The JRAS April monthly meeting will be held Wednesday, April 26, at 7 pm at Logo Advantage, 8007A Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111.
Dr. Riva Riley will be our guest speaker and her topic will be The Evolution of Behavior in Fish.
Dr. Riley is a President’s Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Biology at the University of Maryland. Her research is focused on social behavior and its consequences for individuals in social groups. She is especially interested in how individuals can use their own social influence to change their social environment and improve their prospects. She studies a delightful little fish, Corydoras catfish. which live in the Amazon forest. After observing wild fish in the field and conducting laboratory studies, she described a novel communication style, a tactile nudge, that individual fish use to communicate with their fellow group members. She uses this nudging behavior to help understand how social influences and group dynamics can modify social evolution and lead to social complex behaviors (including our own human behavior). She received her Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and her B.A. from Harvard University.
In addition to the outstanding talk by Riva Riley, there will be a flash talk about the Breeders Award Program (BAP) by Marty Verdery. She will explain how the BAP works and how you can showcase your fish breeding skills.
Don't forget that you can grab a bite with others at 5:30 at Mexico Restaurant, 7162 Mechanicsville Turnpike, Mechanicsville, VA 23111.