Dr Christoph Grueter
PD, PhD, MSc
Current positions
Associate Professor in Animal Behaviour and Ecology
School of Biological Sciences
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
We study the behaviour, ecology and evolution of social insects. We are particularly interested in the role of communication and learning in individual and collective decision-making, different forms of division of labour and colony organisation.
Our main objectives are:
- To investigate how worker insects integrate multiple sources of information
- To understand variation among species in the degree of division of labour
- To understand the molecular basis of worker behaviour
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Drivers and impacts of Insect biodiversity changes across PanTropical forests
Principal Investigator
Role
Collaborator
Description
"PanTropIn: Causas e Impactos de Mudanças na biodiversidade de Insetos em florestas PanTropicais" (in Portuguese)
Despite the growing number of academic studies and media headlines drawing attention to 'collapses in insect…Managing organisational unit
School of Biological SciencesDates
01/05/2024 to 30/04/2028
Mechanisms that facilitate the coexistence of stingless bees in a hyper competitive, human-modified tropical habitat
Principal Investigator
Description
All experiments will take place in March 2023 on the campus of the University of São Paulo in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. We plan to perform 3 independent experiments to explore…Managing organisational unit
School of Biological SciencesDates
01/02/2023 to 31/07/2023
Habitat change as key a challenge for honeybee foraging and health
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Biological SciencesDates
01/02/2022 to 31/10/2024
Thesis supervisions
Publications
Selected publications
24/06/2020Octopamine increases individual and collective foraging in a neotropical stingless bee
Biology Letters
Honeybees forage more successfully without the “dance language” in challenging environments
Science Advances
Repeated evolution of soldier sub-castes suggests parasitism drives social complexity in stingless bees
Nature Communications
Recent publications
24/02/2025Social learning of navigational routes in tandem-running acorn ants, Temnothorax nylanderi
Animal Behaviour
Early life exposure to queen mandibular pheromone mediates persistent transcriptional changes in the brain of honey bee foragers
Journal of Experimental Biology
Extensive loss of forage diversity in social bees owing to flower constancy in simulated environments
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences
Low food stores affect dance communication and health-related gene expression in honey bees
Animal Behaviour
Diverse communication strategies in bees as a window into adaptations to an unpredictable world
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America