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Robin Grob

Last ned pressefoto
Last ned pressefoto
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Robin Grob

Forsker
Institutt for biologi

robin.grob@ntnu.no
DU2-188 Realfagbygget Gløshaugen, Trondheim
Twitter ResearchGate Google Scholar el Jundi LAB
Om Publikasjoner Undervisning

Om

My research aims to understand how insect navigators use and integrate different environmental cues to stay on track. I started working on this question in Wolfgang Rössler’s lab (Julius Maximilians University, Würzburg, Germany). During my doctoral studies in the Graduate School of Life Sciences (Würzburg, Germany), I investigated how desert ants (Cataglyphis) set up and calibrate their navigational systems, before venturing out into far-reaching foraging trips. I established a combination of state-of-the-art neurobiological methods and behavioral essays in the ants’ natural habitats in Greece and Tunisia. With this truly neuroethological approach, I studied the magnetic compass that guides the ants during their very first excursions outside the nest and the Hebbian and homeostatic plasticity that prepares and adapts the ant brain for the new challenges ahead.


During my postdoc in Basil el Jundi’s lab (NTNU, Trondheim, Norway) I study the orientation behavior of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus). By combining behavioral, anatomical, and electrophysiological approaches, I aim to better understand how the butterfly integrates different sensory modalities to stay on course even during their long overwintering migration from North America to Central Mexico. I am especially interested in the interaction of the time-compensated sun compass and the magnetic compass of the butterflies.

Kompetanseord

  • Behavior
  • Electrophysiology

Publikasjoner

Importance of magnetic information for neuronal plasticity in desert ants

We show that the use magnetic information both as a compass and as a reference system for compass calibration. Information from the Earth’s magnetic field is integrated into the ant brain's internal compass and into the learning and memory centers.

Rotation of skylight polarization during learning walks is necessary to trigger neuronal plasticity in Cataglyphis ants

Structural neuronal changes in the central complex (internal compass) and mushroom bodies (learning and memory) are triggered only when ant learning walks were performed under a rotating skylight polarization pattern.

Johnston's organ and its central projections in Cataglyphis desert ants

The multisensory nature of the Johnston's organ together with its projections to multisensory neuropils in the ant brain likely serves synchronization and calibration of different sensory modalities during the ontogeny of navigation in Cataglyphis.

The geomagnetic field is a compass cue in Cataglyphis ant navigation

Desert ants frequently and robustly look back to the nest during learning walks. Novices use the geomagnetic field as a compass cue to determine the direction. The geomagnetic field is the sufficient and necessary reference system for ants.
  • Kronologisk
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  • Alle publikasjoner i Nasjonalt vitenarkiv (NVA)

2025

  • Grob, Robin; Farnworth, Max S.; Degen, Jacqueline; Warrant, Eric; Montgomery, Stephen H.; Jundi, Basil el. (2025) The diversity of lepidopteran spatial orientation strategies – neuronal mechanisms and emerging challenges in a changing world. Journal of Comparative Physiology A. Sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology
    Vitenskapelig oversiktsartikkel/review
  • Cicconardi, Francesco; Farnworth, Max S.; Grob, Robin; Shodja, Donya N.; Bacquet, Caroline N.; Jundi, Basil el. (2025) Emerging tools to advance neuroethology in butterflies and moths. Journal of Comparative Physiology A. Sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology
    Vitenskapelig oversiktsartikkel/review

2024

  • Grob, Robin; Müller, Valentin L.; Grübel, Kornelia; Rössler, Wolfgang; Fleischmann, Pauline N.. (2024) Importance of magnetic information for neuronal plasticity in desert ants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)
    Vitenskapelig artikkel
  • Grob, Robin; Wegmann, Johanna W.; Rössler, Wolfgang; Fleischmann, Pauline N.. (2024) Cataglyphis ants have a polarity-sensitive magnetic compass. Current Biology
    Vitenskapelig artikkel

Tidsskriftspublikasjoner

  • Grob, Robin; Farnworth, Max S.; Degen, Jacqueline; Warrant, Eric; Montgomery, Stephen H.; Jundi, Basil el. (2025) The diversity of lepidopteran spatial orientation strategies – neuronal mechanisms and emerging challenges in a changing world. Journal of Comparative Physiology A. Sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology
    Vitenskapelig oversiktsartikkel/review
  • Cicconardi, Francesco; Farnworth, Max S.; Grob, Robin; Shodja, Donya N.; Bacquet, Caroline N.; Jundi, Basil el. (2025) Emerging tools to advance neuroethology in butterflies and moths. Journal of Comparative Physiology A. Sensory, neural, and behavioral physiology
    Vitenskapelig oversiktsartikkel/review
  • Grob, Robin; Müller, Valentin L.; Grübel, Kornelia; Rössler, Wolfgang; Fleischmann, Pauline N.. (2024) Importance of magnetic information for neuronal plasticity in desert ants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS)
    Vitenskapelig artikkel
  • Grob, Robin; Wegmann, Johanna W.; Rössler, Wolfgang; Fleischmann, Pauline N.. (2024) Cataglyphis ants have a polarity-sensitive magnetic compass. Current Biology
    Vitenskapelig artikkel

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