Prof. Dr. Jutta Schneider

I work in the field of behavioural ecology concentrating on the evolution of mating systems, sexual selection and sexual conflict as well as the evolution and the mechanisms of cooperative behaviour in spiders. Another focus lies on adaptive plasticity in life-history traits such as growth, body size and allocation in reproductive or neural traits. Current projects involve diversity and adaptive value of male mating decisions in two genera of orb-web spiders. In addition, dynamics in groups of subsocial spiders are studied as well as behavioural and life-history traits that enable some spiders to thrive in novel environments such as cities. A novel approach looks at the influence of early experience on cognitive ability and the costs of cognition. Methods used are mainly field and laboratory experiments complimented by molecular and morphological methods. A breeding program of spiders has been established in my laboratory.