Klaus Reinhardt
| Visiting Scientist
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Current Research
Curriculum vitae
Publications
Current research
I am interested in how two processes, sperm ageing and sexual co-evolution, cause rapid evolutionary change in terms of speciation, trait evolution and polymorphism. My main study organisms are bedbugs, crickets and grasshoppers.
Sperm ageing and evolutionary change
Fertilisation and zygote viability critically depend on sperm age, more so than on sperm genotype (i.e. sexual selection). I study how sperm ageing selects for male and female traits that reduce the impact of aged sperm. We focus on microbial and oxidative stress on sperm (Reinhardt 2007 Q Rev Biol 82:375// Otti et al. 2009 Am Nat 174, 292)
Co-evolution between the sexes: Why is reproduction so complicated?
I study a fast evolutionary ping-pong play: Male bedbugs copulate by piercing the female skin and females respond by evolving a novel biomaterial. Males transmit microbes during mating and females evolved a new immune organ. Males mate when females are unable to resist mating (situation exploitation) and females will respond by… (Reinhardt et al. 2003 Proc B 270, 2371// 2009 Evolution 63, 29 // 2009 PNAS 106, 21743)
Genitalia evolution
Genitalia evolve more rapidly than other morphological characters. Why? Sexual selection has been suggested. Yet, genitalia variation within species is so small that it is the key identification feature of most arthropods. We study bedbugs because male genitalia do not covary with female genitalia, there are species in which males mate with other males and in these, males have evolved female-like genitalia. In turn, some females mimic the male form of female genitalia (Reinhardt et al. 2007 Am Nat 170, 931// Reinhardt 2010 Genetica 138, 119)
General aspects of the biology of the bedbug
The bedbug is globally on the rise yet for some areas we lack basic medical, ecological, population genetic and phylogenetic knowledge. I am interested in the dispersal, population biology and thermal ecology of any bedbug species both in terms of pure biological aspects as well as potential pest control applications (Reinhardt et al. 2007 Annu Rev Entomol 52, 351// 2009 Med Vet Entomol 23, 163// 2010 Med Vet Entomol 24, 46)
Curriculum vitae
| 2006-2010 | NERC Research Fellow University of Sheffield |
| 2005/2006 | Wellcome Trust VIP Award |
| 2003-2005 | Postdoctoral Research Associate University of Sheffield |
| 2001/2002 | Marie Curie Fellowship University of Leeds |
| 2001 | Feodor-Lynen Fellowship (Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation) Illinois State University |
| 2000 | Postdoctoral Research Associate University of Erlangen |
| 2000 | PhD University of Jena |
| 1995 | M.Sc like Diplom in Biologie University of Jena |