
Dr Miranda Dyson
S295, 1, 22j, S,
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
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"
External collaborations
BBC Natural History Unit
Editor: Animal Behaviour
Publications
Book Chapter
Decoding the frog chorus (2002)
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)
Calling by male midwife toads stimulates females to maintain reproductive condition (2001)
Success breeds success in mating male reed frogs, Hyperolius marmoratus (1998)
Phonotaxis by female Majorcan midwife toads, Alytes muletensis (1998)
Selective phonotaxis by males in the Majorcan midwife toad (1996)
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)
The effect of rainfall on interclutch interval in painted reed frogs (Hyperolius marmoratus) (1990)
Mate choice only occurs in small choruses of painted reed frogs Hyperolius marmoratus. (1989)