AG Zimmermann

Research topics

Behavioral Ecology and Conservation Genetics

• role of communication and cognition in speciation and adaptation
• mating and social systems, female dominance, genetic paternal and parental analyses
• ecological niche modeling
• geographical variation and behavioral plasticity
• habitat fragmentation
• phylogeny, phylogeography and conservation genetics
• management and breeding of mouse lemurs

regional focus: Madagascar, Malaysia

Biocommunication / Psychoacoustics

• evolution of non-verbal communication, music and speech
• natural, sexual and kin selection and communication
• development of novel techniques for the acoustic analysis of emotions in animals and man
• bioacoustical techniques to determine and monitor species diversity

regional focus: Madagascar, Malaysia

model groups: tree shrews, rodents, cats, dogs, primates (esp. mouse lemurs)

Cognitive Ethology

• sound perception and categorization in animals and man
• social and ecological intelligence
• spatial orientation and spatial memory
• personality: proximate mechanisms and ultimate consequences
• laterality and handedness

model groups: tree shrews, rodents, cats, dogs, primates (esp. mouse lemurs)

Equipment

Bioacoustic laboratory to analyse animal sound and human speech; sound attenuated rooms for psychoacoustical studies; conditioning laboratory; GPS-based radiotelemetry; S1 laboratory for molecular genetics; videometric laboratory to automatically analyse space use and behavior in animals; behavioral phenotyping platforms; basic equipment for field research in behavioral ecology; usage of field stations in Madagascar and Borneo

Services

Consulting in the following areas: animal wildlife, conservation, housing and breeding of tree shrews and mouse lemurs.