Professor Natalie Hempel de Ibarra (she/her)

Natalie Hempel de Ibarra, PhD 

Associate Professor in Neuroethology

Co-Director of Postgraduate Research for Psychology

Research areas

Animal vision

Learning and memory

Insect behaviour and active sensing

Insect spatial learning and navigation

Sensory ecology

Pollinator-plant interactions

Postgraduate research opportunities

Prof Hempel de Ibarra is open to receive email enquiries and applications for PhD and MbyResearch projects on insect neurobiology, senses, behaviour and cognition, and insect-pollinator interactions. See here for more information on how to fund your postgraduate research. 

Exeter Bee Lab

We study the behaviour, senses and cognition of social insects, with a focus on bees, for understanding how sensory information is processed, memorised and used in the context of foraging activities, spatial orientation and navigation.

Much of our work investigates learning and how bees are guided by sensory information that is available in their natural environment, such as colours, pattern and odours of flower displays as well as less salient cues such as floral humidity or temperature patterns.

We ask how bees locate and choose individual flowers and flower patches or other places that are important to them, such as their nest. For example, tracking the elaborate movements and viewing patterns during learning flights in bumblebees, we can uncover how insects actively acquire sensory information that guides them towards their nest or flowers.

We are also interested how stressors, pathogens and pesticides, affect their cognitive capabilities, foraging and navigation.

Linking the mechanistic understanding of the insect brain, nervous system, senses and cognition to ultimate questions, we aim to provide novel insights about pollinator-driven selection in the evolution of floral signals and plant-pollinator interactions.

Methods range from behavioural experiments and observations in the field and in the lab to physiological studies. We also specialise in recording photometric spectral data to model how insects behave under different illuminations and perceive the colours of flowers and objects.

Our main model species are the European honeybee Apis mellifera and the Buff-tailed bumblebee Bombus terrestris. We collaborate with H Somanathan (IISER Thiruvananthapuram, India) contributing to the study of the behaviour and ecology of honeybees and stingless bees in the Asian tropics.

ORCID

0000-0002-0859-8217

Psychology research groups
Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour (CRAB)

CV

2014-18 Lead of the Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour (CRAB), University of Exeter

2013/14 Visiting Professor, School of Advanced Sciences, The Graduate University for

Advanced Studies (Sokendai), Japan

2007-18 Lecturer/Senior Lecturer, Psychology, University of Exeter

2006-07 Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Associate Lecturer, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

2005-06 Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Life Sciences/CCNR, University of Sussex

2000-05 Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Associate Lecturer, Institute of Neurobiology, Freie

Universität Berlin, Germany

Funding

BBSRC, Leverhulme Trust, NERC, UKIERI, Royal Society

Video abstracts / selected media coverage

The role of colour patterns for the recognition of flowers by bees (Hempel de Ibarra et al. 2022 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B) - covered amongst others by BBC News, PhysOrg

Large and small bees invest differently when learning about flowers (Frasnelli et al. 2021 Current Biology) Video abstract, covered amongst others by The Telegraph, Treehugger and in special feature "Why These Bees Just Keep Staring at Flowers" SciShow on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqIPe3Ya8y0

"You're a bee. This is what it feels like." www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/12/02/science/bees-pollen-senses.html - By science journalist JoAnna Klein (NY Times, 2016), a special feature covering Beth Nicholls & Natalie Hempel de Ibarra's review paper Assessment of pollen rewards by foraging bees (2017, Functional Ecology). Our paper was also presented in media articles by Science Daily, Phys.Org, The Sun, Sciences et Avenir, amongst others.

Onset of morning activity in bumblebee foragers under natural low light conditions (Hall et al. 2021, Ecology & Evolution) - covered amongst others by The Independent, MSN News, bienen-nachrichten.de

Bumblebees can detect floral humidity (Harrap et al. 2021, Journal of Experimental Biology) - covered amongst others by JEB, Sciences Avenir, Sci News

Navigation and spatial learning: CBC (Canada) Documentary by B. Mohun (2013) - Birds do it, bees do it and yes, we do it too Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VdwesjObu8

Head movements during learning flights in bumblebees (Riabinina et al. 2014 J Exp Biol) Video abstract

Learning flights in male bumblebees (Robert et al. 2017 J Exp Biol) - covered amongst others by

ITV, Science Daily, Phys Org, Express

Temperature patterns in flowers (Harrap et al. 2017) - covered amongst others by Science Daily, Daily Mail

Magpies do not like shiny objects (Shephard et al. 2015) - covered amongst others by BBC News, Guardian, Telegraph, Süddeutsche Zeitung, The Times, Audubon Magazin, Washington Post, Tagesspiegel, Bild der Wissenschaft, Stern