Dr Thomas Breithaupt

Dr Thomas Breithaupt

Senior Lecturer

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Science and Engineering
  • School of Natural Sciences

Summary

Dr Thomas Breithaupt has been studying the sensory ecology of aquatic and terrestrial animals for more than 25 years.

His research is driven by his fascination in the sensory world and behaviour of animals, and how animals extract and respond to information from their specific habitat.

Dr Breithaupt is most interested in how animals communicate by chemicals, and how they respond to chemical and mechanical (sound and vibration) stimuli from predators, prey and conspecifics.

As natural environments are threatened by chemical pollution, noise and vibrations, he believes we need to understand how animal senses and behaviours cope with these challenges.

Publications on catfish wake following behaviour, lobster chemical communication and visualisation of crayfish chemical signals have been highlighted in various international online and printed science news portals and blogs.

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Book Chapter

Effect of Operational Wind-Turbine Vibration on Surface-Dwelling Invertebrates

Burgess, J., Thomas, S., Mazik, K., Al-Mudallal, S., Tang, S. K., & Breithaupt, T. (2023). Effect of Operational Wind-Turbine Vibration on Surface-Dwelling Invertebrates. In A. N. Popper, J. Sisneros, A. D. Hawkins, & F. Thomsen (Eds.), The Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life : Principles and Practical Considerations (1-20). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10417-6_21-1

Journal Article

Daily activity rhythms, chronotypes, and risk-taking behavior in the signal crayfish

Sbragaglia, V., & Breithaupt, T. (2022). Daily activity rhythms, chronotypes, and risk-taking behavior in the signal crayfish. Current Zoology, 68(2), 177-184. https://doi.org/10.1093/cz/zoab023

Using DNA metabarcoding to investigate diet and niche partitioning in the native European otter (Lutra lutra) and invasive American mink (Neovison vison)

Harper, L. R., Watson, H. V., Donnelly, R., Hampshire, R., Sayer, C. D., Breithaupt, T., & Hänfling, B. (in press). Using DNA metabarcoding to investigate diet and niche partitioning in the native European otter (Lutra lutra) and invasive American mink (Neovison vison). Metabarcoding and Metagenomics, 4, Article e56087. https://doi.org/10.3897/mbmg.4.56087

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding of pond water as a tool to survey conservation and management priority mammals

Ghazali, M., Harper, L. R., Lawson Handley, L., Carpenter, A. I., Murray-Dickson, G., Di Muri, C., …Hänfling, B. (2019). Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding of pond water as a tool to survey conservation and management priority mammals. Biological Conservation, 238(October 2019), Article 108225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108225

Fighting over burrows : the emergence of dominance hierarchies in the Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus)

Sbragaglia, V., Leiva, D., Arias, A., Garcia, J. A., Aguzzi, J., & Breithaupt, T. (2017). Fighting over burrows : the emergence of dominance hierarchies in the Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus). The journal of experimental biology, 220(24), 4624-4633. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.165969

Co-investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

Towards enabling sustainable expansion of offshore wind while protecting marine benthic biodiversity and functioning (BEcoWIND)

Funder

NERC Natural Environment Research Council

Grant

£612,236.00

Started

1 April 2023

Status

Ongoing

Project

Acoustic Surveying of Bog Bush-crickets in Yorkshire

Funder

Yorkshire Naturalists Union

Grant

£1,257.00

Started

1 June 2024

Status

Ongoing

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Breithaupt welcomes MSc and PhD projects in areas that deal with sensory ecology, animal behaviour, ecophysiology, or animal personalities.

Completed PhDs

Dr Breithaupt has been first supervisor for 20 postgraduate studies including six PhD research projects

Current PhD supervisions

Tom Evans, Identification of feeding attractant for American lobsters Homarus americanus

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