Dr Miranda Dyson

Professional biography

I received my formal education in South Africa. My postgraduate work at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg focussed on breeding behaviour and communication in African frogs with emphasis on female mate choice in the African reed frog, Hyperolius marmoratus. After completing my  PhD in 1988, I took up a postdoctoral position at the University of Natal in Durban working on reproductive behaviour and mate choice in the fiddler crab, Uca vocans. Before taking up my post at the Open University, I worked on gray treefrogs (Hyla versicolor and Hyla chrysoscelis) with Professor Carl Gerhardt at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, mate choice in Mojorcan midwife toads (Alytes muletensis), in collaboration with Professor Tim Halliday and Dr Sarah Bush (The Open University) and auditory perceptual abilities of barn owls (Tyto alba) with Professor Georg Klump (Technische Universitat, Munich). 

On joining the OU in 1995, I continued my research on African reed frogs in South Africa and supervised PhD projects investigating  the reproductive biology of the midwife toad, Alytes muletensis, duetting behaviour in an African shrike, the bokmakierie (Telophorus zeylonus),  microhabitat requirements of the Great Crested Newt (Triturus cristatus) and the conservation of the endangered Madagascan tortoise, Pyxis arachniodies.

Research interests

I am a Behavioural Ecologist and my primary interest lies with animal communication and sexual selection. Much of my research has focused on vocal communication with an emphasis on behavioural investigations of intraspecific female mate choice in anuran amphibians. I also have an interest in  fiddler crab reproductive behaviour and mate choice, the mating behaviour and male parental care in giant water bugs and duetting in birds. My current research interests include the relationship between bumblebees and snakeshead fritillaries on floodplain meadows. 

Teaching interests

During my time at the Open University I have written and /or contributed to, course material on animal physiology, brain and behaviour, reproductive strategies, vertebrate sensory systems, hearing in humans, biological psychology, reproduction in fiddler crabs and anurans, bird migration, evolutionary biology and terrestrial ecosystems

OpenLearn Courses

Migration: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/migration/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Fire Ecology: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/science-maths-technology/fire-ecology/content-section-0?active-tab=description-tab

Impact and engagement

I have been an academic consultant to the BBC/OU productions:

The Great British Year 

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/tv-radio-events/tv/the-great-british-year

The Hunt

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/tv-radio-events/tv/the-hunt

Blue Planet II

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/tv-radio-events/tv/blue-planet-ii

Blue Planet Live

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/tv-radio-events/tv/blue-planet-live

Frozen Planet II

Wild Isles

Planet Earth III

OpenLearn Profile:

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/profiles/mld5

I have written two articles for  "The Conversation"

https://theconversation.com/the-hunt-a-natural-history-series-that-challenges-us-to-side-with-the-predators-49830

https://theconversation.com/seven-new-species-of-miniature-frogs-discovered-in-threatened-brazilian-cloud-forest-42834

External collaborations

BBC Natural History Unit

Editor: Animal Behaviour

https://www.journals.elsevier.com/animal-behaviour/