I am fundamentally interested in how animals work – what drives their behavior, and how their behavior affects evolutionary and ecological relationships. I fulfill these interests with a research program broadly organized around the neuroethology of pollination: i.e. how sensory processing of pollinators drives behavior, as well as relevant plant-insect interactions. My lab utilizes diverse techniques in our pursuit of these questions; including computational analysis, neurophysiology, field studies, and behavior. Current projects in the lab predominantly focus on the role of olfaction in bumblebee foraging, including the effects of odor-pollution. Additional work investigates the relative roles of vision and olfaction in bumblebees searching for novel resources.
Head back to Muhlenberg