Received from NSIS: “The Nova Scotian Institute of Science is pleased to present the sixth of its 2020-2021 free monthly public lectures on Monday, April 12th, at 7:30pm. Dr. Russell Wyeth will speak on “Wayfinding Under the Waves”. Due to Covid-19, this will be a virtual presentation on Zoom. The link is near the top of the “Public Lectures” website page http://nsis.chebucto.org/meetings/ and will open just before the lecture.
Dr. Russell Wyeth, Dept of Biology, St. Francis Xavier University
Presents: Wayfinding Under the WavesNavigation behaviour is something almost every animal does, choosing where to move through their habitat. In doing so, animals use a range of cues to find their way towards prey and mates and away from predators.
Humans, like so many other terrestrial animals, rely heavily on vision for navigation. But in aquatic habitats, vision is often much less useful: the destination (whatever it may be) cannot be seen. Instead, natural selection has led to a range of alternate strategies in aquatic animals, involving chemical, mechanical and magnetic senses for wayfinding.
This talk will give a taste of how navigation behaviour is different for animals underwater, and how marine biologists and the ocean community are exploring these extraordinary adaptations for survival in the ocean.