Events at the MPIAB

Sleep is vital for health and fitness, and its expression is shaped by ecological and social contexts that may either promote or disturb it. Most research, however, has focused on captive settings, detached from natural environments that can modify the balance between benefits and drawbacks of sleeping in a group. Using direct recording of sleep using a custom-made, infrared remote camera, mounted on a telescopic pole s, we examined the impact of social rank and context on sleep in wild chimpanzees in Uganda. High-ranking males experienced shorter, more fragmented and less efficient sleep than subordinates. Party composition also influenced sleep: whereas sleeping in groups generally prolonged sleep duration and reduced wake-bout durations compared to sleeping alone, increasing the number of adult males in the sleeping party delayed nesting time and reduced sleep duration in high-ranking individuals. The presence of sexually active females delayed nesting time and advanced waking time in males, tended to reduce sleep duration and increased sleep fragmentation. These findings emphasize the need to study sleep in ecological contexts to gain a deeper understanding of the trade-offs shaped by social dynamics in sleep patterns. [more]

Understanding how animals acquire complex behaviors requires bridging ecological, cognitive, and social perspectives. In this seminar, I will first share findings from my research on wild gibbons, where I examined how immature individuals balance asocial and social learning, and selectively choose whom to learn from, particularly when facing ecological challenges such as foraging complexity. Building on these findings, I will introduce comparative and experimental work on how chimpanzees and humans balance individual and social information under different risks in exploration and decision making. Finally, I will present recent work developing agent-based models to simulate the spread of behavior in different cultural groups in humans and outline my plans to apply this approach to the evolution of learning strategies in soaring birds as part of the advertised project [in Elham Nourani's group]. This integrative perspective aims to reveal how animals adapt learning strategies to dynamic social and ecological environments across taxa. [more]

Courtship displays, driven by sexual selection, are fascinating behaviors across a wide range of animal taxa. Birds, in particular, serve as excellent study models due to their often multimodal sexual exhibitions, which involve various sensory modalities such as coloration, body movements, and vocalizations. In this lecture, I will share insights from my research on Neotropical bird species. My work has focused on the mechanisms behind the production of these multimodal displays and their impact on female choice. I will explore key aspects such as intra- and interindividual variability in display performance, vigor, and skill, which have been central to my projects. I will specially discuss my studies on the Swallow-tailed Manakin, native to the Atlantic Forest and particularly notable for its cooperative cartwheel-like dance involving multiple males. I look forward to sharing these findings and discussing their implications for the study of animal behavior and evolutionary biology. [more]

Vultures play a vital ecological role as obligate scavengers, yet they are among the most threatened bird groups worldwide, facing critical challenges such as poisoning, habitat change, and human-wildlife conflict. As highly mobile species, their survival depends on understanding how they interact with dynamic landscapes and threats. In this presentation I will showcase how movement ecology—particularly GPS tracking data—can be leveraged to inform and enhance vulture conservation. By integrating behavioral ecology, spatial risk assessment, and demographic analysis across multiple vulture species and regions, I illustrate how tracking data can uncover patterns of threat exposure, inform targeted mitigation strategies, and improve our understanding of population dynamics. This approach not only supports more effective conservation planning but also offers a scalable framework for addressing the survival challenges of other wide-ranging, threatened species. [more]

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