. His study has now been published in Royal Society Open Science

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/pandemic-restrictions-enabled-unique-bird-study - 2025-10-15

Researchers have successfully mapped the entire genome of the Eurasian spruce bark beetle. The breakthrough paves the way for new research into bark beetles and better prospects for effective pest control of a species that can destroy more than 100 million cubic metres of spruce forest during a single year in Europe and Asia. Mapping the genome of the Eurasian spruce bark beetle enables a far deep

https://www.biology.lu.se/article/entire-genome-common-forest-pest-now-revealed - 2025-10-15