{"id":295,"date":"2020-12-01T17:58:09","date_gmt":"2020-12-01T17:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lydiamaethger.com\/?page_id=295"},"modified":"2023-10-10T17:38:26","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T17:38:26","slug":"uber-mich","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lydiamaethger.com\/english\/uber-mich\/","title":{"rendered":"Biology"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Biology: Visual Ecology<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Cephalopods Octopus bimaculoides<\/em> (left) Sepia officinalis<\/em> (middle) Sepioteuthis sepioidea<\/em> (right)<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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About me:<\/strong> I was born in February 1975 in Bad Saarow (Land Brandenburg) and spent<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>a large part of my childhood on a farm <\/span>on which my mother grew up. My father was born in Saxony, Germany. He is an opera singer and worked at the opera house in Chemnitz for many years. When I was 16, we moved to Chemnitz, where, a few years later, I finished my \"Abitur\" (level prior to university) at the Georgius Agricola Gymnasium. <\/span>Even though I grew up with music and the arts, my love for<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>animals and nature led me to a career in science. I ended up becoming a biologist.<\/span><\/p>

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Education<\/strong>: After my Abitur, I studied Zoology at the University of Sheffield in the UK (1995-1998), followed by a PhD, which I completed at the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth, UK <\/span>(1998-2001).\u00a0In 2002, I moved to Australia, where I joined the Vision Touch and Hearing Research Center at the University of Queensland. Our research trips took us to several the field stations on the Great Barrier Reef. My last professional move took me to the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, where I have been since 2004. Until recently, I led a research lab at the MBL, and have been teaching at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Research interests<\/strong>: Ever since my PhD work, I've been fascinated by Visual Ecology. <\/strong>The kinds of questions we are asking in this area of research revolve around the adaptations of an animal's eyes, as well as its visual camouflage and signalling mechanisms, to the animal's habitat and life style. While my research primarily encompasses marine organisms, particularly cephalopods and fish, I have occasionally worked with birds and insects.\u00a0<\/p>

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My publication list can be found at the bottom of this page.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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The skin of cephalopods (squid, cuttlefish, octopus) is diverse in terms of the colours and patterns that can be produced. Moreover, the skin structures (chromatophores and light reflectors) that produce these colours and patterns can undergo rapid changes, which, depending on behavioural context can result in highly effective camouflage, or dramatic signalling display patterns. Many species additionally rely on their transparent bodies for camouflage, using their skin elements primarily for visual signalling.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Animal eyes come in a variety of shapes; two examples shown here are a squid eye (left) and the eye of a skate (right). Animals don't necessarily see the world the way we do - already the different pupil shapes suggest as much!<\/span> <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Publications<\/span><\/strong><\/p>