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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
Singing evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, insulaphile. PhD researching #birds. Senior Curator
@NHM_London
. Man Ed
@OrnisSvecica
, AE
@IBIS_journal
. He/him.
London (prev. US, SE, ZA, AU)stervander.comJoined May 2011
991 Following
1,581 Followers

Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘β€™s Tweets

Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
Read #OpenAccess in
@OrnisSvecica
about how these stunners struggle. #Arctic #waders/#shorebirds are vulnerable to #ClimateChange, and the breeding success can be tracked from long-term #BirdRinging data during migration. #birds #ornithology doi.org/10.34080/os.v3
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Jonas WaldenstrΓΆm
@DrSnygg
New study out today in @OrnisSvecica on changes in numbers and phenology of Little Stints at Ottenby Bird Observatory (@OttenbyBO), Sweden, over the last 75 years. doi.org/10.34080/os.v3
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
The pandemic taught us things can be done online, if need be. Yet, hunting for a rental flat in #Edinburgh, several agents won't consider candidate tenants unless they physically attend a viewing (scheduled at 1–few days' notice) & won't offer online viewing. πŸ€” Welcome to town!
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
This is #museomics in all is glory! Awesome story and thread,
@jfnacl
, can't wait to read the paper. And Spanish version available - see last tweet! #birds #ornithology
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Jessie Salter
@jfnacl
For the past few years I've been obsessed with the question of where Cuban bobwhites came - are they native or introduced, where did they come from, and when did they get there? Super excited to share our findings, out now in Molecular Ecology! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.11
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘ Retweeted
Jon Clark 🧬πŸ₯πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆ
@JonathanD_Clark
I'd like to take this opportunity to pivot to an iconic US endemic we *KNOW* still exists and that is *GOING TO BE EXTINCT* in the next 30 years if we don't do something drastic, fast. The Saltmarsh Sparrow:
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The New York Times
@nytimes
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0:30
The ivory-billed woodpecker, a bird presumed to be exctinct but one that has become a kind of Holy Grail for American birders, still exists, a new study suggests. But some scientists are skeptical, saying the evidence is on this β€œvery poor video.” nyti.ms/3Ml9gvW
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
On this #IDAHOBIT I've learned that a formal complaint was filed against me for calling out another researcher for #transphobia. I'll think about *how* I'll best communicate such things, but I won't stand for #transphobia, #homophobia, or #biphobia, now or ever. Over and out.
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LGBT+ History Month πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ³οΈβ€βš§οΈ
@LGBTHM
The theme for the 2023 edition of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia will be β€œTogether always: united in diversity”. (Text from may17.org) #LGBTQIA #LGBTplusHM #educateOUTprejudice
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
#PeerReview isn't the arena for being sarcastic & mean. If you can't be constructive in your criticism, decline the referee request. And #ScientificJournal #editors, can we try not to let through crap like this, ok? So sorry you got this crap,
@biologistimo
. Thanks for sharing.
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Imogene Cancellare, PhD
@biologistimo
I'm working on submitting the first chapter of my dissertation for publication, so thought I'd share a blurb from the first peer review I ever received. It's from my first first-author publication, from my master's research.
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
Gotta love bringing some order to #bird #taxonomy! Pardon me, bringing some family, that is... Awesome,
@Jenna_Merle
,
@jack_hruska
,
@carlholiveros
, Robert Moyle &
@mjandersen43
. #ornithology #birds #Eurocephalus #Eurocephalidae #TerriblePuns
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Jenna McCullough
@Jenna_Merle
Out in @AmOrnith, we show with thousands of genomic loci that Eurocephalus, a long questioned shrike genus, is more closely related to crows than "true shrikes" Read why Eurocephalus shrikes should comprise their own separate family: Eurocephalidae πŸ‘‡ bit.ly/44ZJG8a
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
These brown beauties deserve the spotlight, as part of a thread to explain our rationale for splitting the predominantly #African #lark genus Mirafra (in the broad sense) into four genera: Mirafra (narrow sense), Amirafra, Plocealauda, and Corypha. #birds #taxonomy #ornithology
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
β†’ (1) Mirafra cantillans, (2) Amirafra rufocinnamomea, (3) Plocealauda assamica, and (4) Corypha africana (sensu stricto). β†’
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Singing Bushlark (Mirafra cantillans) by Koshy Koshy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kkoshy/35788711384/) under CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/).
Flappet Lark (Amirafra rufocinnamomea) by Nigel Voaden (https://www.flickr.com/photos/nvoaden/16025285505) under CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/).
Bengal Bushlark (Plocealauda assamica) by J. M. Garg (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bengal_bushlark_%28Mirafra_assamica%29_in_Kolkata_W_IMG_4596.jpg) under GFDL (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License).
Rufous-naped Lark (Mirafra africana) by Derek Keats (https://www.flickr.com/photos/dkeats/10478670205/) under CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/).
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
This is an awesome thread on what looks like an awesome paper. Something for folks to think aboutβ€”mainly for the biology of #sex, but secondarily also for what it means when we turn to nature to refer to what's "natural". Congrats
@jfmclaughlin92
,
@jacanamama
,
@kb_kinsey
et al.!
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Jess McLaughlin, PhD (they/them)
@jfmclaughlin92
so thrilled to see this out in @ICB_journal today!! thanks so much to @jacanamama and @kb_kinsey for all your work in making this paper happen, and to our amazing undergrad coauthors for their work on the lit search! academic.oup.com/icb/advance-ar
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
‼️ πŸ΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ ΏπŸ°πŸ¦‰LIFE UPDATEπŸ¦‰πŸ°πŸ΄σ §σ ’σ ³σ £σ ΄σ Ώβ€ΌοΈ I'm thrilled to announce my next big move. Come mid-August, I will take up the role as Senior Curator of #Birds at National Museums Scotland (
@NatSciNMS
at
@NtlMuseumsScot
) in Edinburgh! Visit me, ok? First permanent job in a couple of decades... 1/4
National Museums Scotland on Chambers Street in Edinburgh. An amazing museum with wide-ranging exhibitions, that I get to call my place of work! Photo by Spoke Wintersparv (@wintersparv).
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘ Retweeted
Katrina Derieg
@katderieg
#CollectionsAreEssential, but not only existing ones. The collections we build today are the only shot we have at robustly documenting and describing biodiversity right now. This will be true every single day going forward. Today is tomorrow's history. #CollectingIsEssential.
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Prosanta Chakrabarty
@PREAUX_FISH
This paper calls for scientists to stop collecting specimens. Unfortunately, that will lead to greater taxonomic confusion and will make the research non-repeatable/invalid. Reimagining the future of natural history museums with compassionate collection dx.plos.org/10.1371/journa
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
β†’ They're not obviously more similar than for example the European genera Alauda and Galerida, here exemplified by (1) Skylark Alauda arvensis and (2) Crested Lark Galerida cristata. β†’
Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) by Imran Shah (https://www.flickr.com/photos/gilgit2/48088896288/) under CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/).
Crested Lark (Galerida cristata) by Frans Vandewalle (https://www.flickr.com/photos/snarfel/3233962884) under CC BY-NC 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/).
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
β†’ (1) Mirafra cantillans, (2) Amirafra rufocinnamomea, (3) Plocealauda assamica, and (4) Corypha africana (sensu stricto). β†’
Singing Bushlark (Mirafra cantillans) by Koshy Koshy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/kkoshy/35788711384/) under CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/).
Flappet Lark (Amirafra rufocinnamomea) by Nigel Voaden (https://www.flickr.com/photos/nvoaden/16025285505) under CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/).
Bengal Bushlark (Plocealauda assamica) by J. M. Garg (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bengal_bushlark_%28Mirafra_assamica%29_in_Kolkata_W_IMG_4596.jpg) under GFDL (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Free_Documentation_License).
Rufous-naped Lark (Mirafra africana) by Derek Keats (https://www.flickr.com/photos/dkeats/10478670205/) under CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/).
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
β†’this has become a "trashbin genus" into which brown, somewhat similar-looking species in Africa and Asia have been placed. Mind you, species that originally belonged to different genera, so this is through taxonomic revisions. And here are examples of the four main clades: β†’
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
β†’making not very closely related groups reather similar due to similar adaptations. On the other hand, there are several cases of pronounced divergent evolution, where one species is just strikingly different than all its congeners. So for Mirafra (sensu lato)β†’
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
→that are split in different genera. And yes, bird taxonomy has traditionally relied much on plumage and structural morphological differences. Which is why lark taxonomy has been particularly troublesome, because on the one hand, there's a lot of convergent evolution going on→
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
Thanks, Hugo! That's a reasonable question. First, why? Precisely for the balance. It is unreasonable to have a gigantic predominantly African genus that comprises 25% of species diversity (!), with genetic AND phenotypic divergence on par or deeper than European clades→
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Hugo Gante πŸŸπŸ‘πŸ¦ˆπŸ§¬πŸ”¬πŸ‡΅πŸ‡ΉπŸ‡§πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί
@hugofgante
Replying to @nesospiza
Martin, congrats on this huge effort Curious as to why you feel the need to β€œbalance” the taxonomy? Are new traits just… lurking (a-ha!) around? I believe bird taxonomy generally realizes a lot on color patterns. Does it make it difficult to find consensual traits in brown 🐦?
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
We provide a full classification of the family, whichβ€”by our definitionβ€”now comprises 103 species. This study is made possible by loads of fieldwork contributorsβ€”and the uncomparable treasure held in natural history museum collections like
@NHM_London
@NHM_Tring
! End 🧡
Some of Alfred Russel Wallace's specimens held at the Natural History Museum UK (Tring), whose photo this is (see https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/collections/zoology-collections/bird-skin-collections.html).
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
The Corypha complex is fascinating, and reflects how neglected African bird taxonomy can sometimes be. A huge diversity has been lumped and sorted in rather strange ways. But let's return to that once our Corypha paper is out! 10/
Somali Lark Corypha (ex-Mirafra) somalica. Photo by Nik Borrow (https://www.flickr.com/photos/nikborrow/49610249881/) under CC BY-NC 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/).
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
Finally, preceding a very detailed integrative taxonomy investigation of some of the Corypha (previously Mirafra) larks (stay tuned!), we propose a fair reshuffling! With 4–5 species going in, we "kill" C. ashi, and still recover 9 species going out! 9/
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
Even with over a million SNPs, some relationship are notoriously tricky to resolve: particularly the exact placement of the genera Alaudala and Lullula. More details in the paper! 8/
Phylogenomic analyses uncovering the position of Alaudala and Lullula in a phylogenetic tree.
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
Based on our results, we also propose a subfamily classification of the lark family (Alaudidae): ✦ Alaudinae Vigors, 1825 ✦ Certhilaudinae Le Maout, 1852 ✦ Mirafrinae Bianchi, 1905 This again lead to extensive nomenclatural sidetracks: twitter.com/nesospiza/stat 7/
A certhilaudine lark, the Greater Hoopoe-Lark Alaemon alaudipes. Photo by Supreet Sahoo, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greater_Hoopoe_Lark_-_Kutch.jpg).
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Martin Stervander πŸ³οΈβ€πŸŒˆπŸ¦πŸ‘
@nesospiza
Larks in the proposed subfamily Certhilaudinae, from Figure 2 of AlstrΓΆm et al. (2023) Avian Research.
So, it turns out I made some really stupid mistakes with #nomenclature for #larks… My co-authors made some others. Together, we simply made an embarrassing mess. This was spotted by the #ornithology/#birds community from "advance online" pre-proofs, and pointed out online. πŸ§΅β†’
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