interBat - Sensory and cognitive ecology of species interactions in bat communities
In January 2012 a new project was launched by Dr. Björn Siemers, head of the Sensory Ecology research group, who was awarded a five year ERC Starting Grant worth 1.5 million EUR by the European Research Council (ERC).
The project addresses two fundamental questions concerning the interaction of animal species: What ‘knowledge’ do animals have about the behaviour and ecology of other animal species? And do differences in sensory ability play a role in mediating resource partitioning between coexisting, potentially competing animal species?
The central commitment of this project is to study animal behaviour using an experimental and hypothesis driven approach. The model system will be a European community of bat species. In 2012 and 2013 we want to develop automated experimental stations that can be deployed in the field. These stations will autonomously interact with wild animals, run individualized experiments and gather high-quality data for hypothesis testing.
The project will be hosted by the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen. Field work will be conducted at the TBRS in Bulgaria in cooperation with Bulgarian researchers and students.
