Thesis supervisor: Gábor Lőrinczi
co-supervisor: István Elek Maák
Location of studies (in Hungarian): Univ. Szeged, Dept. of Ecology Abbreviation of location of studies: SzTE
Description of the research topic:
Ants play a prominent role as bioindicators both ecologically and from the viewpoint of conservation biology due to the wide variety of their behavioural patterns. Since the main competitors of ants are other ant species, it is important to understand the behavioural interactions among species, as well the potentially relevant factors that can influence these interactions, namely
1. the morphological (e.g., colony size, presence of different castes) and behavioural (e.g., tool use) characteristics of ants;
2. the micro- and macroclimatic factors (e.g., temperature, humidity, insolation); and
3. the structure of habitat (e.g., fragmentation, vegetation architecture, presence of invasive plant species).
The tasks of the PhD student would be to perform baiting experiments in the field, to measure the microclimatic conditions, to use climate databases, to assess background variables and traits, and to manage and process the recorded data.
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