ISBE 2014

It's conference season, and as of this morning most of the Large Animal Research Group (where I am currently doing some work) is somewhere between Heathrow and Iceland, the country not the shop. I have recently found out that flying to the US via Iceland is a very cost-effective/good way to get an extra holiday in. They are all heading to ISBE 2014, in New York city, hosted by the unfortunately named Hunter College City University of New York Hunter (or Hunter CUNY - someone really dropped the ball on that naming). This is the big conference for behavioural ecologists and biologist, and is held biennially with the last one being in Lund 2012. I am of course very jealous, as there will be loads of amazing talks and chances to meet world experts and do some much needed networking. I am also sad to not be going as many of my friends from different universities all over the world will be attending and so it would be a great place to catch up with people. But this isn't supposed to be me feeling sorry for myself, I am going to put up a list below of some talks that would be great to see if you yourself are attending.

Here is a link to the conference website http://www.isbe2014.com, it isn't the best laid out in the world. It looks like it is going to be a really great conference and New York seems like a great place to host it. Good luck to everyone taking part, and hopefully loads of great collaborations come out of it.

So the list of talks that should be good:

BJ Ashton
Saturday session 3, HW615: 
Group size drives cognitive differences in a cooperative breeder

DL Cram
Friday session 2, HN C-002:
The oxidative stress costs of reproduction are mitigated by helpers in a cooperatively breeding bird

JE York
Saturday session 1,Lang HN 4th floor:
‘Dear-enemy’ of the collective: cooperative contributions to territorial defence under experimentally manipulated levels of threat

MJ Nelson-Flower
Tuesday session 1, Assembly Hall:
Male and females use different mechanisms to maintain high reproductive skew in a cooperative bird

T Flower
Friday session 3, HW 511:
The coevolution of an interspecific sentry signal between foraging mutualists

D Lukas
Tuesday session 1, Assembly Hall:
The evolution of male infanticide in mammals

S Cunningham
Saturday session 1, HW 615:
It's cool to be dominant*: social status and thermoregulation in birds

M Zöttl
Tuesday session 1, Kaye Playhouse
Queen succession, female-female competition and forcible eviction in Damaraland mole-rat (Fukomys damarensis) colonies

SW Townsend
Friday session 1, HW 511
The meerkat ‘animal moving’ call: functional reference in highly variable situations