Dr Claudia Wascher

Claudia, is a behavioural ecologist experienced in social cognition and physiology, interested in the evolution of cooperation as well as costs and benefits of social behaviour.

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Background

Claudia joined the School of Life Sciences in September 2015 and is a member of the Behavioural Ecology Research Group.

Claudia conducted her PhD investigating social modulation of heart rate in greylag geese at the Konrad-Lorenz research station in Austria. After her PhD she broadened her expertise in the field of social cognition, investigating cognitive mechanisms underlying cooperation in carrion crows and ravens.

She has held several post-doctoral periods in international labs (CNRS Strasbourg, NTNU Trondheim, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology Seewiesen, University of Valladolid).

Previously, Claudia was chair of our Animal and Environmental Biology Group’s Research Ethics Committee and a member of the Faculty of Science and Engineering’s Research Ethics Committee.

Claudia is the Faculty lead for Athena SWAN.

Research interests

• Evolution of social behaviour
• Proximate mechanisms underpinning social behaviour
• Social physiology
• Social cognition
• Evolution of cooperation
• Competition in animal groups
• Vocal communication
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Areas of research supervision

Claudia welcomes enquiries from prospective research students in the areas of her research interests.

2022 – Rachel Ownsworth, 1st Supervisor – ‘The leaky pipeline: Analysing cause and impact of interventionist methods in Science and Engineering’

2021 – Sam Reynolds, 1st Supervisor – ‘Vocal communication in corvids’

2019 – Fiene Steinbrecher, Co-Supervisor – ‘The effect of the acoustic environment on captive pied tamarins’

Complete (2017 – 2022) Max Kerney, Co-Supervisor – ‘What drove primate brain evolution? An analysis of competing hypotheses’

Complete (2016 – 2021) Denise Hebesberger, 1st Supervisor – ‘Benefits of social bonds in horses’

Teaching

BSc (Hons) Zoology

BSc (Hons) Animal Behaviour

BSc (Hons) Ecology and Conservation

MSc Animal Behaviour Applications for Conservation

Qualifications

• PhD Zoology, University of Vienna, Austria
• MSc Biology and Environmental Science, University of Graz, Austria

Memberships, editorial boards

Editorial board member:

• Animal Cognition (2023 – ongoing)
• Animal Behaviour (2018 – 2020)
• Avian Biology Research (2014 - 2024)
• Royal Society Open Science (2017-2024)
• Frontiers in Comparative Psychology (2017 - 2021)

Research grants, consultancy, knowledge exchange

2024 Co-Principal Investigator: Cambridge University & Anglia Ruskin University, CAM-DTP studentship. Student Title: Queer ecology. Amount awarded: £55,866 (principal investigator: Sarah Royston, co-principal investigator: Jacob Dunn).

2023 Principal investigator: Wild Animals Initiative. Project title: Assessing animal welfare from bioacoustic monitoring in red-billed choughs (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax). Amount awarded: £ 15,334.

2021 Co-Principal Investigator: Anglia Ruskin University, QR Funding. Project title: The impacts of anthropogenic noise on animal welfare and conservation. Amount awarded: £65,000 (principal investigator: Jacob Dunn).

2019 Principal investigator: Anglia Ruskin University, Learning and Teaching Project Awards. Project title: Analysis of engagement metrics vs student attainment using multiple sources across physical and virtual spaces. Amount awarded: £3,012.

2018 Principal investigator: ASAB (The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour), Research Grant. Amount awarded: £3,500.

2017 Collaborator: OEAD (Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research), program Sparkling Science. Project title: Greylag geese as a model for animal social systems - Modulation of circannual behavioural and foraging patterns by social factors: The Greylag goose (Anser anser) as a model. Amount awarded: €235,265 (principal investigator: Dr Didone Frigerio).

2016 Collaborator: Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, project CGL2016-77636-P. Project title: Communication and coordination: Adaptive mechanisms in the evolution of cooperation in a complex animal society. Amount awarded: €140,000 (principal investigator: Prof Vittorio Baglione).

2016 Principal investigator: Anglia Ruskin University, PhD studentship. Project title: Benefits of social bonds in horses. Amount awarded: £42,171.

2016 Principal investigator: Anglia Ruskin University, Life Science Development Fund. Project title: Communication in carrion crows. Amount awarded: £1,800.

2011 Principal investigator: The Research Council of Norway, Yggdrasil International Scholarship. Project title: Socially and corticosterone mediated differences in individual helping behaviour in a cooperatively breeding bird. Amount awarded: €20,000.

2010 Principal investigator: Österreichische Forschungsgemeinschaft, Travel Grant: €700.

2010 Principal investigator: ASAB (The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour), Research Grant. Project title: Social behaviour and faecal glucocorticoid metabolites in a cooperatively breeding bird: A pilot study. Amount awarded: €5,450.

2009 Principal investigator: L’Oréal Austria Women in Science, Fellowships for Young Female Scientists in Basic Research: Project title: Fairness and inequity avoidance in carrion crows. Amount awarded: €15,000.

2009 Co-principal investigator: FWF (Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung) standalone project. Project title: Social factors and parasite load in greylag geese. Amount awarded: €338,592 (principal investigator: Prof. Kurt Kotrschal).

2009 Principal investigator: ESF (European Science Foundation) Research Networking Programme, CompCog Exchange Grant. Project title: Cognitive foundations of cooperative behaviour in carrion crows (Corvus corone corone). Amount awarded: €4,200.

2008 Principal investigator: University of Vienna, Kurzfristiges Wissenschaftliches Auslandsstipendien: Amount awarded: €1,950.

Selected recent publications

Wascher, C.A.F. 2023. Cognition: Crows are natural statisticians. Current Biology, 33, R808-R810.

Steinbrecher, F., Dunn, J.C., Price, E.C., Buck, L.H., Wascher, C.A.F., Fay E. Clark, F.E. 2023. The effect of anthropogenic noise on foraging and vigilance in zoo-housed pied-tamarins. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 105989

Kok, A.C.M., Berkhout, B., Carlson, N., Evans, N., Khan, N., Potvin, D., Radford, A.N., Sebire, M., Shafiei Sabet, S., Shannon, G. & Wascher, C.A.F. 2023. How chronic anthropogenic noise can affect communities. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 11, 289.

Mäses, M., & Wascher, C.A.F. 2023. Assessing cats’ (Felis catus) sensitivity to human pointing gestures. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 137(1), 38–44.

Dunn, J.C., Akçay, C.†, Balasubramaniam, K. †, Miller, R. † & Wascher, C.A.F. †. 2023. Conceptualization, context, and comparison are key to understanding the evolution of fear. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 46, e61. †These authors contributed equally to this study

Wascher, C.A.F., Arnold, W. & Kotrschal, K. (2022). Effects of severe anthropogenic disturbance onto heart rate and body temperature in free-living greylag geese (Anser anser). Conservation Physiology, 10(1), coac050.

Logan, C.J., McCune, K.B., MacPherson, M., Johnson-Ulrich, Z., Rowney, C., Seitz, B., Blaisdell, A.P., Deffner, D., & Wascher, C.A.F. (2022). Are the more flexible great-tailed grackles also better at behavioral inhibition? Animal Behavior and Cognition, 9(1), 14-36

Wascher, C.A.F., Allen, K. & Szipl, G. (2021). Learning and motor inhibitory control in crows and domestic chickens. Royal Society Open Science, 8, 210504210504

Wascher, C.A.F., Baur, N., Hengl, M., Köck, C., Pegger, T., Schindlbauer, J., & Wemer, L. (2021). Behavioural responses of captive corvids to the presence of visitors. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 8(4), 481-492.

Wascher, C.A.F. (2021). Heart rate as a measure of emotional arousal in evolutionary biology. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 376, 20200479.

Khan, N., & Wascher, C.A.F. (2021). Considering generalizability: A lesson from auditory enrichment research on zoo animals. Animal Behavior and Cognition, 8(2), 251-262.

Wascher C.A.F. 2021. Association between social factors and gastrointestinal parasite product excretion in a group of non-cooperatively breeding carrion crows. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 75, 30

Dufour V., Broihanne M.-H. & Wascher C.A.F. (2020). Corvids avoid odd evaluation by following simple rules in a risky exchange task. Ethology, 126(2), 153-164.

Wascher C.A.F., Feider B., Bugnyar T. & Dufour V. (2020). Crows and common ravens do not reciprocally exchange tokens with a conspecific to gain food rewards. Ethology, 126(2), 278-287.

Safryghin A., Hebesberger D.V. & Wascher C.A.F. (2019). Testing for behavioral and physiological responses of domestic horses (Equus caballus) across different contexts – consistency over time and effects of context. Frontiers in Comparative Psychology 10, 849, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00849.

Miller R., Boeckle M., Jelbert S.A., Frohnwieser A., Wascher C.A.F. & Clayton N.S. (2019). Self-control in crows, parrots and non-human primates. WIREs Cognitive Science, e1504, DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1504.

Halsey L.G., Green J.A., Twiss S.D., Arnold W., Burthe S.J., Butler P.J., Cooke S.J., Grémillet D., Ruf T., Hicks O., Minta K.J., Prystay T.S., Wascher C.A.F., & Careau V. (2019). Flexibility, variability and constraint in energy management patterns across vertebrate taxa revealed by long-term heart rate measurements. Functional Ecology, 33 (2).260-272, in press, DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13264.

Wascher C.A.F., Canestrari D. & Baglione V. (2019). Affiliative social relationships and coccidian oocyst excretion in a cooperatively breeding bird species. Animal Behaviour, 158, 121-130.

Wascher C.A.F. ^†, Kulahci, I.G. ^†, Langley E. & Shaw R. (2018). How does cognitive performance shape patterns of social relationships? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 373, p.20170293. ^†These authors contributed equally to this study.

 

Wascher C.A.F., Kotrschal K. & Walter A. (2018). Free-living Greylag geese adjust their heart rates and body core temperatures to season and reproductive context. Scientific Reports, 8, p.2142.

Wascher C.A.F. (2018). Corvids. In: Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior, eds. Vonk J. and Shackelford, T.K. Springer. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1799-1

Wascher C.A.F., Hemetsberger J., Kotrschal K. & Frigerio D. (2017). Leucocyte profiles and social context in juvenile greylag geese (Anser anser). Avian Biology Research, 10 (4), pp. 246–252.

 

Wascher, C.A.F., Hillemann, F., Canestrari, D., and Baglione, V. (2015). Carrion crows learn to discriminate between calls of reliable and unreliable conspecifics. Animal Cognition, 18, pp.1181-1185.

Szipl, G., Boeckle, M., Spreafico, M., Wascher, C.A.F. and Bugnyar, T. (2015) With whom to dine? Common ravens are attracted by yells of affiliates and consider signallers rank. Animal Behaviour, 99, pp.33-42.

Wascher, C.A.F. (2015) Individual performance in socio-cognitive tasks predicts social performance in carrion crows. Behaviour, 152, pp.615–634.

Wascher, C.A.F., Heiss, R., Baglione, V. and Canestrari, D. (2015) Behavioural responses to olfactory cues in social contexts in carrion crows (Corvus corone corone). Behavioural Processes, 111, pp.1-5.

Cibulski, L., Wascher, C.A.F., Weiß, B.M. and Kotrschal, K. (2014). Familiarity with the experimenter influences the performance of Common ravens (Corvus corax) and Carrion crows (Corvus corone corone) in cognitive tasks. Behavioural Processes, 103, pp.129-137.

Hillemann, F., Bugnyar, T., Kotrschal, K. and Wascher, C.A.F. (2014) Waiting for better, not for more: corvids respond to quality in two delay maintenance tasks. Animal Behaviour,90, pp.1-10.     

Wascher, C.A.F., Valdez, J.W., Nuñez, C., Baglione, V. and Canestrari, D. (2014) Social factors modulating attention patterns in carrion crows (Corvus corone corone). Behaviour,151, pp.555-572.

Teschke, I., Wascher, C.A.F., Scriba, M., von Bayern, A., Huml, V., Siemers, B. & Tebbich, S. (2013) Did tool-use evolve with enhanced physical cognitive abilities? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 368.

Wascher, C.A.F. and Bugnyar, T. (2013) Awareness to inequity and working effort in carrion crows (Corvus corone corone) and common ravens (Corvus corax). PLoS ONE, 8, e56885.

Wascher, C.A.F. and Kotrschal, K. (2013) The costs of sociality measured through heart rate modulation. In: The Social Life of Greylag Geese. Patterns, Mechanisms and Evolutionary Function in an Avian Model System, eds. I.B.R. Scheiber, B. Weiß, J. Hemetsberger and K. Kotrschal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: pp.142-155.

Wascher, C.A.F., Bauer, A.C., Holtmann, A.R. and Kotrschal, K. (2012) Environmental and social factors affecting excretion of intestinal parasite eggs and oocysts in a flock of free-living greylag geese (Anser anser). Behavioral Ecology, 23, pp.1276-1283.

Wascher, C.A.F., Dufour, V. and Bugnyar, T. (2012) Carrion crows cannot overcome impulsive choice in a quantitative exchange task. Frontiers in Comparative Psychology, 3, p.118.

Wascher, C.A.F., Szipl, G., Boeckle, M. and Wilkinson, A. (2012) You sound familiar- Carrion crows can differentiate between the calls of known and unknown heterospecifics. Animal Cognition, 15, pp.1015-1019.

Wascher, C.A.F., Weiß, B.M., Arnold, W. and Kotrschal, K. (2012). Physiological implications of pair-bond status in greylag geese. Biology Letters, 8, 347-350.

Media experience

Claudia is active in scientific outreach and has been interviewed about her research by the media on several occasions.