BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture - ECPv6.15.20//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://bec.ucla.edu
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/Los_Angeles
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0800
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:PDT
DTSTART:20150308T100000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0800
TZNAME:PST
DTSTART:20151101T090000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0800
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:PDT
DTSTART:20160313T100000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0800
TZNAME:PST
DTSTART:20161106T090000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0800
TZOFFSETTO:-0700
TZNAME:PDT
DTSTART:20170312T100000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0700
TZOFFSETTO:-0800
TZNAME:PST
DTSTART:20171105T090000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20161107T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20161107T000000
DTSTAMP:20260510T205220
CREATED:20200922T220242Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T005123Z
UID:4342-1478476800-1478476800@bec.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Barney Schlinger - Sexual Selection for Grace\, Speed\, Strength and\, Oh Yes\, Noise!
DESCRIPTION:Barney Schlinger: UCLAManakins are a clade of extraordinary neotropical birds. In many species\, the brightly–colored males are polygynous\, performing no parental care duties\, but they gather into leks for courtship. Over the past 20 years\, my lab has performed detailed behavioral studies of golden-collared manakins (Manacus vitellinus) of Panamanian rainforests. These males clear display courts (by moving debris more than double their own body weight) where they perform elaborate\, athletic courtship dances that are visually stunning\, especially when viewed in slow motion. As part of court defense and courtship\, males produce explosive snapping sounds by powerfully and rapidly throwing their wings together so their wrists collide over their heads. We find that females prefer to copulate with those males whose displays are quick and accurate and noisy. Anatomical (skeletal and musculature) and physiological (neural and endocrine and cardiovascular) studies show that males have evolved a variety of specializations that enable these extreme behavioral phenotypes. I describe a subset of this body of work in the context of mate choice theory\, the evolution of communication and the value of perceiving the gestalt of a single organism.
URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/barney-schlinger-sexual-selection-for-grace-speed-strength-and-oh-yes-noise/
CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20161114T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20161114T000000
DTSTAMP:20260510T205220
CREATED:20200922T220242Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T005123Z
UID:4343-1479081600-1479081600@bec.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Dan Conroy-Beam - A Multidimensional Approach to Human Mate Selection
DESCRIPTION:Dan Conroy-Beam: UC Santa BarbaraHuman mating research is largely motivated by an assumption that mate choice is guided by mate preferences. But the field knows little about the psychology responsible for translating preferences into downstream outcomes. Stated differently\, what do mate preferences do and how do they do it? I present data from a series of studies exploring these questions using two empirical strategies: agent-based models and research on actual mated couples. First\, I use a model of human mate choice evolution to compare the evolvability of several alternative algorithms for integrating mate preferences in mate selection. The findings support a novel hypothesis: human mate preferences are integrated by a Euclidean algorithm that represents preferences and potential mates as points within a common multidimensional preference space. I then apply this novel Euclidean algorithm to test hypotheses concerning a variety mating outcomes—attraction to potential mates\, mate selection\, and the calibration of mate preferences. Findings reveal that (1) Euclidean distances from ideal mate preferences predict attraction to potential mates\, (2) chosen mates tend to fall close to mate preferences in preference space\, (3) Euclidean measures of mate value predict people’s ability to fulfill their mate preferences and attract desirable mates\, and (4) people calibrate their ideal mate preferences to their mate value as measured by a Euclidean algorithm. These findings highlight the utility of a multidimensional\, Euclidean model of mate preference psychology for understanding how human psychology translates mate preferences into downstream mating outcomes.
URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/dan-conroy-beam-a-multidimensional-approach-to-human-mate-selection/
CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20161121T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20161121T000000
DTSTAMP:20260510T205220
CREATED:20200922T220243Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T005123Z
UID:4344-1479686400-1479686400@bec.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Ian C. Gilby - Pan the hunter: Chimpanzee predation and human evolution
DESCRIPTION:Ian C. Gilby: Arizona State UniversityIn order to understand the causes and consequences of the significant increase in meat consumption in hominins\, we must first make inferences about the behavior of the last common ancestor (LCA) of apes and humans. Chimpanzees\, which regularly hunt vertebrates\, are a valuable point of reference for understanding the possible range of behavior exhibited by the LCA. I use long-term data from three communities in Tanzania and Uganda to determine why and how chimpanzees hunt. While chimpanzees exhibit a wide range of cooperative abilities\, I will argue that in the context of hunting\, cognitively complex mechanisms involving delayed\, social benefits and/or shared intentions explain only a small proportion of the cooperation observed in the wild. Therefore\, reliance upon such mechanisms in humans evolved after our lineage split from the great apes. Additionally\, I will discuss the constraints on hunting faced by female chimpanzees\, and will argue that similar factors provided a foundation for the evolution of the sexual division of labor in hominins.
URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/ian-c-gilby-pan-the-hunter-chimpanzee-predation-and-human-evolution/
CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20161128T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20161128T000000
DTSTAMP:20260510T205220
CREATED:20200922T220714Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20201013T005123Z
UID:4348-1480291200-1480291200@bec.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Noa Pinter-Wollman - Individual Variation in Collective Behavior
DESCRIPTION:Noa Pinter-Wollman: UCLAMany biological systems are aggregates of individuals working synergistically to achieve collective goals. In social insects\, evolution acts on variation in the emergent collective behaviors of the colony. Variation among colonies in collective behavior can result from differences in their composition and/or from differences in the environments in which they reside. To understand how environment and group composition shape collective outcomes I study the causes and consequences of individual variation in the behavior of both workers and colonies of ants and social spiders. Using field and lab studies combined with computer simulations\, image analysis\, and social network theory I show that both behavioral composition and spatial constraints shape collective outcomes. For example\, exploratory individuals increase a group’s ability to detect high-quality nest sites\, and nest architecture influences collective foraging dynamics. These findings demonstrate that social and physical environments interact to influence complex biological processes.
URL:https://bec.ucla.edu/event/noa-pinter-wollman-individual-variation-in-collective-behavior/
CATEGORIES:Past Presentation,Presentation
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR