Barbara Caspers
Barbara A. Caspers is Professor for Behavioural Ecology at Bielefeld University. Prior to this, she was a postdoc and then Freigeist Fellow and Independent Group Leader at the same institution, having done her PhD at the Humboldt University in Berlin. That PhD was on olfactory communication in the greater sac-winged bat, her subsequent research expanding via salamanders to birds, notably the role of olfaction in kin recognition in zebra finches. That work contributed to her winning the 2012 Niko Tinbergen Award of the Ethologische Gesellschaft (German Ethological Society) for outstanding postdoctoral research. The general goals of her group’s research are to understand the evolution of chemical cues in vertebrates, particularly how relatedness is encoded in body odours and the impact of microbes on communication. Beyond research, she has leading roles in progressing gender equality and mentoring women scientists and is a member of Council at Bielefeld University.
Plenary: Family affairs - the impact of chemical cues on bird social communication
Chemical cues are evolutionary the oldest and most widespread mechanisms of information transfer. Even birds, although long underestimated, have a very well-developed sense of smell and gain information about conspecifics via chemical cues. Chemical cues are predestined to encode information about an individual’s genotype and thus seem to be ideal for kin recognition. Here I will give insights into our latest research on avian olfactory social communication and how chemical cues shape, or don’t shape, behavioural responses.