
Korbinian PacherHumboldt-Universität zu Berlin | HU Berlin
Korbinian Pacher
Master of Science
Doctoral researcher exploring how and why predators with bills do or do not capture schooling prey.
About
10
Publications
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Introduction
As a behavioural biologist I am predominantly interested in predator prey interactions, mainly in how prey organisms can utilize collective behaviour to avoid predation and how predators can overcome those means of defence. I study this using different methods, ranging from morphological and physiological studies in the lab to field based recordings of predator-prey interactions in the open ocean or tropical freshwater habitats. As a freelancer I do guided nature tours around Berlin.
Additional affiliations
September 2023 - present
Publications
Publications (10)
Studies on collective cognition have provided many examples of decision-making benefits in terms of animals sharing information about predators, prey or resources in their environment. It has been shown how the efficient spread of adaptive information within groups can pro-vide benefits which increase with group size. Little is known, however, to w...
Group‐hunting animals have been shown to engage their prey in long pursuits (kms) to increase capture success, but the evidence for this is limited to a few terrestrial species. This predation strategy may be effective in the open‐ocean, where group‐hunts are characterised by large predator–prey size ratios and there are few places for prey to hide...
While various marine predators form associations, the most commonly studied are those between subsurface predators and seabirds, with gulls, shearwaters or terns frequently co-occurring with dolphins, billfish or tuna. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations remain poorly understood. Three hypotheses have been proposed to explain the...
We report three recent observations of striped individuals of the grass snake (Natrix natrix) from Berlin, Germany. Such animals have been described from the region earlier, although this color morph is typical for southeastern European populations. All three observations were made in anthropogenic habitats, which have been highly frequented by vis...
The thermal ecology of ectotherm animals has gained considerable attention in the face of human-induced climate change. Particularly in aquatic species, the experimental assessment of critical thermal limits (CTmin and CTmax) may help to predict possible effects of global warming on habitat suitability and ultimately species survival. Here we prese...
Billfish rostra potentially have several functions; however, their role in feeding is unequivocal in some species. Recent work linked morphological variation in rostral micro‐teeth to differences in feeding behavior in two billfish species, the striped marlin (Kajikia audax) and the sailfish (Istiophorus platypterus). Here, we present the rostral m...
The thermal ecology of ectotherm animals has gained considerable attention in the face of human induced climate change. Particularly in aquatic species the experimental assessment of critical thermal limits (CT min and CT max ) may help to predict possible effects of global warming on habitat suitability and ultimately species survival. Here we pre...
The open ocean offers a suite of ecological conditions promoting the occurrence of multi-species predator aggregations. These mixed predator aggregations typically hunt large groups of relatively small and highly cohesive prey. However, the mechanisms and functions of these mixed predator aggregations are largely unknown. Even basic knowledge of wh...
Many terrestrial group-hunters cooperate to kill prey but then compete for their share with dominance being a strong predictor of prey division. In contrast, little is known about prey division in group-hunting marine predators that predominately attack small, evasive prey (e.g. fish schools). We identified individual striped marlin (Kajikia audax)...
Recent comparative studies of billfishes (Istiophoridae and Xiphiidae) have provided evidence of differences in the form and function of the rostra (bill) among species. Here, we report the discovery of a new structure, lacuna rostralis, on the rostra of sailfish Istiophorus platypterus, which is absent on the rostra of swordfish Xiphias gladius, s...