Areas of scientific expertise
Chemically guided behaviour of insects above and below ground, insect plant interactions, host location, pheromone communication, insect olfaction.
Applied techniques
Field and laboratory bioassays (trapping, y-maze, diverse arena types, flight cages, wind tunnel), volatile collections techniques, volatile extraction techniques, GC-MS, GC-EAD, EAG, SSR, scanning electron microscopy, histologic preparation and techniques; nutrient analysis.
Current projects
*Host plant choice in Manduca hawk moth females with a focus on host species recognition and female responses to defence strategies of the plant
*Sensory background of the behavioural output in Manduca females
*Male pheromone signalling in Manduca
*Orientation of rhizophagous scarab beetle larvae (Melolontha) to plant roots and their symbionts (Collab. Monika Hilker, FU Berlin)
*Sensory input in scarab beetle larvae ("Melolontha") and adults ("Pachnoda") (Collab. Mattias Larsson, SLU Alnarp, Sweden and Frédéric Marion-Poll, INRA, Versailles, France)
*Aggregation pheromones and their interaction with host plant volatiles in the leaf beetle Phyllotreta strioloata" (Collab. Christian Ulrichs, Inga Mewis, HU Berlin)
*Plant defence mediated behaviour in Lymantria dispar" and it's parasitoids (collab. Sybille Unsicker, Jonathan Gershenzon, MPI CE Jena)
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