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Dr Miranda Dyson

S295, 1, 22j, S,

miranda.dyson@open.ac.uk

Biography

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/

Publications

Book Chapter

Contests in amphibians (2013)

Courtship behaviour (2010)

Decoding the frog chorus (2002)

Environmental variation: the effects on vertebrate mating systems with special reference to ectotherms (2000)

The auditory fovea of the barn owl - no correlation with enhanced frequency resolution. (1998)

Journal Article

Biological Flora of Britain and Ireland: Fritillaria meleagris (2022)

Teaching and learning in ecology: a horizon scan of emerging challenges and solutions (2021)

The role of claw color in species recognition and mate choice in a fiddler crab (2020)

Thermal and desiccation constraints drive territory preference in fiddler crabs (2019)

Alternative mating tactics and male mating success in two species of fiddler crab (2016)

Factors Affecting Mating Tactics in the Fiddler Crab, Uca vocans hesperiae (2008)

The mating strategy of Alytes muletensis: some males are less ready to mate than females (2003)

Phonotaxis to advertisement calls by midwife toads (Alytes muletensis) is not necessarily related to mating (2002)

Calling by male midwife toads stimulates females to maintain reproductive condition (2001)

Reproductive stage and history affect the phonotactic preferences of female midwife toads, Alytes muletensis (2000)

Success breeds success in mating male reed frogs, Hyperolius marmoratus (1998)

Absolute hearing thresholds and critical masking ratios in the European barn owl: a comparison with other owls (1998)

Phonotaxis by female Majorcan midwife toads, Alytes muletensis (1998)

Dynamic properties of advertisement calls of gray tree frogs: patterns of variability and female choice (1996)

Selective phonotaxis by males in the Majorcan midwife toad (1996)

Chorus attendance by male and female painted reed frogs (Hyperolius marmoratus): environmental factors and selection pressures. (1995)

The effect of changes in the relative timing of signals during phonotaxis of the reed frog, Hyperolius marmoratus (1994)

Female treefrogs do not avoid heterospecific calls as they approach conspecific calls: implications for the mechanisms of mate choice (1994)

Effect of Intermale Spacing on Female Frequency Preferences in the Painted Reed Frog (1992)

Inter-male spacing and aggression in African Painted Reed Frogs, Hyperolius marmoratus (1992)

Male behaviour and correlates of mating success in a natural population of African Painted Reed frogs (Hyperolius marmoratus) (1992)

The effect of rainfall on interclutch interval in painted reed frogs (Hyperolius marmoratus) (1990)

The relationship between altitude and group size in mountain baboons (Papio cynocephalus ursinus) (1990)

Mate choice only occurs in small choruses of painted reed frogs Hyperolius marmoratus. (1989)

Some determinants of the mating system in a population of painted reed frogs (Hyperolius marmoratus). (1988)

The combined effect of intensity and the temporal relationship of stimuli on the phonotactic responses of female painted reed frogs Hyperolius marmoratus. (1988)

Two-choice phonotaxis in Hyperolius marmoratus (Anura: Hyperoliidae): the effect of temporal variation in presented stimuli (1988)

The effect of call sound pressure level on the selective phonotaxis of female Hyperolius marmoratus. (1985)

Presentation / Conference

Frequency selectivity in the barn owl (Tyto alba) measured with a masking paradigm using narrow band noise. (1997)