Comparative mobbing research
Understanding how ecological conditions have driven the evolution of cooperation and communication remains one of the greatest challenges in evolutionary biology. However, it can be difficult to study as finding systems that combine communication and cooperation, are wide-spread, and vary across local and regional scales is difficult. Mobbing behaviour where prey will approach, harass, and even attack predators, is a behaviour that meets all those criteria (Carlson et al. 2018, Carlson & Griesser 2022). Mobbing is widely prevalent both within and across most taxonomic groups and is often coordinated and/or cooperative, within and between species, and is thought to play a crucial role in both the survival of individual animals and the overall functionality of entire communities as mobbing generates community-wide anti-predator communication networks (Templeton & Carlson, 2019,2025), among other benefits.
Animal communication & linguistics
To better understand how communication evolved, we can study how different species communicate with one another about predators, including what information they can include in their calls, what decisions they make about including this information, and the presence and reason behind local and regional variation. Birds are very well known for their noisy mobbing and communicate widely about predators to both the same species as well as others with their mobbing calls; this makes birds, particularly species in the Paridae family and those that flock with them, excellent study systems.
By determining what types of information different related species can and do include in their calls (Carlson et al. 2017a) and which species serve as sources of information for their communities (Carlson et al. 2020b) I aim to understand the conditions that give rise to and support species producing predator-specific information. By determining how individuals make decisions about using and passing on information (Carlson et al. 2020b) we can better understand the degree to which species are able to make decisions about information use and production. Finally, by determining if associations between predators and threat (Carlson et al. 2017b) or mobbing calls and their representative threat (Carlson et al. 2019) are learned, I am to understand the degree to which local variation can occur across species and populations. Currently I am trying to understand the degree to which heterospecifcs can understand information in mobbing calls and the degree to which this may be due to the call structure itself vs. a learned association. I am also examining if and how regional variation in the way species include predator threat information in their mobbing calls occurs, and if this could be analogous to 'dialects'.
By determining what types of information different related species can and do include in their calls (Carlson et al. 2017a) and which species serve as sources of information for their communities (Carlson et al. 2020b) I aim to understand the conditions that give rise to and support species producing predator-specific information. By determining how individuals make decisions about using and passing on information (Carlson et al. 2020b) we can better understand the degree to which species are able to make decisions about information use and production. Finally, by determining if associations between predators and threat (Carlson et al. 2017b) or mobbing calls and their representative threat (Carlson et al. 2019) are learned, I am to understand the degree to which local variation can occur across species and populations. Currently I am trying to understand the degree to which heterospecifcs can understand information in mobbing calls and the degree to which this may be due to the call structure itself vs. a learned association. I am also examining if and how regional variation in the way species include predator threat information in their mobbing calls occurs, and if this could be analogous to 'dialects'.
Mobbing expression across taxa
I Although mobbing has been studied and discussed as a rare/specialized behaviour only occurring in a few species, it appears that it is, in fact, a very common anti-predator strategy used by species across the animal kingdom, occurring in (almost) every taxonomic group (Carlson & Griesser 2022). However, though it is quite common, the behaviour itself, the ecological conditions in which it occurs and the evolutionary pressures that gave rise to it remain almost entirely unexplored. For example, how sociality/social tolerance, territoriality, seasonality, and predator ecology all contribute to mobbing being an effective strategy. This lack of knowledge restricts our understanding of how these types of systems can evolve and in what contexts.
One way to better understand the ecological conditions that gave rise to and support mobbing is to examine where in the animal kingdom mobbing does and does not exist. Additionally, by focusing testing if and how understudied species like fish, invertebrates, and reptiles mob their predators, I aim to broaden our understanding of mobbing across the animal kingdom and continue to refine our definitions of mobbing behaviour.
One way to better understand the ecological conditions that gave rise to and support mobbing is to examine where in the animal kingdom mobbing does and does not exist. Additionally, by focusing testing if and how understudied species like fish, invertebrates, and reptiles mob their predators, I aim to broaden our understanding of mobbing across the animal kingdom and continue to refine our definitions of mobbing behaviour.
Communication networks and interspecific cooperation
Although mobbing tends to involve many individuals, sometimes of multiple species, coming together to collectively harass and attack a predator, whether this behavior is truly coordinated, cooperative, or simply happenstance remains poorly understood. To better understand the role cooperation plays in this behaviour (and if it is necessary at all) we can examine the how species respond to one another within mobbing events and communication networks. Currently I am trying to understand the different roles individual species play in anti-predator communication networks in order to better understand if some species are more important than others, and what features may make them more useful.
Anti-predator behaviour and Anthropogenic impacts
As human impacts on the environment continue to grow and change, understanding how current behaviours may be impacted, and how we can mitigate the effects of these changes becomes increasingly important. By understanding how human activities impact not only individual anti-predator behaviour but also how these changes in behaviour may alter system-wide relationships, we may be able to create more effective methods to mitigate or remove some of these negative effects.
Effects of anthopogenic noise on anti-predator behaviour
One of the most overlooked impacts of human activities is the noise we make. This noise can have devastating effects on a range of species in various different ways (Kok et al. 2023). However, although this noise is pervasive in ecosystems, it is often only studied in single species, focusing on specific behavioural or physiological changes that occur as a result of exposure. I aim to understand how noise can not only impact individual species, but interspecific relationships and therefore affecting entire species communities. By approaching this problem from the point of view of the role a species plays in their community and by choosing especially impactful species (e.g., forage fish, Carlson et al. 2025) we can better understand the potential system-wide repercussions of noise.
Additionally, by focusing on specific behaviours/networks that both serve a species community, but are also vulnerable to noise (e.g., mobbing calls) or are altered due to other human impacts like urbanization (e.g., likelihood to mob), we can better understand how human impacts are affecting species relationships and therefore entire species communities.
Additionally, by focusing on specific behaviours/networks that both serve a species community, but are also vulnerable to noise (e.g., mobbing calls) or are altered due to other human impacts like urbanization (e.g., likelihood to mob), we can better understand how human impacts are affecting species relationships and therefore entire species communities.
