Ph. D., Texas Tech University

   

Office:     303A Life Sciences Building

Phone:   1-419-372-0341

Email:     moirav@bgsu.edu

   

Research:

Ethology and evolution

   

Research Interests:

The mechanisms of sensory biology and its interface with population biology. We employ a variety of approaches to investigate the evolution of sensory organs and communication systems, and their significance at both the population and species level. These include comparative and functional morphology, behavioral analysis, acoustic transmission in natural habitats, construction of molecular phylogenies, and spatial genetic analyses of populations.

Selected Publications:

Couldridge, F. and M.J. van Staaden. 2004. Habitat-dependent transmission of male advertisement calls in bladder grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Pneumoridae). J. Exp. Biol. 207:2777-2786.

van Staaden, M.J., H. Römer, M. Reiser, S. Ott and M.A. Papst. 2003. Serial hearing organs in the atympanate grasshopper Bullacris membracioides (Orthoptera, Pneumoridae). J. Comp. Neurol. 465(4):579-592.

van Staaden, M.J. and R. Huber. 2001. Multidisciplinary dissection of behavioral arousal: The role of muscarinic acetylcholine stimulation in grasshopper stridulatory behavior. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 98:9468-9470.

van Staaden, M.J. & H. Römer. 1998. Evolutionary transition from stretch to hearing organs in ancient grasshoppers. Nature 394: 773-776.

van Staaden, M.J. & H. Römer. 1997. Sexual signalling in bladder grasshoppers: tactical design for maximizing calling range. J. Exp. Biol. 200: 2597-2608.