Fermer

Anna Brandenburg

research interest

I am interested in questions concerning cheating and how mutualistic
interactions are maintained, especially plant-pollinator interactions.
During my PhD thesis I studied the behavior of nocturnal hawkmoths
confronted with rewarding and non-rewarding Petunia flowers, both
under controlled and field conditions. For this purpose I bred Petunia
lines with low nectar volume but otherwise resembling the rewarding
phenotype (P. axillaris). The goal was to obtain lines with less nectar
(low nectar line) than P. axillaris suitable for behavioral assays and
fitness analyses. 

Before low nectar lines were usable, I conducted behavioral assays
in the lab and in the field with Petunias where nectar was manually
extracted. I could observe that before probing, hawkmoths did not
preferentially select the rewarding type, independent on their state
of experience. The number of flowers visited by moths was only
occasionally reduced on non-rewarding plants. This behavioral
response seems to be dependant on the population density of native
P. axillaris
(Brandenburg and Bshary 2011). The drinking duration of
moths per flower was the only behavioral response that was consistently
reduced on plants that contained no nectar. I could observe the same
behavioral alterations of hawkmoths using the low nectar lines
(no difference in first choice and N flowers visited; significant reduction
of drinking time) and assessed one parameter of plant fitness: seed set.
Low nectar lines pollinated by hand produced significantly more seeds
han hand-pollinated P. axillaris. However this effect was neutralized when
pollination was executed by hawkmoths.

In collaboration with Giorgina Bernasconi and Sara Carlson, I recently
started a project comprising behavioral observations and paternity
analysis of P. axillaris and low nectar lines in the field.

since 2010 Post Doc
under the supervision of Prof. Redouan Bshary
and Prof. Dr. Cris Kuhlemaier,
Eco-Ethology, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
and IPS, Bern
 
since 2005 PhD
under the supervision of Prof. Redouan Bshary
and Prof. Dr. Cris Kuhlemaier,
Eco-Ethology, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
and IPS, Bern
 
2005 Internship
at the laboratory of Animal Ecology and Entomology,
University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland

2004 Diploma thesis
at the Institute of Biology, (Applied Entomology and
Animal Ecology, FU Berlin):
'Learning and Orientation Behaviour of the specialised
egg parasitoid Oomyzus galerucivorus in complex
odor environments
 

contact


E-mail:
anna.brandenburg@unine.ch

Room: D125

adresse:

IPS Bern
Altenbergrain 21
CH-3013 Bern

Université de Neuchâtel
UniMail
Institut de Biologie
Eco-Ethologie
Rue Emile-Argand 11
CH-2000 Neuchâtel

Tel. +41 31 631 4952
Fax +41 32 718 30 01