Behavioural Ecology

In the Division of Behavioural Ecology, we study the evolutionary mechanisms that shape animal behaviour in an ecologically relevant context. Specific research topics include parental decision making, parental effects and the development of social behaviour, evolution of complex sociality and cooperation, communication networks, cognition, animal personality, and life history strategies. As model systems we currently use Neotropical poison frogs, Cichlid fishes of Lake Tanganyika, and Tokay geckos. We study these animals in the lab as well as in their natural habitat, by combining a diverse set of methodological approaches, including behavioural experiments, ecological manipulations, theoretical modelling, video monitoring, molecular parentage and kinship analyses, gene expression studies, endocrinological manipulations, GIS analyses, and automation of cognitive test designs.

New publications

Publication

To eat or to care?

To eat or to care? Factors shaping parental or infanticidal behaviours in male poison frogs during territory takeover. This paper is the final result of the great MSc thesis of Leïla Perroulaz.

Publication

Match or mismatch?

"Tokay geckos adjust their behaviour based on handler familiarity but according to context" by Isabel Damas-Moreira, Lauriane Bégué, Eva Ringler, and Birgit Szabo demonstrates that reptiles can differentiate between familiar and non-familiar human handlers and adjust their behaviour based on their previous experience.

Publication

Successful fathers

Marina and co-authors published the paper "Clutch attendance and call parameters are linked to mating success in a glassfrog with paternal care". The findings of this study demonstrate the prominent role of acoustic communication and female choice in a species with male parental care and sequential polyandry.