La conferenza del Dr. Beniamino Tuliozi al Convegno del Dipartimento di Biologia
Pubblicato il: 01.07.2020 09:00
Lunedì 3 e martedì 4 Febbraio 2020 si è tenuto il quarto Convegno del Dipartimento di Biologia.
Il convegno è stato aperto da un intervento del Prof. Cesare Montecucco, patologo e neurobiologo di fama internazionale e anche Professore Emerito dell’Università di Padova. Un totale di 16 presentazioni scientifiche, tenute da ricercatori del Dipartimento, è stato diviso in 4 sessioni. Il convegno si è chiuso con una conferenza aperta alla città di Padova, tenuta dal. Prof. Telmo Pievani.
A questo link potrete visionare una selezione delle presentazioni scientifiche del nostro convegno:
https://mediaspace.unipd.it/channel/DiBio%2BRetreat%2B2020/152845961
A questo link mettiamo invece in evidenza la conferenza del Dr. Beniamino Tuliozi dal titolo "Dynamic Duos: variation in social position across different contexts"
https://mediaspace.unipd.it/media/Retreat_DiBio_session_3_Beniamino_Tuliozi/1_bpam7ykg/152845961
Dynamic Duos: variation in social position across different contexts
Stark differences in individual strategies are a well-known feature of animal diversity. In many animal societies, moreover, not only single individuals but also all their groupmates are posed to gain or risk varyingly depending on what strategies are employed. The leader/follower dichotomous strategy has been reported in many taxa of moving animals; follower individuals may also act as scroungers whenever leaders produce new sources of food or reach novel areas sooner. We decided to investigate dichotomous strategies not only during exploration but also in a vastly different situation, one of the most crucial times in the life of any animal: during the attack of a predator and the split-second reactions to it.
We thus tested captive house sparrows (Passer domesticus) dyads both during an open-field test and during a simulated attack. As expected, we discovered that during the open-field test individuals that behaved as leaders acted also as producers, while the followers acted as scroungers. However, during the simulated attack individuals in the dyads switched roles, with scroungers leading the escape flights and producer individuals tailing them. This evidence for the mirror positioning of the two individuals during such a frantic movement underlines the importance of the coordination of individual strategies in a social group. Moreover, it suggests that as certain roles are linked across very different situations, some dichotomous strategies might be advantageous for both individuals by sometimes providing and sometimes allowing to gain benefits depending on the context.
