Simon PotierLund University | LU · Department of Biology
Simon Potier
PhD
About
37
Publications
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Introduction
My main research focuses on the role that different sensory systems play in the foraging ecology of vertebrates, concentrating on how animals (mainly birds) extract information from their environment. Especially, I am interested in birds' visual and olfactory abilities. My model is mainly raptors and I try to improve the link between science and falconry, a hobby that can be essential to understand the biology of raptors.
For more information, please see my website:
www.simonpotier.fr
Skills and Expertise
Additional affiliations
March 2017 - present
November 2013 - November 2016
Publications
Publications (37)
To reduce bird collisions with wind turbines, automatic detection systems have been developed to slow the blades down when a bird is approaching. We experimentally tested whether blade rotational speed (i.e., number of rotations per min) and frequency (i.e., number of times a blade passes a point per min) affected the decision time (i.e., time to t...
Predator-prey arms races have led to the evolution of finely tuned disguise strategies. While the theoretical benefits of predator camouflage are well established, no study has yet been able to quantify its consequences for hunting success in natural conditions. We used high-resolution movement data to quantify how barn owls (Tyto alba) conceal the...
Predator-prey arms races have led to the evolution of finely-tuned disguise strategies. While the theoretical benefits of predator camouflage are well established, no study has yet been able to quantify its consequences for hunting success in natural conditions. We used high-resolution movement data to quantify how barn owls ( Tyto alba ) conceal t...
Vision is an important sensory modality in birds, often outperforming other vertebrates in some visual abilities. One of these abilities, sensitivity to achromatic contrasts – the ability to discern luminance difference between two objects or an object and its background – has been shown to be lower in birds compared to other vertebrates. We conduc...
The binocular field of vision differs widely in birds depending on ecological traits such as foraging. Owls (Strigiformes) have been considered to have a unique binocular field, but whether it is related to foraging has remained unknown. While taking into account allometry and phylogeny, we hypothesized that both daily activity cycle and diet deter...
To reduce bird collisions on wind turbines, Automatic Detection Systems have been developed to locate approaching birds and trigger turbines to slowdown to 2-3 rotations per minute (rpm). However, it is unknown whether birds can detect this reduced speed and avoid the turbine. We conducted an operant conditioning experiment on domestic doves (Strep...
Wide variation in visual field configuration across avian species is hypothesized to be driven primarily by foraging ecology and predator detection. While some studies of selected taxa have identified relationships between foraging ecology and binocular field characteristics in particular species, few have accounted for the relevance of shared ance...
Predator-prey arms races have led to the evolution of remarkable disguise strategies. While the theoretical benefits of predator camouflage are well established, no study has yet been able to quantify its consequences for hunting success. High-resolution movement data therefore allowed us to study how barn owls (Tyto alba) conceal their approach wh...
Predator-prey arms races have led to the evolution of remarkable disguise strategies. While the theoretical benefits of predator camouflage are well established, no study has yet been able to quantify its consequences for hunting success. High-resolution movement data therefore allowed us to study how barn owls (Tyto alba) conceal their approach wh...
Predator-prey arms races have led to the evolution of remarkable disguise strategies. While the theoretical benefits of predator camouflage are well established, no study has yet been able to quantify its consequences for hunting success. High-resolution movement data therefore allowed us to study how barn owls (Tyto alba) conceal their approach wh...
Light and noise often act as pollutants, but can also be used as tools for managing wildlife (e.g., sensory deterrents). Given that raptors are among the most threatened groups of birds, we expected there to be a moderate amount of applied research on their sensory ecology. We searched Web of Science and Google Scholar to quantify and classify the...
Ecological diversity among diurnal birds of prey, or raptors, is highlighted regarding their sensory abilities. While raptors are believed to forage primarily using sight, the sensory demands of scavengers and predators differ, as reflected in their visual systems. Here, I have reviewed the visual specialisations of predatory and scavenging diurnal...
Raptors have always fascinated mankind, owls for their highly sensitive vision, and eagles for their high visual acuity. We summarize what is presently known about the eyes as well as the visual abilities of these birds, and point out knowledge gaps. We discuss visual fields, eye movements, accommodation, ocular media transmittance, spectral sensit...
Raptors from the orders Accipitriformes and Falconiformes have been considered to rely principally on vision. Historically, this assumption has led scientists to discount any possible sense of smell in these birds, until work on cathartid vultures indicated that these species at least rely on olfaction to find carrion. In this review I provide evid...
Birds, and especially raptors, are believed to forage mainly using visual cues. Indeed, raptors (scavengers and predators) have the highest visual acuity known to date. However, scavengers and predators differ in their visual systems such as in their foveal configuration. While the function of the foveal shape remains unknown, individual variation...
In this study we assessed eye morphology and retinal topography in two flamingo species, the Caribbean flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) and the Chilean flamingo (P. chilensis). Eye morphology is similar in both species and cornea size relative to eye size (C:A ratio) is intermediate between those previously reported for diurnal and nocturnal birds....
Birds, and especially raptors, are highly visual animals. Some of them have the highest spatial resolving power known in the animal kingdom, allowing prey detection at distance. While many raptors visually track fast-moving and manoeuvrable prey, requiring high temporal resolution, this aspect of their visual system has never been studied before. I...
Raptors from the orders Accipitriformes and Falconiformes have been considered to rely principally on vision. Historically, this assumption has led scientists to discount any possible sense of smell in these birds, until work on cathartid vultures indicated that these species at least rely on olfaction to find carrion. In this review I provide evid...
Raptors are usually considered to be mainly visually dependent, and the use of other sensory modalities has rarely been studied in these birds. Here, we investigated experimentally which senses (vision and/or olfaction) Turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) and Southern caracaras (Caracara plancus) use to find hidden food. First, two identical stainless...
Animals are thought to use achromatic signals to detect small (or distant) objects and chromatic signals for large (or nearby) objects. While the spatial resolution of the achromatic channel has been widely studied, the spatial resolution of the chromatic channel has rarely been estimated. Using an operant conditioning method, we determined (i) the...
Birds, particularly raptors, are believed to forage primarily using visual cues. However, raptor foraging tactics are highly diverse - from chasing mobile prey to scavenging - which may reflect adaptations of their visual systems. To investigate this, we studied the visual field configuration of 15 species of diurnal Accipitriformes that differ in...
Evidence that bird odour can encode social information that can be used in chemical communication is growing, but is restricted to a few taxonomic groups. Among birds, diurnal raptors (i.e. birds from the Accipitriformes and Falconiformes order) have always been considered as mainly relying on their visual abilities. Although they seem to have a fu...
Diurnal raptors (birds of the orders Accipitriformes and Falconiformes), renowned for their extraordinarily sharp eyesight, have fascinated humans for centuries. The high visual acuity in some raptor species is possible due to their large eyes, both in relative and absolute terms, and a high density of cone photoreceptors. Some large raptors, such...
Birds with larger eyes are predicted to have higher spatial resolution because of their larger retinal image. Raptors are well known for their acute vision, mediated by their deep central fovea. Because foraging strategies may demand specific visual adaptations, eye size and fovea may differ between species with different foraging ecology. We teste...
Significant interspecific differences in avian vision occur, even in congeneric species, and these have been correlated with differences in the perceptual challenges associated with foraging. While diurnal raptors are assumed to be mainly visually guided in their foraging, they differ markedly in their foraging tactics and this may result in differ...
Animals evolve constrained by their surrounding environment, which shapes their responses to external inputs indirectly by selecting those behaviours that benefit to fitness. In one sentence, animals interact with their environment, and the ability of interfacing with the environment is mainly dependent upon their sensory capacities. These are some...
Differences in visual capabilities are known to reflect differences in foraging behaviour even among closely related species. Among birds, the foraging of diurnal raptors is assumed to be guided mainly by vision but their foraging tactics include both scavenging upon immobile prey and the aerial pursuit of highly mobile prey. We studied how visual...
Les rapaces volent haut, très haut pour certains : le record est détenu par un vautour de Rüppell qui a été vu à 7000 m d'altitude par un pilote. Ainsi, il semblerait que ces rapaces soient dotés d’une vision impressionnante leur permettant de trouver leur nourriture à longue distance. De ce fait, les études portant sur les capacités sensorielles d...
Raptors are always considered to have an extraordinary resolving power of their eyes (high visual acuity). Nevertheless, raptors differ in their diet and foraging tactics, which could lead to large differences in visual acuity. The visual acuity of an opportunist bird of prey, the Chimango caracara (Milvago chimango) was estimated by operant condit...
Dossier spécial « L’olfaction : de la molécule au comportement »
Intrapopulation variability, especially individual foraging specialization, has been investigated in many species. Nevertheless, the repeatability of foraging behaviour remains poorly understood. In particular, whether individuals differ in their respective degrees of repeatability still remains to be determined. Here, we estimated foraging behavio...