Senior Scientist

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

T +43 (1) 25077 7352
F +43 (1) 25077 94 7352

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Research

I am passionate about animal behavior and animal communication, and my work has mainly been focused on sexual selection and secondary sexual signals, including chemosensory, acoustic and visual communication. I am also interested in sexual dimorphisms, ecological immunity, life-history evolution, host-parasite interactions, and social learning. I study both, adaptive functions and proximate mechanisms of behavior, and primarily in wild and wild-derived animals under semi-natural and laboratory conditions. I mainly work with house mice (Mus musculus), though I have also studied fish, including sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus), zebrafish (Danio rerio) and guppies (Poecilia reticulata).

Current projects

• Adaptive functions of ultrasonic vocalizations in male mice (Austrian Science Foundation (FWF, Co-author, grant)
• Sexual Selection in stickleback fish
• Sounds and pheromones: neural networks merging olfactory and acoustic cues in sexual imprinting (grant funded by the Human Frontier Science Program, contributor, grant)
• Voice Prints: Individual Signatures and Recognition in Mice (Austrian Science Foundation (FWF, Principal Investigator, grant)  

Behavioural Biology Lab

Teaching

I lead the institute's Journal Club (topics in behavioral and evolutionary ecology), and give practical courses in Experimental Design and Behavioral Ecology, which are also offered for credit at the University of Vienna. I offer another practical course in Behavioral Physiology at the University of Vienna. Lehre

Curriculum Vitae

Education

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