Staff profile

Christian is a behavioural ecologist, focussing on how animals use sensory information to inform their behaviour, and how animal sensory systems are shaped by environmental conditions. He has completed a B.Sc. in Biology at the Christian-Albrecht-University in Kiel (Germany), followed by a M.Sc. in Marine Biology at the University of Algarve (Portugal). He then worked for one year as a Research Assistant at the Julius-Maximilians-University in Wuerzburg (Germany), investigating the visual flower inspection and proboscis guidance behaviour in hawkmoths, before starting his PhD at the University of Cambridge (UK). Throughout this PhD, Christian explored how dynamic lighting conditions affect the visual processing, hunting success, habitat selection, and camouflage of marine invertebrates, such as cephalopods and crustaceans. Within the scope of his postdoctoral position in the Insect Neuro Lab at Durham University, Christian is now investigating the behavioural and physiological adaptations mosquito pupae have evolved to avoid desiccation upon loss of their aquatic environment.

Journal Article

• Tactical deception in cephalopods: a new framework for understanding cognition.
  Drerup, C., Garcia-Pelegrin, E., Wilkins, C., Herbert-Read, J. E., & Clayton, N. S. (online). Tactical deception in cephalopods: a new framework for understanding cognition. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2025.04.016
• Motion After‐Effects Induced by Dynamic Illumination in Crab Vision
  Drerup, C., Herbert‐Read, J. E., & How, M. J. (2025). Motion After‐Effects Induced by Dynamic Illumination in Crab Vision. Ecology and Evolution, 15(5), Article e71426. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.71426
• Cuttlefish adopt disruptive camouflage under dynamic lighting
  Drerup, C., Dunkley, K., How, M. J., & Herbert-Read, J. E. (2024). Cuttlefish adopt disruptive camouflage under dynamic lighting. Current Biology, 34(14), 3258-3264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2024.06.015
• Dynamic visual noise has limited influence on the habitat selection and behavioural activity of crustaceans and cephalopods
  Drerup, C., How, M. J., & Herbert-Read, J. E. (2024). Dynamic visual noise has limited influence on the habitat selection and behavioural activity of crustaceans and cephalopods. Ethology: international journal of behavioural biology, 130(3), Article e13432. https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.13432