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Department of Zoology

 

Welcome to the

 “Neurobiology of Acoustic Communication”.

We use hearing insects to analyze principles of auditory processing in nervous systems. In many species of insects (e.g. crickets, grasshoppers, cicadas) females are attracted to the songs of their mates. The females perceive the songs via sensitive hearing organs and process the signals by specific neurons in their central nervous system. In terms of auditory processing they face similar problems like vertebrates and humans, i.e. How to recognize and localize asound signal? As a major advantage insect nervous systems are rather simple. They offer the chance to record individual nerve cells and to reveal fundamental principles of auditory processing at the level of identified neurons and networks. We think that such mechanisms are used by many animals which communicate with sound.

Please explore the information on our research, on group members and opportunities for collaborations and small projects. If you are interested contact me, Berthold Hedwig, at: