Dunia Gonzales

About me:

I am a BBSRC SWBio DTP CASE PhD student at the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour (CRAB), University of Exeter supervised by Professor Natalie Hempel de Ibarra and Dr. Karen Anderson.

My PhD focuses on spatial learning in bumblebees and the neural mechanisms underpinning these behaviours. I am interested in how worker bumblebees are able to recall and navigate between their nest and floral resources distributed in their environment and how sensory information contributes to spatial memories. My PhD work involves lab, greenhouse and field experiments and the use of drones to capture aerial footage of spatial and temporal changes to floral resources in the field. I work in collaboration with the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

Prior to my PhD, I undertook a master’s by research at the University of Bristol, supervised by Dr. Martin How and Professor Nicholas Roberts, studying colour and motion vision in stomatopod crustaceans (2020). I also received a BSc in biology from the University of Bristol (2018).