An increasing number of men suffer from fertility problems, especially in western society.  The general belief is that many problems may be related to stress but it is possible that some of them may arise because men simply have intercourse too infrequently.  This is the intriguing implication of recent research at the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, that has just been published in the international online journal PLoS ONE.

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In a long-term study Wouter van Dongen from the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna and colleagues, used multi-disciplinary techniques to examine the impact of a relatively recent invasion of the Peruvian sheartail (Thaumastura cora), which expanded its range from Peru into northern Chile during the 1970s, on the closely-related endangered Chilean woodstar (Eulidia yarrellii).  Fortunately the news are good:  They found that the impact of the Peruvian invader on its Chilean cousin is not as great as they had hypothesised. The species do hybridise, albeit infrequently, but the endangered Chilean hummingbird dominates the Peruvian species in territorial disputes.  The article “Behavioural and genetic interactions between an endangered and a recently-arrived hummingbird” by Wouter F. D. van Dongen, Ilenia Lazzoni, Hans Winkler, Rodrigo A. Vásquez, and Cristián F. Estades is available now in the “Online First Articles” section of the journal Biological Invasions.

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Billy Ocean may not have been thinking of fish when he wrote “The Color of Love”, but Sophie Hutter, Attila Hettyey, Dustin Penn, and Sarah Zala from the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna were able to show that zebrafish males and females both wear their brightest colours while wooing a mate.  These observations support the hypothesis that body colouration plays a role in the courtship and mating behaviour of zebrafish.   The article “Ephemeral sexual dichromatism in zebrafish (Danio rerio)” by Sophie Hutter, Attila Hettiyey, Dustin Penn, and Sarah Zala was published in the current edition of the journal “Ethology” (Vol. 118 (2012): 1208–1218).

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Listening to your mother has its benefits:  Mothers of superb fairy wrens, an Australian song bird, teach their offspring particular calls even before they hatch.  With this "password" the young then beg for food once they have hatched.  Parasitic cuckoo nestlings who do not know the melody come away empty-beaked.  An international team of researchers led bei Sonja Kleindorfer of Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, with participation of Herbert Hoi and Matteo Griggio of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, have published their results in the November 2012 edition of the journal „Current Biology".  The article even made it into ABC Science´s list of top 10 science stories that made the biggest impact in 2012.

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The evolVienna Autumn Symposium took place on  Wednesday, October 17, 2012, at the Lecture Hall of the Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna.  Speakers covered a range of evolutionary research in the Vienna area, and Michael Ritchie (University of St. Andrews) held the keyonote speech.  

Individuals in some species learn information about food, predators, and potential mates indirectly from conspecifics, without taking unnecessary risks by learning directly for themselves (‘social learning’).  Sarah Zala and Dustin Penn from the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna investigated whether zebrafish use social learning to assess risk (‘boldness/shyness’ behaviour). They found that wild zebrafish, which are more timid than their domesticated counterparts, became emboldened after interacting with domesticated zebrafish. The opposite did not occur, however. When the bolder domesticated zebrafish came in contact with wild zebrafish, they did not become more cautious. The study is published in the current issue of the journal “Animal Behaviour”.

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Global climate change is expected to cause sea-level rise of approximately 1-2 meters within this century and studies are beginning to project the consequences for humans and global biodiversity. While the direct consequences of sea-level rise due to flooding and inundation (‘primary effects’) are beginning to be assessed, no studies have yet considered the possible secondary effects from sea-level rise due to the relocation of human refugees into the hinterland.  Researchers from the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, with lead author Florian Wetzel and senior researcher Dustin Penn, collaborated with scientists  from the Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity Group of Aarhus University, Denmark to assess and project the potential secondary impacts of sea-level rise on habitat availability and the distribution of mammals. They found that in more populated regions secondary effects can lead to an equal or even higher loss of habitat than primary displacement effects. The results are published in the new issue of the international journal “Global Change Biology”.

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On 24 August 2012 the Austrian Society of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology (ÖGTP) held technical discussions on parasitology at the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology (KLIVV) on the topic "change through parasites". 

The symposium´s programme for download

In choosing a mate both males and females rely on visual cues to determine which potential partner will supply the best genes, best nesting site, best territory, and best parenting skills. New research by Katharina Mahr, Matteo Griggio, Michela Granatiero and Herbert Hoi of KLIVV and supported by the “Sparkling-Science” Program was recently published in BioMed Central’s open access journal "Frontiers in Zoology".  It shows that male blue tits’ parental behaviour is determined by female ornamentation.

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On 2 June 2012 the Vetmeduni Vienna opened its doors to the public.  About 2000 visitors came to look at various exhibits on the 15ha campus (1210 Vienna, Veterinärplatz 1) and to take part in various guided tours and listen to lectures on veterinary science subjects.  The Department of Integrative Biology and Evolution was represented with a joint FIWI & KLIVV Information corner on the topic of "wonderful world of wildlife - research at Wilheminenberg".

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It comes as a surprise to many that male house mice produce melodious songs to attract mates.  Unfortunately for us, because the melodies are in the ultra-sonic range human ears cannot detect them.  Through spectrographic analyses of the vocalizations of wild house mice, researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna  have found that the songs of male mice contain signals of individuality and kinship.  Their results appear in the journal Physiology & Behavior and in the Journal of Ethology.

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