Instagram - the Jolles Lab

jollethebiologist

@jollethebiologist

Building some new recording systems using Raspberry Pi's in the field in Ibiza with my collaborator Oriol Lapiedra and his team to study the native lizard species in their natural habitat. Its raining so a good time to tinker and finish building the electronics to take out tomorrow to film the lizards when the sun is out!

jollethebiologist

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Building some new recording systems using Raspberry Pi's in the field in Ibiza with my collaborator Oriol Lapiedra and his team to study the native lizard species in their natural habitat. Its raining so a good time to tinker and finish building the electronics to take out tomorrow to film the lizards when the sun is out!

1 month ago

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1/24

Science is teamwork. Today I worked all day with @polfe94 and @painting_with_saltwater on improving the big experimental setup that we use with dr Frederic Bartumeus at @ceabcsic to study the social behaviour of fish, ants and other animals at super high resolution (12x 4K) in our 4m2 arena. Next steps are to calibrate the cameras and finish the code to automatically synchronise, undistort, and stitch the videos!
#sciencelab #fishtank #animaltracking #teamwork #ecology #inthelab #severoochoa

jollethebiologist

•

Science is teamwork. Today I worked all day with @polfe94 and @painting_with_saltwater on improving the big experimental setup that we use with dr Frederic Bartumeus at @ceabcsic to study the social behaviour of fish, ants and other animals at super high resolution (12x 4K) in our 4m2 arena. Next steps are to calibrate the cameras and finish the code to automatically synchronise, undistort, and stitch the videos! #sciencelab #fishtank #animaltracking #teamwork #ecology #inthelab #severoochoa

2 months ago

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2/24

Working from home today, processing the videos of an experiments focused on understanding how individual fish explore different environments. For this I developed my own tracking software ATracker, which not only provides me with the coordinates of each fish's location in the tank but also their head and tail position and orientation in high spatial and temporal detail, enabling me to compute their movement characteristics and kinematics.

jollethebiologist

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Working from home today, processing the videos of an experiments focused on understanding how individual fish explore different environments. For this I developed my own tracking software ATracker, which not only provides me with the coordinates of each fish's location in the tank but also their head and tail position and orientation in high spatial and temporal detail, enabling me to compute their movement characteristics and kinematics.

3 months ago

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3/24

Besides the major challenges of severe droughts and floods that freshwater fish naturally experience in Mediterranean climates, which are increasing due to by human-induced climate change, humans also negatively impact the freshwater ecosystem directly in a number of ways. It makes me sad to see that, even though I try to focus my research on the most natural of streams, relatively far away from urbanisation, and the least impacted by humans, the human footprint is still there..
#underwater #garbage #humanimpact #trash #biodiversity #freshwaterecology #riverresearch #rius #polution

jollethebiologist

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Besides the major challenges of severe droughts and floods that freshwater fish naturally experience in Mediterranean climates, which are increasing due to by human-induced climate change, humans also negatively impact the freshwater ecosystem directly in a number of ways. It makes me sad to see that, even though I try to focus my research on the most natural of streams, relatively far away from urbanisation, and the least impacted by humans, the human footprint is still there.. #underwater #garbage #humanimpact #trash #biodiversity #freshwaterecology #riverresearch #rius #polution

4 months ago

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4/24

Exploring Catalunya's intermittent streams walking in waders upstream, you can experience how varied this ecosystem really is, from wide dried up riverbed, and lifeless open pools, to shallow meandering riffles, and permanent reaches covered by overhanging trees and sheltering roots below
#streamresearch #waders #natura_catalunya #naturalrivers #batecrius #fieldwork

jollethebiologist

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Exploring Catalunya's intermittent streams walking in waders upstream, you can experience how varied this ecosystem really is, from wide dried up riverbed, and lifeless open pools, to shallow meandering riffles, and permanent reaches covered by overhanging trees and sheltering roots below #streamresearch #waders #natura_catalunya #naturalrivers #batecrius #fieldwork

4 months ago

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5/24

While in the colder winter months most streams look devoid of animal life, if you look closer, you can see that there is often actually still much going on. This shallow refuge pool for example hosts a large number of small invertebrates known as ostracods, actively swimming around like small space ships, fuelled by the warmth of the sun. They are a favorite snack for many fish species, so the fact that they are so plentiful here likely suggests fish did not reach this refuge pool
#riverresearch #freshwaterecology #freshwaterstream #macrophotography #invertebrates #fishfood #naturalrivers #natura_catalunya #riuscatalans #catalunya_natura #aigua

jollethebiologist

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While in the colder winter months most streams look devoid of animal life, if you look closer, you can see that there is often actually still much going on. This shallow refuge pool for example hosts a large number of small invertebrates known as ostracods, actively swimming around like small space ships, fuelled by the warmth of the sun. They are a favorite snack for many fish species, so the fact that they are so plentiful here likely suggests fish did not reach this refuge pool #riverresearch #freshwaterecology #freshwaterstream #macrophotography #invertebrates #fishfood #naturalrivers #natura_catalunya #riuscatalans #catalunya_natura #aigua

4 months ago

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6/24

For some of my river surveys I snorkel to best monitor the different micro habitats and occurence of fish. Although it may look lush, the water is freezing cold (4-5 °c), and most fish are very inactive and hard to find, hidden deep in the river banks. Some of the stretches I snorkled were only 30-40cm deep but host an amazing varied aquascape of plants, pebbles, leaves and roots. It i's a whole different world that most people never even think about
#riverresearch #riversnorkeling #freshwatersnorkling #fishsurvey #fieldbiology

jollethebiologist

•

For some of my river surveys I snorkel to best monitor the different micro habitats and occurence of fish. Although it may look lush, the water is freezing cold (4-5 °c), and most fish are very inactive and hard to find, hidden deep in the river banks. Some of the stretches I snorkled were only 30-40cm deep but host an amazing varied aquascape of plants, pebbles, leaves and roots. It i's a whole different world that most people never even think about #riverresearch #riversnorkeling #freshwatersnorkling #fishsurvey #fieldbiology

4 months ago

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7/24

Back in the field, this time exploring the Daró, a highly intermittent stream in north-east Catalunya. For large stretches near the city of la Bisbal I found it to be dry, with here and there still a patch of water. But a bit further upstream there are some nice permanent pools such as this one with great underwater refuges for fish
#labisbal #riudaró #gavarres #natura_catalunya #riverresearch #naturalrivers #freshwaterecology #ecology #fieldwork

jollethebiologist

•

Back in the field, this time exploring the Daró, a highly intermittent stream in north-east Catalunya. For large stretches near the city of la Bisbal I found it to be dry, with here and there still a patch of water. But a bit further upstream there are some nice permanent pools such as this one with great underwater refuges for fish #labisbal #riudaró #gavarres #natura_catalunya #riverresearch #naturalrivers #freshwaterecology #ecology #fieldwork

4 months ago

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8/24

Nice to be out in the field again! Spent the day exploring de Orlina in north-eastern Catalunya, a river I had not yet been before. While upstream the water was still flowing, further downstream where the riverbed was wider, the stream was dry and only some refuge pools remained. It has rained very little the last months so am interested to see how connectivity of the river changes after a couple days of rain. Unfortunately I did not see a single fish all day, but it could be some fish were there, hiding deep in the river margins. L'orlina is one of the nicer, still mostly natural, unaffected streams in the area and I found good habitats for three-spined sticklebacks, so am interested to go back soon to do some proper surveys
#fieldwork #freshwater #ecology #freshwaterstream #fieldsurvey #rius #riu #riuscatalans #mediambient #natura #aigua #catalunyaexperience #natura_catalunya #batecrius

jollethebiologist

•

Nice to be out in the field again! Spent the day exploring de Orlina in north-eastern Catalunya, a river I had not yet been before. While upstream the water was still flowing, further downstream where the riverbed was wider, the stream was dry and only some refuge pools remained. It has rained very little the last months so am interested to see how connectivity of the river changes after a couple days of rain. Unfortunately I did not see a single fish all day, but it could be some fish were there, hiding deep in the river margins. L'orlina is one of the nicer, still mostly natural, unaffected streams in the area and I found good habitats for three-spined sticklebacks, so am interested to go back soon to do some proper surveys #fieldwork #freshwater #ecology #freshwaterstream #fieldsurvey #rius #riu #riuscatalans #mediambient #natura #aigua #catalunyaexperience #natura_catalunya #batecrius

4 months ago

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9/24

I am very excited to have finally finished the large testing area of my new Aquatic Movement Lab for controlled laboratory studies of animal behaviour. It is the final component of my lab that I still had to complete. The large enclosed area can be monitored and recorded using the array of calibrated cameras from above. I will use it both to observe the movements of groups of fish in large, heterogeneous arenas (up to 3.5 x 2.5m) as well as to film multiple groups simultaneously in different environments and contexts. In particular, my next experiments will focus on trying to understand how fish, both individually and collectively, deal with the severe environmental changes associated with draught. Excited to get started!
#sciencelab #scienceexperiment #science #scientist #lab #experiment #fishlab #aquaria

jollethebiologist

•

I am very excited to have finally finished the large testing area of my new Aquatic Movement Lab for controlled laboratory studies of animal behaviour. It is the final component of my lab that I still had to complete. The large enclosed area can be monitored and recorded using the array of calibrated cameras from above. I will use it both to observe the movements of groups of fish in large, heterogeneous arenas (up to 3.5 x 2.5m) as well as to film multiple groups simultaneously in different environments and contexts. In particular, my next experiments will focus on trying to understand how fish, both individually and collectively, deal with the severe environmental changes associated with draught. Excited to get started! #sciencelab #scienceexperiment #science #scientist #lab #experiment #fishlab #aquaria

5 months ago

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10/24

New preprint out on predation risk in schooling prey!
Predation is one of the main drivers of social grouping in animals. Hence, understanding when, where, and how predators attack animal groups is of fundamental importance. By sophisticated experiments in which we tracked pike hunting free-swimming schools of fish, we not only provide novel insights into predator decision-making, but show the key properties related to both predator and prey that influence individual's risk to be targeted and survive predator attacks.
Our findings will have important consequences for understanding the costs and benefits of animal grouping and thereby the evolution of social and collective behaviour.
Interested to read the paper? You can find more information at jollejolles.com!

jollethebiologist

•

New preprint out on predation risk in schooling prey! Predation is one of the main drivers of social grouping in animals. Hence, understanding when, where, and how predators attack animal groups is of fundamental importance. By sophisticated experiments in which we tracked pike hunting free-swimming schools of fish, we not only provide novel insights into predator decision-making, but show the key properties related to both predator and prey that influence individual's risk to be targeted and survive predator attacks. Our findings will have important consequences for understanding the costs and benefits of animal grouping and thereby the evolution of social and collective behaviour. Interested to read the paper? You can find more information at jollejolles.com!

5 months ago

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11/24

Some more DIY and tinkering in the lab to try out some new ideas 😅, having fun!

jollethebiologist

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Some more DIY and tinkering in the lab to try out some new ideas 😅, having fun!

6 months ago

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12/24

Working from home, tracking a new dataset and adding some features to my tracking software. Its cold and dark outside and I am pretty chilly sitting still behind my desk all day with ho heating on.. But I must say I like the cold, it makes me really focused. Coding and writing your own software can be quite frustrating at times and sometimes requires considerable trial and error before you find what resultated in that annoying error. But developing my own software with all capabilities that I need really pays of in the long run. Will show some more insights soon!

jollethebiologist

•

Working from home, tracking a new dataset and adding some features to my tracking software. Its cold and dark outside and I am pretty chilly sitting still behind my desk all day with ho heating on.. But I must say I like the cold, it makes me really focused. Coding and writing your own software can be quite frustrating at times and sometimes requires considerable trial and error before you find what resultated in that annoying error. But developing my own software with all capabilities that I need really pays of in the long run. Will show some more insights soon!

6 months ago

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13/24

Sun just came out after some cold and cloudy days 🌤 so had to get some fresh air! I have been working indoors on a grant application the past days ✍🏼 to help fund some exciting field work next summer. Unfortunately applying for funding takes up quite a considerable amount of time for most scientists.. I do see value in writing grants though, even when rejected, as it helps to focus your research and its potential impacts. Rejections - of grants, papers, or positions - are unfortunately something most scientists will have to deal with regularly, irrespective of how good they are, making strong ambition and persistence two key characteristics to make it in academia. Now back to my grant application..!

jollethebiologist

•

Sun just came out after some cold and cloudy days 🌤 so had to get some fresh air! I have been working indoors on a grant application the past days ✍🏼 to help fund some exciting field work next summer. Unfortunately applying for funding takes up quite a considerable amount of time for most scientists.. I do see value in writing grants though, even when rejected, as it helps to focus your research and its potential impacts. Rejections - of grants, papers, or positions - are unfortunately something most scientists will have to deal with regularly, irrespective of how good they are, making strong ambition and persistence two key characteristics to make it in academia. Now back to my grant application..!

6 months ago

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14/24

Finally also putting the last pieces together of my custom-build individual holding system. It will enable me to hold fish individually in compartments with see-through partitions on a flow-through filtering system, thereby keeping their social stress at a minimum by enabling fish to see and smell each other. By individually holding fish I will be able to run experiments and randomly take fish for individual trials while keeping identities throughout. Main bottleneck of building such a system myself was creating all the connections between the tanks and filters and included me to learn about all types of pieces out there and having to go to specialised hardware stores to find them. Not a place most scientists will go! However, building your own experimental setups and devices is really rewarding and actually helps fuel creativity, something I think is key for scientific progress.
#sciencelab #buildyourownlab #fishtank #fishexperiments #animalbehaviour

jollethebiologist

•

Finally also putting the last pieces together of my custom-build individual holding system. It will enable me to hold fish individually in compartments with see-through partitions on a flow-through filtering system, thereby keeping their social stress at a minimum by enabling fish to see and smell each other. By individually holding fish I will be able to run experiments and randomly take fish for individual trials while keeping identities throughout. Main bottleneck of building such a system myself was creating all the connections between the tanks and filters and included me to learn about all types of pieces out there and having to go to specialised hardware stores to find them. Not a place most scientists will go! However, building your own experimental setups and devices is really rewarding and actually helps fuel creativity, something I think is key for scientific progress. #sciencelab #buildyourownlab #fishtank #fishexperiments #animalbehaviour

6 months ago

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15/24

I am happy to have finally finished building my new 6 experimental setups! It took a while to design and test but am very happy with the result. Each setup can hold an experimental arena for fish or other small animals and a calibrated camera in the top unit can be set to automatically record its movements using a Raspberry Pi computer. A connected relay board makes it possible to remotely turn the lights and water pump or heater on and off, which can be further automated with Python, giving me full control of each experimental unit and enabling me to run large numbers of controlled experiments. When I get some more funding (and space..) I will definitely be building more of them 😅 likely also some S and XL verions!
#fishlab #scienceexperiment #biology #raspberrypi

jollethebiologist

•

I am happy to have finally finished building my new 6 experimental setups! It took a while to design and test but am very happy with the result. Each setup can hold an experimental arena for fish or other small animals and a calibrated camera in the top unit can be set to automatically record its movements using a Raspberry Pi computer. A connected relay board makes it possible to remotely turn the lights and water pump or heater on and off, which can be further automated with Python, giving me full control of each experimental unit and enabling me to run large numbers of controlled experiments. When I get some more funding (and space..) I will definitely be building more of them 😅 likely also some S and XL verions! #fishlab #scienceexperiment #biology #raspberrypi

6 months ago

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16/24

Some evening work in the lab, just finished laying all the cables, setting up a local network, and programming the Raspberry Pi's

jollethebiologist

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Some evening work in the lab, just finished laying all the cables, setting up a local network, and programming the Raspberry Pi's

7 months ago

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17/24

Having fun with building the top units of my experimental setups with automatically controllable lighting

jollethebiologist

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Having fun with building the top units of my experimental setups with automatically controllable lighting

7 months ago

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18/24

Some paper writing on the couch this morning, enjoying a nice pot of tea, some relaxing music, and two fighting animals

jollethebiologist

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Some paper writing on the couch this morning, enjoying a nice pot of tea, some relaxing music, and two fighting animals

7 months ago

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19/24

Designing and building your own experimental setups takes a lot of time and persistence, but it is very rewarding and I am making good progress. I have finished building the boxes and placing the walls and partitions, and have just been fitting the doors and magnetic connectors. Next up is soldering the lighting system and integrating the rasberry pi recording system!

jollethebiologist

•

Designing and building your own experimental setups takes a lot of time and persistence, but it is very rewarding and I am making good progress. I have finished building the boxes and placing the walls and partitions, and have just been fitting the doors and magnetic connectors. Next up is soldering the lighting system and integrating the rasberry pi recording system!

7 months ago

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20/24

Today manuscript writing day at home, enjoying the catalan morning sun and some hairy distractions

jollethebiologist

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Today manuscript writing day at home, enjoying the catalan morning sun and some hairy distractions

7 months ago

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21/24

Still busy building experimental setups 😅 After sawing all the aluminium profiles over the past days, now it's time to put them together! 5 more to go

jollethebiologist

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Still busy building experimental setups 😅 After sawing all the aluminium profiles over the past days, now it's time to put them together! 5 more to go

7 months ago

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22/24

Has been a fair while since I last shared something, but excited to keep you guys up-to-date with my latest lab developments. Having a lot of fun constructing my custom-designed experimental setups to automatically study the behaviour of aquatic animals

jollethebiologist

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Has been a fair while since I last shared something, but excited to keep you guys up-to-date with my latest lab developments. Having a lot of fun constructing my custom-designed experimental setups to automatically study the behaviour of aquatic animals

8 months ago

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23/24

I am happy to say that today I start my new job at CREAF, Barcelona! I have an independent postdoctoral Severo Ochoa position for three years and am very excited to start working here in Catalunya, focused on understanding how animal communities deal with environmental change using an individual-based approach. Watch this space!
#postdoclife #research #newjob #ecology #biodiversity #environmentalscience #biology #fieldresearch

jollethebiologist

•

I am happy to say that today I start my new job at CREAF, Barcelona! I have an independent postdoctoral Severo Ochoa position for three years and am very excited to start working here in Catalunya, focused on understanding how animal communities deal with environmental change using an individual-based approach. Watch this space! #postdoclife #research #newjob #ecology #biodiversity #environmentalscience #biology #fieldresearch

1 year ago

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24/24

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