Abstracts Content 110th annual meeting of the GERMAN ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 12th - 15th September 2017 | Main Building Bielefeld University Abstracts sorted by Topics Keynote Lectures 5-16 Behavioural Biology 17-68 Developmental Biology 69-76 Ecology 77-98 Evolutionary Biology 99-156 Morphology 157-204 Neurobiology 205-242 Physiology 243-268 Zoological Systematics 269-280 Index 281-289 Imprint 290 2 Overview Overview B Behaviour Behaviour B D Developmental Biology Developmental Biology D EC Ecology Ecology EC E Evolutionary Biology Evolutionary Biology E M Morphology Morphology M N Neurobiology Neurobiology N P Physiology Physiology P Z Zoological Systematics Zoological Systematics Z 3 4 Opening Lecture Public Lecture The evolu on of insects: A phylogenomic approach Die Chemie muss s mmen - sexuelle Kommunika on bei parasi schen Wes- pen [email protected] Joachim Ruther Universität Regensburg [email protected] Die Nutzung chemischer Reize und Signale ist für Insekten unabdingbar, um Nahrung und Paarungspartner zu fi nden oder natürlichen Feinden zu ent- kommen. Zur Kommunika on mit Artgenossen nutzen Insekten so genannte Pheromone. Sexualpheromone dienen der Anlockung von Paarungspartnern, deren Erkennung im Nahbereich oder der Auslösung von Paarungsbereit- scha . Damit die Kommunika on der Paarungspartner verlässlich funk o- niert, müssen diese chemischen Signale artspezifi sch sein. Das bedeutet, dass Artbildungsprozesse o mit einer Diversifi zierung chemischer Signale einher- gehen. Wie die Evolu on von chemischen Signalen abläu , steht zunehmend im Fokus der Pheromonforschung. Hierbei sind drei Fragen von besonderem Interesse: (1) Was sind die Voraussetzungen dafür, dass bes mmte Naturstof- fe im Laufe der Evolu on informa v werden und als Pheromone fungieren? (2) Warum und wie verändern sich etablierte Pheromonsignale? (3) Was sind die zugrunde liegenden gene schen und biochemischen Mechanismen? Parasi sche Wespen haben sich in den vergangen Jahren als hervorragen- de Modellorganismen erwiesen, um solche Fragen zu untersuchen. Hierbei handelt es sich um meist winzige Insekten aus der Ordnung der Hau lügler (Hymenoptera), die sich in anderen Arthropoden entwickeln und den Wirts- organismus am Ende ihrer Entwicklung töten. Sie spielen als natürliche Ge- genspieler eine enorm wich ge Rolle für das Funk onieren von terrestrischen Ökosystemen und werden zur biologischen Schädlingsbekämpfung eingesetzt. Anhand verschiedener Modellsysteme wird vorgestellt, wie Naturstoff e, die primär dem Verdunstungsschutz oder der Verteidigung dienen, im Laufe der Evolu on zu Sexualpheromonen parasi scher Wespen wurden. An der Gat- tung Nasonia wird zudem detailliert gezeigt, wie durch enzyma sche Modifi - zierung einer bereits vorhandenen Pheromonkomponente ein neues chemi- sches Signal entstehen kann, welches dazu beiträgt, Fehlpaarungen zwischen nahe verwandten Arten zu vermeiden. 5 6 Keynote Talks Organiser‘s Symposium Keynote Talks Organiser‘s Symposium The neurobiology of individuality Courtship duets in the wild: electrocommunica on at the limits of sensa on Benjamin de Bivort Jan Benda Harvard University Universität Tübingen [email protected] [email protected] Individuals o en display conspicuously diff erent pa erns of behavior, even Sensory systems evolve in the ecological niches each species is occupying. when they are very closely related gene cally. These diff erences give rise to Accordingly, the tuning of sensory neurons is expected to match the sta s- our sense of individuality, but what is their molecular and neurobiological cs of natural s muli. For an unbiased quan fi ca on of sensory scenes we basis? Individuals that are nominally gene cally iden cal diff er at various mo- tracked natural communica on behavior of the weakly electric fi sh Apterono- lecular and neurobiological levels: cell-to-cell varia on in soma c genomes, tus rostratus in their Neotropical rainforest habitat with high spa o-temporal cell-to-cell varia on in expression pa erns, individual-to-individual varia on resolu on over several days. In the context of courtship and aggression we in neuronal morphology and physiology, and individual-to-individual varia on observed large quan es of electrocommunica on signals. Echo responses in pa erns of brain ac vity. It is unknown which of these levels is fundamen- and acknowledgment signals clearly demonstrated the behavioral relevance of these signals. Despite their relevance these signals are non-op mally rep- tally causal of behavioral diff erences. To inves gate this problem, we use the resented in the sensory periphery. Frequencies of courtship signals are far fruit fl y Drosophila melanogaster, whose gene c toolkit allows the manipula- outside of the neurons‘ best tuning range and signals occurring in assessment on of each of these mechanis c levels, and whose rapid lifecycle and small and a ack behaviors drive sensory neurons just above threshold. Our results size allows for high-throughput automa on of behavioral assays. This la er emphasize the importance of quan fying sensory scenes derived from freely point is crucial; iden fying inter-individual behavioral diff erences requires behaving animals in their natural habitats for understanding the evolu on high sample sizes both within and across individual animals. Automated be- and func on of neural systems. havioral characteriza on is at the heart of our research strategy. In every be- havior examined, individual fl ies have individual behavioral preferences, and we have begun to iden fy both neural genes and circuits that control the de- gree of behavioral variability between individuals. Our recent eff orts focus on three ques ons: 1) what computa on is performed by circuits that regulate behavioral variability, 2) can we iden fy “loci of individuality,” morphological or physiological correlates of individual behavioral biases, and 3) does behav- ioral variability refl ect developmental stochas city/decanaliza on, or a regu- lated, adap ve bet-hedging strategy to thrive in variable environments? 7 8 Keynote Talks Keynote Talks Proximate and ul mate causes of developmental plas city Mul ple ma ng, dispersal and (faculta ve) sex: can bet-hedging explain them all? Barbara Taborsky Universität Bern Hanna Kokko [email protected] University of Zurich [email protected] The environment experienced early in life can shape phenotypes for life, Bet-hedging has been called a ‘seduc ve’ explana on in evolu onary biology. some mes inducing major phenotypic changes of key life history traits or This is because the ra onale is easily captured in idioms such as “do not put behavioural strategies. Such las ng eff ects of developmental plas city im- all your eggs in the same basket” or “a bird in the hand is worth two in the pacts Darwinian fi tness and should be subject to selec on. Nevertheless, the bush”. But how much is evolu on really guided by avoidance of the risk of adap ve value of developmental plas city is s ll subject to ongoing debate. remaining completely empty-handed (i.e. no surviving off spring), as opposed One key problem hampering our understanding of developmental plas city to simply maximizing the arithme c mean of off spring produc on (which may is that its mechanisms and func on are mostly studied in simple laboratory be maximized if accep ng some probability for the ‘no surviving off spring’ environments tes ng for the eff ects of only a single environmental factor event)? I will review the theory of bet-hedging and (re)consider some pub- during a single ontogene c period. However, natural environments are mul- lished puta ve examples that interpret mul ple ma ng females as hedging variate and complex, and environmental infl uences can aff ect development their bets. I will then ask if dispersal and sex, two traits that are less o en at mul ple ontogene c stages. I will present evidence how adding natural discussed using bet-hedging terminology, might benefi t from being viewed complexity to developmental experiments can promote our understanding from this angle. of developmental plas city. In order to understand the func on of develop- mental plas city we have to know (1) when during a life me environmental informa on infl uencing development should be obtained, and when this in- forma on is benefi cial, and (2) how informa on obtained during mul ple life stages or from mul ple environmental parameters is integrated during phe- notypic development. (3) Finally, to understand the evolu on of developmen- tal plas city, we do not only have to understand its fi tness consequences, but we also need to iden fy the traits that are actually evolving. This requires an in-depth understanding of the underlying mechanisms responsible for plas c responses. I will illustrate the above points by examples from recent studies mostly using cichlid fi sh as model organisms. 9 10 Keynote Talks Keynote Talks The causes and consequences of selec on at the game c level in animal Macroevolu on meets macroecology: diversity in space and me Simone Immler Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F) Evolu onsbiologiskt Centrum & Goethe University Frankfurt [email protected] [email protected] An inescapable consequence of sex in eukaryotes is the evolu on of a bipha- Macroecology has tradi onally studied mostly spa al pa erns of diversity sic life cycle with alterna ng diploid and haploid phases. The occurrence of and species’ traits, e.g. the large-scale varia on in species richness across selec on during the haploid phase can have far reaching consequences for con nents. These pa erns and their rela onships with present-day climate, fundamental evolu onary processes including the rate of adapta on, the ex- topography and other abio c factors are compara vely well-known for many tent of inbreeding depression and the load of deleterious muta ons, as well taxa today, but their dynamics back in me are rarely studied. In recent years, as for applied research into fer lisa on technology.