Iain Couzin has created a playground for biologists. Cameras follow groups of fish, grasshoppers balance on a ball in a virtual reality container and birds fly around with small backpacks, with which all their conversations are overheard. Film by tv NTR
News
Fighting Back Against 2020’s Massive Locust Swarms
Copyright : FAO /Haji Dirir
Devastating swarms of locusts are devouring everything in their path from Africa to India. Scientists and citizens are waging a massive war with cutting edge technology to stop the infestation from becoming a deadly plague.
Film by CuriosityStream
“Actually, locusts don’t really like each other”
Interview with Iain Couzin on the causes of the locust plague in East Africa.
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Die biblische Plage kehrt zurück – the biblical plague returns.
Heuschrecken – Schwärme mit Millionen von Heuschrecken vernichten derzeit Ernten in Afrika, Asien und
auf der Arabischen Halbinsel. Für umweltverträgliche, biologische Bekämpfungsmassnahmen ist es zu spät.
Locusts – Flocks of millions of locusts are currently wiping out crops in Africa, Asia and in the Arabian Peninsula. It is too late for environmentally friendly, biological control measures.
Hier lesen Sie den Beitrag in Deutsch (the article is in German)Download
Upcoming PhD projects 2020 – apply now!
The International Max Planck Research School for Organismal Biology (IMPRS) has released the list of 2020 PhD projects. All projects are fully funded for at least 3 years. Application deadline is Jan 15!
Apply here
Current Biology: The multilevel society of a small-brained bird
The first publication of the vulturine guineafowl project is out! The team in the Farine lab have revealed the best evidence yet for a multilevel society in a bird species. The study demonstrates that vulturine guineafowl live in stable groups that comprise of multiple breeding units, and that these groups interact preferentially with other groups, both during the day and at communal roosts. The study combined large-scale census data with high-resolution GPS tracking to reveal the highly detailed information about the vulturine guineafowl society.
eLife: Improving measurement of animal behaviour using deep learning
Team of collective behaviour researchers, led by PhD student Jake Graving, develop deep learning toolkit for high-speed measurement of body posture in animals.
A new toolkit goes beyond existing machine learning methods by measuring body posture in animals with high speed and accuracy. Developed by researchers from the Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour at the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, this deep learning toolkit,
Iain Couzin wins the 2019 Lagrange Prize
The first and most important international recognition in the field of complex systems awarded to a pioneer of the study of collective animal behaviour.
Iain Couzin, a leader in the study of collective animal behaviour, is the recipient of the 2019 Lagrange – CRT Foundation Prize, the first and most important international recognition dedicated to the study of complex systems across all disciplines. Couzin is Director of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz as well as Chair of Biodiversity and Collective Behaviour and Co-Director of the Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour at the University of Konstanz.
ERC Starting Grant to Study the Ecology of Collective Behaviour
15Dr. Damien Farine wins 2019 ERC grant
Biologist at the interface of collective behaviour and ecology nabs prestigious European grant for early career researchers.
Dr. Damien Farine, a principal investigator at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, has been awarded a prestigious ERC Starting Grant. Announced today, the prominent grant—which includes 1.5 million euros in funding over the next 5 years—is designed to help early career scientists and scholars build their own teams and conduct pioneering research.
PNAS: Uncovering hidden intelligence of collectives
Researchers discover that information processing in animal groups occurs not only in the brains of animals but also in their social network. Read more….