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- About us
https://webcdn.mmu.ac.uk/profiles/img/profile-images/sue-anne-zollinger--crop-145x145-5cdab37c4cb0f.jpg
I am a broadly trained biologist with an interdisciplinary background in Animal Physiology and Behaviour. I investigate comparative physiology and behaviour using an integrative approach, with experience and expertise across a range of disciplines from urban ecology, endocrinology, and functional morphology to sensory biology. I am comfortable in both the lab and the field and believe that perspectives from both are essential to solid biological investigation, as well as to effective teaching in the biological sciences.
My research centres around two fundamental questions:
1. How do animals communicate acoustically - from mechanisms of sound production to information transfer to evolution and signal design
2. How does urbanisation, and particularly traffic noise, impact the communication, behaviour, health, and reproductive success of animals
SA. Zollinger (2013). Avian Vocal Production in Noise.
SA. Zollinger (2008). From brain to song: the vocal organ and vocal tract.
H. Brumm, W. Goymann, S. Derégnaucourt, N. Geberzahn, SA. Zollinger (2021). Traffic noise disrupts vocal development and suppresses immune function. Science Advances. 7(20),
Y. Liu, SA. Zollinger, H. Brumm (2021). Chronic exposure to urban noise during the vocal learning period does not lead to increased song frequencies in zebra finches. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 75(1),
V. Caorsi, P. Sprau, SA. Zollinger, H. Brumm (2019). Nocturnal resting behaviour in urban great tits and its relation to anthropogenic disturbance and microclimate. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 73(19),
A. Dorado-Correa, SA. Zollinger, B. Heidinger, H. Brumm (2018). Timing matters: traffic noise accelerates telomere loss rate differently across developmental stages. Frontiers in Zoology. 15(29),
SL. Hardman, SA. Zollinger, K. Koselj, S. Leitner, RC. Marshall, et al. H. Brumm. (2017). Lombard effect onset times reveal the speed of vocal plasticity in a songbird. Journal of Experimental Biology. 220(6), pp.1065-1071.
H. Brumm, SA. Zollinger, PT. Niemelä, P. Sprau (2017). Measurement artefacts lead to false positives in the study of birdsong in noise. Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 8(11), pp.1617-1625.
SA. Zollinger, H. Brumm (2015). Why birds sing loud songs and why they sometimes don't. Animal Behaviour. 105, pp.289-295.
E. Nemeth, N. Pieretti, SA. Zollinger, N. Geberzahn, J. Partecke, et al. AC. Miranda, H. Brumm. (2013). Bird song and anthropogenic noise: vocal constraints may explain why birds sing higher-frequency songs in cities. Proc Biol Sci. 280(1754), pp.20122798-20122798.
S. Schuster, SA. Zollinger, JA. Lesku, H. Brumm (2012). On the evolution of noise-dependent vocal plasticity in birds. Biol Lett. 8(6), pp.913-916.
SA. Zollinger, J. Podos, E. Nemeth, F. Goller, H. Brumm (2012). On the relationship between, and measurement of, amplitude and frequency in birdsong. Animal Behaviour. 84(4), pp.e1-e9.
E. Nemeth, SA. Zollinger, H. Brumm (2012). Effect Sizes and the Integrative Understanding of Urban Bird Song. The American Naturalist. 180(1), pp.146-152.
SA. Zollinger, H. Brumm (2011). The Lombard effect. Curr Biol. 21(16), pp.R614-R615.
H. Brumm, SA. Zollinger (2011). The evolution of the Lombard effect: 100 years of psychoacoustic research. Behaviour. 148(11-13), pp.1173-1198.
SA. Zollinger, T. Riede, RA. Suthers (2008). Two-voice complexity from a single side of the syrinx in northern mockingbird Mimus polyglottos vocalizations. J Exp Biol. 211(Pt 12), pp.1978-1991.
RA. Suthers, SA. Zollinger (2004). Producing song: the vocal apparatus. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1016(1), pp.109-129.
SA. Zollinger, RA. Suthers (2004). Motor mechanisms of a vocal mimic: implications for birdsong production. Proc Biol Sci. 271(1538), pp.483-491.
KJ. Mathot, SA. Zollinger, TM. Freeberg (2022). Personality and behavioural syndromes. In: Songbird Behavior and Conservation in the Anthropocene. pp.239-262.
E. Nemeth, SA. Zollinger (2013). The application of signal transmission modelling in conservation biology. In: Avian Urban Ecology. Oxford University Press, pp.192-200.
SA. Zollinger, H. Brumm (2018). Effects of Experimental Traffic Noise Exposure on Avian Health and Fitness. In: INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY. San Francisco, CA, 3/1/2018. pp.E263-E263.
S. Zollinger, CA. Dorado, BJ. Heidinger, H. Brumm (2017). The effect of traffic noise exposure on telomeres varies with developmental stage. In: INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY. New Orleans, LA, 4/1/2017. pp.E456-E456.
CN. Templeton, SA. Zollinger, H. Brumm (2016). Traffic noise drowns out a songbird's alarm calls. In: INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY. Portland, OR, 3/1/2016. pp.E219-E219.
N. Grimault, SA. Zollinger (2024). Crocodile perception of distress in hominid baby cries.
May 2020 - Are Covid-related decreases in air and road traffic having an impact on birds? Listen below to some radio programmes where I discuss this topic:
and
Do Those Birds Sound Louder To You? An Ornithologist Says You're Just Hearing Things
May 2020 - I was recently interviewed, along with several international colleagues, discussing the impact of noise pollution on wildlife, on BBC Radio 4's Costing the Earth Programme. Have a listen here to learn more: