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

Grob, Robin

Robin Grob

PhD student
Zoology II / Rössler lab
Universität Würzburg
Biozentrum
Am Hubland
97074 Würzburg
Building: Biozentrum (B1)
Room: D141
Phone: +49 931 31 89217
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0096-4040
Link: Rössler lab
Portrait of Robin Grob

Central place foragers are faced with the crucial challenge to find their way back home every time they leave their nest e.g. to search for food. In order to accomplish that, some perform so-called learning walks and flights near their nest entrance. My doctoral thesis is centered on this stunningly structured and precise behavior. Using the desert ant Cataglyphis – a famous model organism for orientation and navigation – I want to investigate the functions and mechanism of the learning walks on a neuronal and behavioral level. For this, I manipulate the information available to the ants in their natural habitat as well as under controlled conditions in the lab. Additionally, I investigate neuronal changes in the central complex and the mushroom bodies of the insect brain.

Current research projects are:

  • Fine structure of learning walks in Cataglyphis (behavioral biology, Video analyzes)
  • Light-dependent volume changes in the central complex and the mushroom bodies (immunohistological staining, 3D-reconstruction)

  • Processing of the celestial compass information in the insect brain (calcium imaging, electrophysiology)

  • Johnston’s Organ and its Central Projections in Cataglyphis Desert Ants Grob, Robin; Tritscher, Clara; Grübel, Kornelia; Stigloher, Christian; Groh, Claudia; Fleischmann, Pauline N.; Rössler, Wolfgang in Journal of Comparative Neurology (2021). 529(8) 2138–2155.
  • Kompass im Kopf Fleischmann, Pauline; Grob, Robin; Rössler, Wolfgang in Biologie in unserer Zeit (2020). 50(2) 100–109.
  • Learning to navigate – how desert ants calibrate their compass systems Grob, Robin; Fleischmann, Pauline N.; Rössler, Wolfgang in Neuroforum (2019). 25(2) 109–120.
  • The Geomagnetic Field Is a Compass Cue in Cataglyphis Ant Navigation Fleischmann, Pauline Nikola*; Grob, Robin*; Müller, Valentin Leander; Wehner, Rüdiger; Rössler, Wolfgang in Current Biology (2018). 28 1440–1444.
  • The Role of Celestial Compass Information in Cataglyphis Ants during Learning Walks and for Neuroplasticity in the Central Complex and Mushroom Bodies Grob, Robin*; Fleischmann, Pauline N.*; Grübel, Kornelia; Wehner, Rüdiger; Rössler, Wolfgang in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience (2017). 11 226.

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