Location: Seewiesen

Statistical and Conceptual Approaches towards Multivariate Phenotypes

Statistical and Conceptual Approaches towards Multivariate Phenotypes
Monday: Lectures and practical application Jon Wright: The conceptual context of characterizing multivariate phenotypes, genotypes and functional units Niels Dingemanse: The evolutionary ecology of multivariate phenotypes Dirk Metzel: A comparison of Bayesian vs Frequentist vs approaches in statistics Alastair Wilson: Multivariate quantitative genetics. Partitioning correlations within vs. between individuals, and between-individual correlations in G and PE. Implementation of exploratory factor analysis in multivariate mixed models. Modelling platform: ASREML/R or MCMCglmm Geir Bolstad: Demonstration of R-package “evolvability” - tools for understanding multivariate genetic variation and effects on rates and directions of evolution Tuesday: Lectures and practical application Yimen Araya-Ajoy: Multi-level multivariate phenotypic variation (i.e. within vs. between individuals) Geir Bolstad: Analyses of allometry; Random regressions in ontogenetic allometry, relationships between ontogenetic, static, and evolutionary allometry. Ned Dochtermann: Multivariate hypothesis testing: when to use confirmatory factor analysis vs. PCA, path analyses and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) Wednesday: excursion Thursday: Student Introductory Presentations + Working on own data Friday: Working on own data + Student presentations of preliminary results Speaker Prof. Jonathan Wright, Dr. Geir Hysing Bolstad, Dr. Thor Harald Ringsby and Dr. Irja Ratikainen (Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Prof. Ned. A. Dochtermann (North Dakota State University), Dr. Alastair Wilson (University of Exeter), Prof. Dr. Dirk Metzler (Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich), Prof. Niels J. Dingemanse, PhD-candidate Yimen Araya-Ajoy (Max Planck Institute for Ornithology) [more]

Genomic sequence data handling and analysis

Genomic sequence data handling and analysis
This is an introductory course to students planning to analyse genomic sequence data. The course will familiarize with some tools and websites characteristically used in genome analyses with a focus on steps downstream computer-intense genome assembly and read mapping, e.g. extraction of information from a genome browser, read coverage and expression difference calculations, SNP calling and annotation, scans for selection signatures, Linux and R for txt-file manipulations, etc.. Far from being complete, the course aims to provide a starting point for own idiosyncratic sequence projects. Participants need to install Linux (e.g. in Virtualbox) and R (e.g. as R-studio) on their computers, but we will also provide a few installed computers in our seminar room. [more]

From uni- to multimodal signaling: towards an integrative view on anuran communication

Talk Walter Hoedl, Seewiesen
Undeniably, acoustic signals are the predominant mode of communication in frogs and toads. Acoustically active species are found throughout the vast diversity of anuran families. However, additional or alternative signal modalities have gained increasing attention. In several anurans seismic, visual and chemical communication has convergently evolved due to ecological constraints such as noisy environments. The emphasis of a visual cue, such as the inevitably moving vocal sac of acoustically advertising males, is facilitated by conspicuously coloured throats. Striking visual signals independent of vocalizations are limb movements with the dynamic display of bright colours. In some multimodal anuran communication systems the acoustic component acts as an alert signal, which alters the receiver attention to the following visual display. Recent findings of colourful glands on vocal sacs, producing volatile species-specific scent bouquets suggest the integration of acoustic, visual and chemical cues in species recognition and mate choice. The combination of signal components allows for a broadened display repertoire in challenging environmental conditions. Thus, frogs and toads may possess more complex communications skills than science previously has given them credit for. [more]

Scope and Dimensions of Hormonal Maternal Effects

Talk Hubert Schwabl, Seewiesen
Maternal effects are ubiquitous generators of diverse phenotypic variation. Many maternal effects are based on hormonal signalling from mother to offspring and among other hormones steroids are critical signals. Since steroids play key roles in vertebrate reproduction and developmental differentiation their transmission from mother to embryo links generations, suggesting co-evolution of actions in mother and offspring. Birds have played a major role in generating knowledge about hormone-mediated maternal effects at the level of their functions and to a lesser extent their mechanisms. One of the classes of steroids that are transmitted from the ovary into the avian egg during yolk formation are androgens. The doses of androgens in eggs vary at multiple levels - within the eggs of a clutch, among clutches, among populations, and among species. Variation at these different levels has been addressed in relation to adaptive functions, such as parental favouritism, differential allocation, local adaptation, and life history strategies. However, only once we understand the integration of different maternal effect pathways and the mechanisms operating in mother and offspring will we fully understand the scope and limitations of maternal effects in evolutionary processes. I will review work on maternal effects conducted in my lab and in collaboration with others, refer to critical studies from other labs, and discuss basic developmental mechanisms of pleiotropic actions by which maternal steroids might influence offspring phenotype during the earliest embryo stages. [more]

Themes and variations in bird song at the within-individual, between-individual and between-population levels

Talk Láslzló Zsolt Garamszegi, Seewiesen
Bird song is known as the acoustic analogue of the peacock’s tail, and is often used as a model in sexual selection studies. Most research has focused on between-individual differences in song traits and investigated questions about how aspects of male quality can be signalled and how these can be translated into fitness benefits. However, bird song is a very special in a sense that it can also show a considerable variation within individuals, while spatio-temporal patters define biologically important patterns of variations at the between-population level. My research group has been studying the song of the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis), which has a modestly complex system with males using 15-50 different syllable types in their individual-specific repertoires that they vary with high plasticity. In our earlier studies, by adopting the classical focus from behavioural ecology on between-individual variations, we determined the information content of male repertoires its relationship with mating success. More recently, we investigate how songs change within individuals across different temporal windows (within- and between days, and between years) and how such reaction norms differ among individuals and what are the fitness consequences of this variation. At a higher level, we study compositional changes in song at the between-population level, which open horizons for understanding the dynamics of cultural evolution. In my talk, I will provide examples from our model species to demonstrate the evolutionary relevance of the complex hierarchical organization of bird song. [more]

Statistics Module 4: Own Data Workshop

Statistics Module 4: Own Data Workshop
day 1: 2-3 Short inputs depending on participants projects short presentation of participants projects day 2 and 3: guided work on own project day 3: presentations of projects prerequisite for participation basic knowledge in statistics, participation in at least 2 of the Modules 1 – 3. Participants bring their own data. They are requested to send a short description of their projects to the teachers at least one week before the start of the workshop. [more]

Introduction in Scientific Writing

Introduction in Scientific Writing
This two-day workshop enables life scientists to to write clearly and with impact! The participants learn how to construct a “take-home” message that tells the story of their research, choose words that communicate their science clearly, and structure their paper into a flowing narrative. [more]

Diversity, Discrimination and Respect at Work

Talk Steffen Giessner
This talk will give a short overview of the latest insights into the promises and pitfalls of a diverse workforce on employee outcomes like respectful interactions at work, cooperation, creativity and conflict at work. First, I will define what diversity actually means and what types of diversity exists. Next, I will present two perspectives on diversity at work: the information/decision perspective and the categorization perspective. While the former argues that diversity offers lots of promises, the later one elaborates on the risks. Consequently, the talk will address these risks in more detail – mainly explaining how human information processing is based on stereotyping and under which conditions this can result in disrespectful treatment of other employees. The presentation will raise awareness of specific problems at work (e.g., unfair treatment of women at work) and offer ideas for potential solutions. [more]

Grand Challenges on SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION Symposium

Grand Challenges on SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION Symposium
Telmo Pievani (U Padova): Sharing Discoveries: New Frontiers and Projects in Communication of Science / Henning Krause (Helmholtz Association): Research Communication 2.0 / Carin Bondar (‘Biologist with a Twist’; independent writer & presenter): Sex, Science and Storytelling: The Art of Effective Communication / Kees Moeliker (Improbable Research / Natural History Museum Rotterdam): The Duck, his Mate and (other) Improbable Research / Daniel Mertens (Schillermertens): “Silent Post” - Scientific Communication / besides presentations from the IMPRS faculty and PhD candidates and award of the "Best Student Paper". [more]

Teaching Week

Teaching Week
The teaching week addresses the new IMPRS students to give an insight into the different labs and research groups, their research focus and methods, and to give the new students the opportunity to get to know each other, exchange experiences and to discuss possible collaboration with other labs. The teaching week is obligatory for all incoming graduate students, everybody else interested is warmly welcome to join! In 2015, research groups and labs from the MPIO Seewiesen will present their research topics and methods, in a mixture of lectures, experiments, and tours through their facilities. 26.09.15 "Intro in our IMPRS" by the IMPRS coordinator Mäggi Hieber Ruiz; 28-30.09.15 presentation of the research groups; 28.09.15 "Student life: hurdles and difficulties that can arise during a PhD", by the PhD candidates; 29.09.15 presentation of the Officers for Equal Opportunity + for Conflict Management; 29.09.15 workshop "Scientific Ethics + Integrity" by the MPIO Ombudsperson Henrik Brumm; 01-02.10.15 workshop "Mastering your PhD" by Valeska Russo, ProSciencia. [more]

Mastering your PhD

Mastering your PhD
The workshop aims to support PhD students during their first big research project. Generally a PhD student is well adapted to conduct his/her research but encounters difficulties with i.e. time management, lack of coordination/cooperation with others, insecurities if and how to ask for support and is maybe also not prepared to fulfil the different roles which are expected by him/her. This workshop will strengthen the management and communication skills of the participants and help them to deal with unexpected and frustrating situations. Participants will learn management and communication skills by: - defining goals and objectives in a smart way - planning their workload with efficiency and effectiveness - being clear about their different roles during a PhD project - improving their collaboration ability - learning techniques for a successful delegation. First day: Planning a project: Setting goals + Time management Introduction to project management, Defining aims and objective according to SMART principle, Planning and Structuring the workload of a project, Using time management to be more efficient, Defining different roles Second day: Delegation and communication Dealing with the supervisor, Successful delegation, How to prevent and avoid risks, How to deal with stress and frustration, Communication exercises Dr. Valeska Russo holds a PhD in inorganic Chemistry. After 10 years as project manager and trainer at Siemens and Nokia Siemens Networks, she started to teach project management and science related soft skills for PhD students, Postdocs and young group leaders in 2009. She focuses on management, communication and presentation and also teaches methods of awareness and stress reduction to reach a good work-life balance. [more]

Introduction to statistics using R

Introduction to statistics using R
Day 1: Introduction to R (work with console and editor, read data, save data, basics in programming R, graphics); Basics in statistics (refreshing descriptive statistics (mean, sd, se, median, quartiles), hypothesis testing, classical statistical tests using R) Day 2: Introduction to simple linear models using R (One-way/two-way ANOVA, simple linear regression, ANCOVA, R lm function / General Linear Models) [more]

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
[more]

Conference Presentation: Engaging the Listener in Your Talk

Conference Presentation: Engaging the Listener in Your Talk
  • Start: Oct 26, 2015
  • End: Oct 28, 2015
  • Speaker: Julie Stearns
  • Impulsplus; Julie Stearns is a lecturer at the University of Duisburg-Essen and Folkwang University of the Arts and has been working for the Impulsplus team of qualified and dynamic trainers since 2011. Julie also works as a professional actress and director and produces theater and performance projects with international cooperation partners. She has several years of experience in teaching presentation skills, as well as voice and body training, self-marketing skills and performance skills. Julie offers workshops in the following subjects: “Scientific and Conference Presentation”, “Self-Marketing Skills”, “Storytelling Techniques for Scientists”, “Voice and Body Training”, “Fielding Questions: Preparing Your Audience for Discussion”, “Quick on Your Feet: Spontaneous Speaking Practice” and “One to One Training: Tailored Training for Individuals”
  • Location: Seewiesen
  • Room: Seminar Room House 4
  • Host: IMPRS for Organismal Biology
  • Contact: mhieber@orn.mpg.de
[more]

Follow-up - Conference Presentation: Engaging the Listener in Your Talk

Follow-up - Conference Presentation: Engaging the Listener in Your Talk
  • Date: Oct 29, 2015
  • Speaker: Julie Stearns
  • Impulsplus; Julie Stearns is a lecturer at the University of Duisburg-Essen and Folkwang University of the Arts and has been working for the Impulsplus team of qualified and dynamic trainers since 2011. Julie also works as a professional actress and director and produces theater and performance projects with international cooperation partners. She has several years of experience in teaching presentation skills, as well as voice and body training, self-marketing skills and performance skills. Julie offers workshops in the following subjects: “Scientific and Conference Presentation”, “Self-Marketing Skills”, “Storytelling Techniques for Scientists”, “Voice and Body Training”, “Fielding Questions: Preparing Your Audience for Discussion”, “Quick on Your Feet: Spontaneous Speaking Practice” and “One to One Training: Tailored Training for Individuals”.
  • Location: Seewiesen
  • Room: Seminar Room House 4
  • Host: IMPRS for Organismal Biology
  • Contact: mhieber@orn.mpg.de
TARGET GROUP: This workshop targets PhD students and Post-doctoral fellows who have taken Conference Presentation part I, and who wish to further improve their presentation skills and focus in particular on the context of conferences. OBJECTIVES: This is an activity-based training is led by a theatre professional whose expertise is in helping the speaker effectively communicate the importance and relevance of the work and the core message in the talk. This course aims to focus on further development and special focus of key communication skills in the context of conferences. DESCRIPTION: This one-day course provides a limited number of participants who have already taken the workshop “Conference Presentation”, the opportunity to deliver a typical conference presentation and focus on the key aspects of conference presentation challenges. Attention will also be given to structural elements and language dynamics for improving overall speech and communication. The session will also include dealing with question and answer sessions as well as other peripheral details involved in the overall conference experience. CONTENTS IN BRIEF: • Engaging the audience in one’s talk • Affirming the strengths and individual style of the speaker • Improving body language • Effectively promoting oneself • Develop strong tactics for effective communication • Dealing with challenging Q&A sessions. METHODS: • Voice and body techniques • Partner work/role-play • Language practice and analysis • Trainer PPT input • Improvisation, videotaping and feedback • Tailored training for individual participants needs. [more]

Effects of prenatal and postnatal environments on nestling and adult energy expenditure

Talk Gary Burness, Seewiesen
Within a population there exists variation among individuals in physiological traits. There is increasing recognition that the rearing environment, including that experienced prenatally, can affect the adult phenotype and contribute to this variation. Using captive Japanese quail, we have been exploring the role that temperature, experienced either pre- or post-natally, has on an individual’s growth rates and thermal physiology. To our surprise, we have found that effects can be long lasting, and influence adult energy expenditure. Using wild birds we have been testing whether maternally-derived antibodies, transferred to offspring via egg yolk, influence nestling metabolic rate and capacity to mount an immune response. Effects are detectable at the fledgling stage, although we cannot track effects in adults. These experimental systems highlight the role that early environmental effects have on an individual’s energy expenditure however direct links with fitness remain to be shown. [more]

Bat acoustics and sound analysis with Avisoft SASLab Pro

Bat acoustics and sound analysis with Avisoft SASLab Pro
In this three-day course we will give you a concise introduction on general acoustics and how to analyze sound. More specifically, we will focus on how bats perceive their world through echolocation and point out distinctive features of the ultrasound realm. You will apply your new knowledge using a very powerful sound analyses program, SASLab Pro. [more]

The evolution of sweet taste perception in birds

Talk Maude Baldwin, Seewiesen
Taste is a crucial sense: it allows animals to select food that is nutritious, and to avoid potential toxins. Most mammals perceive and are attracted to (if not hooked on) sugars, yet the evolutionary history of sweet perception in vertebrates is not straightforward. Studying the sense of taste in a comparative framework can provide insight into questions about the evolution and function of sensory systems and shed light on basic mechanisms of the evolutionary process. Birds appear to taste sweet in a different way than mammals do. Following an early loss of the vertebrate sweet receptor, hummingbirds re-evolved a new carbohydrate sensor, using the savory, or umami receptor, instead. Multiple other radiations of birds are fruit- or nectar-feeding and are likely sensitive to sugar, yet how they detect carbohydrates is unknown. In our group we will examine the mechanisms by which birds perceive sweet and will investigate the extent of convergent evolution; in addition, we are looking at the origin of sweet taste in vertebrates in a broader phylogenetic context. We use an integrative approach, combining molecular and cell-culture techniques with behavioral studies. In addition, we will develop new tools to probe the function and evolution of the taste system in birds and to examine the effects of diet shifts on organismal ecology and physiology. [more]

Statistics Module 2: Linear Models and Linear Mixed Models with R

Statistics Module 2: Linear Models and Linear Mixed Models with R
day 1: LM Linear Regression, multiple Regression ANOVA, ANCOVA (least-square method, parameterisation, interactions, tests (marginal and sequential), model selection, model assumptions, predictions, introduction to Bayesian data analysis); day 2: LME linear mixed models (maximum likelihood, restricted maximum likelihood, random and fixed effects, likelihood ratio test / bootstrap, random slopes-random intercept models, evt. further model types depending on the participants wishes); day 3: LME (model matrix, simulating posterior distributions of model parameters, predictions, posterior probabilities of hypotheses, preparing data for work on own data); day 4: work on own data and presentations. Prerequisite for participation: Basic knowledge in R programming is required. Particularly, it is assumed that you are familiar with working with the R Console and an editor, reading the data and producing the most common graphics (histogram, scatterplot, boxplot). [more]

Study design and sampling decisions in mixed-effect model analyses

Study design and sampling decisions in mixed-effect model analyses
  • Start: Dec 1, 2015
  • End: Dec 3, 2015
  • Speaker: Prof. Dr. Niels Dingemanse
  • The brain and eight arms of SQuID are: Hassan Allegue + Denis Réale (Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada), Yimen Araya-Ajoy + Niels Dingemanse (MPI for Ornithology), Ned Dochtermann (University of North Dakota, USA), Laszlo Garamszegi (Estación Biológica de Doñana, Spain), Shinichi Nakagawa (University of Otago, New Zealand), Holger Schielzeth (University of Bielefeld, Germany), and Dave Westneat (University of Kentucky, U.S.A.).
  • Location: Seewiesen
  • Room: Seminar Room House 5
  • Host: IMPRS for Organismal Biology
  • Contact: mhieber@orn.mpg.de
[more]

The secrets of infidelity and long living

Talk Shinichi Nakagawa
The talk has 2 parts: 1) stories on infidelity and 2) stories on long living. I present stories on interesting dynamics of extra-pair (group) mating in two species of sparrows: house sparrows and hedge sparrows (aka dunnocks). Both sparrow stories will challenge conventional views. Then, in the second part, which is completely unrelated to the first part (unfortunately), I present 3 metaanalyses which investigated how to live long. And I should be able to give my audience on some advice on long healthy living! [more]

Learning to hear: development and plasticity in the deaf brain

Talk Andrej Karl, Seewiesen
Postnatal development includes progressive and regressive brain changes, some of them dependent on experience. Using a natural model of congenital deafness, the deaf white cat, our team has focused on effects of sensory experience on the structure and function of the auditory system. We use cochlear implant to test auditory function in deaf animals. Further, we provide deaf animals with a portable signal processor and a cochlear implant and induce hearing experience at different ages. We could demonstrate a delayed and altered cortical synaptic development in congenital deafness. Chronic electrical stimulation prevented many of the maturational deficits, provided stimulation was initiated within early sensitive periods. To investigate the reasons for sensitive periods, we studied visual function of the cortical auditory areas. We could demonstrate an areal-specific crossmodal reorganization in deafness. Although in the reorganized areas the auditory responsive neurons were not reduced in number, recruitment of even a limited number of neurons for visual tasks will reduce the computational capacity in the given area. Reduced feature sensitivity, as we have further shown, complicates the starting point for learning after restoration of hearing. Finally, corticocortical connections were studied both anatomically and functionally. Based on our layer-specific recordings in primary auditory cortex we previously suggested a corticocortical decoupling in deafness. Using tracer experiments and functional studies we find reduced bottom-up and top-down cortical information transfer in deafness. Such compromised top-down processing in the auditory cortex is likely participating on the closure of sensitive periods. [more]

Long non-coding RNAs in evolution and development

Talk Anamaria Necsulea
Mammalian genomes encode tens of thousands of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are long transcripts that do not give rise to proteins. To date, only a minuscule fraction of lncRNAs have been experimentally characterized and their functions remain uncertain. Evolutionary studies can provide important insights into the functionality of lncRNAs, by revealing the selective pressures that act on these genes. In this talk, I will present recent insights into the evolution of lncRNAs, stemming from large-scale comparative transcriptomics studies. To study the dynamics of lncRNAs in mammalian development and evolution, we generated and analyzed RNA-seq profile in a series of five developmental stages from mid-gestation embryo to aged individuals, for four major organs, in mouse and rat. We find that lncRNA repertoires, sequences and expression patterns evolve very rapidly. However, we show that there is increased functional constraint on lncRNAs expressed in somatic organs and early in development, and we identify several evolutionarily conserved lncRNAs with potential important roles in developmental processes. [more]

Adobe IllustratorCC 2015

Adobe Illustrator
AdobeIllustrator is the world’s most powerful toolset for vector art and illustrations and for many tasks in the creative industry this software is the preferred tool for logo design, sketching, image-tracing and vector arts etc. This training will give you basic and useful techniques to manage Illustrator: Preferences, Color-Management, file-format for export, working effectively with paths as basic foundation in using AdobeIllustrator successfully to create vector graphics, for image-tracing, in sketching and drawing. [more]

Adobe PhotoshopCC 2015

Adobe Photoshop
AdobePhotoshop is the focal point of the AdobeCreativeCloud and for many tasks in the creative industry this software is the preferred tool for developing templates, layouts, image-processing etc. This training will give you basic and useful techniques to manage Photoshop: Preferences, Color-Management, file-format for export, working effectively with layers, cropping and masking as basic foundation in using AdobePhotoshop successfully in retouching, image-processing and composing. [more]

Coping with change: The evolutionary ecology of stress

Talk Maren Vitousek
Why are some individuals, and some species, better able to cope with stress than others? When faced with an acute challenge – the attack of a predator, a severe storm, a major injury – hormones mediate changes in an enormous diversity of behavioral and physiological traits. Variation in these key mechanisms of phenotype can influence the ability to survive and reproduce. In this talk I will discuss how integrative research in free-living birds is providing fundamental insight into the capacity of individuals, populations, and species to persist in changing environments, and how selection shapes endocrine mediators of phenotype. [more]

Singing in the city park – studying courtship displays, mating decisions, and life histories of common nightingales

Talk Silke Kipper
The complex song of the common nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) can be considered a vocal peacock tail. In order to understand the evolution, function, and mechanisms of such elaborate courtship signals it is mandatory to study three domains: the signal inventory itself, traits that the signals are reliably indicating, and the biological relevance of this relation to receivers. We collected a longterm data set to study these domains in the song, mating decisions, and breeding biology of nightingales, following individuals across breeding seasons and years. We were able to relate specific song characteristics to individual traits such as age, body condition, or parental effort. We studied how Melatonin might potentially regulate nocturnal song activity and how song might serve as a prezygotic barrier in a hybridizing zone of twin species. Finally, I will provide examples on how the long-term documentation of life histories of individuals in their natural surroundings yielded in results of importance far beyond the study of communication and mating systems. [more]

Speciation Genomics in Natural Populations

Talk Jochen Wolf
The view of species as entities amenable to evolutionary change elaborated by Charles Darwin laid the conceptual foundation for our current understanding of how biodiversity can be generated. Initially marred by a rudimental understanding of hereditary principles, evolutionists gained appreciation of the mechanistic underpinnings of adaptation and speciation following the merger of Mendelian genetic principles with Darwinian evolution. By the late 20th century a mature framework in theoretical and empirical evolutionary genetic research had been developed to investigate the genetic basis of species diversification. Spurred by a recent revolution in nano-sequencing technology speciation genetic research has become increasingly open to genetic non-model organisms. Genome-wide processes can now be investigated at unprecedented resolution in essentially any eco-evolutionary model species of interest. This development has expanded speciation research beyond the traditional boundaries and unveils the genetic basis of speciation from manifold perspectives and at various stages of the splitting process. In this talk I will give an overview on recent work in the growing field of ‘speciation genomics’ unraveling the genetic underpinnings of adaptation and speciation from a micro-evolutionary perspective. While providing examples from a variety of taxa, I will capitalize on own recent work in the Eurasian crow species complex. This system is characterized by parallel evolution of a sexually selected plumage phenotype and lends itself to studying population differentiation across the speciation continuum at different time points in the evolutionary trajectory. Population genomic analyses of >100 re-sequenced genomes from across the species’ range combined with transcriptome data and other functional assays provide first insight into processes underlying the built-up of genomic differentiation and its relationships to reproductive isolation. [more]

Radiating despite a lack of character: closely related, morphologically similar, co-occurring honeyeaters have diverged ecologically

Talk Eliot Miller
The 75 species of Australian honeyeaters (Meliphagidae) are morphologically and ecologically diverse, with species feeding on nectar, insects, fruit, and other resources. We investigated ecomorphology and community structure of honeyeaters across Australia. First, we asked to what degree morphology and ecology (foraging behavior) are concordant. Second, we estimated rates of trait evolution. Third, we compared phylogenetic and trait community structure across the broad environmental gradients of continental Australia. We found that morphology explained 37% of the variance in ecology (and 62% vice versa), and that recovered multivariate ecomorphological relationships incorporated well-known bivariate relationships. Clades of large-bodied species exhibited elevated rates of morphological trait evolution, while members of Melithreptus showed slightly faster rates of ecological trait evolution. Finally, ecological trait diversity did not decline in parallel with phylogenetic diversity along a gradient of decreasing precipitation. We employ a new method (trait fields) and extend another (phylogenetic fields) to show that while species from phylogenetically clustered assemblages co-occur with morphologically similar species, these species are as varied in foraging behavior as those from more diverse assemblages. Thus, although closely related, these arid-adapted species have diverged in ecological space to a similar degree as their mesic counterparts, perhaps mediated by competition. [more]

Foraging ecology of seabirds

Talk Henri Weimerskirch
During the first part of my talk I will briefly introduce my research interests over the past years, especially on the use of seabirds as sentinel of climate change in the Southern Ocean, and on the changes over lifetime in the foraging strategies of seabirds. During the second part, I will focus on recent findings on the flight of frigatebirds. The spatial scale at which animals respond to atmospheric conditions is critical to understanding the evolution of flight strategies and long distance migrations. We studied three dimensional movements and energetics of frigatebirds and showed that they can stay aloft for months, making multiple trans-oceanic flights. To achieve this performance at an ocean-wide scale frigatebirds track the edge of the doldrums to take advantage of favorable wind and strong convection. At a small scale they use a roller-coaster flight relying on thermals and wind to soar within a 50-600 m altitude band under cumulus clouds and then glide at low costs over kilometers. Birds regularly soar inside cumulus clouds to use strong updraft occurring, and reach altitudes of 4000m where freezing conditions occur. With their extreme movement strategy frigatebirds encounter several atmospheric challenges that make them very susceptible to climate variability. [more]

The interplay between individual idiosyncrasy and collective behavior in insect groups: lessons from cockroaches and bumblebees

Talk James Crall
Animals, from fruit flies and cockroaches to birds and humans, display consistent individual variation in behavior (i.e. animal personality). However, the role of individual variation in group behavior is not well understood in animals, particularly in insects where tracking many individuals simultaneously has traditionally been difficult or impossible. Recent technological developments, particularly in computer vision, are making this problem increasingly tractable, however, and are opening the door for understanding the nuances of individual variation and its role in collective behavior. Here, I use a low-cost, image-based automated tracking system (BEEtag) to investigate the extent, origins, and function of individual behavioral variation in two insects with varying level of social behavior: cockroaches (Blaberus discoidalis) and bumblebees (Bombus impatiens). In cockroaches, we find that individuals display strong and stable differences during collective light avoidance. These differences are robust to changes in group composition, but fascinatingly disappear when individuals are tested in isolation, suggesting that group context plays a key role in modulating personality in this species. In bumblebees, we find that individual workers vary substantially in both foraging activity and nest behavior. Interestingly, the distribution of behaviors appears to be regulated at the colony level, and behavioral idiosyncrasy plays an important role in determining patterns of task switching when colony labor demands shift. Finally, we use this trackingtechnology to examine the effects of individual pesticide exposure on social behavior in colonies. Overall, these studies underscore the importance of individual variation in social insects, but also highlight the complex interplay between behavior at the individual and the group level. [more]

Quantitative genetics in the wild, where are we now?

Talk Benoit Pujol
Do natural populations have the ability to adapt ? I will present quantitative genetic results and novel research tracks that seek to understand how the genetic background and environmental heterogeneity shape the evolutionary potential of natural populations. I will highlight what ecological and evolutionary mechanisms limit or improve population potential to respond to selection and the potential role played by non genetic inheritance in this matter. [more]

Introduction in Scientific Writing

Introduction in Scientific Writing
This two-day workshop enables life scientists to to write clearly and with impact! The participants learn how to construct a “take-home” message that tells the story of their research, choose words that communicate their science clearly, and structure their paper into a flowing narrative. [more]

Context dependent signalling in birds

Talk Alexis Chaine, Seewiesen
We all like very simple explanations for what we observe – and in fact, much of science is based on the principal of parsimony where the simplest explanation is considered the best. But nature is messy, it runs many different ‘experiments’ where the details matter, and all of this gets even more complicated when you deal with social groups where both cooperation and conflict are a regular part of life. In this talk, I use my own work looking at the evolution of complex social signals in two species of songbird to illustrate the role of context dependent social behavior in the evolution of signals. These examples show how social selection can generate diversity and how relatively simple interactions can generate complexity. The good news is that by digging into the details of the system, we can actually decompose this complexity and start to understand it. The first story I will talk about (briefly) is how variation in social contexts during male-male competition and variation in environments across time for female mate choice can influence the evolution of sexual signals in the lark bunting (Calamospiza melanocorys). This example is informative in that it shows how selection pressures across contexts can counteract long term selection and preserve variation in sexual signalling traits. The second story I will talk about (in more detail) is how variation in social structure can favour the evolution of multiple social signals in wintering birds – golden crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia melanocorys). In this example we start with a basic question about badges of status and discover complex social structure in wintering birds and that this social structure has a profound impact on the evolution of social signals. [more]

Statistics Module 4: Own Data Workshop

Statistics Module 4: Own Data Workshop
Guided work on own data. [more]

Convergent evolution and genetics of red coloration in weaverbirds

Talk Staffan Andersson, Seewiesen
Red is arguably the most conspicuous color in terrestrial habitats, and commonly involved in sexual, social or interspecific colour signalling. In birds, highly chromatic (“bright”) red integument (skin, scales, feathers) is typically caused by C4-ketocarotenoids (C4KC), such as astaxanthin, which are metabolically derived (‘ketolated’) from dietary yellow carotenoids, such as lutein or zeaxanthin. While this has been known for many decades, the molecular mechanism (the “C4-ketolase”) underlying this key innovation behind avian ornamentation and sexual dichromatism has remained obscure. Here we outline our recent discovery of a gene – CYP2J19 - that is responsible for red coloration in passerines, including multiple lineages of African ploceids and estrildids. High expression of CYP2J19 is found in the liver of male ploceids with red coloration in plumage or beak, and in the red beak of male estrildids. Intriguingly, CYP2J19 is also expressed in the retina, for pigmenting the red oil droplets, in all species studied so far, and this is likely its original function from which it has been recruited for red integumentary coloration in some lineages. Finally, CYP2J19 is a member of the large group of cytochrome P450 enzymes, which may indicate new mechanisms of honest signalling. Most important, however, along with our results on receiver biases for red in Euplectes, is the illustration of how striking diversification may derive from differential constraints rather than differential selection. [more]

Writing of Research Statements

Writing of Research Statements
Research Statements are an important part of an application for a position in academia. They pin down the researcher’s background and current results and place future plans into the context of the organisation to which the application is addressed. The challenge in writing a research statement is to be clear and concise and to show the contribution to the mission of the target organisation. This workshop addresses the essential parts of a research statement: abstract, background, current research, research agenda (3 to 5 years) and relevance. Topics and exercises vary according to the participants’ preferences. [more]

Grant Proposal Writing

Grant Proposals Writing
Successful grant proposal writing is a fundamental basis to fund a career in research. There are plenty of national and international funding programmes with different funding schemes. Each scheme has its individual context and thematic focus, eligibility and funding rules, submission and evaluation process, and evaluation criteria. Thus, the detailed features and aspects of a successful proposal in one funding scheme are naturally differing from those of a successful proposal in another funding scheme. However, the process of how to work out these details is a common denominator to the different funding schemes. It requires skills way beyond the ability to work out a research idea in detail. The workshop covers the complete proposal process. Topics and exercises are detailed and chosen with respect to the duration of the workshop and the participants’ preferences. [more]

Linking communication strategies, roosting ecology, and social structure in Spix’s disc-winged bat, Thyroptera tricolor

Talk Erin Gillam, Seewiesen
The limited availability of refuges may represent an important factor promoting the evolution of sociality, particularly in bats. Spix’s disc-winged bats (Thyroptera tricolor ) show highly specialized morphological adaptations that enable individuals to roost inside furled musoid leaves. This roosting ecology presents major challenges, as leaves rapidly unfurl,forcing bats to locate new roosts on a daily basis. Despite the reliance of T. tricolor on such ephemeral roosting resources,bats form stable group associations. In this presentation, I will discuss work done by myself and Dr. Karina Montero,which focuses on characterizing the behavioural patterns and communication strategies use by this species, which somehowmaintains high group cohesion while moving to a new roosting location on a daily basis. In the first study presented,video and acoustic monitoring was used to assess how groups identify suitable leaf roosts and determine if acousticsignals facilitate group interactions during nightly activity. In the second study, patterns of geographic variation inthe acoustic features of two contact calls were compared with patterns of genetic differentiation of two Costa Rican populations separated by a mountain range. In the third study, an automated telemetry system was used to examine thenocturnal movement patterns of group members to determine the patterns of space use and dyadic interactions. Overall,this work contributes to our understanding of the behavioural strategies used by free-ranging bats to maintain contactwith group members and provides insight into the role of shelter stability in the evolution of the T. tricolor social system. [more]

Ecology of Alternative Inversion Alleles and Reproductive Strategies of Ruff Sandpipers

Talk David B. Lank, Seewiesen
The maintenance of ecologically significant genetic polymorphisms remains a challenging field within evolutionary ecology. I will present genetic, physiological, ethological, and behavioural ecological mechanisms involved in maintaining three behavioural male morphs and individually distinctive breeding plumage polymorphism in the ruff, Philomachus pugnax, a lekking sandpiper. I will concentrate on: behavioural mating tactics of male morphs based on field and captive studies, field estimates of annual morph-specific mating success, and factors maintaining equilibrium levels among morphs, including considerations of lek size, differential fitness of female morphs, and potential mate-specific sex allocation by females. I conclude that strong sexually antagonistic intralocus conflict is likely operating at the morph-determining inversion. [more]

Global brain analyses at cellular resolution using massively high-throughput single cell transcriptomics

Talk Fenna Krienen & Arpiar Saunders
Understanding how brains vary across species or during disease necessitates defining and comparing cell types, the building blocks of neural circuits. Single-cell measurements of gene expression take advantage of the fact that cellular specialization is controlled transcriptionally, allowing an unbiased picture of intra- and inter-cell type variation. Due to the experimental noise, analyses with only hundreds or even thousands of measurements can be hard to interpret. Here we apply a system developed in our lab for massively high-throughput single-cell transcriptomics („Drop-seq“) to mouse and marmoset brains. Our first project has generated an atlas of cellular variation from the adult mice. This dataset consists of >750K single-cell transcriptomes from n=9 different brain regions. We illustrate this single-cell approach by comparing 28K interneurons and describe our ongoing efforts to compare brains across species and throughout development. [more]

Multimodal Ecology: making sense in a changing world

Talk Wouter Halfwerk
Animals evolved sexual displays to attract partners, but these communication signals can also attract unwanted eavesdroppers imposing substantial costs that may outweigh their benefits. Furthermore, the production of many signals generates additional cues that can be picked up through a wide range of sensory systems, which needs to be taken into account when trying to understand how signals evolved and how they will respond to environmental changes. I study the sexual advertisement call of the tungara frog (Physalaemus pustulosus), a species that calls while floating in shallow puddles in the Panamanian rainforest. Calling behaviour is under strong sexual selection from females as well as natural selection from multiple eavesdroppers. Additionally, the production of these calls is associated with a large vocal sac which movements generates visual cues, as well as water surface waves or ripples that travel throughout the puddle. I will show how eavesdroppers, such as rival males or predators can use these additional cues to locate a calling male. Furthermore, I will highlight the different sensory systems used as well as the role of the environment in driving selection pressures on production and transmission of signals and their by-product cues. Finally, I will discuss the concept of multimodal ecology and its importance when trying to understand the role of sensory pollution in an urbanizing world. [more]

Statistics Module 3: Generalised linear models and generalised linear mixed models

Statistics Module 3: Generalised linear models and generalised linear mixed models
Generalised linear models and generalised linear mixed models: Binomial model, Poission model, GLMM and work on own data [more]

Recombination hotspots vs. coldspots: Examples from two lekking bird species

Talk Jacob Höglund, Seewiesen
Genomes vary in diversity within and among species. Even within diploid individuals, there are parts of the genomes that are characterized by high diversity (heterozygosity) and others that are more homozygous. It is the aim of this talk to discuss how such differences come about and are maintained in natural free-living populations. I will give a brief back ground on recombination and linkage disequilibrium. I will then describe a genomic region described as a recombinatiopn ‘hotspot‘ with examples of our studies of the MHC-region in the black grouse (Tetrao tetrix). Next I will discuss a recombination ‘coldspot‘: an inversion polymorphism (so called supergene) recently discovered in the ruff (Philomachus pugnax) which may explain the maintenance of the extraordinary behavioural polymorphism found in males of this species. I will end by relating our findings to other studies of supergenes and the maintenance of complex phenotypic traits. [more]

A journey inside the nuptial gift of a spider

Nuptial gifts, consisting of male donations of nutritious substances to females, are widespread and diverse. They are used by males to attract females, secure sperm transfer and as parental investment. In a series of experimental laboratory studies I have explored the evolutionary significance of gift giving in the spider Pisaura mirabilis, addressing both, male and female reproductive interests. Males exploit female foraging motivation by offering an insect prey wrapped in silk, that is eaten by the female during mating. The gift increases both, male mating success and fertilization success by prolonging sperm transfer. Interestingly, males also produce worthless (non-nutritive) gifts consisting of prey leftovers rather than genuine prey gifts. These males successfully ‘cheat’ females into mating while minimizing the costs associated with gift production (i.e. a missed meal), but suffer from shortened copulations. Results from my on-going research address the potential ecological drivers for worthless gifts in a natural spider population, such as intra-sexual competition and prey availability, and unearth how nuptial gifts may become a target of sexually antagonistic co-evolution, where cheating via worthless gifts leads to female resistance to the trait. [more]

Career strategies accompanying the doctorate and application outside academia - Tapping professional pathways – developing a personal approach

Career strategies and application
An occupation in research and teaching, a career in the economic or service sector or in a non-profit organisation – after the doctorate there are numerous professional fields and career paths open on the international labour market. Because of this, strategic career planning is necessary. A series of important questions has to be answered: What are my goals and interests, what are my strengths and weaknesses? Where can I apply? Do I know what is expected of me and how to present myself? [more]

Breeding system evolution in light of demographic sex-bias

Talk Luke Eberhart-Phillips, Seewiesen
Sex ratio variation is a fundamental component of life history evolution. At conception, birth, and adulthood, the ratios of males to females have long been recognized by evolutionary biologists and human demographers as catalysts for social behaviour and population dynamics. Throughout human and wild animal populations, variation in the adult sex ratio is remarkable and has been shown to predict divorce, sexual aggression, and parental cooperation. Causality is unclear, but clues may become apparent through understanding the life history origins of the adult sex ratio. Join me as I attempt to unravel the demographic pathways that shape sex biases and assess their evolutionary consequences on parental and mating strategies. I will present recent results from a detailed demographic analysis across several species of Charadrius plover – a small ground-nesting shorebird found in a variety of ecosystems worldwide. Plovers exhibit a remarkable diversity in breeding behaviour: sex roles during courtship, mating, and parental care vary considerably among populations both between and within species. This behavioural variation, coupled with their extreme tractability in the field, allow the opportunity to confidently explore the sources and significance of demographic sex-biases among wild populations in light of breeding system evolution. [more]

Early life effects on later life performance: mechanisms and time scales

Talk Pat Monaghan, Seewiesen
Conditions experienced early in life can have profound effects on phenotypes and subsequent life histories, and these effects can operate over different time scales and across generations in some cases. During early life, the environment can induce phenotypic effects which, while they may have short term benefits, can also carry long term costs. In this talk I will particularly concentrate on how variation in the plane of nutrition and in the level of stress exposure in early life can have long term consequences for fitness related parameters. This is based on experiments that we have carried out mainly in birds and fish, involving both field and laboratory based studies. I will also discuss a number of mechanisms that can underpin these effects, including changes to the reactivity to external stressors and to telomere dynamics, and discuss to what extent these induced changes might be adaptive. I will also briefly discuss the implications for conservation biology of these long lasting environmental effects on phenotypes. [more]

"How evolution is like a global economy" & "On the Malleability of Protein Function"

Talks Prof. James O. McInerney & Dr. Mary J. O´Connell, Seewiesen
The traditional view of evolution is that mutations create variation, natural selection and drift reduces variation either randomly or by selecting alleles that confer some fitness effect. However, genomes have taught us that a significant agent of change in evolutionary biology is the process of merging evolving objects with one another. In this talk, I will elaborate on how evolutionary history is like a global economy, where DNA sequences act as “public goods” and the creation of new products (genes, proteins, gene clusters, cell types, genomes) is very likely to occur by the merging of evolving objects. Obviously this is balanced by the loss of whole genes, parts of genes, large tracts of DNA and sometimes the majority of a genome. This “goods thinking” alternative to “tree-thinking” is necessary in order to fully explain evolutionary history. Dr O’Connell’s research group combine computational biology and genome scale analyses with molecular/biochemical assays. She is interested in the tipping point that can occur between purifying selection which preserves function and positive selection that switches function. In essence, she is interested in understanding when protein function changes, where it changes, and how it changes. In this talk Dr O’Connell will summarise work her group have carried out to explore the emergence of novel function and the relationship between genotype and phenotype. [more]

Inhibition protects acquired song segments during vocal learning in Zebra Finches

Talk Daniela Vallentin, Seewiesen
The process by which we learn through observation of others has been associated with the acquisition of a range of complex skilled behaviors in humans as well as some animal species. Zebra finches, for instance, learn to produce their songs by listening to and trying to imitate a tutor, usually their father. What are the changes in the songbird brain that occur throughout development in order to shape the song learning process? It has been shown that a forebrain cortical region called HVC is centrally important for song learning and production. HVC contains premotor neurons that ultimately influence song-related musculature as well as a range of local circuit inhibitory interneurons. We recorded from premotor neurons in juvenile zebra finches while the birds were listening to their tutor’s song while carefully tracking the learning trajectory of those birds over several weeks. In inexperienced birds, we found that simply hearing the father’s song activates the same premotor neurons that the zebra finch will eventually use to produce his own song. Once the song had been mastered, however, premotor neurons stopped responding to the tutor song. In further experiments, we found that the responses to the tutor song were being actively suppressed by synaptic inhibition. To learn more about this inhibitory suppression, we directly measured the activity of inhibitory interneurons within HVC. The suppression of the tutor song through HVC inhibition was more strongly correlated with learning rather than developmental age. As the bird acquires his song and establishes his ideal motor program, this circuit became increasingly protected from any outside influences. This new insight not only completely redefines the role of inhibition in developing neural circuits, but also leads to the question about the origin of the auditory evoked inputs. [more]

From melody to words: vocal development in human infants

Talk Kathleen Wermke, Seewiesen
The human infant is the most proficient vocal learner, and differs from his primate relatives in that he is specifically pre-adapted to acquire oral language. Melody (fundamental frequency contour) is a key entity to understand early language development. Infants from all cultures seem to pass through the same early stages of melody development at the same phase of their life history, long before vocabulary and grammar are established. Vocal development starts with an increasing complexification of melody over the first few months of life. The presentation will demonstrate what we mean by complexification of cry melody, how complex melodies are composed and modified, and why melody development marks crucial stages of early language acquisition. Along with adolescence, the neonatal period is a time when hormones may contribute to long-lasting, sexually dimorphic patterns of behavioural performance. This postnatal period of elevated hormone levels in both sexes is known as ‘mini-puberty”. The transitory surge of sex steroids within the first months of life is associated with dramatic developing brain changes, as well as the start of language-relevant vocal development in human infants. Recently, a significant positive association between mini-pubertal estradiol surges and early vocal performances (cry melody pattern, articulatory skills in babbling) has been demonstrated. This could bridge infant research to research in song birds, whose song learning has been postulated as modelling babbling in human infants [more]

"Bats aren´t birds or bugs: sensing, stretching, spinning and the uniqueness of bat flight"

Talk Sharon Swartz, Seewiesen
Bat wings evolved from grasping, manipulating mammalian hands, and this origin influences the biomechanics of flight in bats in comparison to flight in birds and insects. Therefore, an evolutionary perspective is critical to advancing the comparative biology of flight, and helps distinguish those aspects of flight that are shared in all flying animals and those features that are unique to bats. Low weight, particularly in the wings, is important for all flying animals, but selection for reduced wing mass in bats must interact with aspects of neural control in the most morphologically complex of animal wings. In addition, the nature of wing skin as a complex functional material and the capacity to modulate wing mechanical properties during flight by an unusual group of muscles found only in bats proves critical to bat flight performance. Improved understanding of the functional architecture of bat wings not only provides insight into steady-state flight behaviors, but also holds promise for solving problems concerning bats’ abilities to recover from perturbations, fly effectively even following wing damage or injury, etc. This approach requires sophisticated bioengineering techniques such as particle image velocimetry, multi-camera high speed videography, and dynamic modeling, but also low-tech methods including polarized light photography, histology, and anatomical description. [more]

Alexander Suh: A genomics perspective on selfish chromosomes of birds

Talk Alexander Suh, Seewiesen
Most bird species have a diploid genome comprising around 80 chromosomes. Nearly all of these are relatively repeat-poor and gene-rich, and have been largely accessible with short-read sequencing technologies. There are, however, some chromosomes in the avian karyotype with considerable accumulation of selfish genetic elements such as transposable elements and endogenous viruses, which may imply that these chromosomes are in genetic conflict with the rest of the genome. Here I discuss ongoing research in our group focusing on two likely selfish chromosomes, the female-specific W chromosome in birds-of-paradise and the germline-specific chromosome in zebra finches. A combination of single-molecule technologies (such as long-read and linked-read sequencing) made it possible to access large parts of these highly repetitive chromosomes, showing that the birds-of-paradise W chromosome is highly enriched in endogenous retroviruses and the zebra finch germline-specific chromosome is highly enriched in tandemly repeated genes. These results raise the question of how much of the total genetic variation has previously been missed in avian genomics studies. [more]

Grand Challenges on “Reconciling theoretical models with real-world data” Symposium

Grand Challenges Symposium
Our annual Grand Challenges Symposia focus each year on a specific area of interest in the wide range of topics from animal behavior, ecology, and evolution to physiology and neuro­biology, suggested by the PhD candidates of our IMPRS. The symposia consist of a series of talks by guest speakers, faculty and students of our program and represent the inaugural event for the latest student cohort. [more]

SCIENTISTS NEED MORE! – Getting Started

Scientists need more
This 3-day workshops is obligatory for the new phD students and offers a first overview on how to get started. AIM - The development of scientific competence of researchers at Max Planck institutes is a major goal. Ph.D. students improve their communication with the supervisor and colleagues, develop professional skills in team working, networking, planning and project management and know how to use feedback in order to deliver a successful performance. This will enhance their overall effectiveness as they pursue their research studies and maximize success of their future careers. METHOD - Participants will experience interactive lectures, moderated discussions and perform activities to learn from first-hand experience. We will safely move them outside their “comfort zone” to the “learning zone” (Gerald Hüther) to enhance acquisition of novel skills. The experienced challenges are discussed in carefully moderated and focused review sessions, using peer-to-peer feedback as a powerful tool. [more]

Jasmine Loveland, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology: Social status and the brain: lessons from the African cichlid Astatotilapia burtoni

Talk Jasmine Loveland, Seewiesen
Aggression is an evolutionary conserved social behavior that is regulated by both environment and genetics. Understanding the neural and genetic basis of aggression is a major challenge in neurobiology especially since the extent of environmental and genetic contribution may vary between systems. A great deal of what we know about neurobiological differences in naturally occurring subordinate and dominant phenotypes comes from species in which social rank is reversible and based on the social environment. In this talk, I will present my previous work on Astatotilapia burtoni, an African cichlid with a socially controlled dominance hierarchy and well-characterized differences along the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. I will highlight differences between vasotocin and serotonin neurons in subordinate and dominant males and present a model for how their interactions could regulate aggression. With this background I will lead into my current research on the Ruff, Philomachus pugnax. In the Ruff, the evolution of a social system with three genetically determined male morphs was facilitated by an inversion event on an autosomal chromosome 3.8 million years ago. How did this chromosomal aberration lead to the distinct aggression profiles, mating strategies, breeding plumage and endocrinal profiles observed among the morphs? We are in a unique position to begin to answer these questions and discover neuroanatomical and gene expression differences across male morphs that will help us better understand their evolution. [more]

Harold Zakon, University of Texas at Austin: Stinging scorpions, poison frogs: two stories of molecular evolution in action

Talk Harold Zakon, Seewiesen
Many animals use venoms or toxins to protect themselves against predators or to obtain prey. Thus, there is strong selection pressure to evolve resistance to these toxins on the part of the targeted animal and, in the case of alkaloid toxins that may diffuse throughout the body, in the animal that possess the toxins. I will first describe a situation in which a predator—the grasshopper mouse—has evolved resistance to voltage-gated sodium channel-targeting peptide components in the venom of their scorpion prey. This allows these carnivorous mice to exploit an abundant food resource in the Sonoran Desert in America. Then, I will show how poison arrow frogs from South America have evolved resistance to the acetylcholine receptor agonist epibatidine which is found in different independently evolved lineages of frogs. In both examples, resistance is conferred by a single, or at most a few, amino acid substitutions in key parts of the target molecule. [more]

Norbert Sachser, University of Münster: Behavioural Profiles are shaped by social experiences: When, how and why

Talk Norbert Sachser, Seewiesen
Individual differences in cognition, emotion, and behaviour develop during ontogeny. Using a comparative approach, this contribution focuses on the modulation of behavioural profiles by the social environment in mammals. I review evidence that such shaping of behavioural profiles occurs from the prenatal phase through adolescence and beyond. Causation is discussed, in particular, how behavioural profiles are shaped by social stimuli through behavioural and neuroendocrine processes. Finally, function is addressed and it is argued that the shaping of behavioural profiles by social experience represents an effective mechanism for repeated and rapid adaptation during the life time. [more]

Alex Jordan, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and University of Konstanz: Mechanisms of social influence in animal groups

Talk Alex Jordan, Seewiesen
Understanding how individuals in social groups and collectives interact and influence each others’ behaviour is a central challenge in modern science, and an analysis of how the nature, frequency, and fine-scale detail of these interactions leads to emergent properties at the level of the collective is essential for achieving progress in fields ranging from the dynamics of information exchange in digital systems, human societies, and social organisms. In this talk I will discuss ongoing research using computational ethological techniques, analyses of neuroanatomy and neural activity, and traditional ecological field observations to understand the evolution of social behaviour. In my lab we leverage the incredible diversity of social behaviours and social systems present in the Lamprologine cichlid fishes of Lake Tanganyika to uncover the mechanisms and evolutionary pathways to complex social behaviour and group structure. [more]

Conference Presentation: Engaging the Listener in Your Talk

Conference Presentation: Engaging the Listener in Your Talk
This activity-based workshop led by theatre professionals provides participants the opportunity to perfect their public-speaking skills, to improve non-verbal communication and the ability to listen and react generously. Participants are required to prepare a three to five minute overview of their work incorporating also the use of a slide, providing a basis for applying the practical aims of the workshop, which are to communicate the importance and relevance of the work and the core message in the talk. [more]

Conference Presentation II: Refresher Course

Conference Presentation II: Refresher Course
This workshop targets PhD students and Post-doctoral fellows who have taken Conference Presentation part I, and who wish to further improve their presentation skills and focus in particular on the context of conferences. [more]

Barbara Tschirren, University of Exeter: Artificial selection reveals the costs, benefits and constraints shaping the evolution of maternal provisioning

Talk Barbara Tschirren, Seewiesen
Conditions experienced early in life have long-term fitness consequences. Because in most taxa the early-life environment is provided by the parents, selection should favour increased parental care. Yet, considerable variation in parental provisioning is observed within and across populations. Life history theory predicts that this variation is maintained through parental costs associated with increased offspring provisioning. Yet, the proximate mechanisms underlying such fundamental life-history trade-offs remain poorly understood. To gain insights into the constraints and trade-off that shape the evolution of life history strategies, we artificially selected Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) for divergent maternal egg provisioning, and explored costs, benefits and constraints at the genetic, transcriptomic and phenotypic level. In this talk I will show how different family members ‘like their eggs’ and provide evidence that the immune system plays a key role in mediating the trade-off between reproductive effort and lifespan. [more]

Statistics Module 2: Linear Models and Linear Mixed Models with R

Statistics Module 2: Linear Models and Linear Mixed Models with R
Linear models (LM) and linear mixed models (LME): Linear Regression, multiple Regression, ANOVA, ANCOVA, model selection (group work), linear mixed models, work on own data [more]

Wolfgang Enard, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich:Molecular perspective on speech and language evolution

Talk Wolfgang Enard, Seewiesen
Humans are a remarkable species, especially because of the remarkable properties of their brain. Since the split from the chimpanzee lineage, the human brain has acquired abilities to better vocally learn and to use language. To better understand the molecular basis of these changes is of great biological and biomedical interest. However, all the about 16 million fixed genetic changes that occurred during human evolution are fully correlated with all molecular, cellular, anatomical and behavioral changes that occurred during this time. Hence, as humans and chimpanzees cannot be crossed or genetically manipulated, no direct evidence for linking particular genetic and molecular changes to human brain evolution can be obtained. Here, I sketch a framework how indirect evidence can be obtained and discuss in particular findings related to the speech-associated gene FOXP2. [more]

Michael Griesser, University of Zurich: Family living: the overlooked steppingstone to kin cooperation

Talk Michael Griesser, Seewiesen
Cooperative breeding is an extreme form of cooperation that evolved in birds, insects, fish, mammals, and humans. Although cooperative breeding in birds is well-studied, the conditions that favoured its evolution are still unclear. My presentation highlights the importance of family living for the evolution of cooperative breeding, explores its adaptive benefits, and assesses its life-history consequences. Phylogenetic comparative work showed that family living is a critical steppingstone for evolutionary transitions from pair breeding to cooperative breeding. The evolution of families is associated with productive environments, which facilitate prolonged parent-offspring associations. The subsequent evolution of cooperative breeding, however, is associated with environmental variability, where helpers can prevent reproductive failure in harsh years. My experiments with the family-living Siberian jay demonstrated that parents provide independent offspring with nepotistic food access, predator protection, and social learning opportunities to acquire vital life skills, for example to learn recognizing predators. Comparative work suggests that these benefits allow individuals in family living species to allocate more resources into their immune system or sexually selected traits. Thus, considering family living as an own social system changes our understanding of the evolution of sociality and cooperation, and provide novel insights into life-history evolution. [more]

Jeff Graves, University of St. Andrews: Mating displays and reproductive success in a Neotropical songbird the blue-black grassquit (Volatinia jacarina)

Talk Jeff Graves, Seewiesen
Bird courtship displays are frequently multi-modal displays that may provide diferent information about the signaler’s qualities for female choice. We became interested in this species since grassquits are unusual in that males display from specific locations at very high rates from perches that are close to other displaying males, which allowed us to quantify display traits under natural conditions while following multiple birds in the same breeding area. The males of this tropical granivorous species display repeatedly and usually nest in in dense goupings with small terrritories and the species was originally labelled as a lekking species; the only oscine breeder in the New World that lekked. We now know the females nest on the male’s territory and the male builds the nest and helps feed the chicks. Features that are not usuallly found in lekking species.The courtship displays are multimodal integrating motor and acoustic elements in addition to the differences in the very conspicuous male breeding plumage. Some males call while frequently leaping from a perch and making the call. Others coutall without leaping. We looked at the various components of the courtship display to see whether some of the signals were more important than others in female choice and if so which ones. We also looked to see whether all females were responding to the same signals since we also found that extra-pair paternity was exceptionally common and ranged from 8-34% of all nestlings and 11-47% of all broods. We examined the displays and the reproductive success to see what signals the social mate responded to, and whether the extra-pair females responded to the same signals as the pair females. [more]

Wulf Schiefenhövel, MPI for Ornithology, Human Ethology Group: Modern models of the past: Fieldwork among the Eipo: Highlands of West-New Guinea

Talk Wulf Schiefenhövel, Seewiesen
Modern archaeology has made substantial progress in interpreting finds stemming from our early ancestors. Yet, stones, bones and beads cannot tell the full story of prehistoric life. When, in 1974, interdisciplinary research began to explore the hitherto isolated Eipomek Valley and its people, we met neolithic gardeners-gatherers-hunters who lived according to their traditions and had hardly any knowledge of the outside world. To learn their language and understand their thoughts, feelings and behaviours was a fascinating adventure. Humankind is united by evolved universals, which are much stronger than the separating effects of culture. This also true for natural science: the Eipo are extremely skilled observers of nature, their botanical and zoological taxonomy matches our scientific Linnaean system. Since the early 1980ies, the Eipo have turned to Christianity, a political, rather than a theological decision, and have so far fared rather well. From stone adze to computer in less than two generations was a transition easier than expected by us. The human brain is extraordinarily flexible – one does not need to have to read Aristotle to be a functioning member of modern society. Anthropological, ethno-archaeological and archaeological fieldwork undertaken jointly with Marian Vanhaeren and her team of Bordeaux University is likely to yield new insights concerning the early history of human inhabitance of the second largest island of our planet; it began 60,000 years ago. [more]

Introduction in Scientific Writing

Introduction in Scientific Writing
This two-day workshop enables life scientists to to write clearly and with impact!The participants learn how to construct a “take-home” message that tells the story of their research, choose words that communicate their science clearly, and structure their paper into a flowing narrative. [more]

Gerry Carter, MPI for Ornithology, Radolfzell: Cooperative relationships in vampire bats: the reciprocity controversy

Talk Gerry Carter, Seewiesen
Food sharing in vampire bats has been a classic textbook example of “reciprocal altruism”, or reciprocity. In the last two decades, however, evidence of reciprocity in nonhuman animals has been much debated. In this talk, I review the current evidence for and against the importance of reciprocity in food sharing among both kin and nonkin vampire bats. Fasting trials with familiar captive bats show that reciprocal sharing is more important than kinship for predicting food sharing and for predicting attraction to playback of contact calls. Power-analysis simulations using behavioral data from vampire bats (563 observations, 36 individuals), mandrills (1703 observations, 10 individuals), and macaques (737 observations, 22 individuals) show that kinship effects can mask reciprocity, even when reciprocal help is more predictive. This is because, the precision of kinship estimates is independent of the number of behavioral observations that accumulate, so nepotism is detected earlier and symmetrical sharing between kin is counted as evidence for kinship bias, not reciprocity, in a linear model with both kinship and reciprocal help as factors. Both food-sharing and allogrooming rates are responsive to experimental manipulations of neuroendocrinology, social experience, donor costs and receiver benefits. Most notably, exclusion experiments show that helping kin yields greater inclusive fitness benefits per capita, but helping nonkin creates more ‘backup’ partners that allow bats to cope better with loss of primary donors. Current work is tracking how food-sharing bonds form between previous strangers. In summary, several lines of evidence support the reciprocity hypothesis, but it has yet to be demonstrated that reducing cooperative returns from a specific partner reduces a bat’s food-sharing rates to that partner. Finally, I discuss evidence that food-sharing is one part of a long-term cooperative relationship that may provide other social benefits. [more]

Mary Caswell Stoddard, Princeton University: The Form and Function of Avian Eggs

Talk Mary Caswell Stoddard, Seewiesen
The eggs laid by birds come in an extraordinary variety of shapes, sizes, colors and textures, despite the fact that they serve the same essential function: to nourish and protect a chick until it hatches. To investigate the form and function of avian eggs, I use a multidisciplinary approach, drawing on tools from math, computer vision, bioengineering and genomics. In this talk, I will show how analyzing eggs has revealed surprising insights into avian evolution and behavior. Egg shape, for example, is correlated with flight behavior, and eggshell pigmentation patterns encode the details of a coevolutionary battle between cuckoos and hosts. Overall, natural selection has tugged the egg phenotype in multiple directions to fashion a structure that can meet diverse mechanical, thermoregulatory and signaling demands. [more]

Statistics Module 4: Own Data Workshop

Statistics Module 4: Own Data Workshop
Guided work on own data. [more]

Wolfgang Goymann, Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie: Wettstreitende Weibchen und mütterliche Männchen: Erkenntnisse zur Evolutionsökologie von Geschlechterrollen bei Spornkuckucken

Vortrag Wolfgang Goymann
Die meisten Tierarten betreiben gar keine Brutpflege, aber wenn sie es doch tun, dann sind es auffallend oft die Weibchen, die sich nach der Eiablage um den Nachwuchs kümmern. Männchen hingegen konkurrieren oft direkt um Weibchen oder um Reviere, die attraktiv für Weibchen sind. Bei den meisten Vogelarten helfen die Männchen zwar mit die Jungen zu versorgen, den Löwenanteil der Brutfürsorge leisten aber auch hier die Weibchen. Warum ist das so? Dieser zentralen Frage der Verhaltens- und Evolutionsökologie nähere ich mich mit der Untersuchung einer der wenigen Ausnahmen dieses Musters: beim Grillkuckuck, einem afrikanischen Spornkuckuck, sind die Geschlechterrollen vertauscht: hier verteidigen die Weibchen große Reviere und ein Weibchen verpaart sich mit bis zu 5 Männchen. Letztere übernehmen die alleinige Brutfürsorge der Nachkommen, die sie in ihrem jeweils eigenen Nest versorgen. Damit ist der Grillkuckuck die einzig bekannte Vogelart, die Nesthockertum mit diesem als ‚klassische Polyandrie’ bezeichneten Paarungssystem verbindet. Weil die Brutpflege von Nesthockern besonders aufwändig ist, kommt dem Grillkuckucks besondere Bedeutung bei der Erforschung von Paarungssystemen zu. Ich verfolge dabei einen vergleichenden Ansatz, indem ich dem Grillkuckuck den Weißbrauenkuckuck gegenüberstelle. Diese nahverwandte Spornkuckucksart lebt im gleichen Gebiet und hat eine ähnliche Brut- und Nahrungsökologie wie der Grillkuckuck; allerdings ist sie sozial monogam, sprich sie bilden ein Paar. Das Männchen übernimmt eine größere Rolle bei der Revierverteidigung als das Weibchen und beide Geschlechter versorgen den Nachwuchs zu etwa gleichen Teilen. In meinem Vortrag arbeite ich Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede der beiden Arten heraus, um der Frage nachzugehen, wie das ungewöhnliche Paarungssystem des Grillkuckucks evolutionär entstanden sein könnte und welche ökologischen und evolutionären Mechanismen es heute aufrechterhalten. [more]

Reto Burri, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena. Interpreting genomic landscapes of differentiation in the light of long-term linked selection

Talk Reto Burri, Seewiesen
The last decade has seen an unprecedented quest for genome regions involved in adaptation and speciation that was usually based on the assumption that such genome regions can be identified as ones exhibiting accentuated differentiation. In this presentation, I showcase how accumulating empirical evidence together with longstanding theory force us to reconsider such an approach. In particular, I illustrate how processes unrelated to adaptation or speciation may confound our quest for genomic regions underpinning adaptation and speciation, and argue that a comparative population genomics framework that exploits emergent features of long-term linked selection can help overcome shortcomings of traditional genome scans for adaptive evolution. [more]

Emily DuVal, Florida State University: The trouble with traits: behavioural mechanisms and adaptive significance of mate choice in a lek mating system.

Talk Emily DuVal, Seewiesen
Lek mating systems are arenas of intense sexual selection, in which mate choice is unfettered by male-female pair bonds or the requirements of offspring care. Current selective pressures from female choice are widely assumed to dictate the elaborate phenotypes and social systems of lekking males. To investigate the process of female choice and the patterns of male fitness it produces, I’ve collected 20 years of behavioral, morphological, and fitness data from a population of lance-tailed manakins, a cooperatively lekking tropical bird. In this species, breeding alpha males have distinctive morphological and behavioral phenotypes, males team up to perform complicated two-male dances for visiting females, and females search extensively to choose their mates. Tracking individual females’ movements during mate assessment reveals a hierarchical process of mate choice, and females receive indirect genetic benefits from choosing particular sires. I’ll discuss my progress in understanding this fascinating system, what we do and don’t know about the mechanisms of sexual selection in manakins, and what it suggests more broadly for the study of sexual selection. [more]

Mike McGrew, University of Edinburgh: Precision breeding and reproductive technologies for bird conservation and tropical poultry adaptation

Talk Mike McGrew, Seewiesen
Studies using the chicken have made very significant contributions to understanding the development of vertebrates owing to the ease in manipulating the chicken embryo. The chick model system has become even more useful with the sequencing of the chicken genome and development of a robust method for transgenesis in the chicken (McGrew et al., 2004). It was also shown that migratory primordial germ cells from the chicken could be cultured in vitro for extended periods and used to generate transgenic chickens (van de Lavoir et al, 2006). My laboratory works on a type of stem cell in birds, the primordial germ cell, which is lineage restricted to producing spermatozoa and eggs of birds. These cells can be used to generate gene edited chickens, chicken which contain precise genetic changes in their genome. We have previously demonstrated that chicken primordial germ cells can be efficiently modified in vitro using transposable elements. I will discuss our use of new CRISPR/Cas9 vector to efficient edit single nucleotides in primordial germ cells and the use of sterile surrogate chicken hosts to increase germline transmission rates and decrease the time needed for production of genome edited chicken. A benefit of this research will be the technology to create bio-banks (frozen aviary) using germ cells. This is needed as the traditional methods used for species cryopreservation using semen and eggs are either inefficient or impossible in birds. Avian bio-banks will aid in the efforts to both manage and conserve both rare and industrial breeds of poultry. The future challenge is to extend biobanking to endangered bird species. [more]

Kalle Åström, Lund University: 3D positioning and mapping using sound (and other sensors)

Talk Kalle Åström, Seewiesen
The structure from motion problem in computer vision is the problem of determining camera position and orientation as well as the 3D positions of scene features using the motion of image features only. The analogous problem for audio and radio is the problem of determining sender and receiver positions using the received audio or radio signal only. For both video, audio and radio there are a number of challenges, e.g. feature detection, robust feature matching and robust parameter estimation. The problem is challenging also because of the non-linear nature of the problem. In the talk a summary of results of both theoretical and applied nature is presented. [more]

Grant Proposal Writing - How to design and communicate your project convincingly

Grant Proposals Writing
Successful grant proposal writing is a fundamental basis to fund a career in research. There are plenty of national and international funding programmes with different funding schemes. Each scheme has its individual context and thematic focus, eligibility and funding rules, submission and evaluation process, and evaluation criteria. Thus, the detailed features and aspects of a successful proposal in one funding scheme are naturally differing from those of a successful proposal in another funding scheme. However, the process of how to work out these details is a common denominator to the different funding schemes. It requires skills way beyond the ability to work out a research idea in detail.The overall proposal writing starts with the generation of a new research idea and the identification of an appropriate funding scheme. This requires knowledge on funding programmes and their scientific, political or societal background. Here, documents and professionals from contact points and funding authorities may be of much help.For an excellent grant proposal, it is necessary to match the research idea with the evaluators’ view on what is wanted by the funding scheme and what is considered fit for funding. This usually requires work on the details of the idea and the specific research context.After this has been concluded, the work on the actual project and proposal can be started. A concept has to be developed, ideas, workplan and the approach have to be visualised, the budget needs to be planned and the overall proposal has to be structured and formulated. If other project partners or institutions are involved, the submission of documents has to be coordinated.Therefore, the objective of this workshop is, that students obtain an overview on funding opportunities, understand the core aspects of winning grants and know how to adapt the proposal writing process to their funding scheme of choice.Depending on the duration of the training, exercises are focused on different process steps and required skills. [more]

Writing of Research Statements

Writing of Research Statements
Applying for a position in research requires not only a CV, a letter of motivation, a list of publications and references but also a research statement. They are targeted to the job advertisement and the mission of the research group and its hosting research organisation:First, we will understand the function of the different parts of an application to a research position such as letter of motivation, CV, research statement and references. Participants are asked to bring a job application, so that they can receive a targeted feedback during the second day of the workshop.We will then define the different core elements of a research agenda, their objectives in the context of the job application and the key elements they should cover.Participants will then write their own research statement. Based on these examples we will look into approaches for a targeted motivation of the research agenda, the targeted communication of the background and current research as well as a convincing set-up of the research agenda.Depending on time and interests of the participants, we will use the Researcher Development Framework by Vitae UK to investigate into skills and competencies. Based on these a strategy will be developed to convincingly justify the principal investigator’s expertise. [more]

Karen Spencer, University of St. Andrews: Developmental programming in birds: integrating data on in ovo and external stimuli

Talk Karen Spencer, Seewiesen
Even before it is born the conditions an animal experiences can have profound long-term effects on its health and wellbeing. In birds, mothers deposit a range of nutritional and hormonal factors into the egg that can alter embryonic development. If the mother experiences stress during egg laying a higher level of stress hormones are deposited into the egg, which can alter the development of the neuroendocrine system then controls the ability to respond to stress. In later life adults exposed to pre-natal stress have been shown to exhibit altered stress responses, fear-related behaviours and there is very good evidence that they are more likely to develop negative health issues. Work carried out by myself and colleagues suggests that in ovo conditions can program later behaviours via neuroendocrine systems and that these conditions may act as a signal to the offspring to alter development in such a way as to maximise survival in the post-natal environment, but that that there will also be costs associated with this strategy. However, oviparous species are often also exposed to many external factors as well, without the buffer of the maternal body as in mammals. The fact that birds use acoustic calls to communicate in many different contexts, such as calling to chicks or alarm calls when stressed, suggests that these calls can provide salient cues as to the quality of the environment. However, whether they provide such cues to embryos is unknown. We still have much to learn about the importance of different types of acoustic stimuli in shaping later phenotypes. Here I will detail some of the new experiments going on in my lab to investigate the adaptive significance of pre-natal acoustic stimuli. I will suggest that we should consider both in ovo and external stimuli as programming factors and work is now needed to integrate the two stimuli types to determine if re-programming of embryonic phenotypes is possible when environmental conditions change over the incubation period. [more]

Eliot Miller, Cornell University and the Macaulay Library: Woodpecker plumage evolution: mimicry, convergence, or neither?

Talk Eliot Miller, Seewiesen
The external appearance of an organism reflects selection from multiple drivers, including abiotic factors such as climate and substrate, and potentially biotic factors such as sexual selection and mimicry. Woodpeckers are an excellent group to examine how external phenotypes evolve because they occupy a broad range of climates across many habitats, and display patterns of rapid divergence and striking convergence. Here we show that both habitat and climate profoundly shape plumage evolution. However, we also find a strong signal that many species exhibit remarkable convergence not explained by these factors or shared ancestry. Instead, this convergence is associated with geographic overlap between species, suggesting occasional, strong selection for interspecific mimicry. Consequently, both abiotic and biotic factors, including interspecific interactions, are potent drivers of phenotypic evolution. [more]

Ian Baldwin, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena: Plant Behavior: examples from Nicotiana attenuata

Talk Ian Baldwin, Seewiesen
Behavior, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder, and to understand how plants behave, one needs to appreciate their chemical prowess, as their behaviors are frequently played out on a chemical stage. Thanks to the long-term patient funding of the Max Planck Society, we have developed a fire-chasing native tobacco plant, Nicotiana attenuata, which grows in the Great Basin Desert, into an ecological model for the study of plant-ecological interactions in general and more specifically for the chemical behaviors that mediate this plant’s responses to biotic interactions that dominate the primordial agricultural niche. By training students in the lost art of natural history discovery, we have used the plant’s natural history interactions to phenotype transformed and recombinant inbred lines (RILs) of this plant, in a nature preserve in the plant’s native habitat, to understand the function of genes that mediate these chemical behaviors. This talk will describe what 5 native insect herbivores have taught us about behaviors that are essential for that plant function. The 5 insects come from different feeding guilds, attack different tissues at different developmental stages and have revealed different chemically-mediated behaviors that are essential for the plant’s survival. The over-arching take-home message of this talk is lifted from the playbook of the two founders of the discipline of Chemical Ecology (Thomas Eisner and Jerrold Meinwald), namely: the irreplaceable value of nature preserves as laboratories for the study of gene function. [more]

Masayo Soma, Hokkaido University, Sapporo: Messages of courtship dance displays in Estrildid finches: evolutionary and ethological aspects

Talk Masayo Soma, Seewiesen
Estrildid finches (family: Estrildidae) are characterised by great intraspecific and intersexual variations in sexual traits, which include courtship song, dance and ornamental colourations of plumage. These features are expected to help us answer some questions about the evolution of sexual signals: (1) why multiple ornaments evolve in socially monogamous species; and (2) why, in certain species, males and females share identical sexual traits. In particular, I have been trying to understand the evolution of courtship dance, relying on phylogenetic comparative approaches along with intraspecific behavioural experiments. The results from a series of phylogenetic comparative studies show that courtship dance and the other sexual traits evolved almost independently. However, it is possible that dance display can function as an “amplifier” of plumage colour patterns, such as dots or stripes that are often possessed by Estrildid finches. These two visual signals (dance and colour patterns) are conspicuous in species with intraspecific brood parasitism, suggesting that reproductive cost/effort should be a factor that explains the evolution of elaborative visual sexual signals. Supporting this idea, both comparative and behavioural studies also show that nest material holding display evolved for parental cooperation of nest building. Males and females of Estrildids often exchange an identical courtship dance, which presumably plays a crucial role in mutual mate choice, pair-formation and pair-bonding. [more]

Caroline Isaksson, Lund University: Evolutionary adaptation and/or acclimation to urban environments by birds

Talk Carolina Isaksson, Seewiesen
To estimate the past and future impact of urbanisation on birds, it is important to understand the mechanistic underpinnings of a physiological response to anthropogenic stress. It is well known that urban pollution increases oxidative stress - a state when the antioxidant system is overwhelmed by oxidants, which may cause tissue damage linked to disease and senescence. Urban great tits (Parus major) have, repeatedly, shown to have a higher antioxidant activity than rural conspecifics, sometimes sufficient enough to prevent tissue damage and sometimes not. Regardless, an increased antioxidant defence is probably not cost free for urban birds, which is why we need to understand the underlying mechanisms. Is it a result of: i) the evolutionary history (i.e. a strong selection pressure for greater antioxidant capacities in urban habitats); ii) the present environment (i.e. direct physiological up-regulation in response to current urban stressors); or iii) the individual history combined with the present environment (i.e. developmental programming of gene regulation and the potential for match/mis-match between environment and optimal physiological response). By using the European great tit as our model system, my group address these three mechanistic pathways for generating variation in antioxidant capacities between populations and individuals. [more]

Frank Rheindt, National University of Singapore: Conservation genomics: How genome-wide data can assist in species survival

Talk Frank Rheindt, Seewiesen
Our planet finds itself in the sixth extinction crisis, this one being of an anthropogenic nature. In the NGS era, evolutionary biologists now have an opportunity to contribute to conservation with the help of genome wide data. In this presentation, I provide an overview of a number of Southeast Asian case studies in which the application of NGS based methodologies has contributed directly to species conservation and survival, including: (1) population-genomic assistance in ex-situ breeding of terminally endangered vertebrates; (2) detection of introgressive hybridization and genomic infiltration of foreign alleles in depleted populations; (3) inference of origin of traded individuals; and (4) discovery of significant cryptic diversity in an understudied fauna. Southeast Asia is one of the richest and – at the same time – one of the most anthropogenically impacted regions in the world, and shows the strongest beginnings of the impending extinction crisis. Conservation-genomics offers an increasingly affordable remedy for the lack of pertinent information on what to save and how to save it. [more]

--- CANCELLED --- CANCELLED --- CANCELLED --- Shaoyuan Wu, Jiangsu Normal University: Reconstructing the Mammalian Tree of Life in the Era of Genomics

Talk Shaoyuan Wu, Seewiesen
CANCELLED --- CANCELLED - CANCELLED ---Despite significant recent progress in understanding mammalian evolution, the relationships among the various orders of placental mammals and the timing of their diversification in the geological past are still debated. We use a large dataset, containing genome-scale DNA sequences from representatives of all placental orders, to construct a well-supported mammalian phylogeny based on techniques that circumvent key biases rooted in properties of genomic data. Our results provide a resolution to some controversial questions about mammalian phylogeny, for example by showing that flying lemurs are closely related to primates. By utilizing our new phylogenetic tree in combination with 21 well-dated fossils that allow calibration of evolutionary rates, we infer that the radiation of placental orders occurred in a rapid episode spanning the Cretaceous-Paleogene (KPg) boundary. We therefore propose a new hypothesis, the trans-KPg burst model of placental diversification, which matches the mammalian fossil record more closely than previous “molecular clock” reconstructions. [more]

Will Cresswell, University of St. Andrews: Connectivity in migrant birds and its implications for their population dynamics and conservation in a changing world

Talk Will Cresswell, Seewiesen
Any underlying theory to explain why migrants are more prone to population declines than non-migratory species must arise from the differences between these two groups in their ability to deal with accelerated rates of habitat and climate change in the Anthropocene. Recent theoretical advances have therefore concentrated on understanding how migrant and resident birds differ in their evolutionary response to climate and habitat change, in particular how migrants are likely to be under selection to be bet-hedging generalists which makes them well adapted to climate change and habitat shifts but relatively poorly adapted to habitat loss and any site-based conservation solutions to address this. The main differences between migrants and residents are:1. Migrants generally have a bet-hedging strategy with high migratory spread (low connectivity) over a large non-breeding area, and greater natal and breeding dispersal than residents. 2. Migrants depend more on a chain of suitable sites that must be correctly arranged in space and time for a successful annual cycle to be completed.I will discuss how these characteristics lead to population dynamics and so potential conservation solutions for migratory birds, as many populations continue to decline. [more]

Giorgio F. Gilestro, Imperial College London: A tale of sleepless flies. How Drosophila changes what we know about sleep

Talk Giorgio F. Gilestro, Seewiesen
Our laboratory studies the neurobiology of behavior in Drosophila melanogaster, with a strong emphasis on sleep. In particular, we are trying to uncover the still mysterious function(s) of sleep, using a systems neuroscience approach. The talk will present some of the most recent data of the lab as paradigmatic of what flies can teach us about sleep: using a machine-learning based video-tracking technology, we conducted a detailed high-throughput analysis of sleep in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, coupled with a life-long chronic and specific sleep restriction. Our results show that some wild-type flies are virtually sleepless in baseline conditions and that complete, forced sleep restriction is not necessarily a lethal treatment in wild-type Drosophila melanogaster. We also show that circadian drive, and not homeostatic regulation, is the main contributor to sleep pressure in flies. We propose a three-partite model framework of sleep function, according to which, total sleep accounts for three components: a vital component, a useful component, and an accessory component. [more]

Kate Buchanan, Deakin University: Effects of early life on vocal communication

Talk Kate Buchanan, Seewiesen
In wild animals - and also for humans, the start you receive in life has profound and long lasting impacts on your behaviour, physiology and fitness. I am fascinated by how early life experiences impact on avian cognition and development, particularly focusing on the trait of vocal communication. The development of the songbird brain and consequent song production is known to exhibit considerable plasticity in relation to environmental conditions. Whilst stimulation enables neural development and complex cognitive abilities to develop, environmental challenges cause stunting during periods of neural growth and reduce the capacity of animals to perform complex cognitive tasks. My work focuses particularly on the impact of developmental stress on neural control mechanisms and song output in a number of songbird species. Our recent work show that the mechanism not only involves volumetric changes in the embryonic brain, but also the capacity of this brain to learn new vocal signatures. We know that early developmental stress affects song within generations and my current work is testing the potential for such effects to be mediated across generations, both through environmental stress and parental communication. In recent years we have become interested in prenatal communication, the impact on the developing brain and its relevance for long term developmental programing in birds. Here, I will present the current research from my group addressing the effects of early life experience on neural development, behaviour and physiology in zebra finches. [more]

Peter Teglberg Madsen, Aarhus University: Functional convergence in bat and toothed whale echolocation

Talk Peter Teglberg Madsen, Seewiesen
Echolocation is a process where bats and toothed whales must emit sound to generate echoes returning to their auditory systems for processing, meaning that they control sensory information flow by the rate, type and direction of the sounds they produce as well as by adjusting the sensitivity of their hearing. These parameters directly influence the temporal resolution and spatial extent of their perception of their environment, enabling dynamic control of attention in response to environmental complexity and behavioral objectives. Thus, the way that echolocating animals manipulate their perception of the surrounding environment is revealed by the sonar pulses they emit, the echoes they receive and the evoked behavioral changes; all of which can now be sampled by small archival tags attached to both bats and toothed whales during dark hunts in the wild. It appears that this form of active sensing in two very different media of air and water show a remarkable level of functional convergence in terms of sampling rates, acoustic gaze adjustments and frequency ranges. Conversely, in other aspects of their sensory ecology, bats and toothed whales diverge by having extreme versions of reactive versus deliberate modes of sensory-motor operation due to very different relationships between sensory volume and forward speed. I will argue that echolocating bats and toothed whales are ideal experimental models for studying sensory and cognitive adaptations that confer advantages in handling a dynamic sensory umwelt in time and space, providing a unique, non-invasive insight into perception in naturally behaving animals. [more]

Efficient Reading - How to filter and memorize complex information

Efficient Reading
In this course you will establish and practice efficient reading routines for longer texts. In addition to handling both digital and analog texts quickly and effectively you will learn how to improve your memory of complex information. You will learn strategies to read and memorize information in a way that is optimally suited to how your brain operates and practice using these strategies both with course materials and some of your own reading material. [more]

CANCELLED --- Katja Nowick, FU Berlin: Human Evolution: How Gene Regulatory Factors and their networks might have shaped human specific phenotypes

Talk Katja Nowick, Seewiesen
Complex phenotypes are determined by many genes and can well be investigated using network methods. Hence, to study the evolution of complex phenotypes, comparative network approaches are very promising. Here we aim to shed light on the evolution of cognitive abilities in humans. To this end, we used transcriptome data from pre-frontal cortex samples of humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus macaques to calculate transcription factor (TF) co-expression networks. We revealed an overall increase in connectivity on the human lineage and that several TFs that are known to be involved in brain development or cognitive disorders have turned into hubs specifically in the human networks. These TFs are good candidates for further experimental studies on the evolution of cognition. We developed several methods to facilitate comparative network analyses, among them a statistical framework to combine similar networks into consensus networks of high confidence, to assign p-values to links, and to define conserved, species-specific, and diverged links. Our methods are publicly available via two R packages, wTO and CoDiNA, and come along with sophisticated interactive visualization. We hope them to be useful for other evolutionary network studies. [more]

Timothy J. Greives, North Dakota State University: Mechanisms and importance of timing in a constantly changing world

Talk Timothy J. Greives
Nearly all animals live in environments that experience dramatic fluctuations in environmental variables across daily and annual times scales. Daily and seasonal rhythms are hypothesized to enable animals to anticipate these environmental changes and appropriately adjust physiology and behavior in advance of these environmental shifts to enhance survival and reproductive success. In the wild, relationships between environmental variables of interest (e.g. daylength or sunrise) and individual variation in expression of behaviors or traits that influence fitness are often observed, yet the underlying mechanisms responsible for integrating multiple cues and regulating timing decisions are often unclear. In contrast, decades of laboratory investigations have generated a wealth of knowledge of underlying physiological mechanisms shaping these rhythms, however the relationships between these mechanisms and their contribution to evolutionary fitness in the highly variable environment of the wild remains unclear; only in the wild can fitness-related traits be quantified in a meaningful way. My research programs seeks to integrate studies grounded in behavioral ecology and physiology to begin to uncover the key sources of variation that influence timing decisions and their fitness implications in the wild. Specifically, my research asks: What are the mechanisms that influence initiation of daily behaviors and initiation of seasonal activation of reproductive physiology and behavior? How does individual variation in these daily and seasonal timing responses in physiology and behavior influence fitness? And, what are the evolutionary pressures, or costs, that have shaped the physiological processes regulating these timing decisions? Here I will present representative studies that highlight the integration of behavioral ecology and physiology in songbirds and outline future lines of research that I will pursue that will begin to address these key questions. [more]

Jesse Barber, Boise State University: The sensory ecology of bat-insect interactions

Talk Jesse Barber, Seewiesen
Bats and insects have been battling in the night sky for at least 60 million years -- In this talk, I will reveal some of the anti-bat strategies that insects have evolved to thwart the very sensory systems of the predators that hound them. [more]

Thierry Aubin, Université Paris-Sud: Coding strategies in vocal communications of song birds

Talk Thierry Aubin, Seewiesen
Constraining environments constitute a strong selective pressure potentially driving strategies to optimize the reliability of communication processes. In this perspective, the “Signal Structure Hypothesis” predicts that the structure of animal signals will differ depending on features of the habitat. For example and for vocal communications, the so-called “Acoustic Adaptation Hypothesis” predicts that bird songs optimized for long-range propagation in a forest should be slowly modulated in frequency and as low in frequency as the sender can produce. Since the susceptibility to propagation-induced modifications of emitted signals depends on their acoustic characteristics, the emitter also could enhance or on the contrary reduce its active space of communication by coding the information in more or less propagation-resistant parameters. I will show that this adjustment of the coding strategies according to the habitat can be experimentally demonstrated for the vocalizations of songbirds living in different habitats. Due to the variable spacing of territorial individuals, some information may be coded to degrade over short distance and some might be coded such that it transmits over long distance without much degradation. Thus, species-specific identity is encoded in propagation resistant acoustic features allowing individual to reach a wide audience and constitutes public information. Conversely, group identity, individual identity and motivation state are encoded by song features susceptible to propagation, a private information reserved for close neighbors or for the partner. [more]

John Tuthill, University of Washington: Neural mechanisms of proprioception and motor control in Drosophila

Talk John Tuthill, Seewiesen
Animals rely on an internal sense of body position and movement to effectively control motor behavior. This sense of proprioception is mediated by diverse populations of internal mechanosensory neurons distributed throughout the body. My lab is trying to understand how proprioceptive stimuli are detected by sensory neurons, integrated and transformed in the brain, and used to guide motor output. We approach these questions using genetic tools, in vivo two-photon imaging, and patch-clamp electrophysiology in the fruit fly, Drosophila. We recently found that fly leg proprioceptors are organized into distinct functional projections that contain topographic representations of specific kinematic features: one group of axons encodes tibia position, another encodes movement direction, and a third encodes bidirectional movement and vibration frequency. Overall, our findings reveal how a low-dimensional stimulus – the angle of a single leg joint – is encoded by a diverse population of mechanosensory neurons. This architecture may help to maximize information transmission, processing speed, and robustness, which are critical for feedback control of the limbs during adaptive locomotion. [more]

Xiang-Yi Li, University of Neuchâtel: Theory models inspired by the life history and ecology of birds

Talk Xiang-Yi Li, Seewiesen
Theory models have been playing an important role in aiding our understanding of the complex ecological and evolutionary dynamics in populations of birds, such as male competition, female mate choice, extra-pair paternity, bi-parental care, and dispersal. They can help explain the observed phenomena, and/or make predictions to be tested in future empirical investigations. Previous theory models, however, often ignore a number of biological factors that can substantially affect the interactions in bird populations, particularly those between males and females. In this talk, I will use a few models my collaborators and I recently developed to illustrate that, the explanation and prediction power of theory models can be enhanced by considering relevant biotic factors. For example, by considering resource competition between sexes, we could better explain the pattern of sex-biased dispersal, and the rarity of large sexual dimorphism in resource use, like the case in the now extinct Huia bird. In addition, by considering the genotype-by-environment interactions and intralocus sexual conflict, we could identify conditions under which females evolve to prefer low-quality males over high-quality ones. In an on-going study in collaboration with Wolfgang Goymann, we found conditions where a highly cooperative outcome (with high levels of female fidelity and male help stably coexist even at the absence of mate guarding) can be produced from totally selfish optimizations of individual fitness by males and females, when intralocus sexual conflict is taking into consideration. [more]

Grand Challenges on “On the benefits of sharing methods across scientific fields” Symposium

Grand Challenges Symposium
Our annual Grand Challenges Symposia focus each year on a specific area of interest in the wide range of topics from animal behavior, ecology, and evolution to physiology and neuro­biology, suggested by the PhD candidates of our IMPRS. The symposia consist of a series of talks by guest speakers, faculty and students of our program and represent the inaugural event for the latest student cohort. [more]

Gloriana Chaverri, Universidad de Costa Rica: Acoustic communication during the location of ephemeral roosts in Spix's disc-winged bats

Talk Gloriana Chaverri, Seewiesen
The neotropical insectivorous bat, Thyroptera tricolor, or Spix’s disc-winged bat, is known to form extremely cohesive social aggregations despite moving daily between roost-sites. My research over the last 13 years shows that T. tricolor uses a combination of two social signals, “inquiry” and “response” calls, to locate each other during flight and while roosting. In my talk, I will focus on the role that these social calls play in maintaining cohesive groups, and the causes and consequences of the variation in vocal behavior we see within and among groups. [more]

Good Scientific Practice

Good Scientific Practice
As a researcher, one has the privilege to work freely and creatively, pursuing own interests and adding to the knowledge base of the scientific community - and the community in general. This freedom comes with responsibility: The responsibility for self-control, accuracy, honesty, efficiency and objectivity. The scientific community has introduced rules of Research Integrity, which aim to preserve the freedom of research and prevent scientific misconduct. [more]

Bibiana Rojas, University of Jyväskylä: Multimodal warning signals in predator-prey interactions

Talk Bibiana Rojas, Seewiesen
Chemically defended animals often display conspicuous colour patterns that predators learn to associate with their unprofitability and subsequently avoid. Such animals, known as aposematic, deter predators by stimulating, for example, their visual and chemical sensory channels. Thus, aposematism is considered to be ‘multimodal’, which is advantageous because multimodal signals provide to the receiver more information per unit of time than unimodal signals. Despite this being widely known, the different components of aposematic signals tend to be studied in isolation, with most studies focusing on visual signals. Novel signals of aposematic prey are expected to be selected against due to positive frequency-dependent selection, but nature has a wide range of examples of variation among aposematic prey which contradict evolutionary expectations and leave us wondering how this variation can arise and persist. Using a polymorphic tiger moth (Arctia plantaginis) and a polytypic poison frog (Dendrobates tinctorius), we explore the forces of selection on variable aposematic signals at different scales, and study predator response to the visual and chemical components of their multimodal warning signals. Our findings in both systems highlight the importance of accounting for variation in both components of multimodal aposematic displays, and, most importantly, of testing whether or not relevant predators react differently to this variation, as they are the ultimate selective agents in predator-prey systems. [more]

Katja Nowick, FU Berlin: Human Evolution: How Gene Regulatory Factors and their networks might have shaped human specific phenotypes

Talk Katja Nowick, Seewiesen
Complex phenotypes are determined by many genes and can well be investigated using network methods. Hence, tostudy the evolution of complex phenotypes, comparative network approaches are very promising. Here we aim to shedlight on the evolution of cognitive abilities in humans. To this end, we used transcriptome data from pre-frontal cortexsamples of humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus macaques to calculate transcription factor (TF) co-expression networks.We revealed an overall increase in connectivity on the human lineage and that several TFs that are known to be involvedin brain development or cognitive disorders have turned into hubs specifically in the human networks. These TFs aregood candidates for further experimental studies on the evolution of cognition.We developed several methods to facilitate comparative network analyses, among them a statistical framework tocombine similar networks into consensus networks of high confidence, to assign p-values to links, and to define conserved,species-specific, and diverged links. Our methods are publicly available via two R packages, wTO and CoDiNA, andcome along with sophisticated interactive visualization. We hope them to be useful for other evolutionary networkstudies. [more]

Michael Romero, Tufts University: Stress Physiology in Conservation: Predicting Human Impacts on Wildlife

Talk Michael Romero, Seewiesen
Species populations can decline for many reasons, but stress on individuals of those populations can make all of those reasons worse. Our recent and ongoing work has focused on two related questions: can chronic stress of individuals be used as a proxy for the health of the population; and how exactly might a stress response put a population at greater risk of decline? The ultimate goal is to use measurements of the stress response as a tool in vertebrate conservation. [more]

--- CANCELLED --- Dan Mennill, University of Windsor: Vocal learning in wild birds: the dynamics of vocal learning in nature --- CANCELLED ---

Talk Dan Mennill, Seewiesen
In eight groups of animals, including humans and songbirds, juveniles are understood to learn vocalizations by listening to adults. Experimental studies of laboratory-reared animals support this hypothesis but we lack experimental evidence of vocal learning in wild animals. I developed an innovative playback technology involving automated loudspeakers that broadcast songs with distinctive acoustic signatures. My collaborators and I used this technology to simulate vocal tutors in the wild and conducted year-long tutoring sessions to five cohorts of free-living migratory Savannah Sparrows. We confirm that wild birds learn songs by listening to adult conspecific animals, and we show that they pass these songs on to subsequent generations. Further, we provide the first experimental evidence in the wild that the timing of exposure to tutor song influences vocal learning: wild Savannah Sparrows preferentially learn songs heard during both their natal summer and at the outset of their first breeding season. This research provides direct experimental evidence of song learning by wild animals and shows that wild birds learn songs during two critical stages of development early in life. [more]

Christopher Olson, Midwestern University: Vocal production by bee hummingbirds: from song centers to syrinx

Talk Christopher Olson, Seewiesen
Effective vocal communication between a sender and a recipient requires the fine tuning of a number of organ systems, including auditory organs as well as the motor circuitry that controls the vocal organs. These otherwise distinct organs are believed to occur as coevolved organ systems that must be matched between the senders and receivers to allow effective communication. Hummingbirds are highly vocal organisms that use vocal communication as major part of a larger multi-modal signaling strategy that also includes visual signals and feather-produced sounds. The bee hummingbirds are the most recent clade to have emerged in the hummingbird family, and include many of the smallest bodied hummingbirds that have radiated into north America. Bee hummingbirds are especially interesting in that vocal learning is present in some species but absent in others representing a significant loss of function of a trait that for many species is necessary for mate attraction and territory maintenance. We have been studying brain and syrinx anatomy of four bee hummingbirds that are abundant in Arizona. These include the Anna’s hummingbird which has a highly complex song, and its congener, the Costa’s hummingbird which has a less complex song. In addition, two species that are thought to have lost their song ability independently, the black-chinned hummingbird and the rufous hummingbird, are also included in our study. We use in situ hybridization for genes that are differential molecular markers of forebrain nuclei in songbird studies to understand these convergent brain circuits in hummingbirds. We note some interesting differences in vocal nuclei volume between the two singing species which may reflect the complexity of their vocal output, and the lack of a visible circuit in the non-singing hummingbirds. We also explore the use of other positive molecular markers of hummingbird neuroanatomy in an attempt to identify residual vocal forebrain structures in the non-singing species. Switching to bee hummingbird syrinx anatomy, we microCT scanned several excised vocal organs, followed by histological staining of thin tissue sections to provide a detailed look at the internal morphology of these smallest of avian sound sources. I will describe several traits that distinguish them from closely-related swifts and nightjars, and show a convergence with the syrinx of songbirds. These include an ossified and bifurcated tympanum, several accessory cartilages and multiple intrinsic muscle fascicles with different fiber orientations. Interestingly we note that singing species have larger syrinx structure with divergent morphology compared to the non-singing hummingbird species. Finally, I will discuss some future work to examine the auditory perception of hummingbird vocalizations, and finish by relating our work on the north American Bee lineage to a unique hummingbird species in se Brazil that vocalizes in a frequency range that all other avian species are believed not to hear. [more]

László Zsolt Garamszegi, MTA Centre for Ecological Research, Vácrátót, Hungary: Females as unsung heroines in the evolution of birdsong

Talk László Zsolt Garamszegi, Seewiesen
The conventional framework for the study of bird song is that males do the singing and females do the listening. Underthis scheme, sex-specific roles in signalling typically involve the advertisement of male quality on one hand, and femalechoice based on song content on the other. Although many studies proved that male attributes correlate with songperformance, the link between superior songs and mating success remains elusive. One potential explanation for thelack of a general applicability of the classical concept is that females’ role in the acoustic communication mediating thefunction and evolution of song is overly simplified therein. Accordingly, using field data from a European passerinespecies I will demonstrate how female quality can shape the song output of a male via within-individual plasticity andhow patterns of assortative/disassortative matings can rearrange rules for female choice. Moreover, relying on comparativedata from a large number of species, I will also show how sharpened competition for males can favour advertisementsongs in females in an evolutionary time scale. [more]

CANCELLED --- Michael Long, NYU Medical School: Comparative neurobiology of vocal communication --- CANCELLED

Talk Michael Long, Seewiesen
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Steffen Hage, Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen: Vocal motor control mechanisms in marmoset monkeys: new insights into the evolution of human speech.

Talk Steffen Hage, Seewiesen
Monkey vocalizations have been assumed to be largely innate, highly affective, and stereotyped for over 50years. Recently, this perception has dramatically changed. Current studies including our own have revealeddistinct learning mechanisms during vocal development and vocal flexibility allowing monkeys to cognitivelycontrol when, where, and what to vocalize, all of which are crucial biological preadaptations in monkeys forthe emergence of a language system in humans. I will give an overview on our recent studies on marmosetmonkeys. I will present data that are indicating that vocalizations of marmoset monkeys do not consist of onediscrete call pattern but are built out of many sequentially uttered units, like human speech. Furthermore, Iwill give insights into recent studies that indicate a potential role of auditory feedback on vocal developmentin marmoset monkeys. Finally, I will show first data indicating that marmosets are able to control their vocaloutput in a goal-directed way to perform a specific task successfully and how this behavior can be used toinvestigate neural mechanisms underlying vocal motor control. [more]

Manuela Nowotny, University of Jena: Processing of auditory signals in bushcrickets – from behaviour to neuronal encoding

Talk Manuela Nowotny, Seewiesen
Successful acoustic communication requires sender (sound production) and receiver (sound perception) to be attuned. With more than 7000 species, bushcrickets are a highly diverse group with a remarkable variability in their acoustic behaviours that often show asymmetrical signalling between males and females. In our comparative studies we examined sound production and sound perception in different bushcricket species to investigate if sex-specific signalling differences are also reflected in the morphological structures and physiological responses of the hearing organs. Our anatomical, biomechanical and neurophysiological data revealed pronounced and behaviourally relevant differences in the sender and receiver structures in the two different species. Furthermore, we discovered a sex-specific auditory fovea in the ears of male Ancylecha fenestrata that is tuned to the dominant frequency of the female call. Population coding by similarly tuned afferent projections from the ears may provide hyperacute temporal signal information, which is currently under further investigation. [more]

CANCELLED --- Shaoyuan Wu, Jiangsu Normal University, China: Reconstructing the Mammalian Tree of Life in the Era of Genomics --- CANCELLED

Talk Shaoyuan Wu, Seewiesen
Despite significant recent progress in understanding mammalian evolution, the relationships among the various orders ofplacental mammals and the timing of their diversification in the geological past are still debated. We use a large dataset,containing genome-scale DNA sequences from representatives of all placental orders, to construct a well-supported mammalianphylogeny based on techniques that circumvent key biases rooted in properties of genomic data. Our results providea resolution to some controversial questions about mammalian phylogeny, for example by showing that flying lemursare closely related to primates. By utilizing our new phylogenetic tree in combination with 21 well-dated fossils that allowcalibration of evolutionary rates, we infer that the radiation of placental orders occurred in a rapid episode spanning theCretaceous-Paleogene (KPg) boundary. We therefore propose a new hypothesis, the trans-KPg burst model of placentaldiversification, which matches the mammalian fossil record more closely than previous “molecular clock” reconstructions. [more]

Ilona Grunwald Kadow, TUM Munich: How internal states and needs shape perception and behavior

Talk Ilona Grunwald Kadow, Seewiesen
When interacting with their environment animals constantly make decisions. These decisions frequently aim at maximizingreward while avoiding negative consequences such as energy costs, pain, or long-term disadvantages. Faced with a choice,animals consider and integrate several parameters such as their internal and behavioral state as well as external stimuli.Often decisions are shaped by prior experiences such as exposure to a given stimulus in a certain condition. But preferencesand aversions can be innate, and an instinctive reaction can be essential to secure survival. Nevertheless, even these innatepreferences need to be evaluated in a context-dependent manner and hence, context strongly impinges on behavior. Whileit is generally accepted that context influences behavior, our knowledge of the neural mechanisms of how internal state andexternal conditions alter ongoing behavior is scarce. The goal of my research is to provide a comprehensive understandingof the neural and molecular basis of context-specific behavior. To this end, my group studies how internal states shapechemosensory processing and behavior of the fly. [more]

POSTPONEMENT to March 12, 2020 --- Mark S. Blumberg, University of Iowa: Active sleep promotes functional connectivity and sensorimotor integration throughout the developing nervous system --- POSTPONEMENT to March 12, 2020

Talk Mark S. Blumberg
For details please see March 12, 2020! [more]

CANCELLED --- Mark S. Blumberg, University of Iowa: Active sleep promotes functional connectivity and sensorimotor integration throughout the developing nervous system --- CANCELLED

Talk Mark S. Blumberg
During active (REM) sleep in mammals and birds, skeletal muscles twitch throughout the body, causing jerky movements of limbs, whiskers, wings, and eyes. These spontaneous, discrete movements are particularly prominent during the perinatal period, when active sleep predominates. As demonstrated in newborn rats, the triggering of a twitch is followed by a cascade of sensory feedback (reafference) through the sensorimotor system, resulting in coherent oscillatory activity in such structures as sensorimotor cortex, hippocampus, and red nucleus. Critically, whereas these coherently organized oscillations are apparent when pups are asleep, they are nearly absent when they are awake. In light of the functional significance ascribed to brain oscillations for learning and plasticity, these findings suggest that active sleep provides a critical context for the expression of organized activity in cortical and subcortical structures, ultimately producing a brain that is functionally integrated with its body. [more]

CANCELLED --- Simon Verhulst, University of Groningen: Corticosterone, Telomeres and Life Histories --- CANCELLED

Talk Simon Verhulst, Seewiesen
Telomere length is a predictor of life span in humans and other species, raising the question how variation in telomere length arises. Because telomere length declines with age, telomere length at any time point is the outcome of telomere length at birth and subsequent telomere dynamics. I will discuss recent findings on both factors, with special attention to the role of corticosterone. [more]

CANCELLED --- Frédéric Theunissen, University of Berkeley: Auditory memories and vocal communication in zebra finches --- CANCELLED

Talk Frédéric Theunissen, Seewiesen
Songbirds need to form auditory memories not only of the tutor song for vocal imitation but also of many songs and calls of conspecifics for individual recognition. We know that songs and calls have idiosyncratic acoustical features and that birds can use these features to recognize specific individuals. In recent work, we have tested the memory capacity of zebra finches for caller ID based on songs and calls and found it to be impressively large: within one-week zebra finches are capable of recognizing ~16 individuals based on their song or distance call. The upper memory capacity of songbirds might actually be much higher, but it is difficult to assess in a laboratory experiment. Combining brain lesions and neurophysiological recordings, we have assessed the role of secondary auditory pallial areas NCM and CMM in memory formation and storage. We found that NCM plays an important role in these perceptual tasks. In future work, we plan on determining to what extend the auditory memories used for individual recognition in communication overlap with the auditory memories that songbirds use for vocal imitation. [more]

CANCELLED --- Laura Busse, LMU Munich: Video capture and analysis of the mouse’s natural visual environment --- CANCELLED

Talk Laura Busse, Seewiesen
For any given species, the design of an animal’s visual system reflects the challenges of its ecological niche; thus, a promising approach to study visual system function is to probe the system with natural stimuli. Mice have become an important model in vision research, but it is still rarely considered that, compared to primates, they live in a different environment and therefore have different visual needs. For example, unlike primates, mice are dichromatic and perceive UV light. Moreover, the mouse retina is subdivided into a mostly “green” sensitive (peak at 510 nm) dorsal and UV sensitive (peak at 360 nm) ventral retina. Therefore, presenting naturalistic stimuli in laboratory settings to non-primate species, such as mice, is challenging.Under the assumption that a substantial fraction of mouse eye movements serves to stabilize the retinal image, we built a gimbal-stabilized, spectrally-calibrated hand-held camera to explore the natural habitat of mice in the relevant spectral bands. We intensity-calibrated the camera with LEDs of defined wavelengths and brightness using a power meter / spectrometer combination. The camera was moved close to the ground along mouse tracks and UV/green movies of the mouse habitat were recorded for different representative scenes and at different times of the day. By analysing contrast statistics of the movies, we found, for example, that contrast in the two chromatic channels (UV/ green) diverged greatly in the upper but not in the lower visual field. This resonates well with reports of a higher fraction of colour-opponent retinal ganglion cells in the ventral mouse retina and superior behavioural colour discrimination in the upper visual field. In addition, we found that during dusk and dawn, “predators” coming from the sky should be more easily detectable in the UV compared to the green channel, which emphasizes the UV’s role for mouse vision. Finally, we designed different unsupervised models, and when fitting them to our recordings, we mainly found color-opponent filters with training data of the upper visual field. In the last part of the talk, I will also show ongoing efforts to established a light-weight, head-mounted camera system, which can capture the visual environment from the perspective of freely roaming mice. [more]

CANCELLED --- Jon Sakata, Mc Gill University: Catecholaminergic contributions to vocal learning and control --- CANCELLED

Talk Jon Sakata
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CANCELLED --- Qian Li, Shanghai Jiao Tong University: Evolutionary origin of olfactory trace amine-associated receptors --- CANCELLED

Talk Qian Li, Seewiesen
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Clemens Küpper, MPI für Ornithologie: "Warum (und wie) sich Weibchen emanzipieren" - Allgemeiner Vortrag auf deutsch

Vortrag Clemens Küpper, Seewiesen
Konventionelle Geschlechterrollen, die insbesondere bei Vögeln und Säugetieren weitverbreitet sind, besagen, dass sich vor allem Weibchen um die die Brutpflege kümmern, während Männchen versuchen, ihren individuellen Fortpflanzungserfolg durch Paarungen mit möglichst vielen Partner zu erhöhen. Bei einigen Arten haben es allerdings Weibchen geschafft, sich von diesem klassischen Rollenmodell zu emanzipieren. In meinem Vortrag werde ich am Beispiel des Schneeregenpfeifers Charadrius nivosus mit Hilfe von Langzeitdaten zeigen, wie sich die Emanzipation darstellt und weshalb es gerade in dieser Art zur Rollenumkehr kommt. [more]

Vincent Careau, University of Ottawa: Energetics, behaviour and performance: trait (co)variance across genotypes and species.

Talk Vincent Careau, Seewiesen
During this presentation, I will outline the research program I have put in place over the past five years at the University of Ottawa, on the coadaptations between metabolic, performance, and personality traits. I will present the first results obtained from studies on wild mice, laboratory insects, as well as humans. A common theme in all of our research is the use of quantitative genetic techniques to partition the (co)variance between several traits at different levels of variation. Doing so commonly reveals trait associations that are otherwise undetectable at the aggregated level. [more]

Andrea and Melissa Grunst, University of Antwerp: Interconnections between behaviour, sexual selection and senescence in a dimorphic bird with a supergene

Talk Andrea and Melissa Grunst, Seewiesen
The white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) is an ordinary looking songbird with extraordinary genetics. Both sexes exist in either a white-striped or tan-striped morph, as determined by a >100-Mb inversion-based supergene on the second chromosome. White morph birds are almost all heterozygous for the supergene, suggesting that homozygousity is deleterious. Tan morph birds are homozygous without the supergene. The supergene is associated with a suite of coadapted traits that are expressed by both white males and females, including higher levels of aggressiveness, song and copulation, and lower levels of parental care. Due to behavioral and genetic incompatibilities within white male x white female pairs, white-throated sparrows pair dissassortively by morph. Tan males and white females share parental care relatively equally, whereas white males provide little paternal support to tan partners. We leveraged this unique system and an 18-year long-term dataset regarding reproduction and survivorship to test different evolutionary theories of aging, and elucidate how differences in actuarial and reproductive senescence might affect the balance in fitness between morphs. On one hand, some theories of aging suggest that competitive traits, such as those associated with the supergene, have high physiological costs and promote a live-fast-die-young strategy and faster senescence. On the other hand, intense investment in parental care, as in the tan morph, can also have costs. Furthermore, a more cooperative reproductive strategy, as observed in tan males x white femalepairs, might lessen reproductive costs and dampen senescence rates. Our data do not support high costs of the competitive traits associated with the morph-determining supergene, but rather suggest high costs of unsupported parental care, and that cooperative reproductive strategies might dampen rates of senescence. To better understand how genetics contribute to morph differences in life-history and senescence, more work is needed regarding how specific genes within the supergene affect physiological and self-maintenance differences between the morphs. Such work will ultimately advance understanding of how supergenes promote the persistence of multiple morphs with distinct life-history strategies within a species. [more]

Clinton Francis, California Polytechnic State University and MPIO: Ecological and socio-ecological dimensions of sensory pollution

Talk Clinton Francis, Seewiesen
Human activities are globally pervasive. Although applied ecology and conservation biology has typically focused on how changes in vegetation or land cover influence wild populations and communities, growing evidence suggests that changes in other ecological dimensions, such as the acoustic and lit environment, can have comparable or larger ecological consequences than land cover changes. In this talk, I will discuss my lab’s use of natural and manipulative field experiments, plus large-scale databases, to understand how changes to the acoustic environment and light regimes can influence behavior, reproduction, distributions and ecological interactions. I will focus primarily on birds, but highlight key examples of how changes in sensory environments are highly relevant to human health and wellbeing. [more]

François-Xavier Dechaume-Moncharmont, Université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France: The difficulty in life is the choice

Talk François-Xavier Dechaume-Moncharmont
In evolutionary ecology, the process of mate sampling is often considered as a secondary problem compared to the more important question of co-evolution between the traits expressed in one sex and the preferences in the other sex. Since there are direct benefits from choosing a partner, the processes of pair formation have been overlooked as a somewhat trivial question. Yet, the question of the choice between several partners of varying quality is not as simple and immediate as it may seem at first look. Difficulties arise at several levels. The study of mating strategies often begins with field observations at the group or population level, but it is not straightforward to identify the actual choice criterion. If non-random pairing is observed, many authors are tempted to conclude to the existence of an underlying sexual preference. Yet, one cannot directly link the pattern of assortative mating at the population level to a given process of individual choice. Indeed, simple models show that one can easily generate such a pattern without assuming any sexual preference for the individuals. On the contrary, a pattern apparently resulting from random choices can be generated from assumptions in which the individuals actually rely on explicit sexual preferences. More generally, the scramble competition (always arising when there is a limited number of sexual partners) is a sufficiently strong constraint to severely impair the evolution of any choosy decision rules. In most cases, the evolutionary stable strategy is to use very low acceptance threshold. We also provide experimental mechanisms in favour of the adaptive value of this apparent absence of choice. These results emphasize the urgent need for carefully considering the pairing process in sexual selection. [more]

Lena Veit, University of Tübingen: Songbirds can learn flexible contextual control of syllable sequencing

Talk Lena Veit, Seewiesen
The flexible control of sequential behavior is a fundamental aspect of speech, enabling endless reordering of a limited set of learned vocal elements (i.e. syllables or words). Songbirds are phylogenetically distant from humans, but share the capacity for vocal learning as well as neural circuitry for vocal control that includes direct cortical-brainstem projections. Based on these similarities, we hypothesized that songbirds might likewise be able to learn flexible, moment-by-moment control over vocal production. Here, we demonstrate that Bengalese finches, which sing variable syllable sequences, can learn to rapidly modify the probability of specific sequences (e.g. ‘ab-c’ versus ‘ab-d’) in response to arbitrary visual cues. Moreover, once learned, this modulation of sequencing occurs immediately following changes in contextual cues and persists in the absence of external reinforcement. Our findings reveal a capacity in songbirds for learned contextual control over syllable sequencing that parallels aspects of human cognitive control over speech. [more]

Natasha Mhatre, Western University, London, Ontario, CA: An insect that uses a tool to sing and an amplifier to hear

Talk Natasha Mhatre, Seewiesen
Crickets use sound to find each other space over which potential mates can sense each other is determined by the loudness of song and the sensitivity of the auditory system. According to the textbooks, this space is enhanced purely ‘passively’ through morphology and mechanical resonance. Song producting wings and females ears resonate at the same frequency enhancing the size of their acoustic space. But some crickets didn’t read the textbook. In this talk, I will present my research on Oecanthus henryi which is one such species. O. henryi is a tree cricket, and males of this species use an active behavioural strategy to make themselves louder. They manufacture an acoustic baffle, a tool that makes them louder. In fact, using a series of models and experiments, we showed that not only do they manufacture a tool, but they manufacture an optimal tool. Not to be outdone, we found that O. henryi females, have an active physiological amplification system in their ears. Using careful neurobiology we show that the amplifier doesn’t actually make them more sensitive than other crickets, as previously speculated. Rather, it allows them to change the frequency that they are sensitive to. What is even more remarkable is that this amplification is acheived through the activity of only a handful of motors protein. Both findings underline the poverty of our descriptions of invertebrate behaviour and biophysics, and point to a wealth of innovations yet to be discovered even among these ‘simple’ organisms. [more]

Scott Taylor: University of Colorado: Insights from avian hybridization into the origin and maintenance of biodiversity

Talk Scott Taylor, Seewiesen
What generates and maintains biological diversity? This major question in evolutionary biology has fascinated scientists for centuries and continues to drive new and exciting research. Explore recent findings that examine avian hybridization in chickadees and wagtails, species boundaries in redpoll finches, and the genetic basis of spatial cognition, to gain a better understanding of divergence and speciation in birds. From the genetic basis of feather color to metabolic pathways that differ between closely related species, this work is helping us better understand what makes species different, and how those differences contribute to the maintenance of avian biodiversity [more]

Brett K. Sandercock, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research: Use of Occupancy Models in Ecological Monitoring in Norway

Talk Brett K. Sandercock, Seewiesen
The Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) is a private research institute with responsibility for monitoring of plants and animals of management interest in Norway: invasive species, harvested species, and red-listed species of conservation concern. Long-term ecological monitoring of these taxa requires efficient sampling methods that provide information on population trends and habitat requirements, while controlling for the problem of imperfect detection rates under field conditions. Occupancy models are a mark-recapture model based on repeated sampling that has the advantage that sampling can be based on detections of unmarked animals. Detections can be recorded with a variety of different kinds of sampling gear, including eDNA for freshwater species, Malaise traps for insects, den checks for mammals, or sound recordings for birds. I will introduce occupancy models and available software tools. To demonstrate the utility of occupancy models for ecological monitoring, I will discuss a variety of recent case studies where models based on single season sampling, multilevel sampling designs, and multiple detection states have provided insights into early detection of invasive species, and population trends and key ecological drivers for harvested populations and species of conservation concern in Norway. [more]

Arkarup Banerjee, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory: Motor cortical dynamics underlying vocal interactions in the singing mice

Talk Arkarup Banerjee, Seewiesen
Using sounds for social interactions is common across many taxa. Humans engaged in conversation, for example, take rapid turns to go back and forth. This ability to act upon sensory information to generate a desired motor output is a fundamental feature of animal behavior. How the brain enables such flexible sensorimotor transformations, for example during vocal interactions, is a central question in neuroscience. Seeking a rodent model to fill this niche, we are investigating neural mechanisms of vocal interaction in Alston’s singing mouse (Scotinomys teguina) – a neotropical rodent native to the cloud forests of Central America. We discovered sub-second temporal coordination of advertisement songs (counter-singing) between males of this species – a behavior that requires the rapid modification of motor outputs in response to auditory cues. We leveraged this natural behavior to probe the neural mechanisms that generate and allow fast and flexible vocal communication. Using causal manipulations, we recently showed that an orofacial motor cortical area (OMC) in this rodent is required for vocal interactions (Okobi*, Banerjee* et. al, 2019). Subsequently, in electrophysiological recordings, I find neurons in OMC that track initiation, termination and relative timing of songs. Interestingly, persistent neural dynamics during song progression stretches or compresses on every trial to match the total song duration (Banerjee et al, in preparation). These results demonstrate robust cortical control of vocal timing in a rodent and forces us to reconsider the evolutionary origins of motor cortical control of vocal output. [more]

Susan Alberts, Duke University: "The medicine of life": Social life and survival in primates

Talk Susan Alberts, Seewiesen
Longitudinal studies of animal social behavior and demography allow us to understand how environments at one stage of life affect fitness outcomes at another stage of life. This question is important both in the biological sciences and in the human social sciences. Here, I briefly review evidence from the human social sciences that document, and raise important questions about, the profound links between early life, adult life, and longevity. Next, I draw parallels between those studies and biological studies of wild animal systems, where researchers have long studied these links. I argue that wild animal systems, by answering questions that are difficult or impossible to answer in human studies, shed light on the deep evolutionary roots of the human sensitivity to the social environment. They also provide insight into the mechanisms by which environments at one stage of life affect survival outcomes at a later stage of life. Most of the examples I discuss come from my long-term research project, the Amboseli Baboon Research Project. [more]

Understanding biodiversity: A study of the adaptive radiation in Darwin’s Finches

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Understanding the genetic bases of traits across individuals, populations and species

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