PhD student

Laboratoire Écologie & Évolution UMR 7625
Université Pierre et Marie Curie
7 quai St Bernard, Bâtiment A 7ème étage, Case 237
75 252 Paris Cedex 05, France

Evolution, Behaviour & Genetics, Biology I
University of Regensburg
93040 Regensburg, Germany

Tel: +33 144275861
Mail: claudia.westhus (AT) gmail.com

RESEARCH INTEREST

Experience in hygienic tasks of ants

In my PhD project I investigate individual and collective anti-parasite defenses of ant workers with the focus on the contribution of each individual dependent on different extrinsic and intrinsic factors. As a first project, I addressed the question whether increasing experience affects hygienic task performance of workers of the ant Platythyrea punctata when they are confronted with the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae. As this ant is clonal, it is an optimal study system to look at differences between individuals with the exact same genetic background.

CAREER

2009-current    PhD thesis

                              since 2010 Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France
                              2009-10 University of Regensburg, Germany
                              co-supervised by Dr. Sylvia Cremer and Dr. Claudie Doums

2008-2009        Diploma thesis at the Julius-Maximilians University, Würzburg, Germany

                              "The effect of adult thermal experience on fanning behavior of bumblebee workers (Bombus terrestris)"
                             under the supervision of Anja Weidenmüller and Flavio Roces

2004-2009         Biology studies at the Julius-Maximilians University, Würzburg, Germany

                              Specialization in Behavioral Physiology and Sociobiology, Genetics and Biological Psychology

2002-2004         Biology studies at the Friedrich-Schiller University, Jena, Germany