Prof Lars Chittka

	My research has established links between sensory physiology and learning psychology on the one hand, and evolutionary ecology on the other. Why do animals have the sensory systems they do? How do they use them in their natural foraging environment? How do cognitive-behavioural processes function in the economy of nature? Pollinator-plant interactions have been used as a model system to study these questions. I have been particularly interested in mutual evolutionary and ecological influences of insect colour vision and flower colour signals, and insect learning and flower advertising. In addition, I have studied bee navigation using large artificial landmarks, orientation of bees in complete darkness, as well as the question of how bees use spatial memory to navigate among several rewarded sites. Recently, I have also become interested in the evolution of cognitive capacities and communication, and the pollination biology of invasive plant species. Bees have served as model organisms in most of these studies, because their colonies can be easily kept, their experience can be readily controlled, they have a rich behavioural repertoire and amazing learning capacities. My work has made use of field studies, as well as experimental studies with computer-controlled behavioural tests, computer simulations, and phylogenetic analyses (see publications). Chittka lab home page
Curriculum vitae     LARS CHITTKA, MSc, PhD, FLS, FRES Professor in Sensory and Behavioural Ecology   POSITIONS PUBLISHED PAPERS AND PAPERS IN THE PRESS POPULAR SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES BOOKS REVIEWS RESEARCH GRANTS EDITORIAL WORK EXTERNAL EXAMINING PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES MEMBERSHIP STUDENTS SYMPOSIA TEACHING EXPERIENCE EXTERNAL REFEREE AND CONSULTING REPORTS   Address: School of Biological and Chemical Sciences Queen Mary, University of London Mile End Road London E1 4NS   Fax: 0044 (0)208 9830973 Email: l.chittka@qmul.ac.uk

POSITIONS:

2005-present: Professor in Sensory & Behavioural Ecology, University of London

2003-2005: Reader in Behavioural Ecology, Queen Mary College , University of London

2002-2003: Senior Lecturer, Queen Mary College , University of London

2000-2002: Senior Lecturer, Wrzburg University

1997-2000: Lecturer, Wrzburg University

1994-1997: Postdoctoral fellow, SUNY Stony Brook

1994 Postdoctoral fellow, FU Berlin

HONORARY POSITIONS:

1994-1997: Adjunct Assistant Professor, SUNY Stony Brook

1997 Guest Professor, University of Oklahoma , Tulsa

EDUCATION:

1993 Ph.D. (summa cum laude – 1 st class) in Biology at the Free University in Berlin

PUBLISHED PAPERS AND PAPERS IN THE PRESS (top tier publications in red )

(Where a pdf is available, the pdf logo will form a link to the document)

143. Chittka L. & Skorupski P.(2011). Information processing in miniature brains. Proc Royal Soc Lond B 278:885-888 doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.2699

142. Skorupski P. & Chittka L. (2011). Is colour cognitive? Optics and Laser Technology 43:251-260

141. Arnold S.E.J., Faruq, S., Savoleinen V., McOwan P. & Chittka L (2010) FReD: The Floral Reflectance Database - a web portal for analyses of flower colour. PLoS One 5(12):e14287. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014287

140. Chittka L (2010) Lars Chittka, Q&A. Current Biology 20: R1006-R1008

139. Chittka A. & Chittka L (2010) Epigenetics of Royalty. PLoS Biol 8: e1000532

138. Ings T. C., Ings N. L., Chittka L. & Rasmont P. (2010) A failed invasion? Commercially introduced pollinators in Southern France. Apidologie 41:1–13

137. Kapustjansky A., Chittka L. & Spaethe J. (2010) Bees use three-dimensional information to improve target detection. Naturwissenschaften 97:229–233

136. Lihoreau L., Chittka L. & Raine N. E. (2010) Travel Optimization by Foraging Bumblebees through Readjustments of Traplines after Discovery of New Feeding Locations The American Naturalist 176: published online

135. Muller H., Grossmann H. & Chittka L. (2010) ‘Personality’ in bumblebees: individual consistency in responses to novel colours? Animal Behaviour 80: 1065-1074.

134. Niven, J. E. & Chittka L. (2010) Reuse of identified neurons in multiple neural circuits Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33:4

133. Skorupski P. & Chittka L. (2010). Photoreceptor Spectral Sensitivity in the Bumblebee,
Bombus impatiens (Hymenoptera: Apidae). PLos One 5:e12049

132. Skorupski P. & Chittka L. (2010).Differences in Photoreceptor Processing Speed for Chromatic and Achromatic Vision in the Bumblebee Bombus terrestris. The Journal of Neuroscience 30:3896 –3903

131. Stelzer R. J. & Chittka L. (2010). Bumblebee foraging rhythms under the midnight sun measured with radiofrequency identification. BMC Biology 8:93

130. Stelzer R. J., Chittka L., Carlton M. & Ings T. C. (2010). Winter active bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) achieve high foraging rates in urban Britain. PLoS One 5:e9559

129. Stelzer R. J., Raine N. E., Schmitt K. D. & Chittka L. (2010). Effects of aposematic coloration on predation risk in bumblebees? A comparison between differently coloured populations, with consideration of the ultraviolet. Journal of Zoology 282: 75-83.

128. Stelzer R. J., Stanewsky R. & Chittka L. (2010). Circadian Foraging Rhythms of Bumblebees Monitored by Radio-frequency Identification. Journal of Biological Rhythms 25: 257-267.

127. Arnold S.E.J., Savolainen V. & Chittka L. (2009). Flower colours along an alpine altitude gradient, seen through the eyes of fly and bee pollinators. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 3:27–43.

126. Arnold S. E. J., Le Comber S. C. & Chittka L. (2009). Flower color phenology in European grassland and woodland habitats, through the eyes of pollinators. Israel Journal of Plant Sciences 57: 211–230

125. Chittka L & H. Muller. (2009). Learning, specialization, efficiency and task allocation in social insects. Communicative & Integrative Biology 2: 151-154.

124. Chittka L. & Niven J. (2009). Are Bigger Brains Better? Current Biology 19: R995-R1008.

123. Chittka L, Skorupski P & NE Raine. (2009). Speed-accuracy tradeoffs in animal decision making. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 24: 400-407.

122. Dangles O., Irschick D., Chittka L. & Casas J. (2009). Variability in sensory ecology: expanding the bridge between physiology and evolutionary biology. The Quarterly Review of Biology 84: 51-74.

121. Ings T.C. & Chittka L. (2009). Predator crypsis enhances behaviourally-mediated indirect effects on plants by altering bumblebee foraging preferences. Proc. Royal Soc. B 276: 2031-2036.

120. Ings TC, Raine NE & Chittka L. (2009). A population comparison of the strength and persistence of innate colour preference and learning speed in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris. Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology 63: 1207-1218.

119. Leadbeater E.A. & Chittka L. (2009). Bumble-bees learn the value of social cues through experience. Biology Letters 5: 310 - 312

119. Leadbeater, E.A. & Chittka, L. (2009) Social information use in foraging insects. In: S. Jarau & M. Hrncir (eds.) Food Exploitation by Social Insects: Ecological, Behavioral, and Theoretical Approaches. CRC Press, pp 135-146.

118. Molet M, Chittka L & Raine NE (2009). Potential application of the bumblebee foraging recruitment pheromone for commercial greenhouse pollination. Apidologie 40: 608-616.

117. Molet M, Chittka L & NE Raine. (2009). How floral odours are learned inside the bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) nest. Naturwissenschaften 96: 213-219.

116. Ollerton J, Cranmer L, Stelzer RJ, Sullivan S & Chittka L. (2009). Bird pollination of Canary Island endemic plants. Naturwissenschaften 96: 221-232.

115. Raine, N.E. & Chittka, L. (2009) Measuring the adaptiveness of social insect foraging strategies - an empirical approach. In: S. Jarau & M. Hrncir (eds.) Food Exploitation by Social Insects: Ecological, Behavioral, and Theoretical Approaches. CRC Press, pp 9-28.

114. Whitney H.M., Chittka L., Bruce T.J.A. & Glover B.J. (2009) Conical Epidermal Cells Allow Bees to Grip Flowers and Increase Foraging Efficiency. Current Biology 19:948-953.

113. Whitney H.M., Kolle M., Andrew P., Chittka L., Steiner U. and Glover B. J. (2009). Response to Comment on “Floral Iridescence, Produced by Diffractive Optics, Acts As a Cue for Animal Pollinators” Science 325: 1072

112. Whitney H.M., Kolle M., Andrew P., Chittka L., Steiner U. and Glover B. J. (2009). Floral Iridescence, Produced by Diffractive Optics, Acts As a Cue for Animal Pollinators. Science 323: 130-133.

111. Arnold S.E.J. , Savolainen V. & Chittka L. (2008) FReD: The floral reflectance spectra database. Nature Precedings.doi:10.1038/npre.2008.1846.1

110. Ings, T.C . & Chittka, L. (2008). Speed accuracy tradeoffs and false alarms in bee responses to cryptic predators. Current Biology 18: 1520-1524.

109. Leadbeater, E. & Chittka L. (2008). Social transmission of nectar-robbing behaviour in bumble-bees. Proc. R. Soc. B. 275: 1669-1674.

108. Molet M, Chittka L, Stelzer RJ,  Streit S & NE Raine . (2008). Colony nutritional status modulates worker responses to foraging recruitment pheromone in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris . Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology 62: 1919–1926. Supplementary material.

107. Muller, H. and Chittka, L. (2008) Animal personalities: the advantage of diversity. Current Biology 20: pR961-R963.

106. Raine NE & Chittka L. (2008) The correlation of learning speed and natural foraging success in bumble-bees. Proceedings of the Royal Society - Series B 275: 803-808. Supplementary material.

105. Whitney H.M., Dyer A., Chittka L., Rands S.A. and Glover B.J. (2008). The interaction of temperature and sucrose concentration on foraging preferences in bumblebees. Naturwissenschaften 95: 845-850.

2007

104. Chittka L. & Dring T. F. (2007) Are autumn foliage colours red signals to aphids? PLoS Biology 5: 1640-1644.

103. Chittka L., Osorio D. (2007) Cognitive Dimensions of Predator Responses to Imperfect Mimicry. PLoS Biology 5: 2754-2758.

102. Chittka, L. and Spaethe, J. (2007) Visual search and the importance of time in complex decision making by bees. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 1: 37-44.

101. Dring, T.F. and Chittka, L. (2007) Visual ecology of aphids - a critical review on the role of colours in host finding. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 1:3-16.

100. Dyer, A.G., Whitney, H.M., Arnold, S.E.J., Glover, B. J. and Chittka,  L. (2007) Mutations perturbing petal cell shape and anthocyanin synthesis influence bumblebee perception of Antirrhinum majus flower colour. Arthropod-Plant Interactions 1:45-55.

99. Leadbeater E. & Chittka L. (2007) Social learning in insects - From miniature brains to consensus building. Current Biology 17: R703-713.

98. Leadbeater, E. & Chittka, L. (2007) The dynamics of social learning in an insect model, the bumblebee (Bombus terrestris). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 61: 1789-1796.

97. Raine NE & L Chittka. (2007) Nectar production rates of 75 bumblebee-visited flower species in a German flora (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus terrestris). Entomologia Generalis 30: 191-192.

96. Raine NE & L Chittka. (2007) The adaptive significance of sensory bias in a foraging context: floral colour preferences in the bumblebee Bombus terrestris . PLoS One 2 : e556.

95. Raine NE & L Chittka. (2007) Flower constancy and memory dynamics in bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Bombus). Entomologia Generalis 29: 179-199.

94. Raine NE & L Chittka. (2007) Pollen foraging: learning a complex motor skill by bumblebees (Bombus terrestris). Naturwissenschaften 94: 459-464.

93. Saleh, N. & Chittka, L. (2007) Traplining in bumblebees (Bombus impatiens): a foraging strategy's ontogeny and the importance of spatial reference memory in short range foraging. Oecologia 151: 719-730.

92. Saleh N., Scott A. G.,  Bryning G. P. & Chittka L. (2007) Distinguishing signals and cues: bumblebees use general footprints to generate adaptive behaviour at flowers and nest. Arthropod Plant Interactions 1: 119-127.

91. Skorupski P., Doering, T., Chittka, L. (2007) Photoreceptor spectral sensitivity in island and mainland populations of the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 193: 485-494.

90. Stelzer, R., Ollerton, J., Chittka, L. (2007) Kein Nachweis fr Hummelbesuch der Kanarischen Vogelblumen (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Entomologia generalis 30: 153-154.

2006

89. Chittka L. & Raine NE. (2006) Recognition of flowers by pollinators. Current Opinion in Plant Biology 9: 428-435.

88. Dornhaus, A., Klgl, F., Oechslein, C., Puppe, F., & Chittka, L. (2006) Benefits of recruitment in honey bees: ecology and colony size. Behavioral Ecology 17: 336-344.

87. Dyer, A.G., Whitney, H.M., Arnold , S.E.J., Glover, B.J. & Chittka, L. (2006) Bees associate warmth with flower colour. Nature , 442: 525-525.

86. Ings, T.C., Ward, N.L. & Chittka, L. (2006) Can commercially imported bumblebees out-compete their native conspecifics? Journal of Applied Ecology 43: 940-948 (with cover page).

85. Leadbeater E, Raine NE & Chittka L. (2006) Social learning: ants and the meaning of teaching. Current Biology 16: R323-R325.

84. Raine, N.E., Ings, T.C., Dornhaus, A, Saleh, N. & Chittka, L. (2006) Adaptation, chance, and history in the e