Course Chemical Communication

Registration: ends when max number of participants is reached, Early bird rate before 10 January 2020
Fees: (1) PhD students of EPS: early bird registration 300€, regular fee 350€, (2) EPS postdocs early bird fee 680€, regular fee 730€; (3) others see website
Organizer: Marcel Dicke and Astrid Groot
Contact: Lennart Suselbeek
More information: https://www.pe-rc.nl/chemical-communication

Chemical communication is one of the most abundant types of information exchange in life. Chemical signals or cues may be produced by macro-organisms or by their associated micro-organisms. Chemical communication can also be exploited by a third party such as a predator exploiting cues from its prey. Thus, chemical signals may be perceived by individuals of the same species or different species at different trophic levels, to make decisions on e.g. whether to hide or forage, to approach a sexual partner, to search for a resource or avoid a competitor or natural enemy. Chemical information may consist of individual compounds or complex mixtures. Responses to this information may be hardwired or phenotypically plastic. As a result, chemical communication and its exploitation shapes interactions between individuals, shapes population processes and structures communities.

In the postgraduate course Chemical Communication we will focus on chemical information at different levels of biological organisation and pay attention at ecological processes and their underlying mechanisms, including production of chemical information and its perception. We will include microorganism, plants and animals, their interactions and consequences for community dynamics. The course is composed of a poster session, a series of lectures, model demonstrations, and development of a research proposal in a group setting.

Below, you can find the list of currently confirmed lecturers in this course. Check the PE&RC website for the updates.

•Martin Kaltenpoth (Evolutionary Ecology, University of Mainz, Germany)

•Paolina Garbeva (Department of Microbial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology)

•Alexander Haverkamp (Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University & Research)

•Lisa Maria Schulte (Evolutionary Ecology, Goethe University, Germany)

•Rachel Lee Vannette (Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of California, USA)

•Astrid Groot (Population & Evolutionary biology, IBED, University of Amsterdam)

•Marcel Dicke (Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University & Research)


Sunday, February 2, 2020 through February 6
programme will follow
Hotel de Bosrand
Bosrand 28, Ede