Events at the MPIAB

A unique center for urban bat rescue and monitoring in Ukraine - history from a war zone

Rado Seminar by Anton Vlaschenko
  • Date: Dec 12, 2025
  • Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Anton Vlaschenko
  • Dr. habil. Anton Vlaschenko is a bat researcher and conservationist with Ukrainian origin currently based in the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin. Anton is co-founders and a co-leader of the Ukrainian Bat Rehabilitation Centre (Kharkiv), which is widely known in Ukraine and among bat researchers in Europe for its bat rescue measures. Beyond his work done to rescue bats, Anton is a head of the Education and Research Bat Biology Laboratory of H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University.
  • Location: MPI-AB Möggingen
  • Room: Seminar room MPI-AB Möggingen + Online
  • Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
  • Contact: aflack@ab.mpg.de
The urban landscapes of Ukrainian cities have become important winter habitats for bats due to the abundance of multi-storey Soviet-era buildings, which offer numerous roosting opportunities. Over the past 40-50 years, both the number of bat records and the diversity of bat species have significantly increased. Kharkiv city (north-eastern Ukraine), as a case study area, demonstrates this trend ... [more]
Poster of course

MPI-AB Behavioural Ecology Graduate Course

MPIAB Behavioural Ecology Graduate Course: Lectures and discussions on behavioural ecology topics
During Winter semester 2025/2026 we are offering a graduate course in Behavioural Ecology. It will run every Thursday, beginning with a lecture followed by a discussion on three papers in the area. The 13-week course is open to all students and postdocs. [more]

Institute Seminar by Claudio Sillero

Institute Seminar by Claudio Sillero
[more]
Poster of course

MPI-AB Behavioural Ecology Graduate Course

MPIAB Behavioural Ecology Graduate Course: Lectures and discussions on behavioural ecology topics
During Winter semester 2025/2026 we are offering a graduate course in Behavioural Ecology. It will run every Thursday, beginning with a lecture followed by a discussion on three papers in the area. The 13-week course is open to all students and postdocs. [more]

Institute Seminar by John Benson

Institute Seminar by John Benson
[more]
Poster of course

MPI-AB Behavioural Ecology Graduate Course

MPIAB Behavioural Ecology Graduate Course: Lectures and discussions on behavioural ecology topics
During Winter semester 2025/2026 we are offering a graduate course in Behavioural Ecology. It will run every Thursday, beginning with a lecture followed by a discussion on three papers in the area. The 13-week course is open to all students and postdocs. [more]

Applying Tinbergen’s four questions to a conservation problem: Tolerance to humans in a social desert species

Institute Seminar by Oded Berger-Tal
  • Date: Jan 27, 2026
  • Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Oded Berger-Tal
  • Oded Berger-Tal is an associate professor in the Mitrani Department of Desert Ecology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. His research group is conducting rigorous behavioral research aimed directly at mitigating conservation and wildlife management problems and advising the conservation and management decision-makers in Israel and beyond. In the past few years, in addition to conceptually developing the field of conservation behavior, he is focusing on topics such as developing non-lethal behavioral interventions to alleviate human-wildlife conflict, examining the impacts of various aspects of noise pollution (including infra-sound) on wildlife, understanding the mechanisms of high-tolerance to humans in wild Nubian ibex, studying the impacts of tourism on wildlife, and investigating the behavioral differences between animals utilizing anthropogenic environments and their less anthropogenically-exposed conspecifics.
  • Location: Bückle St. 5a, 78467 Konstanz
  • Room: Seminar room MPI-AB Bücklestrasse + Online
  • Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
  • Contact: refrat@ab.mpg.de
Conservation behavior is the application of animal behavior knowledge and methodologies to help conserve species and ecosystems. In order to ensure that behavioral research can indeed be useful in conservation contexts, the choice of the study system and research question has to be made together with conservation practitioners, and study results must be translated into feasible and actionable ... [more]
Poster of course

MPI-AB Behavioural Ecology Graduate Course

MPIAB Behavioural Ecology Graduate Course: Lectures and discussions on behavioural ecology topics
During Winter semester 2025/2026 we are offering a graduate course in Behavioural Ecology. It will run every Thursday, beginning with a lecture followed by a discussion on three papers in the area. The 13-week course is open to all students and postdocs. [more]

Institute Seminar by Daniela Rößler

Institute Seminar by Daniela Rößler
[more]

Institute Seminar by Fabiola Iannarilli

Institute Seminar by Fabiola Iannarilli
[more]

Do animals understand death

Institute Seminar by Susana Monsó
  • Date: Apr 14, 2026
  • Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Susana Monsó
  • Susana Monsó is associate professor of philosophy in the Department of Logic, History, and Philosophy of Science at the National Distance Education University. Her work focuses on the socio-cognitive capacities of animals and their ethical implications. She has published in leading journals in her field, such as Philosophical Quarterly, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, and Philosophy of Science. Her book, Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death (2024, Princeton University Press) was recommended in The New York Times and The Guardian and selected as one of the best books of 2024 by The New Yorker.
  • Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
  • Contact: zgoldsborough@ab.mpg.de
When the Virginia opossum feels threatened, she becomes paralysed, her body temperature drops, her breathing and heart rate are reduced to a minimum, her tongue turns blue, and her glands simulate the smell of rot. Despite her convincing corpse disguise, the opossum is paying close attention to her surroundings, ready to swing back into action as soon as the coast is clear. Not unlike the cat in ... [more]

The ecology of collective behavior across oceanic scales

Institute Seminar by Will Oestreich
  • Date: Apr 21, 2026
  • Time: 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Will Oestreich
  • Will Oestreich studies animal behavior in dynamic and changing ecosystems. He is a group leader in the Department of Evolutionary Biology & Environmental Studies at the University of Zurich, and an affiliated researcher with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Will has a particular interest in oceanic ecosystems, exploring how biophysical variation and information interact to shape behavior in the open and deep ocean. He also interrogates how we as humans can collectively understand, steward, & adapt to the changing ecosystems of which we are all a part.
  • Host: Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior
  • Contact: spashchevskaya@ab.mpg.de
Oceanic ecosystems comprise Earth's largest living space. In these vast, fluid, and mostly dark ecosystems, resources aggregate in patchy, fleeting hotspots of biological activity. These conditions pose immense challenges both for resident lifeforms and researchers seeking to elucidate their behavior. How do oceanic predators find ephemeral patches of plenty in their vast & dynamic home? How can ... [more]

Institute Seminar by Leah P. Hollis

Institute Seminar by Leah P. Hollis
[more]
Web-View
Print Page
Open in new window
Estimated DIN-A4 page-width
Go to Editor View