dr. A (Alexander) Kotrschal

I am a Biologist with a strong interest in both Animal Behaviour and Evolution. My topics range from phenotypic plasticity of behaviour and physiology to the evolution of brain size and cognitive ability. I predominantly work with fish - be it cichlids from Lake Tanganyika, Salmon from Canada and Sweden, or Guppies from Trinidad - but also work with Chinese frogs, wild house mice, domestic cats, dogs, or 1400 species of birds.
I was involved in a large-scale experiment in which we experimentally investigate brain size evolution of vertebrates and another artificial selection experiemnt in which we determined the mechanistic basis of social evolution. Currently, together with three amazing postdocs at Stockholm University Regina Vega Trejo, David Mitchell, and Catarina Vila Pouca we investigate the role of predation and other factors in cognitive and brain evolution. If you are interested in joining this project please get in touch.

I am an Associate Editor for Evolutionary Ecology and got the Niko Tinbergen Award in 2016.

You can find copies of my papers on my Research Gate site:
Kotrschal ResearchGate

I am also on google.scholar:
Kotrschal GoogleScholar

Opportunities for students: We have a fancy new fish lab in which we test just how smart fish actually are. If you feel more adventurous there is also the possibilty to join one of our field trips to Trinidad (no special requirements) or Zambia (SCUBA diving experience necessary).

Please contact me for details: Alexander.Kotrschal "at" wur.nl