About me

Welcome to my website. At age 5 I first spoke of wanting to become an “plant and animal researcher”. Hence, I put a lot of effort in pursuing that interest, leading to my current career as an active researcher in the field of evolutionary ecology. My current research focuses on the reasons for variation in phenotypic plasticity, on the extent of transgenerational plasticity as well as on the role of plasticity in evolution. Antipredator plasticity, which has evolved in prey that experience varying levels of predation risk, and which is reliably induced by conspecific alarm cues, provides an excellent opportunity to tackle these topics experimentally. In my research, I aim to comprehensively study antipredator plasticity, ranging from the genotype and the epigenotype to the different aspects of the phenotype: behavior, morphology, physiology and life-history. For this purpose, I use the Western African river cichlid Pelvicachromis taeniatus, the fathead minnow Pimephales promelas and the aquatic snail Physella acuta as model systems. Other research interests of mine are alarm cue composition, visual sensitivities of fish beyond wavelength regions perceivable by humans as well as the impact of plastic pollution on fish endocrine systems and the resulting behavioral modifications.

The following symbols link to my personal pages on various science-related websites.


Icons: © google.com, joinmastodon.org, researchgate.net, orcid.org

Publication list:

  1. Meuthen, D., Chivers, D.P., Ferrari, M.C.O. (2024). Neglected patterns of variation in transgenerational plasticity: The importance of different sources of environmental variation differs across ages and sexes in a cyprinid fish. Functional Ecology doi:10.1111/1365-2435.14560
  2. Meuthen, D. (2024). Why I foster multiple lines of communication with students in my lab. Science 384(6691):134
  3. Salahinejad, A., Meuthen, D., Attaran, A., Niyogi, S., Chivers, D.P., Ferrari, M.C.O. (2023). Maternal exposure to bisphenol S reduces anxiety and impairs collective antipredator behavior of male zebrafish (Danio rerio) offspring through dysregulation of their serotonergic system. Aquatic Toxicology 267:106800
  4. Böhne, A., Oğuzhan, Z., Chrysostomakis, I., Vitt, S., Meuthen, D., Martin, S., Kukowka, S., Thünken, T. (2023). Evidence for selfing in a vertebrate from whole-genome sequencing. Genome Research 33:2133-2142
  5. Meuthen, D., Salahinejad, A., Chivers D.P., Ferrari, M.C.O. (2023). Transgenerational plasticity of exploratory behavior and a hidden cost of mismatched risk environments between parental sexes. Scientific Reports 13:19737
  6. Meuthen, D., Reinhold, K. (2023). On the use of antibiotics in plasticity research: gastropod shells unveil a tale of caution. Journal of Animal Ecology 92:1055-1064.
  7. Salahinejad, A., Meuthen, D., Attaran, A., Chivers D. P., Ferrari, M.C.O. (2023). Effects of common antiepileptic drugs on teleost fishes. Science of the Total Environment 866:161324
  8. Meuthen, D. (2022). Nichtgenetische Vererbung. Biologie in unserer Zeit. 52:278–284.
  9. Salahinejad, A., Attaran, A., Meuthen, D., Rachamalla, M., Chivers D. P., Niyogi, S. (2022). Maternal exposure to bisphenol S induces neuropeptide signaling dysfunction and oxidative stress in the brain, and abnormal social behaviors in zebrafish (Danio rerio) offspring. Science of the Total Environment 830:154794
  10. Meuthen, D. (2022). I’m a lip-reading scientist: here’s how I can discuss science with you. Nature doi: 10.1038/d41586-022-00230-3.
  11. Salahinejad, A., Attaran, A., Meuthen, D., Chivers D. P., Niyogi, S. (2022). Proximate causes and ultimate effects of common antidepressants, fluoxetine and venlafaxine, on fish behavior. Science of the Total Environment 807:150846.
  12. Meuthen, D. (2021). Support deaf participants at virtual conferences. Nature 599:556.
  13. Meuthen, D., Ferrari, M. C. O & Chivers, D. P. (2021). Paternal care effects outweigh gamete-mediated and personal environment effects during the transgenerational estimation of risk in fathead minnows. BMC Ecology and Evolution 21:187.
  14. Crane, A., Meuthen, D., Thapa, H., Ferrari, M. C. O., Brown G. E. (2021) Early-life and parental predation risk shape how adult risk induces fear in minnows. Animal Cognition 24:471-481.
  15. Salahinejad, A., Attaran, A., Naderi, M., Meuthen, D., Niyogi, S., Chivers D. P. (2021). Chronic exposure to bisphenol S induces oxidative stress, abnormal anxiety, and fear responses in adult zebrafish (Danio rerio). Science of the Total Environment. 750:141633.
  16. Meuthen, D., Meuthen, I., Bakker, T. C. M. & Thünken, T. (2020). Anticipatory plastic response of the cellular immune system in the face of future injury: Chronic high perceived predation risk induces lymphocytosis in a cichlid fish. Oecologia 194: 597-607.
  17. Salahinejad, A., Naderi, M., Attaran, A., Meuthen, D., Niyogi, S., Chivers D. P. (2020). Effects of chronic exposure to bisphenol-S on social behaviors in adult zebrafish: disruption of the neuropeptide signaling pathways in the brain. Environmental Pollution 262:113992.
  18. Thünken, T., Hesse, S., Meuthen, D. (2020). Increased levels of perceived competition decrease juvenile kin-shoaling preferences in a cichlid fish. American Naturalist 195:868-875.
  19. Meuthen, D., Baldauf, S. A., Bakker, T. C. M., Thünken, T. (2019). High perceived predation risk during development affects mutual mate choice in a cichlid fish. Animal Behaviour 158:227-237.
  20. Meuthen, D., Ferrari, M. C. O., Lane, T., Chivers, D. P. (2019). Predation risk induces age- and sex-specific morphological plastic responses in the fathead minnow Pimephales promelas. Scientific Reports 9:15378.
  21. Meuthen, D., Bakker, T. C. M., Thünken, T. (2019). Predatory developmental environments shape loser behaviour in animal contests. Behaviour 156:1519-1532.
  22. Meuthen, D., Ferrari, M. C. O., Lane, T., Chivers, D. P. (2019). High background risk induces risk allocation rather than generalized neophobia in the fathead minnow. Behavioral Ecology 30:1416-1424.
  23. Meuthen, D., Ferrari, M. C. O., Lane, T., Chivers, D. P. (2019). Plasticity of boldness: high perceived risk eliminates a relationship between boldness and body size in fathead minnows. Animal Behaviour 147:25-32.
  24. Meuthen, D., Flege, P., Brandt, R. & Thünken, T. (2018). The location of damage-released alarm cues in a cichlid fish. Evolutionary Ecology Research 19:529-546.
  25. Meuthen, D., Baldauf, S. A., Bakker, T. C. M. & Thünken, T. (2018). Neglected patterns of variation in phenotypic plasticity: Age- and sex-specific antipredator plasticity in a cichlid fish. American Naturalist 191:475-490.
  26. Meuthen, D., Baldauf, S. A., Bakker, T. C. M. & Thünken, T. (2016). Predator-induced neophobia in juvenile cichlids. Oecologia 181:947-958.
  27. Meuthen, D., Baldauf, S. A., Bakker, T. C. M. & Thünken, T. (2016). Conspecific alarm cues affect interspecific aggression in cichlid fishes. Hydrobiologia 767:37-49.
  28. Meuthen, D., Baldauf S. A. & Thünken, T. (2014) Evolution of alarm cues: a test of the kin selection hypothesis. F1000 Research 1:27.
  29. Meuthen, D., Rick, I., Thünken, T., Bakker, T. C. M., &, Baldauf, S. A. (2012). Visual prey detection by near-infrared cues in a fish. Naturwissenschaften 99:1063-1066.
  30. Diel, A., Rodermann, E., Kienzle, H.-F., Meuthen, D. & Meuthen, I. (2012) Curative treatment in a patient with gastric cancer stage IV: a case report. F1000 Research 1:34
  31. Thünken, T., Meuthen, D., Bakker, T. C. M. & Baldauf, S. A. (2012). A sex-specific trade-off between mating preferences for genetic compatibility and body size in a cichlid fish with mutual mate choice. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 279:2959-2964.
  32. Meuthen, D., Baldauf, S. A., Bakker, T. C. M. & Thünken, T. (2011). Substrate-treated water: a method to enhance fish activity in laboratory experiments. Aquatic Biology 13:35-40.
  33. Feld, C., Spangenberger, H., Böhm, J., Meuthen, D., Meuthen, I. (2011). 76-year old patient with suspected but not confirmed “idiopathic myelofibrosis”. Der Internist 52:1346.
  34. Thünken, T., Meuthen, D., Bakker, T. C. M. & Kullmann, H. (2010). Parental investment in relation to offspring quality in the biparental cichlid fish, Pelvicachromis taeniatus. Animal Behaviour 80: 69-74.