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SUMMARY:Mexican Waves: The Adaptive Value of Collective Behaviour - Jens K
 rause\, IGB Berlin
DTSTART:20230117T130000Z
DTEND:20230117T140000Z
UID:TALK193843@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Emily Mitchell
DESCRIPTION:The collective behaviour of animals has attracted considerable
  attention in recent years\, with many studies exploring how local interac
 tions between individuals can give rise to global group properties. The fu
 nctional aspects of collective behaviour are less well studied and relativ
 ely few studies have investigated the adaptive benefits of collective beha
 viour in situations where prey are attacked by predators. This is unsurpri
 sing because predator-prey interactions in the field are difficult to obse
 rve. Furthermore\, the focus in recent studies on predator-prey interactio
 ns has been on the collective behaviour of the prey rather than on the beh
 aviour of the predator. In my talk I present a field study that investigat
 ed the antipredator benefits of waves produced by fish at the water surfac
 e when diving down collectively in response to attacks of avian predators.
  Fish engaged in surface waves that were highly conspicuous\, repetitive\,
  and rhythmic involving many thousands of individuals for up to 2 min. Col
 lective fish waves increased the time birds waited until their next attack
  and also reduced capture probability in three avian predators that greatl
 y differed in size\, appearance and hunting strategy. Taken together\, the
 se results support a generic antipredator function of fish waves which cou
 ld be a result of a confusion effect or a consequence of waves acting as a
  perception advertisement\, which requires further exploration.
LOCATION:Main Zoology Lecture Theatre and online via Zoom - contact organi
 ser for details
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