WEES Seminar 13th February Dr. David Bierbach

Dear all,

We would like to invite you to attend February’s Wageningen Evolution & Ecology Seminar (WEES) and the related workshop. The seminar will take place on Thursday 13th February, 16:00-17:00 in Orion C1040. Dr. David Bierbach from the Humboldt University (Germany) will present his work on clonal Poecilia formosa and robot fish in a seminar titled ‘How to use Clonal Fish and Biomimetic Robots to investigate Ecology and Evolution.’ After the seminar, everyone is invited to join for free drinks at The Spot, where it will be possible to interact more directly and informally with Dr. Bierbach.

There will also be a workshop with Dr. David Bierbach prior to the seminar titled 'From the Field to the Lab and Back - Experimental Design in Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology’ at 14:00 in Orion B3032. In the workshop, Dr. Bierbach will discuss both approaches of fieldwork and lab work, how both approaches can supplement each other and what the potential pitfalls, shortcomings and opportunities are. The workshop is aimed for HBO, MSc, PhD students and postdocs. Registration is required, so please email Peter Kwant (peter.kwant@wur.nl) to register. See below for more information on the seminar and workshop.

Please forward this information to anyone who could be interested. Thank you!

Seminar (16:00-17:00 - Orion C1040)

How to use Clonal Fish and Biomimetic Robots to investigate Ecology and Evolution.

Dr. David Bierbach

Researcher, Humboldt University & Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries Berlin, Germany

Phenotypic variation among individuals is thought to be caused by differences in genes and/or environmental conditions. Therefore, if these sources of variation are removed, individuals are predicted to develop similar phenotypes lacking individual variation. In sharp contrast to these predictions, we find substantial individual variation in behavior among genetically identical individuals of the clonal fish, Poecilia formosa, that were isolated directly after birth into highly standardized environments. This variation does not develop over the ontogeny but is present at day 1 of the fish’s life. In contrast to the current research paradigm, which focuses on genes and/or environmental drivers, our findings suggest that individuality might be an inevitable and potentially unpredictable outcome of the very early embryonic development. In order to study both causes and consequences of these individual differences, we developed a biomimetic robot - the so-called Robofish - that is able to integrate itself interactively into groups of fish. This tool allows us to decouple behavior from morphology and test hypotheses arising from theoretical considerations on social and collective interactions. I will outline how Robofish helped us to find a link between differences in swimming speed and collective patterns in shoaling fish and how leader-follower interactions depend strongly on the anticipated reaction of the social partner.

Workshop (14:00-15:00 - Orion B3032)

From the Field to the Lab and Back - Experimental Design in Behavioral and Evolutionary Ecology

To answer biological questions, scientists often perform laboratory experiments or do observations in the wild. Both approaches have their merits but I postulate that we can answer our questions better if we combine both approaches. In this workshop I will thus present own experiences about working experimentally both in the laboratory as well as in the field with fishes. We will discuss examples of laboratory and field experimental designs and how both approaches can supplement each other and what the pitfalls, shortcomings and opportunities are.   

Lunch and dinner with Dr. Bierbach

A small group will have lunch and dinner with our invited speaker (cost on the participants). If you are interested in joining for lunch and/or dinner with Dr. Bierbach, please contact Peter Kwant (peter.kwant@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 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 

On behalf of the WEES Committee

Website: weeswageningen.nl

Twitter: @weeswageningen

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wees-wageningen/