Patrick Schultheiss

I study social insects - ants in particular. My research interests are focussed on ant ecology, neurobiology and behaviour - especially their amazing navigation abilities in natural environments. I aim for a complete understanding through an integrative approach - shining light on behaviour from many different angles. I am also fascinated by the diverse functional roles of ants in many ecosystems, and by their geographic patterns of distribution.

My current goal is to understand how tiny-brained ants can produce sophisticated searching behaviour. To this end, I am combining field- and lab-based experiments with neurobiological investigations.