Konrad-Lorenz-Institut für Vergleichende Verhaltensforschung
Abteilung Ornithologie
Department für Interdisziplinäre Lebenswissenschaften
Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien
Savoyenstr. 1a
A-1160 Wien

T +43 (1) 25077 7406
F +43 (1) 25077 94 7433
E-Mail an Arne Jungwirth senden

Research Interests

I am a behavioural ecologist with a core interest in life-history evolution. My empirical work focuses on tropical freshwater fishes, especially the cichlids of Lake Tanganyika. However, I also use theoretical approaches to investigate adaptive changes in resource allocation, behaviour, and/or life-histories. While my past research has mainly been concerned with the evolution of sociality, mating systems, and parental investment strategies, I am now concentrating on ageing and senescence. Specifically, I want to better understand the trade-offs that shape the pace of life, the rate of senescence, and the lifespan of organisms.

Current Work

Over the last few years, I have worked towards establishing Lake Tanganyika cichlids as a system to study the diversity of life-histories observed across the tree of life: some animals complete their whole life cycle in the course of a few days, while others can live for centuries. Nevertheless, much of the fundamental machinery underlying the processes of development, ageing, and senescence is shared among these same species. Why and how is diversity in life-histories at the organismal level established from similar processes at the molecular level? And what can we learn from evolution in other animals about the recent changes to life expectancy in our own species? These are the two guiding questions of my current work.

Curriculum Vitae

Academic employment

Publications

Publications