{"id":50,"date":"2025-10-21T13:14:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T13:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/?p=50"},"modified":"2025-11-14T15:35:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T15:35:20","slug":"natural-resources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/natural-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Husker scientist illuminates species\u2019 ability to glow"},"content":{"rendered":"
Research Impact<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n

Nebraska\u2019s Rene Martin normally studies fish. But when she stepped \u2013 briefly \u2013 into the flamboyant world of birds, she found herself in the global spotlight.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin\u2019s research revealed, for the first time, that most birds-of-paradise, already well-known for their colorful plumage and Vegas-worthy courtship dances, also glow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her research was featured in dozens of outlets, including The New York Times, the Guardian, Forbes and Smithsonian Magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBirds-of-paradise are cool anyway. When you combine that with the headline that they glow, it\u2019s a fun topic that a lot of people \u2013 whether or not you\u2019re interested in science \u2013 find interesting,\u201d said Martin, assistant professor in the School of Natural Resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technically, the birds biofluoresce. That is, they absorb high-energy wavelengths of light and, due to a fluorescing molecule, re-emit them at a lower energy, making the colors intensely bright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a postdoctoral fellowship at the American Museum of Natural History, Martin examined their bird-of-paradise specimens. She found 37 of 45 known species absorb ultraviolet or blue light and emit a bright green or yellow that is visible to the birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Birds-of-paradise are native to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia. Biofluorescence, more common and intense in males, likely evolved to attract mates, Martin said, but may also play a role in establishing hierarchies and communication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[The research] shows that you can have this group of very charismatic birds that have been studied quite a lot and can still find new things about them,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s always more to study, especially since we have increasing technologies to look at these things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Birds-of-paradise are cool anyway. When you combine that with the headline that they glow, it\u2019s a fun topic that a lot of people \u2013 whether or not you\u2019re interested in science \u2013 find interesting. <\/p>\nRene Martin<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Despite her sojourn into bird biology, Martin remains committed to fish. She\u2019s researching Nebraska\u2019s invasive carp as well as using a century of native fish specimens stored at the University of Nebraska State Museum to study how changing conditions, such as damming rivers, alters body composition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin still enjoys searching museum collections for biofluorescing birds, an understudied field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlthough the majority of my studies will be on fish, this will always be a fun, special place in my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Royal Society Open Science<\/em> journal published Martin\u2019s research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Additional Content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
News release<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Smithsonian Magazine<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The New York Times<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
National Audubon Society publication<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Science News Explores<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Phys.org<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Forbes<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
American Museum of Natural History<\/a>, <\/span>Breakthroughs<\/a>, <\/span>Discovery<\/a>, <\/span>Environment<\/a>, <\/span>Ornithology<\/a>, <\/span>Rene Martin<\/a>, <\/span>State Museum<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n

The tuft from a male Paradisaea Guilielmi glows under UV light. Illustration courtesy of Rene Martin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Biologist Rene Martin’s research revealed, for the first time, that birds-of-paradise are biofluorescent, meaning they absorb light from the sun and re-emit intensely bright colors. Martin’s work generated headlines across the world, including in The New York Times, the Guardian and Smithsonian Magazine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[101,182,185,21,100,99,25],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-impact","tag-american-museum-of-natural-history","tag-breakthroughs","tag-discovery","tag-environment","tag-ornithology","tag-rene-martin","tag-state-museum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":501,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions\/501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}