Kardelen Özgün Uludag

2022- present: PhD student in the Behavioural Ecology group, Universität Hamburg

2019-2021: MSc Evolution, Ecology and Systematics, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

I am interested in sexual selection, mating behaviour, and chemical communication. For my PhD project, I am investigating the genetics of sexual cannibalism through male self-sacrifice, and extreme sexual size dimorphism (eSSD) in spiders. I will be using the Australian redback spider, Latrodectus hasselti, known for male self-sacrifice and eSSD, and the closely related New Zealand species, Latrodectus katipo, that does not show sexual cannibalism and has a lower degree of SSD. I will observe the mating behaviours of hybrids and backcrosses and collect genomic data of both species in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Trier. Combining both pieces of research, we aim to reveal the genetic architecture behind the male self-sacrificial trait and eSSD in Redback spiders.

Beyer, M., Uludağ, K. O., & Tuni, C. (2023). Female state and condition-dependent chemical signaling revealed by male choice of silk trails. Behavioral Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arad068

Beyer, M., Uludag, K.O. · Lailler, M., Wolff, J.O. 3 · Monika J. B. Eberhard, M.J.B., Czaczkes, T.J., Tuni, C. (2023). Testing the presence of directionality information in female spider silk trail-following behaviour. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 77: 139 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-023-03386-8