Adviser: Brigitte Tenhumberg Food acquisition is a complicated task. The profitability of potential food items depends on numerous factors, including the spatial distribution, probability of detection and capture, and suitability of the food. Animals faced with such challenges can use relatively simple mechanisms to maximize foraging efficiency. However, mechanisms that maximize foraging effici...

The Black-veined White Aporia crataegi (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) is a trans-Palearctic species causing damage to various fruit and berry crops. Here we analyzed Wolbachia infection in A. populations. bacteria are maternally transmitted intracellular symbionts of many arthropods, including numerous Lepidoptera. We have studied 376 samples collected 10 regions Russia from the Far East Kaliningrad. ...

We investigate the scope for cooperation within a community engaged in repeated reciprocal interactions. Players seek the help of others and approach them sequentially according to some fixed order, that is, a ranking profile. We study the ranking profiles that correspond to the social structures that are most effective in sustaining cooperation in equilibrium, that is, social structures that s...