publications

Please email Sean if you’re having problems getting hold of any of these.

refereed publications

  1. Reeves LA, Jarvis EM, Lawson DA & Rands SA (accepted). The behavioural responses of bumblebees Bombus terrestris in response to simulated rain. Royal Society Open Science | bioRxiv preprint | dataset
  2. Tunstad SA, Bull ID, Rands SA & Whitney HM (accepted). The cuticular wax compositions and crystal coverage of leaves and petals differ in a consistent manner between plant species. Open Biology | bioRxiv preprint | dataset
  3. Rands SA & Ioannou CC (2023). Personality variation is eroded by simple social behaviours in collective foragers. PLoS Computational Biology 19: e1010908 | full text (open access) | Netlogo code | dataset
  4. Rands SA, Whitney HM & Hempel de Ibarra N (2023). Multimodal floral recognition by bumblebees. Current Opinion in Insect Science 59: 101086 | full text (open access)
  5. Rowe ZW, Robins JH & Rands SA (2023). Red deer Cervus elaphus blink more in larger groups. Ecology and Evolution 13: e9908 | full text (open access) | dataset
  6. Harrap MJM & Rands SA (2022). The role of petal transpiration in floral humidity generation. Planta 255: 78 | full text (open access)
  7. Harrison AS & Rands SA (2022) The ability of bumblebees Bombus terrestris (Hymenoptera: Apidae) to detect floral humidity is dependent upon environmental humidity. Environmental Entomology 51: 1010-1019 | full text (open access)
  8. Nicolls E, Rands SA, Botías C & Hempel de Ibarra N (2022). Flower sharing and pollinator health: a behavioural perspective. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 377: 20210157 | abstract
  9. Harrap MJM, Hempel de Ibarra N, Knowles HD, Whitney HM & Rands SA (2021). Bumblebees can detect floral humidity signals. Journal of Experimental Biology 224: jeb240861 | full text (open access)
  10. Harrap MJM & Rands SA (2021). Floral infrared emissivity estimates using simple tools. Plant Methods 17: 23 | full text (open access)
  11. Hereward HFR, Facey RJ, Sargent AJ, Roda S, Couldwell ML, Renshaw EL, Shaw KH, Devlin JJ, Long SE, Porter BJ, Henderson JM, Emmett C, Astbury L, Maggs L, Rands SA & Thomas RJ (2021). Raspberry Pi nest cameras – an affordable tool for remote behavioural and conservation monitoring of bird nests. Ecology and Evolution 11: 14585-14597 | full text (open access)
  12. Hoyle ZE, Miller RA & Rands SA (2021). Behavioural synchronisation between fallow deer Dama dama is related to spatial proximity. BMC Ecology and Evolution 21: 79 | full text (open access)
  13. Rands SA (2021). Phylogenetically-controlled correlates of primate blinking behaviour. PeerJ 9: e10950 | full text (open access)
  14. Rands SA & Harrap MJM (2021). Phylogenetic signal in floral temperature patterns. BMC Research Notes 14: 39 | full text (open access)
  15. Tasman K, Hidalgo S, Zhu B, Rands SA & Hodge JJL (2021). Neonicotinoids disrupt memory, circadian behaviour and sleep. Scientific Reports 11: 2061 | full text (open access)
  16. Tasman K, Rands SA & Hodge JJL (2021). The power of Drosophila melanogaster for modelling insecticide effects on pollinators and identifying novel mechanisms. Frontiers in Physiology 12: 659440 | full text (open access)
  17. Tasman K, Rands SA & Hodge JJL (2021). Using radio frequency identification and locomotor activity monitoring to assess sleep, locomotor, and foraging rhythmicity in bumblebees. STAR Protocols 2: 100598 | full text (open access)
  18. Giles SL, Harris PA, Rands SA & Nicol CJ (2020). Foraging efficiency, social status and body condition in group-living horses and ponies. PeerJ 8: e10305 | full text (open access)
  19. Harrap MJM, Hempel de Ibarra N, Knowles HG, Whitney HM & Rands SA (2020). Floral humidity in flowering plants: a preliminary survey. Frontiers in Plant Science 11: 249 | full text (open access)
  20. Harrap MJM, Hempel de Ibarra N, Whitney HM & Rands SA (2020). Floral temperature patterns can function as floral guides. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 14: 193-206 | full text (open access) | correction
  21. Tasman K, Rands SA & Hodge JJL (2020). The neonicotinoid insecticide imidacloprid disrupts bumblebee circadian rhythms and sleep. iScience 23: 101827 | full text (open access)
  22. Harrap MJM, Lawson DA, Whitney HM & Rands SA (2019). Cross-modal transfer in visual and nonvisual cues in bumblebees. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 205: 427-437 | full text (open access)
  23. Lawson DA & Rands SA (2019). The effects of rainfall on plant-pollinator interactions. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 13: 561-569 | full text (open access)
  24. Harrap MJM, Hempel de Ibarra N, Whitney HM & Rands SA (2018). Reporting of thermography parameters in biology: a systematic review of thermal imaging literature. Royal Society Open Science 5: 181281 | full text (open access)
  25. Evans MHR, Lihou KL & Rands SA (2018). Black-headed gulls synchronise their activity with their nearest neighbours. Scientific Reports 8: 9978 | full text (open access)
  26. Lawson DA, Chittka L, Whitney HM & Rands SA (2018). Bumblebees distinguish floral scent patterns, and can transfer these to corresponding visual patterns. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 258: 20180661 | full text (open access)
  27. Prodger IM, Schwitzer C & Rands SA (2018). Non-forest matrix crossing in the blue-eyed black lemur Eulemur flavifrons (Gray, 1867). Lemur News 21: 11-12 | link to freely-downloadable issue
  28. Lawson DA & Rands SA (2018). The evolution of floral nectar guides: using a genetic algorithm to investigate the evolution of optimal floral cue arrangements. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 123: 739-753 | full text (courtesy of Oxford University Press)
  29. Harrap MJM, Rands SA, Hempel de Ibarra N & Whitney HM (2017). The diversity of floral temperature patterns, and their use by pollinators. eLife 6: e31262 | full text (open access) | dryad dataset | accompanying insight article by Bing & Kessler
  30. Lawson DA, Whitney HM & Rands SA (2017). Colour as a backup for scent in the presence of olfactory noise: testing the efficacy backup hypothesis using bumblebees (Bombus terrestris). Royal Society Open Science 4: 170996 | full text (open access)
  31. Lawson DA, Whitney HM & Rands SA (2017). Nectar discovery speeds and multimodal displays: assessing discovery times in bees with radiating and non-radiating guides. Evolutionary Ecology 31: 899-912 | full text (open access)
  32. Pearce RF, Giuggioli L & Rands SA (2017). Bumblebees can discriminate between scent-marks deposited by conspecifics. Scientific Reports 7: 43872 | full text (open access) | New Scientist coverage
  33. Rands SA (2017). Leaving safety to visit a feeding site: is it optimal to hesitate while exposed? Royal Society Open Science 4: 160910 | full text (open access)
  34. McDonald ND, Rands SA, Hill F, Elder C & Ioannou CC (2016). Consensus and experience trump leadership, suppressing individual personality during social foraging. Science Advances 2: e1600892 | full text (open access)
  35. Whitney HM, Reed A, Rands SA, Chittka L & Glover BJ (2016). Flower iridescence increases object detection in the insect visual system without compromising object identity. Current Biology 26: 802-808 | full text (open access)
  36. Giles SL, Nicol CJ, Harris PA & Rands SA (2015). Dominance rank is associated with body condition in outdoor-living domestic horses (Equus caballus). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 166: 71-79 | full text (open access)
  37. Giles SL, Nicol CJ, Rands SA & Harris PA (2015). Assessing the seasonal prevalence and risk factors for nuchal crest adiposity in domestic horses and ponies using the Cresty Neck Score. BMC Veterinary Research 11: 13 | full text (open access)
  38. Rands SA (2015). Nearest neighbour clusters as a novel technique for assessing group associations. Royal Society Open Science 2: 140232 | full text (open access)
  39. Giles SL, Rands SA, Nicol CJ & Harris PA (2014). Obesity prevalence and associated risk factors in outdoor living domestic horses and ponies. PeerJ 2: e299 | full text (open access) | blog
  40. Rands SA (2014). Landscape fragmentation and pollinator movement within agricultural environments: a modelling framework for exploring foraging and movement ecology. PeerJ 2: e269 | full text (open access) | blog
  41. Rands SA (2014). We must consider dynamic changes in behavior in social networks, and conduct manipulations: comment on Pinter-Wollman et al. Behavioral Ecology 25: 259-260 | full text (open access)
  42. Rands SA, Muir H & Terry NL (2014). Red deer synchronise their activity with close neighbours. PeerJ 2: e344 | full text (open access)
  43. Whitney HM, Milne G, Rands SA, Vignolini S, Martin C & Glover BJ (2013). The influence of pigmentation patterning on bumblebee foraging from flowers of Antirrhinum majus. Naturwissenschaften 100: 249-256 | abstract
  44. Rands SA (2012). Mobbing and sitting tight at the nest as methods of avoiding brood parasites. Interface Focus 2: 217-225 | full text (freely accessible at publisher site)
  45. Rands SA (2012). Using physical and computer simulations of collective behaviour as an introduction to modelling concepts for applied biologists. Bioscience Education 19: article 4 | article (freely accessible at publisher site)
  46. Simpson HI, Rands SA & Nicol CJ (2012). Social structure, vigilance and behaviour of plains zebra (Equus burchellii): a five year study of individuals living on a managed wildlife reserve with no resident large predators. Acta Theriologica 57: 111-120 | abstract | pdf (postprint version)
  47. Whitney HM, Rands SA, Elton NJ & Ellis AG (2012). A technique for measuring petal gloss, with examples from the Namaqualand flora. PLoS One 7: e29476 | full text (open access)
  48. Rands SA (2011). The effects of dominance on leadership and energetic gain: a dynamic game between pairs of social foragers. PLoS Computational Biology 7: e1002252 | full text (open access)
  49. Rands SA (2011). Approximating optimal behavioural strategies down to rules-of-thumb: energy reserve changes in pairs of social foragers. PLoS One 6: e22104 | full text (open access)
  50. Rands SA (2011). Inclusion of policies on ethical standards in animal experiments in biomedical science journals. Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science 50: 901-903 | abstract and pdf (freely accessible at publisher site)
  51. Rands SA (2011). Using an animal group vigilance practical session to give learners a ‘heads-up’ to problems in experimental design. Bioscience Education 17: c1 | full text (freely accessible at publisher site)
  52. Rands SA, Evans MR & Johnstone RA (2011). The dynamics of honesty: modelling the growth of costly, sexually-selected ornaments. PLoS One 6: e27174 [online] | full text (open access)
  53. Rands SA, Glover BJ & Whitney HM (2011). Floral epidermal structure and flower orientation: getting to grips with awkward flowers. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 5: 279-285 | abstract | pdf (postprint version)
  54. Rands SA & Whitney HM (2011). Field margins, foraging distances and their impacts on nesting pollinator success. PLoS One 6: e25971 | full text (open access) | blog
  55. Rands SA (2010). Self-improvement for team-players: the effects of individual effort on aggregated group information. PLoS One 5: e11705 | full text (open access)
  56. Rands SA (2010). Group-movement ‘initiation’ and state-dependent decision-making. Behavioural Processes 84: 668-670 | details | pdf (postprint version)
  57. Rands SA (2010). Considering adaptation and the ‘function’ of traits in the classroom, using wiki tools. Evolution: Education and Outreach 3: 633-640 | full text (open access)
  58. Rands SA, Clarke D, Hallett JE & Whitney HM (2010). Unusual honeypot-building behaviour in captively reared bumble bees Bombus terrestris. Journal of Apicultural Research 49: 345-347 | details | pdf (provided with permission of IBRA, the International Bee Research Association)
  59. Rands SA & Whitney HM (2010). Effects of pollinator density-dependent preferences on field margin pollination in the midst of agricultural monocultures: a modelling approach. Ecological Modelling 221: 1310-1316 | abstract | pdf (postprint version)
  60. Johnstone RA, Rands SA & Evans MR (2009). Sexual selection and condition-dependence. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22: 2387-2394 | abstract
  61. Rands SA (2009). Ethical policies on experiments involving animals are not compromised by whether a journal is freely accessible or charges for publication. Animal 3: 1591-1595 | abstract
  62. Ang TZ, O’Luanaigh C, Rands SA, Balmford A & Manica A (2008). Quantifying the costs and benefits of protective egg coating in a Chrysomelid beetle. Ecological Entomology 33: 484-487 | abstract
  63. Rands SA, Cowlishaw G, Pettifor RA, Rowcliffe JM & Johnstone RA (2008). The emergence of leaders and followers in foraging pairs when the qualities of individuals differ. BMC Evolutionary Biology 8: article 51 | abstract | full text (open access)
  64. Rands SA & Whitney HM (2008). Floral temperature and optimal foraging: is heat a feasible floral reward for pollinators? PLoS One 3: e2007 | full text (open access)
  65. Whitney HM, Dyer A, Chittka L, Rands SA & Glover BJ (2008). The interaction of temperature and sucrose concentration on foraging preferences in bumblebees. Naturwissenschaften 95: 845-850 | abstract | full text
  66. Fenton A & Rands SA (2006). The impact of parasite manipulation and predator foraging behavior on the structure of predator-prey communities. Ecology 87: 2832-2841 | abstract
  67. O’Luanaigh C, Ang TZ, Manica A & Rands SA (2006). Non-random mating in the beetle Cryptocephalus hypochaeridis. Bulletin of Insectology 59: 11-15 | pdf
  68. Rands SA, Cuthill IC & Houston AI (2006). Explaining individual variation in patterns of mass loss in breeding birds. Theoretical Biology & Medical Modelling 3: article 20 | abstract | full text (open access)
  69. Rands SA, Houston AI & Cuthill IC (2006). Measurement of mass change in breeding birds: a bibliography and discussion of measurement techniques. Ringing & Migration 23: 1-5 | abstract | appendix (available with permission from BTO)
  70. Rands SA & Johnstone RA (2006). Statistical measures for defining an individual’s degree of independence within state-dependent dynamic games. BMC Evolutionary Biology 6: article 81 | abstract | full text (open access)
  71. Rands SA, Pettifor RA, Rowcliffe JM & Cowlishaw G (2006). Social foraging and dominance relationships: the effects of socially mediated interference. Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology 60: 572-581 | abstract | pdf | full text
  72. Fenton A & Rands SA (2004). Optimal parasite infection strategies: a state-dependent approach. International Journal for Parasitology 34: 813-821 | abstract
  73. Rands SA, Pettifor RA, Rowcliffe JM & Cowlishaw G (2004). State-dependent foraging rules for social animals in selfish herds. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 271: 2613-2620 | abstract
  74. Rands SA, Cowlishaw G, Pettifor RA, Rowcliffe JM & Johnstone RA (2003). The spontaneous emergence of leaders and followers in foraging pairs. Nature 423: 432-434 | abstract
  75. Rands SA & Cuthill IC (2001). Separating the effects of predation risk and interrupted foraging upon mass changes in the blue tit, Parus caeruleus. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 268: 1783-1790 | abstract
  76. Rands SA, Houston AI & Gasson CE (2000). Prey processing in central place foragers. Journal of Theoretical Biology 202: 161-174 | abstract

submitted (and soon-to-be submitted) manuscripts and preprints

  1. Harrap MJM, de Vere N, Hempel de Ibarra N, Whitney HM & Rands SA. Variations of floral temperature in changing weather conditions | bioRxiv preprint | thermography data | other data
  2. Harrison AS & Rands SA. The role of floral humidity in plant-pollinator interactions.
  3. Howard TR & Rands SA. Blinking as a measurement of group vigilance in red deer Cervus elaphus and fallow deer Dama dama | bioRxiv preprint | dataset
  4. Rands SA. Thermogenesis in plant reproductive structures: a species checklist.
  5. Rands SA. Floral heating is related to sexual phase in thermogenic plants.

published abstract

  1. Giles S, Harris PA, Nicol CJ & Rands SA (2013). Variation in body condition in small groups of horses. Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research 8: e6 | abstract

book chapter

  1. Rands SA, Pettifor RA, Rowcliffe JM & Cowlishaw G (2012). State-dependent foraging rules for social animals in selfish herds, in “Modelling natural action selection” (eds. Seth AK, Prescott TJ & Bryson JJ). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (updated version of manuscript appearing in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2004), pp 523-537.

book reviews and commentaries

  1. Hempel de Ibarra N & Rands SA (2021). Pollination: influencing bee behaviour with caffeine. Current Biology 31: R1090-R1092 | review
  2. Rands SA (2021). A commentary on: ‘Divergence in floral scent and morphology, but not thermogenic traits, associated with pollinator shift in two brood-site-mimicking Typhonium (Araceae) species’. Annals of Botany 128 (3): i-ii | full text (open access)
  3. Rands SA (2014). Review of “An Introduction to Behavioural Ecology, fourth edition” (Davies, Krebs & West: Blackwell 2012). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 151: 128-129 | review
  4. Rands SA (2011). Review of “Collective Animal Behavior” (Sumpter: Princeton University Press 2010). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 134: 83-84 | review
  5. Rands SA (2009). Review of “Exploring animal social networks” (Croft, James & Krause: Princeton University Press 2008), “Analyzing animal societies – quantitative methods for vertebrate social analysis” (Whitehead: Chicago University Press 2008), and “The structure and dynamics of networks” (Newman, Barabási & Watts: Princeton University Press 2006). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 120: 120-122 | review
  6. Rands SA (1998). Review of “Instant notes in animal biology” (Jorg: Bios Scientific Publishers 1997). Molecular Biotechnology 10: 89 | review

other writing

2008 chapter on ‘Society’ in ‘Animal Life’ (editor-in-chief Charlotte Uhlenbroek), Dorling Kindersley

2009 co-author of ‘Teaching Triple Science Quick Guide: Animal Behaviour’