Marcelo Christian

Research Interest

In this research project, I investigate the neurobiological basis of intraspecific communication in crickets and how neonicotinoid insecticides may affect their ability to produce and recognize species-specific songs for mate finding. I will combine behavioural and anatomical analysis with electrophysiology in different cricket species to better understand the evolution of communication in crickets. Moreover, I aim to investigate, how sublethal doses of neonicotinoids may impair their communication system, to better understand the effects of this globally extensively used agricultural pest control on nontarget insects.

In my previous projects, I have studied orientation behaviour by landmark learning in desert ants and also the hunting behaviour in subsocial crab spiders and highly specialized ant-hunting cobweb spiders.

Publications

Christian M, Kraft M, Wilknitz P, Nowotny M, Schöneich S (2024) Flupyradifurone, imidacloprid and clothianidin similarly disrupt the excitation-inhibition balance in the neural network for auditory processing in locusts. Scientific Reports (in peer review)

Aceves-Aparicio A, Narendra A, McLean DJ, Lowe EC, Christian M, Wolff JO, Schneider JM, Herberstein ME (2022) Fast acrobatic maneuvers enable arboreal spiders to hunt dangerous prey. PNAS 119(40): e2205942119.

Fleischmann PN, Christian M, Müller VL, Rössler W, Wehner R (2016) Ontogeny of learning walks and the acquisition of landmark information in desert ants, Cataglyphis fortis. Journal of Experimental Biology, 219(19): 3137-3145. https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.140459External link

Research Talks

• 2023 "Impact of conventional neonicotinoids and a novel alternative insecticide on auditory processing in the desert locust." Neuroethology Satellite Symposium at the 115th Annual Meeting of the German Zoological Society in Kassel (Germany).
• 2022 "Impact of conventional neonicotinoids and a novel alternative insecticide on auditory processing in the desert locust." Zoological Seminar of the Institute for Zoology and Evolutionary Research, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena (Germany).
• 2022 "Solving the confusion in the literature about body size vs. song frequency in Gryllus bimaculatus." 1st International Online Workshop on "Eneopterology" (Germany, France, USA & Singapore).
• 2023 "Impact of conventional neonicotinoid insecticides and a novel alternative on auditory processing in the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria." 18th International Meeting on Invertebrate Sound & Vibration in Lincoln (United Kingdom)

Conference Abstracts

Christian M, Nowotny M, Schöneich S (2024) Impact of sublethal dosages of the insecticides imidacloprid and flupyradifurone on the ascending auditory interneurons in the cricket brain. 15th International Congress of Neuroethology in Berlin, Germany

Christian M, Kraft M, Wilknitz P, Nowotny M, Schöneich S (2023) Impact of conventional neonicotinoid insecticides and a novel alternative on auditory processing in the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria. 15th Göttingen Meeting of the German Neuroscience Society in Göttingen, Germany

Christian M, Kraft M, Wilknitz P, Nowotny M, Schöneich S (2023) Impact of conventional neonicotinoid insecticides and a novel alternative on auditory processing in the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria. 18th International Meeting on Invertebrate Sound & Vibration in Lincoln, UK

Schöneich S, Wegner A, Christian M, Wöhrl T, Nowotny M (2023) Is there a correlation between body size and sound frequency in calling field crickets? 18th International Meeting on Invertebrate Sound & Vibration in Lincoln, UK

Christian M, Kraft M, Wilknitz P, Nowotny M, Schöneich S (2023). Impact of conventional neonicotinoids and a novel alternative insecticide on auditory processing in the desert locust. Neuroethology Satellite Symposium at the 115th Annual Meeting of the German Zoological Society in Kassel, Germany

Christian M, Wegner A, Wöhrl T, Nowotny M, Schöneich S (2022) Does male size really matter? – A study on correlations between calling song frequency and body size parameters within and across cricket populations. 14th International Congress of Neuroethology in Lisbon, Portugal

Christian M, Wegner A, Wöhrl T, Abendroth S, Nowotny M, Schöneich S (2022) Sound frequency and body size in singing field crickets – a correlation study within and across populations. African Bioacoustics Conference in Skukuza at the Kruger National Park, South Africa