Biography
I was born and brought up in Switzerland where I studied biology at the University of Zürich with a focus on Ethology (animal behaviour). At that time I was particularly interested in cognitive and social processes in primates and horses. In 1994 I came to Australia to do my PhD in the Developmental Neurobiology group at the ANU. My project explored the relationship between the structure and function of the tammar wallaby's visual system. The unusual photoreceptor topography I observed in these animals sparked my interest in visual ecology. After the completion of my PhD I joined the Visual Sciences group (ANU) where I began work on the ecology of visual information processing in fiddler crabs. The relationship between sensory processing and animal behaviour is now the main focus of my research group.
Research Interests
Neuroethology of Visual Information Processing
One of the biggest challenges for neuroscience, for behavioural ecology and for robotics is to understand information processing under natural, real-life and evolution-relevant conditions. In this context, I am interested in the decision-making mechanisms that underlie animal behaviour, in particular in the relationship between an animal's behaviour and its sensory and cognitive limitations. I address this issue in several study systems, including wallabies, crabs and lizards, using behavioural, anatomical and physiological techniques.
Information Processing in Fiddler Crabs
Fiddler crabs are uniquely suited for analysing in detail how visual information is used under real-life conditions to make behavioural decisions such as escaping from predators, attracting and selecting mates or defending their burrows.
We currently analyse how crabs organize their anti-predator responses given that their visual system provides only incomplete information on the risks posed by predatory birds. We determine the visual input fiddler crabs have available when making escape decisions by simultaneously measuring the crabs' responses together with what they see during predation events. As part of this effort we reconstruct the sampling array of the crab's compound eye and determine their spectral, spatial and temporal sensitivity by intracellular recordings.
We also analyse how crabs may overcome predator-related information deficits by learning. We investigate the rules of learning that allow crabs to safely habituate to some stimuli but not others. Our work demonstrates that habituation in fiddlers is context-dependent and therefore associative learning.
Colour vision in marsupials
This project investigates the early evolution of mammalian colour vision by determining the perception of colour and the physiological basis of di- and trichromacy in marsupials. We compare wallabies, possums and dunnarts. Marsupials, unlike other mammals, have (human-like) trichromatic colour vision, which makes it particularly interesting to understand their alternative design for colour vision. We use behavioural, physiological and anatomical methods to explore the colour discrimination abilities of these animals.
The Evolution of Movement-based Signals in Lizards
Animal motion signals are poorly understood because they are both difficult to describe and to manipulate in real life scenarios. I collaborate with Richard Peters to work out how the constraints of the Jacky lizards' visual system have shaped the structure of their agonistic motion display.
Recent Publications (since 2003)
- Boeddeker N, Hemmi JM (in press) Visual gaze control during peering flight manoeuvres in Honeybees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B doi:10.1098/rspb.2009.1928
- Hemmi JM, Pfeil A (in press) A multi-stage anti-predator response increases information on predation risk Journal of Experimental Biology accepted: 13/1/2010
- Narendra A, Reid SF, Hemmi JM (in press) The twilight zone: ambient light levels trigger activity in primitive ants Proceedings of the Royal Society B accepted: 7/01/2010
- Hemmi JM, Merkle, T (2009) High stimulus specificity characterises anti-predator habituation under natural conditions. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 276 4381-4388
- Smolka J, Hemmi JM (2009) Topography of vision and behaviour. Journal of Experimental Biology 212 3522–3532
- Zeil J, Hemmi JM (2009) The topography of vision. Kagaku 79 667-673 (invited review, translated to Japanese)
- How MJ, Zeil J, Hemmi JM (2009) Variability of a dynamic visual signal: the fiddler crab claw-waving display. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 195 55-67
- Zeil J, Boeddeker N, Hemmi JM (2009) Visually Guided Behaviour. In New Encyclopaedia of Neuroscience, ed. Squire LR. Elsevier pp 369-380
- Zeil J, Hemmi JM (2009) Crabs and their visual world.. In Breed M, Moore J (eds) The Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior. Elsevier (in press)
- Detto T, Hemmi JM, Backwell PRY (2008) Colouration and Colour Changes of the Fiddler Crab, Uca capricornis: A Descriptive Study. PLoS ONE 3(2): e1629 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001629
- How MJ, Hemmi JM (2008) Courtship herding in the fiddler crab Uca elegans: Tracking control system. Animal Behaviour 76 1259-1265
- How MJ, Hemmi JM (2008) Courtship herding in the fiddler crab Uca elegans. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 194 1053-1061M
- How JM, Hemmi JM, Zeil J, Peters R (2008) Claw waving display changes with receiver distance in fiddler crabs, Uca perplexa. Animal Behaviour 75 1015-1022
- Zeil J, Boeddeker N, Hemmi JM (2008) Vision and the Organisation of Behaviour. Current Biology 18 R320–323
- Peters R, Hemmi JM, Zeil J (2008) Image motion environments: background noise for movement-based animal signals. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 194 441-456
- Hemmi JM, Zeil J (2007). The Ecology of Information Processing. In Marine Ecology, ed. Connell SD & Gillanders BM, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 441-442
- How MJ, Zeil J, Hemmi JM (2007). Differences in context and function of two distinct waving displays in the fiddler crab, Uca perplexa (Decapoda: Ocypodidae). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 62 137-148
- Peters R, Hemmi JM, Zeil J (2007) Signalling against the wind: modifying motion signal structure in response to increased noise. Current Biology 17, 1231-1234
- Zeil J, Boeddeker N, Hemmi JM (2007). From Visually Guided Behaviour to Behaviourally Guided Vision. In New Ecyclopedia of Neuroscience, ed. Squire LR. Elsevier (in press)
- Zeil J, Boeddeker N, Hemmi JM, Stürzl W (2007). Going Wild: Toward an Ecology of Visual Information Processing. In Invertebrate Neurobiology, ed. North G & Greenspan R, Cold Spring Harbor Press, New York. pp. 381-403v
- Detto T, Backwell PRY, Hemmi JM, Zeil J (2006) Visually mediated species and neighbour recognition in fiddler crabs (Uca mjoebergi and Uca capricornis). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 273, 1661-1666
- Hemmi JM, Marshall J, Pix W, Vorobyev M, Zeil J (2006) The variable colours of the fiddler crab Uca vomeris and their relation to background and predation. Journal of Experimental Biology 209, 4140-4153
- Vladusich T, Hemmi JM, Zeil J (2006) Honeybee odometry and scent guidance. Journal of Experimental Biology, 209, 1367-1375
- Zeil J, Hemmi JM (2006) The visual ecology of fiddler crabs. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, 192, 1-25
- Zeil J, Hemmi JM, Backwell PRY. (2006) Quick Guide: Fiddler Crabs. Current Biology 16, R40-R41
- Hemmi JM (2005) Predator avoidance in fiddler crabs. 1: Description of behaviour. Animal Behaviour 69 603-614v
- Hemmi JM (2005) Predator avoidance in fiddler crabs. 2: The visual cues involved. Animal Behaviour 69 615-625
- Hemmi JM, Zeil J (2005) Animals as prey: perceptual limitations and behavioural options. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 287, 274-278
- Vladusich T, Hemmi JM, Srinivasan MV, Zeil J (2005) Interactions of visual odometry and landmark guidance during food search in honeybees. Journal of Experimental Biology, 208, 4123-4135
- Hemmi JM, Zeil J (2003) Burrow surveillance in fiddler crabs. 1: Description of behaviour. Journal of Experimental Biology 206, 3935-3950
- Hemmi JM, Zeil J (2003) Burrow surveillance in fiddler crabs. 2: The sensory cues. Journal of Experimental Biology 206, 3951-3961
- Hemmi JM, Zeil J (2003) Robust judgement of inter-object distance by an arthropod. Nature 421: 160-163
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