Research interests:

I am currently trying to uncover whether bumblebees, like some other animals (for some examples, see Réale et al. 2007 Biol. Rev ., 82, pp. 291–318), have personalities. The aim of my project is to answer the following questions:

- Do bumblebees have personality types?

- What consequences does personality have for colony fitness?

- What are the implications for behavioural ecology and learning and memory?

Publications:

Chittka, L. and Muller, H. (2008) Learning, specialization, efficiency and task allocation in social insects. Communicative & Integrative Biology. Vol 2, Issue 2

Muller, H. and Korb, J. (2008) Male or female soldiers? An evaluation of several factors which may influence soldier sex ratio in lower termites. Insectes Sociaux, vol. 55, iss. 3, 213-219.

Muller, H. and Chittka, L. (2008) Animal personalities: the advantage of diversity. Current Biology, vol. 20, iss. 18, pR961-R963.

•  2007-08 Queen Mary university of London , PhD year 1

•  2006-07 Université Paris XIII (France) , Master d'Ethologie, year 1

•  2004-06 Royal Holloway University of London , BSc Zoology degree

Award  : Lillian Hildebrandt Rummel Prize 2006

•  2002-04 Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale (France) , DEUG Biologie

-Biochimie

Research projects and placements :

2007 – 1 month – Supervisor: Pr Martin Giurfa, Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse , France

Delay conditioning in the honeybee – what is the role played by the mushroom bodies?

2007 – 2 months – Supervisor: Judith Korb, Regensburg Universitat, Regensburg , Germany

Male or female soldiers? An evaluation of several factors on soldier sex ratio in lower termites ( Cryptotermes secundus and C. domesticus )

2006 – Third year research project – Supervisor: Pr Alan Gange, Royal Holloway, University of London , UK

Stag-beetle's ( Lucanus cervus ) attraction behaviour: do they use microbiological cues to find a breeding site?

2004 – 1 month – Supervisor: Dr Serge Aron, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgique

Pilot study: aggressive behaviour directed at unrelated-males as an explanation for observed consanguinity in the ant Plagolepis pygmea.

2003 – 1 month – Supervisor: Dr Daniel Cherix, Musée cantonal de zoologie, Lausanne, Switzerland

Assessment of a behavioural test to discriminate between two Formica sympatric species: F.lugubris and F.paralugubris .

2003 – 1 month – Supervisor: Dr Alain Lenoir, Université François-Rabelais,

Tours , France

Cuticular hydrocarbons patterns, fungi and nestmate recognition in leaf cutting ants