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  • Honeybees (partly marked) on the edge of a brood frame
Chair of Behavioral Physiology & Sociobiology

Scheiner, Ricarda

Prof. Dr. Ricarda Scheiner

Reserach group leader
Zoology II / Scheiner lab
Universität Würzburg
Biozentrum
Am Hubland
97074 Würzburg
Building: B1 (Biozentrum)
Room: D127
Phone: +49 931 31 84745
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7515-4253
Link: Scheiner lab
Portrait of Prof. Dr. Ricarda Scheiner 

I am interested in the molecular mechanisms underlying honeybee and wild bee behavior. My research projects focus on:
  • Effects of multiple environmental stressors (e.g. fungicides, insecticides) on honeybees and wild bees (financed by BayÖkotox, Bayerisches Staatsministerium für Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz; Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt)
  • Heat stress responses of insects
  • The molecular mechanisms underlying adaptation to temperature and elevation in African honeybees Apis mellifera (DFG, collaboration with Prof. Martin Hasselmann, Uni Hohenheim)
  • The role of cuticular hydrocarbons in honeybee communication and adaptation to climate (collaboration with
    Prof. Thomas Schmitt, JMU)
  • Effects of land use on resource partitioning and foraging neuroecology in four honeybee species in India (DFG, collaboration with Prof. Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter, JMU)
  • Effects of innovative and sustainable beekeeping with reduced Varroa mite treatment on the performance and vitality of honeybees in near-natural beekeeping (BMEL/BLE, collaboration with Dr. Marina Meixner, LLH Hessen)
  • Taste perception in honeybees (collaboration with Prof. Dietmar Geiger, JMU)
  • The role of clock genes in honeybee behavioral performance (VW Stiftung Momentum)
  • The role of neurotransmitters in honeybee behavior

  • Expression of elongase- and desaturase-encoding genes shapes the cuticular hydrocarbon profiles of honey bees. Rodriguez-León, Daniel Sebastián; Schmitt, Thomas; Pinto, Maria Alice; Thamm, Markus; Scheiner, Ricarda. In Molecular Ecology, 6, p. e17716. 2025.
  • The neonicotinoid acetamiprid reduces larval and adult survival in honeybees (Apis mellifera) and interacts with a fungicide mixture.. Manzer, Sarah; Thamm, Markus; Hilsmann, Lioba; Krischke, Beate; Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf; Scheiner, Ricarda. In Environmental Pollution, 360, pp. 124643–124643. 2024.
  • Bumblebees are resilient to neonicotinoid-fungicide combinations. Schuhmann, Antonia; Schulte, Janna; Feldhaar, Heike; Scheiner, Ricarda. In Environment International, 186, p. 108608. 2024.
  • A combination of the frequent fungicides boscalid and dimoxystrobin with the neonicotinoid acetamiprid in field-realistic concentrations does not affect sucrose responsiveness and learning behavior of honeybees. Schuhmann, Antonia; Scheiner, Ricarda. In Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 256, p. 114850. 2023.
  • Intrasexual cuticular hydrocarbon dimorphism in a wasp sheds light on hydrocarbon biosynthesis genes in Hymenoptera. Moris, Victoria C.; Podsiadlowski, Lars; Martin, Sebastian; Oeyen, Jan Philip; Donath, Alexander; Petersen, Malte; Wilbrandt, Jeanne; Misof, Bernhard; Liedtke, Daniel; Thamm, Markus; Scheiner, Ricarda; Schmitt, Thomas; Niehuis, Oliver. In Communicatons Biology, 6(147). 2023.
  • Opposing Actions of Octopamine and Tyramine on Honeybee Vision. Schilcher, Felix; Thamm, Markus; Strube-Bloss, Martin; Scheiner, Ricarda. In Biomolecules, 11(9), p. 1374. 2021.

Researcher-ID: I-6355-2018

Bachelor

Verhaltensphysiologie, Integrative Verhaltensbiologie I, Integrative Verhaltensbiologie II, Integrative Verhaltensbiologie III,  Einführung in die Biologie für Humanmediziner und Zahmediziner,  Grundlagen der Biologie für Studierende des Studiengangs Informatik und Nachhaltigkeit, Biologie der Hautflügler

Master

Lecture series, Communication Biology, Experimental Sociobiology, Behavioural Physiology and Sociobiology F1,  Behavioural Physiology and Sociobiology F2, Master Program "Fokus Life Science"