Research projects
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​The evolution of fruit traits

Fleshy fruits have evolved to be attractive to seed dispersers, and they come in a tremendous diversity of colors, shapes, sizes, textures, and aroma. Frugivores - fruit-eating animals - have long been speculated to be a major driver in fruit trait evolution through their diverse preferences, dietary requirements, and sensory capacities. But how?

This question constitutes the core of my research. Previous projects have demonstrated how fruit scent is likely to have evolved as a communication system between primates and plants in the Neotropics and Madagascar, while conspicuous colorful displays have evolved in species that rely on birds, which tend to be more vision oriented, and that the colors of fruits tend to match the visual capacities of the target frugivores. More recent work found a potentially direct biochemical link between fruit scent and nutrient content, thus offering further support for the hypothesis that fruit scent is an evolved communication system. 

Current work employs transcriptomic, chemical, and biogeographical approaches to further understand how frugivores have directed the evolution of fruit scent and color. Field work is currently taking place in Madagascar, but the project is set to expand to India, Mozambique, the Comoros,  and the Mascarenes. I am looking for a PhD student to join this project! Click for more info.

Funding: German Science Foundation (DFG), NE21561/1; NE2156/2-1; NE2156/3-1

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Animal sensory ecology
In this line of projects, I attempt to understand how frugivorous animals respond to fruit signals and cues, primarily to understand what selection pressures they have exerted on plants. In other words, to understand the evolution of fruit traits, we need to understand the behavior of the animals that feed on those fruit. I work with a diversity of animals - from Neotropical primates to African Elephants, in the wild and in captivity. Work I previously published with various collaborators has demonstrated the ability of spider monkeys to distinguish between the chemical profiles of ripe and unripe fruits even when the signals are artificially noisy, that wild lemurs increase their reliance on their sense of smell when feeding on fruit species that provide a particularly informative signal, and that semi-tamed elephants are capable of estimating fruit sugar content based on scent alone. In collaboration with Prof. Amanda Melin (University of Calgary) and others, we showed that intra-specific variation in color vision capacity is a major driver of fruit-selection strategies in capuchin monkeys. 

Current work focuses on comparative physiology of lemur species to understand how fruit chemistry has driven the evolution of animal olfaction. 

Funding: German Science Foundation (DFG), HE1870/19-1; NE21561/1; NE2156/2-1; NE2156/3-1

Credit: M. Schmitt

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Utilizing chemical ecology to promote elephant conservation
​Human-elephant conflict is a growing problem across Africa and south-east Asia. The most acute problem is crop raiding by elephants, which destroy the livelihood of subsistence farmers, but can also destroy commercial farms. In both cases, the result affects food security in developing countries, as well as economic development. In this project, my colleagues and I study the chemical ecology of African elephants to identify chemical compounds that naturally deter them. 

In collaboration with Dr. Melissa H. Schmitt and Dr. Kim Valenta

Credit: M. Schmitt