I am fascinated by all elements of communication; everything from signal structure and receiver perception to decision-making and network theory. Some particular questions of interest:

How does variation in signal characteristics and sensory processing influence receiver responses?

How do ecological factors influence communication networks across social scales (e.g. individual < small groups < aggregate)?

Communication among organisms rarely occurs through private channels. Instead, signals sent to target receivers are transmitted through the environment, which comes with the risk of detection by non-target receivers. Some of these receivers are enemies (e.g. predators, parasites and parasitoids) that capitalize on the conspicuous signals of their prey to obtain resources. I am fascinated by how both enemies and their prey sense and perceive each other, and love investigating how foraging/anti-enemy strategies and decision-making processes influence these interactions.

Photo by Christian Ziegler