Marlen Kücklich
Position: Post-doc researcher
Research Group "Primate Behavioural Ecology"
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution
Deutscher Platz 6
D-04103 Leipzig
Germany
and
University of Leipzig Faculty of Life Science
Institute of Biology
Behavioral Ecology Research Group
Talstrasse 33
D-04103 Leipzig
Germany
e-mail: marlen_kuecklich@[>>> Please remove the text! <<<]eva.mpg.de
Current research
Various species use olfactory cues for social communication and there is increasing evidence even for primates, which possess smaller olfactory structures in comparison to other mammals, that they use odours to communicate in various contexts as well. I am mainly interested in females communicating their menstrual cycle state to male conspecifics using their odours. During my PhD project, I validated suitable sampling techniques for collecting odour samples from (free-ranging) mammals and contributed to the understanding of olfactory fertility cues in two primate species: common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). In my future work, I will focus on the verification of putative identified substances using chemical standards and on unravelling their metabolic origin.
Curriculum Vitae
Present position
| since 12/2019 | Scientific Assistant at the Institute of Biology, Behavioral Ecology Group, University of Leipzig in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig (MPI EVA) |
Education
| 02/2015-12/2019 | PhD student at the University of Leipzig in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig (MPI EVA) Dissertation title: “Olfactory fertility cues in primates” Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Anja Widdig (University of Leipzig) |
| 10/2012-09/2014 | Master of Science in Biology (with focus on Neurobiology and Behavior, in particular Behavioral Ecology in Primates) Thesis title: "Is there a difference in olfactory profiles of chimpanzee females (Pan troglodytes) regarding menstrual cycle phases?" Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Anja Widdig and Prof. Dr. Almuth Einspanier (University of Leipzig) |
| 10/2009-09/2012 | Bachelor of Science in Biology at the University of Halle-Wittenberg Thesis title: "Der Einfluss von Gehegewechsel auf das Verhalten von Brillenpinguinen (Spheniscus demersus) im Leipziger Zoo" Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Dietmar Weinert and Dr. Peter Fritzsche (Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) |
Work experience
| 10/2014-01/2015 | Research Assistant at the University of Leipzig Organization for a research project on olfactory communication in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) |
Publications
2025
Schlögl, B. M., Birkemeyer, C., Kücklich, M., & Widdig, A. (2025). Chemical signatures of social information in Barbary macaques. Scientific Reports, 15: 1902. |
Open Access2024
Zetzsche, M., Weiß, B., Kücklich, M., Stern, J., Birkemeyer, C., Widdig, A. ǂ., & Penke, L. (2024). Combined perceptual and chemical analyses show no compelling evidence for ovulatory cycle shifts in women's axillary adour. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 291(2027): 20232712. |
2022
Jänig, S. *., Kücklich, M. *., Kulik, L., Zetzsche, M., Weiß, B. M. ǂ., & Widdig, A. ǂ. (2022). Olfactory inspection of female reproductive states in chimpanzees. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10: 884661. |
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Kücklich, M., Jänig, S., Kulik, L., Birkemeyer, C., Weiss, B. M., & Widdig, A. (2022). Towards an understanding multimodal traits of female reproduction in chimpanzees. Primates, 63, 365-376. |
2019
Kücklich, M., Weiß, B. M., Birkemeyer, C., Einspanier, A., & Widdig, A. (2019). Chemical cues of female fertility states in a non-human primate. Scientific Reports, 9: 13716. |
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Kücklich, M. (2019). Olfactory fertility cues in primates. PhD Thesis, Universität, Leipzig. |
2018
Peters, K., Worrich, A., Weinhold, A., Alka, O., Balcke, G., Birkemeyer, C., Bruelheide, H., Calf, O. W., Dietz, S., Duehrkop, K., Gaquerel, E., Heinig, U., Kuecklich, M., Kücklich, M., Macel, M., Mueller, C., Poeschl, Y., Pohnert, G., Ristok, C., Rodriguez, V. M., Ruttkies, C., Schuman, M., Schweiger, R., Shahaf, N., Steinbeck, C., Tortosa, M., Treutler, H., Ueberschaar, N., Velasco, P., Weiss, B. M., Widdig, A., Neumann, S., & van Dam, N. M. (2018). Current challenges in plant eco-metabolomics. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 19(5): 1385. |
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Weiß, B. M., Kücklich, M., Thomsen, R., Henkel, S., Jänig, S., Kulik, L., Birkemeyer, C., & Widdig, A. (2018). Chemical composition of axillary odorants reflects social and individual attributes in rhesus macaques. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 72(4): 65. |
2017
Kücklich, M., Möller, M., Marcillo, A., Einspanier, A., Weiß, B. M., Birkemeyer, C., & Widdig, A. (2017). Different methods for volatile sampling in mammals. PLoS One, 12(8): e0183440. |
2016
Birkemeyer, C. S., Thomsen, R., Jänig, S., Kücklich, M., Slama, A., Weiß, B. M., & Widdig, A. (2016). Sampling the body odor of primates: Cotton swabs sample semivolatiles rather than volatiles. Chemical Senses, 41(6), 525-535. |