School of Biosciences

Research conferences

ASAB Winter Meeting 2009

Conference programme

Download the ASAB 2009 programme (PDF)

Theme

'Individual Specialisation'

Organiser

Sasha Dall - Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus

Venue

The Institute of Zoology meeting rooms, Regent’s Park, London

Dates

Thursday 3 December and Friday 4 December 2009

Introduction

Specialisation is a major driver of biodiversity. This is because, at its heart, speciation is synonymous with reproductive specialisation within lineages. Moreover, since behavioural change often precedes change in gene frequencies, the factors promoting behavioural specialisation within populations deserve specific attention. In this meeting, I propose to bring together researchers investigating such individual specialisations from three distinct perspectives: individual niche specialisations, animal personality differences and the divisions of labour within animal societies. To my knowledge, this will be the first attempt to bring such researchers together and so should generate substantial and novel insights into the causes and consequences of individuality in behavioural ecology.

Invited speakers

• Daniel Bolnick, University of Texas, Austin 'Ecological and evolutionary forces maintaining niche variation within populations'
• Alison Bell, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 'Causes and consequences of individual differences in behaviour in threespined sticklebacks'
• Francis Ratnieks, University of Sussex 'Specialization and optimization of reproduction and work in insect societies'

Tinbergen Lecture: Kate Lessells (Netherlands Institute of Ecology)

Participation

Traditionally, this conference is open to all with an interest in the field. Registration is free and will be open throughout the conference. As is traditional at this meeting, there will be a limited number of slots for contributions (talks and posters) by non-invited participants. If you wish to submit an abstract for this meeting, please email a copy of the ASAB ethics abstract form 2009 no later than 30 September 2009 to Sasha Dall (forms provided upon request). If you wish to present a poster rather than a talk, please indicate this at the bottom of the form.

Presentations at ASAB meetings are assumed to comply with the Society’s standards of scientific integrity and are subject to ethical scrutiny in the same way as papers published in Animal Behaviour. All work presented should therefore conform to ASAB/ABS’s Guidelines for the Treatment of Animals in Research. This should be confirmed by agreeing to the Ethical Statement on the ASAB ethics abstract form 2009.