Predation is a fundamental interaction between animals. It plays an essential role in shaping ecological communities and has direct consequences for the survival, growth and reproduction of species. Despite a vast body of research on the ecology of predation, it is not clear how the sensory and locomotor systems of animals determine the outcome of a predatory attack. Through the use of cutting-edge techniques, investigators have only recently made this a tractable area of research. The goal of this symposium is to highlight recent findings that are advancing our understanding of how sensory-motor dynamics affect predator-prey interactions. The symposium will bring together presentations on a diversity of animals (e.g. bats, insects, fishes, crustaceans), locomotory modes (e.g. swimming, flying, jumping) and sensory systems (e.g. mechanoreception, vision, chemoreception, echolocation), to provide insight into the unifying themes of this emerging field. Broader Impacts: The structure of the symposium is designed to facilitate exchange between biologists from different fields, geographical areas and career levels. The talks will be open to attendees of the Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB) in San Francisco, CA on January 3-7, 2013. Invited participants include three women, three assistant professors, three student speakers, two researchers from non-academic institutions and four international participants. In addition, students and postdoctoral researchers will have the opportunity to contribute presentations in a complementary session. The meeting agenda is available online (sicb.org/meetings/2013/symposia/predator.php) and participants will contribute to a published volume of the journal Integrative and Comparative Biology (icb.oxfordjournals.org) in 2013. Due to its excellent history of supporting and encouraging student participation, SICB is an ideal venue for engaging young investigators in this topic and encouraging the types of integrative research approaches needed to answer outstanding questions about the sensory-motor dynamics that mediate predator-prey interactions.
Predation is a fundamental interaction between animals that plays a major role in shaping community structure and the evolution of species. Despite this importance, it is largely unclear what features distinguish effective predators and prey. Through cutting-edge techniques in biomechanics, neurobiology, and behavioral experimentation, investigators have only recently been able to explore the mechanisms that determine the outcome of predator-prey interactions. By featuring some of the best research in this field, the symposium presented an exciting frontier in organismal biology. The symposium featured 12 invited talks, 9 contributed talks and 23 contributed posters at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. Subsequent to this meeting, the invited speakers published 6 peer-reviewed articles in a dedicated volume of the journal Integrative and Comparative Biology. Intellectual Merit. These papers and presentations offered the latest advances in research on the role of sensory and motor systems in predator-prey interactions. These works provide specific models for researchers to conduct organismal research the context of ecological and evolutionary biology. Broader Impacts. The symposium provided a showcase for research from investigators at all career levels. Three of our invited speakers and numerous contributors were students or postdoctoral researchers. Therefore, the symposium provided a valuable opportunity for student training and participation.
