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From clonal fish and biomimetic robots to Mexican waves of the Sulphur mollies - How individual differences are linked to large scale collective processes.
Phenotypic variation among individuals is thought to be caused by differences in genes and/or environmental conditions. Therefore, if these sources of variation are removed, individuals are predicted to develop similar phenotypes lacking individual variation. In sharp contrast to these predictions, we find substantial individual variation in behaviour among genetically identical individuals of the clonal fish, Poecilia formosa, that were isolated directly after birth into highly standardized environments. In order to study both causes and consequences of these individual differences, we developed a biomimetic robot – the so-called Robofish – that is able to integrate itself interactively into groups of fish. I will thus showcase my research on free-living Sulphur mollies (Poecilia sulphuraria) in Mexico that indeed use several mechanisms found in laboratory experiments to perform astonishing collective behaviors when faced with real predators in their natural habitats.
Date:
13 November 2025, 15:00
Venue:
Life and Mind Building, South Parks Road, OX1 3EL
Speaker:
Dr David Bierbach (Humboldt University Berlin)
Organising department:
Department of Biology
Organiser contact email address:
robert.heathcote@biology.ox.ac.uk
Host:
Dr Robert Heathcote (University of Oxford)
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Andrea Kastner
