Events

Insects are often thought to be little more than small biological robots, whose behavior is preprogrammed by their genes and some behavioral patterns indeed support this view. However, insects are also extremely fast learners that are even capable of developing new behavioral routines. Moreover, their metamorphosis allows them to completely remodel their brains to adapt to an entirely new lifestyle. In this workshop we will discuss how the insects might use a combination of stereotypic and plastic behavioral routines and how we might exploit these different behavioral phases for crop protection as well as insect conservation.

As preparation for the workshop please read the following:

Cook, B., Haverkamp, A., Hansson, B. S., Roulston, T., Lerdau, M., & Knaden, M. (2020). Pollination in the Anthropocene: a moth can learn ozone-altered floral blends. Journal of Chemical Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-020-01211-4

Haverkamp, A., Bing, J., Badeke, E., Hansson, B. S., & Knaden, M. (2016). Innate olfactory preferences for flowers matching proboscis length ensure optimal energy gain in a hawkmoth. Nature Communications, 7:11644, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11644

Woude, E. van der, Groothuis, J., & Smid, H. M. (2019). No gains for bigger brains: Functional and neuroanatomical consequences of relative brain size in a parasitic wasp. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13450

The workshop for those interested is organized from 13:30 to 15:00 online. Registration is required (space limited to 15), email Yidong Wang (yidong.wang@wur.nl) for registration and link to the zoom session. The workshop gives attendees the opportunity to meet the speaker of the seminar and have a discussion based on recent publications. The workshops are a good possibility to get acquainted with hot topics in science and to learn how to discuss these topics with leading scientists in the field. Furthermore, BSc and MSc students can get 1 ECTS for attending 2 workshops.