First-ever IEE Symposium successfully held
On September 11 and 12, our first symposium was organized at the Natural History Museum in Bern. This one-and-a-half-day event was attended by more than 80 members of the institute including MSc students, PhD candidates, postdocs, technicians, administrative staff and PIs. There were several talks grouped into five overlapping research themes across different divisions. A dedicated poster session was also organized during the symposium. The symposium fostered a vibrant exchange of knowledge, underscoring the diverse expertise and collaborative spirit of our institute.
Poster session
We had a very nice and diverse poster session at the IEE on Wednesday, 18 October, attended by researchers from all institutes at the Department of Biology and beyond.
SNSF Scientific Image Competition 2023
Congratulations to Francesca Angiolani, PhD student at the Behavioural Ecology Division! Her image “Searching for a good father” won the first prize in the category "Object of Study" in the SNSF Scientific Image Competition 2023. She even had a second image awarded by the committee. The picture “Cognition roulette” displays a Tokay gecko during a spatial learning experiment in a radial arm maze.
Volz Award Winners 2022
The Volz Award for 2022 has been awarded to Annika Freudiger (best publication from MSc thesis: Ecological variation drives morphological differentiation in a highly social vertebrate) and Zuyao Liu (best publication from PhD thesis: Chromosomal Fusions Facilitate Adaptation to Divergent Environments in Threespine Stickleback). They both presented their work as part of the seminar Lecture Series in Ecology and Evolution on November, 1st, 2022. The board of directors congratulates them for their success and whishes them all the best for their upcoming scientific career.
Teaching award
Congratulations to 4 teachers from our Institute, who have received a Science faculty award for their excellent teaching in Fall semester 2021:
- Prof. Dr. Madhav P. Thakur (Advanced concepts in Ecology and Evolution)
- Prof. Dr. Raphaël Arlettaz (Conservation Biology research practical)
- PD Dr. Jean-Yves Humbert (Conservation Biology research practical)
- PD Dr. Veronika Braunisch (Conservation Biology research practical)
New paper in PNAS
In their experimental study, Sakshi Sharda, Tobias Züst, Matthias Erb and Barbara Taborsky showed that mothers that had been exposed to predator videos during egg maturation laid heavier and more nutrient-rich eggs. The offspring hatching from these eggs had a 50 msec faster flight reflex at an age of three months compared to the control treatment, revealing an adaptive egg-mediated maternal effect on behaviour.