Leonida Fusani

Dept. of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna & 
Dept. of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences, Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna

Leonida Fusani received a MSc in Biology at the University of Florence, an MPhil and a PhD at the University of Cambridge, and did post-doctoral studies at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioural Physiology, Seewiesen, and at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was Assistant Professor at the University of Siena and then moved to the University of Ferrara for a tenured position as Associate Professor. Since 2014 he is full Professor of Animal Physiology and Ornithology at the University of Vienna and University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna. He is the Director of the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology (VetmedUni) and of the Austrian Ornithological Centre.

Leonida Fusani (LF) studies the evolutionary and physiological mechanisms of communication within reproductive contexts. All animals that reproduce through internal fertilization have specialized and sometimes spectacular behavioral interactions to select their sexual partners. Courtship may carry crucial information about the quality of the mates, a key factor for fitness. LF investigates the physiological adaptations that evolved to allow signalers (usually males) to produce specialized audio-visual displays, and how these displays act on receivers (males and females) to modify their physiology and behavior. LF has experience in behavioral analysis including bioacoustics and postural patterns; in endocrinology and neuroendocrinology, including determination of hormone concentrations in various tissues from blood to feathers to hair, measurement and manipulation of hormone-metabolizing enzymes, localization and determination of hormone receptors in the nervous system; in the measurement and interpretation of physiological signals such as heart rate and body temperature; in telemetry and animal tracking; in neuroanatomy and cytochemistry including immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, receptor binding. He has ongoing field projects in Europe, Central America, Australia, and Sub- Antarctica.

For more information see his webpage.