Katja Heubel
University of Tuebingen
Department of Biology
Institute for Evolution and Ecology
Animal Evolutionary Ecology
Auf der Morgenstelle 28 (E-building)
D-72076 Tuebingen, Germany

I studied biology in Kiel (Germany) and worked for my PhD on sexual-asexual coexistence at the Universities of Hamburg and Austin, Texas. After defending my thesis in Hamburg, I went for a postdoc to Helsinki. I quite liked Finland and I stayed for another postdoc (working with Kai Lindström and Hanna Kokko, trying to combine theoretical and experimental work on sexual selection and fish behaviour) and continued for two years as a lecturer. In 2011 I moved to Tübingen to start a Junior Research Group (Advanced fellow, funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung) working on context-dependent plasticity of sexual selection. I am addressing related questions mainly experimentally by studying gobies in the Baltic Sea.

Research area: behavioural ecology, evolutionary ecology

Keywords: Sexual selection, life-history evolution, communication and signal evolution, sexual conflict, context dependent mating decisions, behavioural adaptations to changing ecological contexts, stability of sexual-asexual coexistence.

For details please refer to my research page.

Generally, my research interests lie in the field of behavioural ecology and evolutionary ecology. Functional aspects are the core foundations of my research interests. I am intrigued by interactions among individuals, between sexes, competitors, or coexisting species. The relations of such behaviour to its social and environmental context and its population level consequences are the main focus of my research interests. I consider the research questions per se as more important than the specific species chosen to test my hypotheses. Most rewarding to me are systems and research questions that allow a variety of experimental approaches to challenge theory.

Sexual selection is an interesting field that allows me to combine behaviour, evolution, ecology, and population biology in my research and enables me to apply both theoretical and empirical approaches. Most research on sexual selection thus far has been carried out while ignoring the social and population ecological context. I am currently mainly interested in context-dependent plasticity of sexual selection.

For details please refer to my research page.

I enjoy and value teaching as an essential part of a researcher’s role in the scientific community. I find teaching most rewarding when I can link it to current research. I especially appreciate teaching practicals and field courses that integrate contents as well as methods and allow the students to plan and conduct their own small research projects.

(please contact me for a pdf if you don’t have online access)

Kokko H., Heubel KU (2011) Prudent males, group adaptation, and the tragedy of the commons. Oikos 120:641-656.

Heubel KU, Rankin DJ, Kokko H (2009) How to go extinct by mating too much: Population consequences of male mate choice and efficiency in a sexual-asexual species complex. Oikos 118:513-520.

Heubel KU, Schlupp I (2008) Seasonal plasticity in male mating preferences in sailfin mollies. Behavioral Ecology 19:1080-1086

Kokko H, Heubel K (2008) Condition-dependence, genotype-by-environment interactions and the lek paradox. Genetica 132:209-216

Kokko H, Heubel KU, Rankin DJ (2008) How populations persist when asexuality requires sex: the spatial dynamics of coping with sperm parasites. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 275:817-825

Heubel KU, Hornhardt K, Ollmann T, Parzefall J, Ryan MJ, Schlupp I (2008) Geographic variation in female mate-copying in the species complex of a unisexual fish, Poecilia formosa. Behaviour 145:1041-1064

Heubel KU, Lindström K, Kokko H (2008) Females increase current reproductive effort when future access to males is uncertain. Biology Letters 4:224-227

Heubel KU, Plath M (2008) Influence of male harassment and female competition on female feeding behaviour in a sexual-asexual mating complex of mollies (Poecilia mexicana, P. formosa). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 62:1689-1699

Heubel KU, Schlupp I (2006) Turbidity affects association behaviour in male Poecilia latipinna. Journal of Fish Biology 68:555-568

Plath M, Seggel U, Burmeister H, Heubel KU, Schlupp I (2006) Choosy males from the underground: male mating preferences in surface- and cave-dwelling Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana). Naturwissenschaften 93:103-109

Tobler M, Schlupp I, Heubel KU, Riesch R, de Leon FJG, Giere O, Plath M (2006) Life on the edge: hydrogen sulfide and the fish communities of a Mexican cave and surrounding waters. Extremophiles 10:577-585

Plath M., Heubel K.U., de Leon F.G. & Schlupp I. (2005) Cave molly females (Poecilia mexicana, Poeciliidae, Teleostei) like well-fed males. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 58:144-151.

Plath M., Heubel K.U. & Schlupp I. (2005) Field observations on male mating behavior in surface- and cave-dwelling Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana, Poeciliidae). Zeitschrift für Fischkunde, 7:113-119.