Robin Grob
Om
My research aims to understand how insect navigators use and integrate different environmental cues to stay on track. I started working on this question in Wolfgang Rössler’s lab (Julius Maximilians University, Würzburg, Germany). During my doctoral studies in the Graduate School of Life Sciences (Würzburg, Germany), I investigated how desert ants (Cataglyphis) set up and calibrate their navigational systems, before venturing out into far-reaching foraging trips. I established a combination of state-of-the-art neurobiological methods and behavioral essays in the ants’ natural habitats in Greece and Tunisia. With this truly neuroethological approach, I studied the magnetic compass that guides the ants during their very first excursions outside the nest and the Hebbian and homeostatic plasticity that prepares and adapts the ant brain for the new challenges ahead.
During my postdoc in Basil el Jundi’s lab (NTNU, Trondheim, Norway) I study the orientation behavior of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). By combining behavioral, anatomical, and electrophysiological approaches, I aim to better understand how the butterfly integrates different sensory modalities to stay on course even during their long overwintering migration from North America to Central Mexico. I am especially interested in the interaction of the time-compensated sun compass and the magnetic compass of the butterflies.
Kompetanseord
Publikasjoner
Importance of magnetic information for neuronal plasticity in desert ants
Rotation of skylight polarization during learning walks is necessary to trigger neuronal plasticity in Cataglyphis ants
Johnston's organ and its central projections in Cataglyphis desert ants
The geomagnetic field is a compass cue in Cataglyphis ant navigation
2024
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Grob, Robin;
Müller, Valentin L.;
Grübel, Kornelia;
Rössler, Wolfgang;
Fleischmann, Pauline N..
(2024)
Importance of magnetic information for neuronal plasticity in desert ants.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)
Vitenskapelig artikkel
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Grob, Robin;
Wegmann, Johanna W.;
Rössler, Wolfgang;
Fleischmann, Pauline N..
(2024)
Cataglyphis ants have a polarity-sensitive magnetic compass.
Current Biology
Vitenskapelig artikkel
Tidsskriftspublikasjoner
-
Grob, Robin;
Müller, Valentin L.;
Grübel, Kornelia;
Rössler, Wolfgang;
Fleischmann, Pauline N..
(2024)
Importance of magnetic information for neuronal plasticity in desert ants.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)
Vitenskapelig artikkel
-
Grob, Robin;
Wegmann, Johanna W.;
Rössler, Wolfgang;
Fleischmann, Pauline N..
(2024)
Cataglyphis ants have a polarity-sensitive magnetic compass.
Current Biology
Vitenskapelig artikkel