Tom Ratz

Role of among-individual variation and within-individual variation in evolution, social interactions, parental care, phenotypic plasticity, quantitative genetics.

Education and professional positions

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• Ratz T, Bourdiol J, Moreau S, Vadnais C, Montiglio P-O (2023). The evolution of prey‑attractionstrategies in spiders: the interplay between foraging and predator avoidance. Oecologia, 202:669–684. DOI: 10.1007/s00442-023-05427-5
• de Groot C, Wijnhorst RE, Ratz T, Murray M, Araya-Ajoy YG, Wright J, Dingemanse NJ (2023). The importance of distinguishing individual differences in ‘social impact’ versus ‘social responsiveness’ when quantifying indirect genetic effects on the evolution of social plasticity. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 144:104996. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104996
• Ratz T, Leissle L, Smiseth PT (2022). The presence of conspecific intruders alters the magnitude of sex differences in care in a burying beetle. Animal Behaviour, 194:57–65. DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.09.014
• Ratz T, Kremi K, Leissle L, Richardson J, Smiseth PT (2021). Access to resources shapes sex differences between caring parents. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9:712425. DOI:  10.3389/fevo.2021.712425
• Ratz T, Monteith KM, Vale PF, Smiseth PT (2021). Carry on caring: infected females maintain their parental care despite high mortality. Behavioral Ecology, 32:738–746. DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arab028
• Ratz T, Stenson S, Smiseth PT (2020). Offspring preferentially beg towards and associate with larger parents in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. Behavioral Ecology, 31:1250–1256. DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araa078
• Ratz T, Perodaskalaki A, Moorad J, Smiseth PT (2020). Effects of inbreeding on behavioural plasticity of parent-offspring interactions in a burying beetle. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 33:1006–1016. DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13640