Dr Steve Portugal, The University of Oxford

This week I am working at Slimbridge, studying duck vision. Trying to ascertain why some species drown in gill nets and others seemingly are aware of them. This forms a major part of Jenny Cantlay’s PhD (with Alex Bond and Rory Crawford).

As part of our Special Issue on Brood Parasitism in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, PhD student Stephanie has her first PhD paper – congratulations! Our paper provides evidence for convergent evolution of reduced eggshell gas exchange in avian brood parasites. You can read the aper here: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2018.0194

Our Special Issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B is out today! All about Brood Parasitism, including fish, birds and insects. Thank you to my Co-Editors Claire Spottiswoode, Rose Thorogood and Ros Gloag for making the process so enjoyable, and to all our contributors. You can read the Issue here: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/rstb/374/1769