Department of Zoology

 

Neurobiology

Hannah ter Hofstede

NSERC Research Fellow (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada)

Email: hmt38@cam.ac.uk

Tel.: +44 (0)1223 336622

 

I study the sensory ecology of predator-prey relationships using bats and their insect prey as a study system. Ears have evolved in many groups of insects to detect the ultrasonic echolocation calls of bats and trigger evasive behaviour. Using electrophysiological recording techniques and behavioural and phylogenetic analyses, I investigate this relationship from three perspectives:

1. What is the relationship between neural thresholds for predator cues and antipredator behaviour in prey animals?

2. How are sensory limitations or specializations in predators influenced by prey defences?

3. What are the sensory, behavioural, and ecological tradeoffs that result from conflicting pressure by predators and potential mates?

Currently I am collaborating with Dr. Berthold Hedwig (Department of Zoology) and Dr. Tony Robillard (Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, France) to look at this third question in a group of crickets, the Eneopterinae.

Selected publications

  • ter Hofstede HM*, Goerlitz HR*, Montealegre-Z F, Robert D, Holderied MW. 2011. Tympanal mechanics and neural responses in the ears of a noctuid moth. Naturwissenschaften 98:1057-1061
  • Goerlitz HR*, ter Hofstede HM*, Zeale MR*, Jones G, Holderied MW (2010), An aerial-hawking bat uses stealth echolocation to counter moth hearing. Curr Biol 20:1568-1572
  • ter Hofstede HM, Kalko EK, Fullard JH (2010), Auditory-based defence against gleaning bats in neotropical katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae). J Comp Physiol A 196:349-358
  • ter Hofstede HM, Killow J, Fullard JH (2009), Gleaning bat echolocation calls do not elicit antipredator behaviour in the Pacific field cricket, Teleogryllus oceanicus (Orthoptera: Gryllidae). J Comp Physiol A 195:769-776
  • ter Hofstede HM, Fullard JH (2008), The neuroethology of song cessation in response to gleaning bat calls in two species of katydids, Neoconocephalus ensiger and Amblycorypha oblongifolia. J Exp Biol 211:2431-2441
  • ter Hofstede HM, Ratcliffe JM, Fullard JH (2008), Nocturnal activity positively correlated with auditory sensitivity in noctuoid moths. Biol Lett 4:262-265

*Authors contributed equally

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