PD Dr. Volker Nehring

Focus of research

• Chemical communication in ants
• Ageing in social insects
• Evolution of communication & sociality

CV

• 2012 Assistant Professor, Freiburg University
• 2011 PhD, at the Centre for Social Evolution, University of Copenhagen 

Selected publications

• Bey, M., Endermann, R., Raudies, C., Steinle, J., Nehring, V. (2025): Associative learning of non- nestmate cues improves enemy recognition in ants. Curr. Biol. 35: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.11.054
• Wissink, M., Nehring, V. (2021) Appetitive olfactory learning suffers in ants when octopamine or dopamine receptors are blocked. J. Exp. Biol. 224: https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.242732
• Leonhardt, S.D., Menzel, F., Nehring, V., Schmitt, T. (2016): Ecology and evolution of communication in social insects. Cell 164: 1277–1287. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2016.01.035
• Nehring, V., Boomsma, J.J. & d’Ettorre, P. (2012): Wingless virgin queens assume helper roles in Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants. Curr. Biol. 22: R671-R673. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.06.038
• Nehring, V., Evison, S.E.F., Santorelli, L.A., d’Ettorre, P. & Hughes, W.O.H. (2011): Kin-informative recognition cues in ants. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 278: 1942-1948: 10.1098/rspb.2010.2295