My main area of interest lies in behavioural ecology & evolutionary biology, with a focus on marine organisms. I did my PhD on fitness consequences of polyandry in simultaneous hermaphrodites. Currently, I investigate the interplay between animal personality, sexual selection, and social selection. I use two different fish species as study systems and combine field and laboratory work in Australia (Lizard Island Research Station) and Finland (Tvärminne Zoological Station) to address the following research topics:

Animal personality and sexual conflict

Animal personality, i.e. consistent individual differences in behaviour across contexts and/or time, can substantially influence an individual's fitness by setting a limit to behavioural plasticity. But is personality also consistent across the two sexes? If so, animal personality could potentially impede the sex-specific adaptation of behavioural phenotypes. I investigate this and related questions using the haremic sex-changing reef fish Parapercis cylindrica. This project is funded for 3 years by the DFG.

Collaborators

Stefan P.W. Walker, James Cook University, Australia

Niels J. Dingemanse, MPI for Ornithology, Germany 

Ned A. Dochterman, University of Nevada, USA

Animal personality and the quality of paternal care

Many empirical studies have investigated the adaptiveness of filial cannibalism (i.e. eating one's own offspring) but results were often inconsistent with the theoretical framework. Most of these approaches assume that all individuals of a population respond in the same way to changes in the ambient environment. In a 3 year project funded by the DFG I take a critical view at this prediction by investigating the link between animal personality and individual differences in the quality of paternal care behaviour in the common goby Pomatoschistus microps. 

Collaborators

Katja Heubel, University of Tübingen, Germany

Kai Lindström, Åbo Akademi University, Finland

Nils Anthes, University of Tübingen, Germany

I am also involved in marine visual ecology research coordinated by Nico Michiels (University of Tübingen, Germany) and Ulrike Siebeck (University of Brisbane, Australia). Previous and current projects include UV-vision in the damselfish Pomacentrus amboinensis, colour vision in the wrasse Coris julis, and the functional importance of red fluorescence in marine fish.

Sprenger D, Lange R, Anthes N (2011) Population density and group size effects on reproductive behavior in a simultaneous hermaphrodite. BMC Evolutionary Biology 11:107

Anthes N, David P, Auld JR, Hoffer JNA, Jarne P, Koene JM, Kokko H, Lorenzi MC, Pelissie B, Sprenger D, Staikou A, Schaerer L. (2010) Bateman gradients in hermaphrodites: an extended approach to quantify sexual selection. The American Naturalist 176:249-263.

Sprenger D, Lange R, Michiels NK, Anthes N (2010) Sources of phenotypic variation in offspring size and performance in an internally fertilizing marine hermaphrodite. Evolutionary Ecology 24:185-194

Siebeck UE, Parker AN, Sprenger D, Mäthger LM, Wallis G (2010) A species of reef fish that uses ultraviolet patterns for covert face recognition. Current Biology 20:407-410

Sprenger D, Lange R, Michiels NK, Anthes N (2009) The role of body size in early mating behavior in a simultaneous hermaphrodite, Chelidonura sandrana. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 63:953-958

Sprenger D, Faber J, Michiels NK, Anthes N (2008) Natural female mating rate maximizes hatchling size in a marine invertebrate. Journal of Animal Ecology 77:696-701

Sprenger D, Anthes N, Michiels NK (2008) Multiple mating affects offspring size in the opisthobranch Chelidonura sandrana. Marine Biology 153:891-897

Gagern A, Schürg T, Michiels NK, Schulte G, Sprenger D, Anthes N (2008) Behavioural response to interference competition in a sessile suspension feeder. Marine Ecology Progress Series 353:131-135

Michiels NK, Anthes N, Hart NS, Herler J, Meixner AJ, Schleifenbaum F, Schulte G, Siebeck UE, Sprenger D, Wucherer MF (2008) Red fluorescence in reef fish: a novel signalling mechanism? BMC Ecology 8:16

see also our publication list