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Experimental Ecology
 
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Zurich Interaction Seminar: Ecology & Evolution

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The Zurich Interaction Seminar will resume again at the start of the spring semester (February 2012). To increase interaction between the ETH and the University, the seminar will be held at Irchel during the whole coming semester.

The first session of the semester will take place on Tuesday (for the regulars: yes, exceptionally NOT Monday), February 28th, at 17:30 in room Y34-J-01 at the Irchel campus of the University of Zurich.

Schedule (spring 2012)

Date Discussion leader
Topic Poster
February 28th
Guest speaker: Daniel Rankin
Putting the "social" in social evolution
 
March 12th
Gabriel Leventhal
Theoretical Biology, ETH Zurich
A chain of events: networks, epidemics, and resistance
 
March 26th
Marco Plebani

Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich

Some like it hot, others not: population and community effects of temperature and habitat size in protist microcosms
view poster
April 2nd
Gabriella Gall & Carissa Fletcher
Communication and Cognition in Social Mammals, University of Zurich
How do different environments affect Meerkat (Suricata suricata) behaviour?
view poster
April 23rd
Simona Constantinescu
Computational Biology Group, ETH Zurich
Inferring cancer progression from gene expression data
view poster
May 7th
Louis du Plessis
Theoretical Biology, ETH Zurich
Mosaicism in tailed bacteriophages
view poster
May 21st
Luis Cayetano
Evolutionary Ecology, EAWAG
TBA
 

About the seminar

After a good run of nice talks by our fellows over the past two years, the Zurich Interaction Seminar returned last semester in a new outfit. Papers are being published, theses are being defended, and it seems that we are all becoming increasingly more estranged towards each other. We believe it is time to bring the talking back into the talks and interaction back into the seminar.We therefore concentrate on "Zürcher Volk" and getting to know the work of the other young researchers in and around Zurich. The aim of the seminar will be less to present past results, but rather focus on describing our projects and interests to each other and in which direction we are looking to move forward with them. We welcome people at the master and PhD level, and from all fields of ecology and evolution to attend, be you anything from an aquatic mycologist to a theoretical ecologist, and it is a unique chance to get to know both each other and each other's research in a friendly, relaxed and informal setting.

DATE & TIME
The series starts on Tuesday, February 28th, at 17:30. It then takes place on Monday (usually) every second week.

PLACE

The seminar room Y34-J-01, Irchel campus of the University of Zurich.

CREDIT POINTS

The interaction seminar can be found in the ETH course catalogue as a semester course. This means that there is a possibility to obtain the credit points for the course (2 ECTS for ETH students, 1 ECTS for University students). The official requirements are that "a student must attend at least five sessions and either give a presentation or write an essay". However, in practice all we require is for you to be there at least 5 times during the semester and actively participate in discussions.

IMPORTANT: we do NOT give marks during this course; this is important since some departments do require marks to grant credit points for a course, especially to 4-5th year students. Please check those requirements with your own department as you might not be allowed to claim credit points for this course.

REGISTRATION

We grant the credit points through the ETH course system, and that is why it is crucial that you register at myStudies for the course number 551-0740-00L. If you have problems with the registration, please contact us (see below).

Note for University students: the Zurich Interaction Seminar is officially registered in the PhD program in Ecology under the sweat name of ECO401.

REFRESHMENTS

We provide snacks and beer ourselves, but we will have to ask for small donations to keep the amber nectar flowing.

Contact us

If you are interested in giving a talk at one of these times or simply have a general question, do not hesitate to email us. We hope to hear from you soon or see you in the new semester.

About the organizers

The organizers of the seminar change every semester, and for the most part come from the Institute of Integrative Biology at the ETH Zurich. However, for the first time this semester, one of us is coming from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies at the University of Zurich.

This semester's organizers are Nalini Puniamoorthy (UNIZH, group of Wolf Blanckenhorn), Gabriel Cisarovsky (ETHZ, group of Paul Schmid-Hempel), and Gabriel Leventhal (ETHZ, group of Sebastian Bonhoeffer). Please, feel free to contact any of us individually.

Previous semesters

Fall 2011

Date Discussion Leader Topic
26 Sep 2011 Gabriel Leventhal,
Theoretical Biology,
ETH Zürich
Ecology and Evolution in Zurich -- who we are and what we do
10 Oct 2011 Marco Plebani and Chris Clements,
Causes and Consequences of Extinctions,
University of Zurich
Extinctions in Microcosms
24 Oct 2011 Janice S.H. Lee and John Garcia-Ulloa
Applied Ecology & Conservation,
ETH Zürich
Reconciling targets for the environment, development and oil palm expansion
7 Nov 2011 Marta Giordano,
Evolutionary Ecology, Ecophysiology and Immunogenetics of Vertebrates,
University of Zurich
Maternal effects in birds. The role of the environment.
21 Nov 2011 Daniel Angst
Theoretical Biology,
ETH Zürich
Costs of plasmid-borne antibiotic resistance
5 Dec 2011 Megan McDonald,
Plant Pathology,
ETH Zürich
TBA

Spring 2011

Date Speaker
Title
Poster
21 Feb 2011
Simon Aeschbacher

Barton Group,

Institute of Science and Technology Austria

The fate of a domesticated allele in the wild: inference based on a drift-migration-selection model
view poster
7 Mar 2011
Ana Pinto

Department of Behavioural Ecology,

University of Neuchâtel

Look who's watching: cleaner fish Labroides dimidiatus adjusts audience effects to the quality of bystanders view poster
21 Mar 2011
Leyla Davis

Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies,

University of Zurich

Innate immune defenses of the Midwife Toad, Alytes obstetricans, to the fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis
view poster
4 Apr 2011
Nalini Puniamoorthy

Zoological Museum,

University of Zurich

Sexual size dimorphism and the rapid evolution of courtship signals in black scavenger flies (Sepsidae: Diptera) view poster
18 Apr 2011
David Brawand

Center for Integrative Genomics,

University of Lausanne

Comparative RNA sequencing reveals the evolution of gene expression levels in mammalian organs
view poster
2 May 2011
Alexander Kotrschal

Division Bahvioural Ecology,

University of Bern

The influence of early environment on later life: from brain morphology to cognition in fishes
view poster
16 May 2011
Samuel J Tazzyman

Centre for Mathematics and Physics in the Life Sciences and Experimental Biology,

University College London

The strategy of sperm depletion
view poster
30 May 2011
Matthias F Wucherer

Institute for Evolution and Ecology,

University of Tübingen

Red Fluorescence: how and why do Reef Fishes Glow?
view poster

Fall 2010

Date Speaker
Title
Poster
September 27th
Charlotte Klank

Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems,

ETH Zurich

"Small and resistant – Habitat fragmentation and Trollius europaeus populations in the Swiss lowlands"
view poster
October 11th
Peter H.W. Biedermann

Institute of Ecology and Evolution,

University of Bern

"Social, fungus farming beetles in Swiss forests? – Studies on Ambrosia beetles" view poster
October 25th Aelys Humphreys

Institute for Systematic Botany,

University of Zurich

"Generic delimitation and macroevolutionary studies in wallaby grasses, pampas grasses and relatives (Danthonioideae: Poaceae)"
view poster
November 8th Liliana Ballesteros

Institute for Biogeography,

University of Basel

"Understanding the geographic bias in species distribution data: A case study on African sphingid moths" view poster
November 22nd
Beat Ruffner

Institute of Integrative Biology,

ETH Zurich

"Insecticidal activity in plant-beneficial Pseudomonads: How they became insect pathogens"
view poster
December 6th
Angela Fechner

Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies,

University of Zurich

"Does sexual selection act on MHC genes in sex-role reversed species? - Insights from the potbellied seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis)"
view poster
December 13th
Melanie Dietz

Institute of Ecology and Evolution,

University of Bern

"Correlates of cooperation: Oxytocin triggers reciprocity in Norway Rats"
 

Spring 2010

Date Speaker
Research Area Title
Abstract
March 1st
Anabelle Reber

Department of Ecology and Evolution,
University of Lausanne (CH)

Host-parasite interactions and evolution of sociality
"Social and immune resistance to
fungal parasites in ants."
abstract
March 15th
Bettina Schirrmeister

Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies,
University of Zurich

Evolution of multicellularity
"Predominance of multicellularity in the early evolution of Cyanobacteria." abstract
March 29th Pia Schulz zur Wiesch

Institute of Integrative Biology,
ETH Zurich

Emergence of drug resistance and strategies of antibiotic treatment
"Modelling treatment strategies to contain resistance in hospital wards." abstract
April 12th Julien Roux

Department of Ecology and Evolution,
University of Lausanne (CH)

Evolution of gene expression "Constraints and innovations on vertebrate genome evolution."
abstract
April 26th Moritz Gerstung

Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering,
ETH Zurich

Evolution of cancer
"Ultra-deep sequencing of a tumor cell population." abstract
May 10th Aurélie Babin

Department of Ecology and Evolution,
University of Lausanne (CH)

Evolution of learning "Interactions between learning and immunity in Drosophila." abstract
May 17th Extra Seminar: Daniel Croll

Department of Ecology and Evolution,
University of Lausanne (CH)

Within-host evolution and multi-level selection in fungi
"Polymorphism in expressed sequences suggests purifying selection within one isolate of the symbiotic fungus Glomus intraradices."
abstract
May 31st
Pepijn Luijckx

Institute of Zoology,
University of Basel (CH)

Genetics of host-parasite interactions
"Resistance of Daphnia magna to a bacterial pathogen is based on few loci with strong epistasis."
abstract

Autumn 2009

Date Speaker
Research Area Title
Abstract
September 21st
Leonardo Ona Bubach
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Leipzig, Germany
Theoretical immunology
"On the causes of drug failure in HIV Treatment Interruption Therapy."
abstract
October 5th
Moritz Muschick

Zoological Institute
University of Basel, Switzerland

Sympatric speciation
"The beak of the fish - cichlid pharyngeal jaws and their role in speciation."
abstract
October 19th Christian Althaus

Institute of social and preventive medicine
University of Bern, Switzerland

Theoretical medicine and epidemiology
"Impact of partnership network structure on the spread of sexually
transmitted infections."
abstract
November 2nd
Tamara Hofer

Institute of Ecology and Evolution
University of Bern, Switzerland

Human population genetics
"Large allele frequency differences between human groups are more likely to have occurred by drift than by selection."
abstract
November 16th Hannes Svardal

Faculty of Mathematics
University of Vienna, Austria

Theory of adaptive dynamics
"Does God throw dice? The role of developmental noise in the evolution of phenotype determination."
abstract
November 30th Valentin Queloz
Institute of Integrative Biology
ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Forest pathology and dendrology "Is everything everywhere? A surprising answer from underground." abstract
December 14th Christiane Schreiweis

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany)
& MIT, McGovern Institute for Brain Research (Cambridge, MA)

Evolutionary genetics of speech/language
"Of Mice and Men: what humanized FOXP2-mice could tell us about
language/speech evolution."
abstract

Spring 2009

Date Speaker
Title
Abstract
February 16th
Barbara Fischer
Department of Behavioural Ecology (Bern University) &
IIASA
(Laxenburg, Austria)
When to store energy in a stochastic environment
abstract
March 2nd
Nicolas Perony
Chair of Systems Design (ETH Zurich) & Institute of Zoology (Zurich University)
From Animal Societies to Complex Systems : The case study of roosting associations in Bechstein's bats
abstract
March 16th
Joana Bernardes de Assis
Plant Pathology
ETH Zurich
Rhizoctonia solani AG-1 IA: population genetics of a cereal killer pathogen
abstract
March 30th
Joao Rodrigues
Department of Biochemistry
Zurich University
Evolution of metabolic networks: innovation and robustness
abstract
April 27th
Corine Schoebel
Aquatic Ecology
EAWAG
About how temperature and nutrients modify host-parasite interactions in hybridizing Daphnia
abstract
May 11th
Miguel Dos Santos
Department of Ecology & Evolution
Lausanne University
Evolution of costly punishment and cooperation through punishment scoring in humans
abstract
May 25th
Virginie Népoux
Department of Ecology & Evolution
Lausanne University
Effects of inbreeding on cognition in Drosophila
abstract
 

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