Behavioral Ecology

Postdoctoral scholarship in the Stagkourakis Lab studying neural control of survival behaviors using in vivo large-scale electrophysiology, advanced imaging, and causal perturbations in freely moving mice at Biomedicum and SciLifeLab.

This Lake Conference is a 3.5-day forum on comparative and evolutionary approaches to nervous-system function. The program includes invited and selected talks, poster sessions, comparative genomics and genetics, evolutionary and developmental mechanisms, and evolutionary neuroscience systems biology.

Annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA, spanning research across integrative and comparative biology.

Lead research on distributed neural computation and brain evolution using the acoel Hofstenia miamia. The project combines circuit imaging, activity recordings, neural perturbations, behavioural analysis and computational methods to explain how repeated circuit units produce coordinated, adaptive behaviour. This is a full-time, four-year appointment in London, starting from £47,500 annually with benefits. The institute states that this role is eligible for UK visa sponsorship. Applications close on 11 October 2026 at 23:59, according to the current employer advert.

Space can be a limited resource. Many species including humans, evolved a compromise regulating space sharing and its occupancy based on social determinants. For example, students in a classroom tend to sit close to their friends, keeping the same spots across days, revealing the social structure in the classroom. This place preference suggests that factors such as social hierarchy and affiliation can shape space utilization; contrasting with classical random walk models of agents moving at random in any given direction. Here, we asked whether spatial occupancy of macaques (Macaca fascicularis and M. mulatta) within a unisex group, reveals a structured space utilization beyond simple spatial affordance of the finite space. To this end, in two groups of four animals, we analyzed the simultaneously recorded positions of each individual of the group while the group roamed in an enclosure. (1) The identity of each animal could be decoded from its individual pattern of spatial occupancy, revealing that each animal sustained its spatial footprint across multiple days. (2) Average distance between monkeys was a proxy of their social hierarchy, confirming that interpersonal distance is correlated to affiliation and dominance hierarchy. (3) Alternating the social context by removing one of the monkeys revealed that social context influences occupancy. (4) Finally, the distribution of distance between pairs of monkeys was bimodal and was modeled using random walk approach with an additional parameter reflecting propensity to stay in close proximity, which was again related to dominance hierarchy. These analyses reveal the hidden structured nature of space utilization as a function of social determinants in macaques and simple modeling approach to further study group organization in neuro-ethological settings.

Chris Smith presents research on individual differences in fruit flies, colour-linked pupil responses in synaesthesia, and how mating patterns broaden cognitive variation in chickadees. The episode also examines which species succeed in cities and how DNA organisation changes in cancer. The publisher provides a full episode player and individual interview transcripts.

This postdoctoral project studies climate-change effects on migratory birds and wetlands in the U.S. Great Plains. Working with Craig Davis, Scott Loss and collaborators, the researcher will turn existing precipitation, wetland and waterbird analyses into a decision-support tool for wetland management, and analyse bird habitat use, movement and migration timing. Funding supports up to two years through appointments of one year or less. Salary is USD 60,000 annually plus benefits excluding retirement, with research travel support. The position is classified as 11-month temporary faculty. Application review begins 30 October 2026 and continues until a suitable applicant is found; this is a review date, not a final deadline. The anticipated start is November 2026 to January 2027. Submit a cover letter, CV and three referee contacts through the employer portal.

Nicolas Mathevon examines the evolution of vocal communication through an analysis of songs from more than 3,000 passerine species. The study organizes their acoustic diversity into eight basic motifs and relates motif use to social organization, morphology, mating systems and sound transmission. Tropical forest conditions favor simpler signals such as flat whistles that travel effectively through dense habitat. In temperate regions, dense populations, short breeding seasons and stronger sexual selection favor complex signals such as rapid trills, despite their greater degradation during transmission. The resulting global pattern reflects a changing balance between environmental constraints and selection for complex communication. Online on 30 September 2026, 17:00–18:00 CEST (Europe/Paris; UTC+2), with an optional 15-minute discussion afterward. Open worldwide through Zoom. Use the join information on the organizer's page; its optional registration form subscribes attendees to seminar updates. Organized by LINGUAE's Animal Linguistics Seminar, with Emmanuel Chemla, Lucie Ravaux and Philippe Schlenker. Online via Zoom; public joining instructions on the organizer’s seminar page.

Professor Amy Dickman established is the joint CEO of Lion Landscapes, which works to help conserve wildlife in some of the most important biodiversity areas of Africa. These areas include some of the most important areas in the world for big cats, but also have an extremely high level of lion killing, as lions and other carnivores impose high costs on poverty-stricken local people. Amy and her team are working with local communities to reduce carnivore attacks, providing villagers with real benefits from carnivore presence, engaging warriors in conservation and training the next generation of local conservation leaders. It has been a challenging endeavour, given the remote location and secretive and hostile nature of the tribe responsible for most lion-killing. In her talk, Amy will discuss the significance of this project, the difficulties of working in an area where witchcraft and mythology abound, and the conservation successes that are already emerging from this important work.