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 Staff of the Department Prof. Kempenaers
Publications of the members of the Department Prof. Kempenaers
Projects:
Phenotypic trait variation
Variation in mating strategies
Genetic variation
Personality differences
Co-evolution between hosts and parasites in free-ranging bat populations; and
Cooperation, coordination and cognition in complex societies
Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics
Director: Prof. Dr. Bart Kempenaers
Every individual of a species is unique. Individual variation can be discovered in morphology (for example in body size,
in plumage and beak colour), but also in behaviour such as mate choice strategies or competitive behaviour.
What are the causes of this variation in natural populations and what maintains the variation? What is the role of sexual selection?
Which information is contained in the variation? How important is individual recognition?
Our research focuses on the evolution of mate choice and sexual ornaments in birds. Which criteria do individuals use to select a
short- or long-term partner? Why do birds divorce and why do they engage in copulations with multiple partners? Which signals are used in
mate choice? Do they reflect individual quality? What are the costs for an individual to develop such signals? What is the importance
of individual genetic diversity (heterozygosity-fitness correlations)? To answer these questions, we study birds in their natural habitat,
as well as in captivity. We use a combination of behavioural observations and molecular methods, including microsatellite analysis and a
candidate gene approach.
Our main study is on blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), a small songbird that breeds in nestboxes and remains resident in winter.
Our study area is a protected oak-rich forest in Bavaria. For the next decades, we plan to monitor the life-history of all individuals
in the population, using advances in transponder technology. We also work with a variety of other species, including house sparrows,
red queleas and zebra finches. In the tundra near Barrow (Alaska), we work on mating strategies of two shorebirds:
the monogamous semipalmated sandpiper (Calidris pusilla) and the polygynous pectoral sandpiper (Calidris melanotos).
Contact Assistant to the director
Carmen Dobus
Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße
Haus Nr. 5
82319 Seewiesen
Tel: +49 (0) 8157 932 - 232
Fax: +49 (0) 8157 932 - 400
Click on the name and then type the following text: 
 E-mail: Carmen Dobus
 Website: http://www.orn.mpg.de/kempenaers/abtkempenaers.html
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