Piotr G. Jablonski



I am an ecologist interested in evolution of behavior. My "adventure" in the world of neurobiology was prompted by the results of my field studies of an unusual insectivorous bird in the mountains of Arizona, the Painted Redstart (Myioborus pictus) represented in the lower part of Fig.1. I have collaborated with N.J.Strausfeld since 1996 in a project that focused on previously unstudied relationships between flush-pursuing birds and their insect prey. Insects have specific neural pathways that mediate antipredatory escape behaviors in response to predator's approach. In Diptera these pathways are composed of Giant Descending Neuron (example of it is shown in the upper photo of the figure to the left) and a cluster of accompanying descending neurons (GDNC). These escape pathways are sensitive to visual stimulation by expanding looming shapes, like an image of an approaching bird. We study how certain birds exploit this visual sensitivity in prey by flushing the prey in air and hunting it there. Painted Redstart is one of such flush-pursuers. We study how redstart's conspicuous plumage displayed during spreading of tail and wings, and body pivoting, are adaptations that these birds use to visually stimulate the escape pathways that trigger escape responses in dipterous insects. This predator-prey system is unique in that distinct properties of a simple and well-studied neural circuit in the prey shape evolution and behavior of predator species and predator-prey ecology.

We currently focus on how properties of the escape circuits in dipteran prey might have influenced and shaped the evolution of behavior and morphology of flush-pursuing birds. Using dipteran prey of redstarts, we are recording escape circuit activity in response to computer-generated approaches of predators. This will provide direct links between structure and properties of a simple neural circuit in insects and evolution of vertebrate predators.

Some other research interests and projects:

Using birds and insects as study organisms, I collaborate with behavioral ecologists to address such issues like: sensory exploitation, early evolution of signals, asymmetry of signals, bird vocalizations, competition between unequal competitors, sexual conflict and mating strategies, ecology of mixed species flocks. One of the main themes linking these studies together is a question of how animals use signals and how they use information in their behavioral decisions.


Please click on my Curriculum Vitae for references

piotrjab@neurobio.arizona.edu

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