International Remote Seminar on Frontiers in Social Evolution (FINE)
The FINE Seminar allows students and researchers from all over the world to meet online to listen to exciting talks about social evolution both by established scientists and rising stars. Talks range all taxa from invertebrates to primates. The core theme is about how and why animals live in different societies. In addition, FINE provides free tools to enhance teaching in animal behavior.
The FINE arose out of the Covid-19 crisis, when individual meetings became impossible and a need for exciting talks insatiable! It proved to be a convenient and cheap way for students and researchers to meet every week throughout two terms (spring and fall), something that was not possible beforehand. Thus, we decided to keep the FINE Seminar going indefinitely and invite anyone interested in exploring the origins of sociality to join us.
Seminar Organizers
Carsten Schradin
Institution: CNRS Strasbourg, France
My research: I want to understand evolved physiological mechanisms which allow animals to behave adaptively in their changing natural environment. I study why animals live in groups, why animals live solitarily, both doing field studies in South Africa and comparative studies in mammals.
My vision for FINE: To create a community that enjoys weekly meeting because all of us are fascinated by research in social evolution. Attending FINE is more than fine, it is fun!
Loren Hayes
Institution: University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, U.S.A
My research: I am fascinated by communal breeding and social evolution. My research program has two main thrusts. For more than 15 years, my lab group has been studying the physiological underpinnings and reproductive consequences of communal breeding in the Chilean rodent, Octodon degus. We are also examining how climatic variation can shape the evolution of mammalian social organization. Personally, I am dedicated to the pursuit of Quality.
My vision for FINE: Bring together people with diverse backgrounds to share exciting research on social evolution.
Eduardo Fernandez-Duque
Institution: Yale University, U.S.A
My research: In my research I investigate: (1) the evolution and biological basis of pair-bonds, (2) the importance of alloparental as a possible influence on the evolution of mating/social systems and life history; (3) the relationship among mating systems, competition and sexual dimorphism; and (4) the evolution of diurnality/nocturnality, sleep, and activity patterns. Our research system includes three genera of pair-living Neotropical primates (titis, sakis and owl monkeys) that my collaborators and I study in field stations in Ecuador and Argentina, and primate centers in the US.
My vision for FINE: To create an intellectual community where everyone feels comfortable discussing and debating issues related to study of social complexity across the whole animal kingdom.