Dear all,
We would like to invite you to attend January’s Wageningen Evolution & Ecology Seminar (WEES) and related workshop. The seminar will take place on Thursday 18th January, 16:00-17:00 in Orion C1005. Dr. Theresa Rueger from Newcastle University will present her work on ‘Coral reef fishes as a model to understand animal societies'.
There will also be a workshop with Dr. Theresa Rueger on ‘Marine fishes as models in behavioural ecology' at 14:00 in Orion B4015. In the workshop, Dr. Rueger will discuss the role of coral reef fishes as models in behavioural ecology. The workshop is aimed for HBO, MSc, PhD students, and postdocs. Registration is required, so please email Davide Bottacini (davide.bottacini@wur.nl) to register. See below for more information on the seminar and workshop.
In preparation to the seminar and workshop, the speaker recommends the papers in attachment, which offer a background on the topics discussed.
Please forward this information to anyone who could be interested. Thank you!
Seminar (16:00-17:00 - Orion C1005)
Coral reef fishes as a model to understand animal societies
Dr. Theresa Rueger
Lecturer, Tropical Marine Biology
Newcastle University, UK
The evolution of complex groups, where some individuals reproduce and others do not, remains an evolutionary mystery for many animal species, including marine fishes. Anemonefishes and gobies, model organisms for the ecology and evolution of marine organisms, live in complex groups with two dominant breeders and several non-breeding subordinates. We know why subordinates accept their situation: limited habitat availability and high predation rate associated with movement between groups create harsh ecological constraints; and strict size hierarchies and the threat of eviction create harsh social constraints. However, we do not know why dominant breeders accept subordinates to share their resources. We tested several classic hypotheses to explain social evolution in coral reef fishes: 1) The kin selection hypothesis; 2) the mate-replacement hypothesis and 3) the pay-to-stay hypothesis. We used genetics, experiments and behavioural observations on anemonefish and goby populations in Papua New Guinea. We found that 1) surprisingly, despite a larval dispersal phase, relatedness in groups of coral reef fishes can be significantly higher than the population mean; 2) the variance, but not the mean, of time to replace a mate is reduced when subordinates are present; and 3) subordinates perform helping behaviours beneficial to the dominants, often mediated by their anemone or coral mutualistic hosts. None of these factors alone can explain the formation and maintenance of groups in coral reef fishes, but added together a clear picture emerges of why dominant breeders accept subordinates to form complex societies.
Workshop (14:00-15:30 - Orion B4015)
Marine fishes as models in behavioural ecology
The workshop gives attendees the opportunity to meet the speaker and have a discussion based on recent publications. The workshops are a good possibility to become acquainted with hot topics in science and to gain experience in discussing these topics with leading scientists in the field. Furthermore, BSc and MSc students can get 1 ECTS for attending 2 workshops. Registration is required to participate in the workshop, so please email Davide Bottacini (davide.bottacini@wur.nl) to register.
Lunch and dinner with Dr. Rueger
A small group will have lunch and dinner with our invited speaker. If you are interested in joining for lunch and/or dinner with Dr. Rueger, please contact Davide Bottacini (davide.bottacini@wur.nl). You may of course also simply decide to join for dinner on the day of the seminar.
WEES background & call for new members
WEES is an initiative of PhD students and postdocs at Wageningen University to organize a continuing series of stimulating seminars on contemporary topics in evolution and ecology. For this series we invite researchers from all over the world who have leading roles in their field. We aim to bring together different groups at Wageningen University using a variety of systems, but with a common interest in evolutionary and ecological questions. WEES is funded by graduate schools PE&RC, WIMEK, EPS, VLAG, and WIAS.
Interested in joining the WEES committee and organizing seminars yourself? WEES is looking for new members! We aim for a broad and diverse range in topics and would like to welcome new members to help and include topics not represented yet. If you are curious, send an email to weeswageningen@gmail.com and join one of our meetings.
For more information please visit: www.weeswageningen.nl or follow us on Twitter @weeswageningen