Clemens Küpper
Research Group Leader
Main Focus
I’m interested in the evolution of social behaviour, particularly the behaviours that are associated with mating and parental care. Reproduction is the major life cycle stage, which decides over the evolutionary success or failure of an individual. Not surprisingly competition for mates and mate choice have led to many spectacular ornaments and elaborate behaviours. I try to understand fitness consequences of behaviours and traits associated with mating and parental care. I fell in love with shorebirds (or ‘waders’) during my Masters project and have stuck to them ever since. Because many shorebird populations are threatened, I use the data collected for our academic studies to improve their conservation.
Link to the webpages of the Behavioural Genetics and Evolutionary Ecology Research Group
Curriculum Vitae
since 2016 Max Planck Research Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Seewiesen (fomer MPI for Ornithology)
2015 – 2016 Assistant Professor of Biodiversity and Evolution, University of Graz, Austria
2012 – 2015 Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Sheffield, UK
2010 – 2012 DAAD Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard University, USA
2008 – 2009 Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Bath, UK
2004 – 2008 PhD, University of Bath, UK
2000 – 2001 Masters, Konrad-Lorenz-Institute for Comparative Ethology, Austria
1998 – 2000 Undergraduate studies in Biology, University of Vienna, Austria
1995 – 1998 Undergraduate studies in Biology, University of Greifswald, Germany