Research Station Manager

Since 2006 Carsten Schradin spends most of his time at the University of Zurich and the research station is managed by a MSc graduate, who acts as research station manager. The manager is responsible for the data collection as well as the research station.

Ed Yuen: Ed worked as field assistant in 2006 and 2007. Since May 2008 he is the research station manager. He does an excellent job, making sure that we have all the data we need and that the research station is running well. He also started data collection for a project on personality traits in striped mice, that might get very important in the future. We hope he stais as research station manager as long as possible.

Maarten Bleeker: Maarten from the Netherlands staid from May 2007 to April 2008 as research station manager.

Ivana Schoepf: Ivana was the research station manager from July 2006 to June 2007.  She did an excellent job and started a PhD in September 2007.

Postdocs

Dr. Davina Hill: NRF Research Fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand, Davina has been studying alternative female reproductive tactics in striped mice since 2010.  Female striped mice can raise litters in a communal nest where relatives contribute to the care of each other’s young or they can leave the natal group when pregnant and raise the litter alone. Using fieldwork, hormone analysis, captive breeding experiments and analysis of long-term data, Davina aims to find out what factors influence female tactic and how tactics differ in reproductive success.  Davina holds a PhD in Behavioural Ecology from the University of Glasgow and an MSc in Ecology with distinction from the University of Wales, Bangor.

PhD Students

Julien Raynaud: Julien started his PhD in January 2010. He will mainly work with the captive colony in Zurich, experimentally changing hormone levels and testing for effects on behavior and physiology. But he might also have a field part and go to Goegap in 2010.

Ed Yuen: Ed does not only work as research station manager, but also collects data on personality traits in striped mice since 2008. He gets very nice results and hopes to get a PhD out of it.

Ivana Schoepf: Ivana does a PhD about the ecological reasons and endocrine mechanisms of group living in striped mice. She tests experimentally in how far reproductive competition and population density influences the social system in striped mice. She reduces locally population density and expects striped mice to use the empty space to become solitary living, but only during the breeding season. By taking blood samples before and after mice switched their social tactic she can study the influence of hormones on social behavior. She started data collection in September 2007 and is since April 2008 paid by grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Melanie Schubert: From the University of Bayreuth (Germany). She collected from 2005 to 2008 data for her PhD about the reasons of monogamy in elephant shrews.   She left Goegap in January 2008 and since then writes her PhD thesis in Bayreuth.

Diploma and MSc Students

Johna Maye: From the Queens University BelfastBasel collected data for his MSc thesis from February to April 2011. He studied basking behavior in striped mice.

Marta Wastawino: From the University of Basel collected data for her MSc thesis from August to December 2009. She studied differences in social behavior and activity budgets between males following three alternative tactics.

Nils Solmsen: From the University of Mainz collected data for his diploma thesis from August to November 2008.  He studies population genetics in striped mice, especially gene flow along the dry riverbed of our field site and in how far different striped mouse populations in Goegap are isolated.

Sarah Weikc: From the University of Mainz collected data for her diploma thesis from August to November 2008. She studies multiple paternities in striped mice and whether these occur more often in single breeding, solitary living females, than in comunally breeding females who a defended by a territorial male.

David Lehmann: From the University of Zurich collected data for his MSc thesis from January to September in Goegap. He studied the advantages of striped mice sharing a nest at night regarding increased vigilance towards potential predators. He will submit his thesis end of January 2009.

Gebriela Schmohl: From the University of Zurich collected data for her MSc thesis from July 2007 to January 2008 in Goegap. She studied the different factors influencing home range size of female striped mice by doing experiments and descriptive studies in Goegap. Download her MSc thesis here !

Melanie Schubert: From the University of Bayreuth (Germany). She already worked as a field assistant in Goegap for three months in 2002. In 2004 she studied female reproductive strategies of striped mice during her diploma thesis. Communal nesting is common in the striped mouse and Melanie wanted to know which factors are responsible for this. Diploma thesis as PDF.

Christina Keller: From the University of Münster, Germany. Christina spent three months as field assistant in Goegap in 2003. Back in 2004, she studied the relationship between plant and small mammal biodiversity. As small mammals are the main predators of plants in Goegap, one could imagine that they have a significant impact on them and the composition of plant communities. Christina trapped and marked small mammals at ten different sites in Goegap and determined the number of plant species growing there. She found a highly significant relationship between small mammal and plant biodiversity. During her work she also discovered two species of small mammals that had not been recorded before in Goegap. Diploma thesis as PDF.

Carola Schneider: From the University of Münster (Germany). Carola spent three months as field assistant in Goegap in 2003. In 2004 she studied the male reproductive strategies of striped mice, asking many questions: Does male aggression increase during the breeding season? Answer: No! Do males patrol their territory boundaries? Answer: Yes! When are males group living, when are they roaming (visiting several females during different nights)? Answer: Depends on the distribution and availability of females. Diploma thesis as PDF.