Dr Jodie Gruber
Lecturer
Dr Jodie Gruber is a Lecturer in Animal Behaviour within the School of Natural Sciences at the University of Chester. In this role, she is the module leader for the first year 'Introduction to Animal Behaviour' and third year 'Physiology and Behaviour' modules; she also supervises undergraduate and postgraduate students. Dr Gruber is also an active researcher with a broad range of interests and expertise within the field of behavioural and evolutionary ecology.
Prior to joining the University of Chester in 2024, Dr Gruber was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Exeter where she explored various aspects of the ecology, evolution and social behaviour of primitively eusocial bees. Dr Gruber also held a postdoctoral research position at the Australian National University where she examined fiddler crab behaviours such as context-specific leadership and dishonest signalling.
Dr Gruber obtained her PhD from the University of Sydney in 2018. Her PhD investigated the rapid evolution and geographic divergence of behavioural traits in invasive cane toads. At the University of Chester, Dr Gruber enjoys the opportunity to combine her passion for teaching and research.
Dr Gruber is the module leader for BI4118 Introduction to Animal behaviour and BI6132 Physiology and Behaviour. She also contributes to other modules by teaching students about various aspects of amphibian behaviour, ecology and evolution. She is an ardent practitioner of inclusive teaching and has a particular interest in developing teaching techniques to accommodate the broad range of requirements inherent in neurodiverse student groups.
Dr Gruber is also dedicated to working with and empowering students to gain the knowledge and practical skills required for them to succeed in a diverse range of future career paths.
Dr Gruber's research expertise and interests are diverse and fit under the broad theme of how individuals respond to, and interact with, their physical, climatic, and social environments, and consequences for survival, fitness, and trait evolution. Dr Gruber conducts research in areas ranging from animal behaviour, sociality and cognition to invasion ecology and the effects of anthropogenic environmental change on life history traits, gene expression, and fitness in wild animal populations. She studies a broad range of taxa to suit her research questions from crabs and bees to lizards and amphibians. Dr Gruber enjoys combining techniques such as field surveys and observations, field and lab-based experiments, microCT brain scanning, and genotyping and genomics for gene expression analyses in her research.
Dr Gruber's current research includes examining the effects of anthropogenic disturbance and environmental contaminants on behaviour and cognition in amphibians, birds and invertebrates; investigating the benefits, maintenance and evolution of social behaviour, long-term social bonds and cooperation; testing the efficacy of ‘toads on roads’ programs to mitigate the effects of traffic on UK toad populations; and using a combination of population modelling, field-based behavioural trials and genetics to understand key factors threatening reptile populations in the UK and their conservation.
Genetic differentiation at extreme latitudes in the socially plastic sweat bee Halictus rubicundus
29 May 2024 PLOS ONE 19(5):e0302688 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Co-authors: Michels BA, Beekman MM, Field J, Gruber J, Pannebakker BA, Savill C, Boulton RA
Male survivorship and the evolution of eusociality in partially bivoltine sweat bees
20 Oct 2022 PLOS ONE 17(10):e0276428 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Co-authors: Gruber J, Field J
Captivity induces large and population‐dependent brain transcriptomic changes in wild‐caught cane toads (Rhinella marina)
Oct 2022 Molecular Ecology 31(19):4949-4961 Wiley
Co-authors: Yagound B, West AJ, Richardson MF, Gruber J, Reid JG, Whiting MJ, Rollins LA
Risks and rewards: balancing costs and benefits of predator avoidance in a fiddler crab
Dec 2019 Animal Behaviour 158:9-13 Elsevier
Co-authors :Gruber J, Kahn A, Backwell PRY
Effects of rearing environment and population origin on responses to repeated behavioural trials in cane toads (Rhinella marina)
Aug 2018 Behavioural Processes 153:40-46 Elsevier
Co-authors:Gruber J, Whiting MJ, Brown G, Shine R
Behavioural divergence during biological invasions: a study of cane toads (Rhinella marina) from contrasting environments inHawai'i
Apr 2018 Royal Society Open Science 5(4):180197 The Royal Society
Co-authors: Gruber J, Brown G, Whiting MJ, Shine R
Disentangling sex allocation in a viviparous reptile with temperature‐dependent sex determination: a multifactorial approach
Feb 2018 Journal of Evolutionary Biology 31(2):267-276 Oxford University Press (OUP)
Co-authors: Gruber J, Cunningham GD, While GM, Wapstra E
The loneliness of the long-distance toad: invasion history and social attraction in cane toads (Rhinella marina)
Nov 2017 Biology Letters 13(11):20170445 The Royal Society
Co-authors: Gruber J, Whiting MJ, Brown G, Shine R
Is the behavioural divergence between range-core and range-edge populations of cane toads (Rhinella marina) due to evolutionary change or developmental plasticity?
Oct 2017 Royal Society Open Science 4(10):170789 The Royal Society
Co-authors: Gruber J, Brown G, Whiting MJ, Shine R
Geographic divergence in dispersal-related behaviour in cane toads from range-front versus range-core populations in Australia
Feb 2017 Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology 71(2):38 Springer Nature
Co-authors: Gruber J, Brown G, Whiting MJ, Shine R