Symposia

Symposium by Young Researchers (in English*)

23rd November (Fri.) 10:00-12:00
Conference Hall

Individual decision-making in a group

Organizers: Yuta TAMAI (Doshisha Univ.), Kanta TERAO (Tohoku Univ.), Hiroki KOHNO (Univ. Tokyo), Tomonari NOZAKI (Kyoto Univ.), Hiroshi MATSUI (Keio Univ.)

Social animals, including human being, decide their behaviors through interactions with others. Individuals in a conspecific group perceive benefits by cooperation, e.g. decreasing predation risk by increasing vigilance against predators. Especially, some groups are known to exhibit sophisticated collective behaviors in a spontaneous way, and appear as if they are single living organisms. Then, how does each individual in a group perceive environment and decide its behavior, which finally results in collective behaviors?
   In this symposium, we will introduce studies about cognitive abilities and decision-making mechanisms related to group behaviors across various animal taxa, such as insects, fish, amphibians, birds, and primates. By overviewing information processing and behavioral rule of individual in a group referring to life history of each species, we are going to discuss generality and diversity of the mechanisms underlying cognition and decision-making of individuals in a group.

Speakers:

• Ikkyu AIHARA (Univ. Tsukuba)
  "Spatio-temporal structure and its roles in frog choruses"
• Koji TODA (Waseda Univ.)
  "Frontline in comparative cognitive neuroscience"
• Takashi HOTTA (Kyoto Univ.)
  "Is face also specific stimulus for fish?"
• Shigeto DOBATA (Kyoto Univ.)
  "Understanding self-organization in social insect colonies assisted by swarm robotics"

* Both English and Japanese will be used for discussion.

JSCPB/JSS Joint Symposium** (in Japanese)

24th November (Sat.) 15:50-17:50
Conference Hall

Interactions between Hosts and Symbionts -Both Sides Now-

Conveners: Midori SAKURA (Kobe Univ.), Ryoma KAMIKAWA (Kyoto Univ.)

No organism lives alone. Each organism affects and is affected by other species and natural surroundings. They sometimes maintain symbionts living within them, which may be indispensable to the survival of both the hosts and the symbionts. Although such relationships are sometimes beneficial and sometimes harmful, they are essential to many organisms and ecosystems, and they provide a balance that can only be achieved by working together. This symposium aims not only to cover the current knowledge and the most recent advances of research on biological symbiosis, but also to focus on the dynamics resulting from the presence of a trade-off between the benefits of symbiosis and the costs for maintaining it.

Speakers:

• Takuya SATO (Kobe Univ.)
  "Parasite-mediated energy flow across forest and stream ecosystems: proximate mechanisms and ecological consequences"
• Masaru K. HOJO (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.)
  "Conflicts of interest and regulations in the ant-lycaenid butterfly mutualism"
• Susumu OHTSUKA (Hiroshima Univ.)
  "Symbiosis in marine plankton communities with a special reference to their trophic relationships"
• Shunichi TAKAHASHI (NIBB)
  "Symbiotic algae within corals: different lifestyles in inside and outside the host cell"

** This symposium is co-organized by Japan Symbiosis Society.

Proposed Symposium (in English***)

25th November (Sun.) 10:00-12:00
Conference Hall

Comparative physiology of control of rhythm and timing in motion

Organizers: Yoshifumi YAMAWAKI (Kyushu Univ.), Noriyasu ANDO (Univ. Tokyo)

Behaviors are executed by coordinated activity of many muscles. The neural circuits for generating rhythmic movements such as walking, flying, and swimming have been understood well, however, how the rhythm is adjusted depending on the situation remains unclear. In studies on goal-oriented movements such as reaching, there are many open questions about mechanisms underlying temporal control of muscle contraction and relaxation.
   Body movements are not determined by neural activities alone. Final body movements are affected by not only muscle activities but also properties of skeletal systems. Body movements change the environments, and its change affects the neural activities through sensory feedbacks. Hence, it is important to study the motor system in the view of implemental design considering the interaction between body and environment.
   In this symposium, we will introduce studies on mechanisms for adjusting rhythm and timing in motion, using fish, insects, and crustacean in cellular, muscular, and skeletal levels. By comparing those studies, we are going to discuss common principles and species-specificities in ‘temporal control of body movements’.

Speakers:

• Shigehiro NAMIKI (Univ. Tokyo)
  "Descending neuron population for wingbeat control in Drosophila"
• Yukiko KIMURA (NIBB)
  "Regulation of locomotor speed and selection of active sets of neurons by spinal inhibitory neurons in zebrafish"
• Yoshifumi YAMAWAKI (Kyushu Univ.)
  "Temporal control of foreleg movements in predatory strike of the mantis"
• Katsushi KAGAYA (Kyoto Univ.)
  "Compression and extension control of exoskeletal springs"

Panelist:

• Hideki NAKAGAWA (Kyushu Inst. Tech.)

*** Both English and Japanese will be used for discussion.