Behavioral Endocrinology and Eco-Physiology

The main goal of our research is to understand how evolved physiological mechanisms allow animals to behave adaptively in their changing natural environment. Our research interests focuses on how hormone secretion is influenced by the environment, what the physiological consequences are, and how hormones influence behavior. We perform field studies and experiments under standardized laboratory conditions, where we mimic the natural situation. Our study species is the African striped mouse, which shows high social flexibility, ranging from solitary living to living in extended family groups.

Research themes

• Eco-physiology of group-living and paternal care
• Evolutionary physiology: fitness consequences of individual variation in physiological capacity
• The hormonal correlates and causes of different social strategies
• Ecological reasons for social flexibility, group-living and paternal care
• The evolutionary (fitness) consequences of different strategies under different environmental conditions

Group members

Head of the group: PD Dr. Carsten Schradin