Phone: +49-7531-88-2708
Fax:     +49-7531-88-3059
E-Mail: Wolfgang.Kirchner@uni-konstanz.de
Room: M 746
 

Our research activities are focused on the physiological mechanisms and the adaptive functions of animal behaviour.

We are especially interested in the behavioural biology of social insects and trying to understand proximate as well as ultimate causes of complex interactions of social insects with their environment and their nestmates. We are studying mechanisms of recruitment communication in social insects, the sensory basis and evolution of dance communication in honeybees and other systems of acoustical and vibrational communication in honeybees, stingless bees, ants, termites, various solitary arthropods, including beetles, moths, and spiders, and in mammals. Another major interest is on visual perception and orientation in insects. We are studying the mechanisms of spatial vision, navigation and path integration of flying insects using the honeybee as a model system. Recently we started to work on genetic aspects of  honeybee behaviour, especially on the genetical basis of task specialisation among worker bees, and on kinship recognition and nepotism in honeybee colonies. We are also studying effect of agricultural management, especially organic farming, on local population of wasps and bees. The experimental approaches include behavioural studies in the field and in the laboratory, bioacoustical techniques, neurophysiology and -anatomy and molecular genetical techniques.
 

References:

Kirchner, W.H. (1997) Acoustical communication in social insects. In: Orientation and communication in arthropods (M. Lehrer ed.) Birkhäuser-Verlag, Basel, pp. 273-300

Kirchner, W.H. and W.F. Towne (1994) The sensory basis of the honeybees dance language. Scientific American 270(6): 74-80

Research team:
 

Ilse Eistetter	phone: 88-2621	room: M 745
Richard Friebe	phone: 88-2881	room: M 744
Mike Herrmann	phone: 88-2881	room: M 744
Yasmin Möbius	phone: 88-2881	room: M 744
Andrea Röhrig	phone: 88-2881	room: M 744
Dr. Mike Tarsitano	phone: 88-2621	room: M 745