Keynote speakers
Gustavo Hormiga
Bio: Gustavo Hormiga is the Ruth Weintraub Professor of Biology at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Research in his lab focuses on spider systematics and evolution, with emphasis on orb weavers. Gustavo completed his undergraduate studies at the Universitat de Barcelona and his M.S. and doctoral work at the University of Maryland. He is a Research Associate at the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University, the California Academy of Sciences and the American Museum of Natural History.
Topic of the plenary talk: Systematics, Phylogeny and Evolution of orb weaving spiders.
Contacts: [email protected]
Topic of the plenary talk: Systematics, Phylogeny and Evolution of orb weaving spiders.
Contacts: [email protected]
Lucia Kuhn-Nentwig
Bio: Lucia Kuhn-Nentwig is a senior scientist at the Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern (Switzerland) since 1990. Lucia studied biology with the focus on pharmacology and biochemistry and completed her PhD on the cytochrome c oxidase at the Chemistry Department of the University of Marburg (Germany) in 1985. Her research focuses mainly on the identification of venom compounds and their interactions as well as the immune system of the spider Cupiennius salei.
Topic of the plenary talk: The complexity of spider venom.
Contacts: [email protected]
Topic of the plenary talk: The complexity of spider venom.
Contacts: [email protected]
Frederik Hendrickx
Bio: Frederik Hendrickx is senior scientist at the Entomology Department of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium and Guest Lecturer at Ghent University, Belgium, where he teaches courses on evolution. He studies a wide variety of eco-evolutionary and ecological topics using spiders and beetles as model organisms. These include speciation, life history evolution and sexual selection. In his research, he attempts to integrate theory with genetic and experimental data and field observations.
Topic of the plenary talk: Sexual selection and sex-ratio games in a male dimorphic dwarf spider.
Contacts: [email protected]
Topic of the plenary talk: Sexual selection and sex-ratio games in a male dimorphic dwarf spider.
Contacts: [email protected]
Erhard Christian
Bio: Erhard Christian is the former President of the Entomological Society of Austria and the Austrian Society of Entomofaunistics. He was Associate Professor at the University of Natural Resources and Life Siences, Vienna, where he chaired the Institute of Zoology for several years. His particular interests lie in the fields of soil zoology and subterranean biodiversity research, with focus on Palpigradi and basal hexapods.
Topic of the plenary talk: Palpigradi: Morphology, research history and recent advances.
Contacts: [email protected]
Topic of the plenary talk: Palpigradi: Morphology, research history and recent advances.
Contacts: [email protected]
Martin Entling
Bio: Martin Entling is the Head of the Ecosystem Analysis Lab at University of Koblenz-Landau. He is interested in how spiders are influenced by human land use and by the composition and configuration of habitat types in the landscape. In addition, he studies the role of spiders in food webs both as predators of various insects and as prey, e.g. for ants, wasps and birds. Recently, he became fascinated by trait-mediated interactions, such as avoidance behaviour between insects and spiders based on chemical cues.
Topic of the plenary talk: Trophic interactions of spiders: from individuals to ecosystems.
Contacts: [email protected]
Topic of the plenary talk: Trophic interactions of spiders: from individuals to ecosystems.
Contacts: [email protected]