Dr. Hannah Scharf

Research

My research explores how parents and offspring deal with challenges. How do parents adjust their reproductive strategies in response to environmental uncertainty, predation, or parasitism risk? How can offspring deal with competition, predation, and parasitism early in life? I approach these questions within an integrated framework that connects ecological processes with their evolutionary consequences. I study these questions using long-term nestbox systems of breeding birds, and am currently working with great tits (Parus major) and blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). These kinds of longitudinal systems make it possible to follow individuals throughout their lifetimes and to collect detailed morphological, physiological, and behavioral data. Most of my work is experimental – getting at the core of these questions through brood and nestbox manipulations, playback, and more. Ultimately, my research seeks to better understand how animals respond to environmental challenges and what these responses mean for survival, reproduction, and population dynamics in changing environments.

Teaching

Bachelor’s program in Biology:

Basics of Ecology, Behavioral Biology and Evolutionary Biology (Practical)

Master’s program in Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics (EES)

Experimental Behavioral Ecology (Practical)
Evolutionary Ecology (Lecture)
Contemporary Questions in Behavioral Ecology (Seminar)
Behavioral Ecology Lab (Seminar)
Hot Topics in Evolution, Ecology, and Systematics (Seminar)

Selected publications

Scharf HM, Hauber ME, Blumentritt E, Schelsky WM. (2024) Sexual size dimorphism of brood-parasitic nestlings does not affect host chick survival, size or fledging phenology. Anim. Behav. 217: 73-80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2024.08.019
Scharf HM, Hauber ME, Stenstrom KH, Schelsky WM. (2022) Should I stay or should I go: the effect of brood parasitism on host fledgling dynamics. Behav. Ecol. Soc. 76, 64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-022-03168-8
Scharf HM, Schelsky WM, Chamberlain ML, Hauber ME. (2022) Host parent responses to heterospecific parasite nestling alarm calls are independent of past and current experience with experimental brood parasitism. Anim. Cog. 25: 1289-1298. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-022-01612-w
Scharf HM, Hauber ME, Mommer B, Hoover JP, Schelsky WM. (2021) The effect of avian brood parasitism on physiological responses of host nestlings. Oecologia. 195(4): 861-872. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-021-04888-w.
Scharf HM, Stenstrom KH, Dainson M, Benson TJ, Fernandez-Juricic E, Hauber ME (2019) Mimicry-dependent lateralization in the visual inspection of foreign eggs by American robins. Biol Lett. 15: 20190351. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0351​