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Curriculum Vitae Tel: 01223 363673
Research My approach is explicitly empirical and I use behavioural experiments conducted in natural populations and under controlled laboratory conditions combined with observational studies in the wild. Previously my research included mainly cooperatively breeding species such as meerkats and cichlid fish but I also contributed to research projects on house mice and flycatchers during my studies in Vienna and Sweden. In my current project I investigate the proximate mechanisms underlying individual variation in cooperative behaviour and their consequences for life-histories and individual fitness in the cooperatively breeding Damaraland mole-rat (Fukomys damarensis). We will study colonies in artificial tunnel systems, which allow detailed behavioural observations and experimental manipulation and study a permanently marked, wild population of mole-rats at the Kuruman River Reserve (Northern Cape, South Africa). This project will be conducted in collaboration with Prof. Nigel Bennett at the University of Pretoria and with Dr. Nichola Raihani at the University College London. During my PhD project at the University of Bern I used the cooperatively breeding cichlid N. pulcher as a model system to investigate long term fitness consequences of variation in contribution to helping behaviour. I approached this question by conducting an observational field study in Lake Tanganyika, where I established a permanently marked study population of cichlids which I studied over the course of two years. In this study I recorded helping behaviour of subordinate group members, in order to find correlations with fitness approximations and fate of these individuals. In addition to this observational approach I conducted several experiments both under controlled lab conditions and in the wild.
· Zöttl
M., Heg
D., Chervet N. & Taborsky M. (2013) Kinship reduces alloparental
care in cooperative cichlids where helpers pay-to-stay. Nature
Communications 4:1341. doi:10.1038ncomms2344 [pdf
via UniBern] Zöttl M., Chapuis L., Freiburghaus M. & Taborsky M. (2013) Strategic reduction of help before dispersal in a cooperative breeder. Biology Letters 9:20120878. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2012.0878 [pdf, via UniBern] · Zöttl M, Lienert
R, Clutton-Brock T, Millesi E & Manser M (2013): The effects of
recruitment
to direct predator cues on predator responses in meerkats. Behavioral Ecology 24(1), 198-204.
(doi:10.1093/beheco/ars154) ·
Townsend S W, Zöttl M &
Manser M B (2011): All
clear? Meerkats attend to contextual information in close calls to
coordinate
vigilance. Behavioral Ecology &
Sociobiology doi:10.1007/s00265-011-1202-6 · Chervet N, Zöttl M, Schürch R, Taborsky M & Heg D (2011): Repeatability and Heritability of Behavioural Types in a Social Cichlid. International Journal of Evolutionary Biology doi:10.4061/2011/321729
News on
my research: Austrian short report on meerkat work: Kurier, Karrieren Swiss newspaper
article: http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/wissen/natur/Dieser-Fisch-ist-aggressiv/story/19703600 Coverage on our
paper in Behavioral Ecology: http://medienportal.univie.ac.at/uniview/uniblicke/detailansicht/artikel/die-feine-nase-der-erdmaennchen/ |
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