Jacqueline Degen

SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION

since 2025  Senior researcher | Group leader | University of Oldenburg | Germany
2022 - 2025  Research fellow | University of Wuerzburg | Germany
2017 - 2022 Postdoctoral fellow | University of Wuerzburg | Germany
2009 - 2016 PhD | Freie Universität Berlin | Germany 
2003 - 2007 Diploma | University of Würzburg | Germany

Research Interest

My research focuses on the analysis of flight behaviour of moths under natural conditions and in presence of artificial light sources. I am particularly interested in the impact of the moon as a natural celestial cue on orientation performance and to what extend light pollution interferes. My main goal is to understand the mechanisms underlying their susceptibility to artificial light at night (ALAN) using field and laboratory experiments.

PUBLICATIONS

• Tegeler, A., … , Degen, J., … , Altintas, Y.Ö. (2025). Citizen science illuminates the nature of city lights. Nature Cities, 2, 496-505. 
  Storms, M., Degen, T., Degen, J. (2025). Female moths call in vain: streetlights diminish the promise of mating, 50,729–740. Ecological Entomology.
  
• Degen, J., Storms, M., Lee, C.B., Jechow, A., Stöckl, A.L., Hölker, F., Jakhar, A., Walter, T., Walter, S., Mitesser, O., Hovestadt, T., Degen, T. (2024). Shedding light with harmonic radar: Unveiling the hidden impacts of streetlights on moth flight behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(42), e2401215121.
  
• Degen, T., Kolláth, Z., Degen, J. (2022). X, Y, and Z: A bird’s eye view on light pollution. Ecology and Evolution, 12, e9608.
  
• Storms, M., Jakhar, A., Mitesser, O., Jechow, A., Hölker, F., Degen, T., Hovestadt, T., Degen, J. (2022). The rising moon promotes mate finding in moths. Communications Biology, 5, 1-6. 
  
• Walter, T., Degen, J., Pfeiffer, K., Stöckl, A., Montenegro, S., Degen, T. (2021). A new innovative real-time tracking method for flying insects applicable under natural conditions. BMC Zoology, 6, 1-11.
  
• Degen, J., Hovestadt, T., Storms, M., Menzel, R. (2018). Exploratory behavior of re-orienting foragers differs from other flight patterns of honeybees. PLoS ONE, 13(8), e0202171.
  
• Degen, J., Kirbach, A., Reiter, L., Lehmann, K., Norton, P., Storms, M., … Menzel, R. (2016). Honeybees learn landscape features during exploratory orientation flights. Current Biology, 26, 2800–2804.
  
• Degen, J., Kirbach, A., Reiter, L., Lehmann, K., Norton, P., Storms, M., Menzel, R. (2015). Exploratory behaviour of honeybees during orientation flights. Animal Behaviour, 102, 45–57.
  
• Greggers, U., Schöning, C., Degen, J., Menzel, R. (2013). Scouts behave as streakers in honeybee swarms. Naturwissenschaften, 100, 805-809.
  
• Menzel, R., Lehmann, K., Manz, G., Fuchs, J., Kobolofsky, M., Greggers, U. (2012). Vector integration and novel shortcutting in honeybee navigation. Apidologie, 43, 229-243.
  
• Menzel, R., Kirbach, A., Haass, W.-D., Fischer, B., Fuchs, J., Koblofsky, M., … Greggers, U. (2011). A common frame of reference for learned and communicated vectors in honeybee navigation. Current Biology, 21, 645-650.
  
• Menzel, R., Fuchs, J., Nadler, L., Weiss, B., Kumbischinski, N., Adebiyi, D., … Greggers, U. (2010). Dominance of the odometer over serial landmark learning in honeybee navigation. Naturwissenschaften, 97, 763-767.
  

Book chapter 

• Menzel, R., Fuchs, J., Kirbach, A., Lehmann, K., Greggers, U. (2011). Navigation and communication in honey bees. In C.G. Galizia, D. Eisenhardt, & M. Giurfa (Eds.), Honeybee neurobiology and behavior. A tribute to Randolf Menzel (pp. 103-116). Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York: Springer Verlag, 

Others

• Fuchs, J., Grohmann, C., Rödel, M. O., Penner, J. (2006). Ökologische Untersuchungen an Reptilien einer Dornbuschsavanne in Zentralnamibia – Unwägbarkeiten der Freilandforschung. Elaphe, 4, 45-50.