NIB

Curriculum vitae

I was born in 1973 in Kranj, Slovenia. I graduated in 1998 from biology at the University of Ljubljana, with the thesis at the field of insect vibratory communication. I got a position as a young researcher at the National Institute of Biology (NIB), Ljubljana, in the same year. I finished my master’s thesis in 2001 and the Ph.D. in 2006, by investigating the structure and function of the vibration-sensitive central neural network of cave crickets in relation to the homologous auditory system of Orthoptera. In 2001 I was awarded a research grant »Marie Currie Training Sites«, enabling me to learn different neurobiology techniques at the Göttingen University (Germany) for six months. After finishing the Ph.D., I continued working at NIB at the fields of comparative neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and insect behaviour, and extended my research interests from insect mechanosensory communication to their chemical ecology. The basic experience from the latter area I’ve gathered with the research visits at the University of Riverside (USA) in 2012 and 2014. My current research is focused to basic questions related to structure, function and evolution of the vibrosensory organ complex in orthopteroid insects, communication of Orthoptera (crickets, bushcrickets and their allies) and Coleoptera (beetles) with vibrational and chemical signals, and the possibility to exploit these signals in applicative purposes.

Education

• Graduation thesis: University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Biology, 1998. Transmission of the vibratory songs of the bug Nezara viridula in plants. Menthor: Prof. Dr. Andrej Čokl (NIB).
• Master’s thesis: University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Biology, 2001. Vibratory interneurones of the prothoracic ganglion of the cave cricket Troglophilus neglectus Krauss Menthor: Prof. Dr. Andrej Čokl (NIB).
• Doctoral dissertation: University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Biology, 2006. Response properties, morphology and topographical organisation of the vibratory neurones in the prothoracic ganglion of the cave cricket Troglophilus neglectus Krauss (Orthoptera, Rhaphidophoridae). Menthor: Prof. Dr. Andrej Čokl (NIB), co-menthor: Prof. Dr. Andreas Stumpner (Georg-August University, Göttingen).

Research fields

• Comparative neuroanatomy
• Sensory neurophysiology
• Bioacoustics
• Insect behaviour
• Chemical ecology

Selected references

• STRITIH N, ŽUNIČ KOSI A. Olfactory signaling of aggressive intent in male-male contests of cave crickets (Troglophilus neglectus; Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae). Plos ONE, 2017, 12(11): e0187512.
• ŽUNIČ KOSI A, ZOU Y, HOSKOVEC M, VREZEC A, STRITIH N, MILLAR JG. Novel, male-produced aggregation pheromone of the cerambycid beetle Rosalia alpina, a priority species of European conservation concern. Plos ONE, 2017, 12(8): e0183279.
• STRAUß J, STRITIH N. Neuronal regression of internal leg vibroreceptor organs in a cave-dwelling insect (Orthoptera: Rhaphidophoridae: Dolichopoda araneiformis). Brain behavior and evolution, 2017, 89(2):104-116.
• ČOKL A, LAUMANN RA, STRITIH N. Substrate-borne vibratory communication. In: ČOKL A, BORGES M (eds.). Stink bugs: biorational control based on communication processes. Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press. 2017, pp. 125-164.
• STRAUß J, STRITIH, N. The accessory organ, a scolopidial sensory organ, in the cave cricket Troglophilus neglectus (Orthoptera: Ensifera: Rhaphidophoridae). Acta zoologica: morphology and evolution, 2016, 97(2): 187-195.
• STUMPNER A, STRITIH N, Oliver M, BRADLER S. Diversity of Orthoptera in the south-western karst-region of Slovenia with notes on acoustics and species identification. Acta entomologica slovenica, 2015, 23(1): 5-20.
• STRITIH N, STRAUß J. Tremulation signalling and sensory neuroanatomy of cave crickets (Rhaphidophoridae: Troglophilus) are consistent with ancestral vibrational communication in Ensifera. Mitteilungen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Allgemeine und Angewandte Entomologie, 2015, 20: 333-336.

Bibliography (COBISS)

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