Past Events

Unraveling how animals make decisions in their natural environments is key to understanding their behavior and assessing their ability to adapt to the challenges posed by urbanization and climate change. In the case of bats, an important challenge lies in our limited understanding of their roosting ... [more]

The emerging field of movement ecology, facilitated by recent advances in biologging technology, provides a powerful framework for studying animal behavior and inferring ecological patterns. Yet, the characteristically short time-series data from biologgers limits our ability to understand how ... [more]

Bats feeding on swarming insects face unique energetic challenges due to the ephemeral nature of their food. The lesser bulldog bat (Noctilio albiventris) in Panama typically spends less than an hour foraging in the evening, balancing flight costs and food intake. However, little is known about how ... [more]

There are both costs and benefits to group living. Benefits include reduced predation risk, while costs involve increased competition among group members for resources. Some social groups manage these trade-offs through fission-fusion dynamics, where groups regularly split into subgroups (fission) ... [more]

Animals’ responses to climate change are shaped by mechanistic links between climate, performance and fitness. Extreme temperatures and unpredictable resource availability mean that birds in arid zones live near the edge of physiological tolerance limits, making them ideal models for studying these ... [more]

Early-life experiences are crucial for developing complex behaviors across species, with many having evolved social learning strategies to acquire complex skills. However, little is known about how species with limited social learning opportunities develop and master these skills in the wild. In my ... [more]

Coordinated motion in animals often results in mesmerizing patterns and plays a key role in predator avoidance or disease transmission. To study collective movement, we can now use advanced image-based analysis software and algorithms and quantify behavior in greater detail than ever before. In my ... [more]

A suite of thermoregulatory adaptations that address the challenges posed by high temperatures were key in human evolution. These include the ability to maintain high activity levels under heat, facilitated by a unique capacity of sweating. High death tolls during heat waves, however, indicate the ... [more]

With two thirds of fish species on the red list, and up to 90% of the potential distribution of fishes being impacted by anthropogenic threats, Switzerland is facing an important challenge in terms of conservation. One of the main factors impacting fish populations is the lack of connectivity. With ... [more]

The African landscapes are rapidly changing with deforestation progressing everywhere. The African straw-coloured fruit bat, which aggregates in huge colonies is arguably the most numerous mammal of Africa and with it's unparalleled seed dispersal distances a key ecosystem provider. However, it also ... [more]