Biosciences Seminar Series - Winter 2016
18 February 2016 - 1pm - Wallace Lecture Theatre
Note Change of Room!
Our Biosciences seminar series continues with an exciting talk by Prof Tim Guilford, from the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford (UK) and member of the Oxford Navigation Group. Tim is fascinated about animal behaviour and understanding what drives their decisions. Initially Tim focussed his research on understanding the evolution of animal signals, such as warning signals. More recently Tim has been working hard on unravelling the mysteries of how animals map the environments and find their ways, from more localised movement of pigeons to long-distance travels of seabirds. To achieve these goals Tim uses a wide combination of new technological developments, such as on-board cameras and miniatures GPS loggers, experiments and new analytical approaches borrowed from other fields, such as computational engineering. In short - expect a fascinating talk!
Birds are amongst the greatest long-distance navigators on earth, but what do we know about the spatial cognition that underlies their wide-ranging movements? Using miniature tracking technology to follow movements in a variety of field-experimental and naturally free-ranging paradigms, I will explore what we have learnt about the nature of the bird’s large-scale familiar area map. From route-following behaviour in homing pigeons to migratory navigation in pelagic seabirds, I will concentrate especially on the perhaps neglected role of individual learning and memory in the control of long-distance movements in birds.
Hope to see many of you - everyone most welcome to attend!
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