Sensory and Chemical Ecology Group
What are we doing?
What is Chemical Ecology ?

Chemical signals are controlling and coordinating almost all key behaviours in marine and freshwater organisms such as mating, predator - prey relationships, defense, larval metamorphosis and settlement. Production of chemical signals is linked to the life cycle of the organism and hence to its endocrinology and environmental factors controling its life as well its behaviour and thus its ecology.
A large number of aspects in the life of even a single species are, therefore, subject to chemical ecological research. The prime task, however, remains to be the identification of their chemical structure. Our Investigations are currently focusing on worms and crustaceans.
What is Sensory Ecology?

Sensory Ecology deals with the questions of how organisms acquire and respond to information. These questions overlap and include Chemical Ecology issues. However, our research is not limited to the study of the chemical signals. We also include behavioural, physical, physiological and evolutionary aspects of sensory information including signal production, signal transmission, signal reception, orientation behaviour, and signal evolution. This field uses a variety of methods burrowed from ecology, physics, chemistry, neurophysiology, psychology, phylogenetics and structural biology. Our group concentrates on chemo- and mechanosensory information used by aquatic animals.

Current Research

The current projects include field studies, pheromone biosynthesis, release and reception, isolation and characterization of pheromone binding receptor proteins (PBR's), behavioural studies of aggressive and courtship signals and and also studies on larval settlement and metamorphosis as well as chemical defense mechanisms.

The outcome of these projects not only extends our knowledge about the old questions of "how do animals communicate" and 'how do they organize their relationships in an ecosystem'. It also leads to potential applications such as the control of pest species (IPM: Integrated Pest Management) and improvements in rearing species in aquaculture.
More recently special regard was given the commercial exploitation of polychaete worms. Being already traded as bait we currently explore their use as a means of organic waste treatment and bioremediation as well as source of marine natural products.
Website maintained by Thomas Breithaupt
updated on 10/01/07
The research is internationally recognised and has found acknowledgements e.g. in the invitation to the 1998 exhibition "Frontiers of Science" of the Royal Society.