Melanie Kaluppa

Melanie Kaluppa

PhD student, project staff

Hellbrunnerstraße 34, 5020 Salzburg

Tel.: +43(0)662 80445990

Email:

Room: D-2.037

 

Research Interests

  • Behavioral ecology of cooperatively breeding bird species
  • Effects of anthropogenic habitat change on social behavior, communication, and reproductive success in birds

Curriculum vitae

Education

  • Since 2025: PhD Candidate, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, Faculty of Natural and Life Sciences
  • 2022 – 2025: Master of Science in Behavior, Cognition and Neurobiology, University of Vienna; Master’s thesis: “Cultural and morphological divergence of Darwin’s cactus finches (Geospiza scandens) across Galápagos Islands”
  • 2019 – 2022: Bachelor of Science in Biology (Ecology), University of Vienna; Bachelor’s thesis: “Vertical stratification of understory birds as a function of diet and body weight in Costa Rican tropical lowland rainforest”

Work Experience

  • 02/2025 – 07/2025: Erasmus+ Trainee, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
  • 2020 – 2025: Various part-time positions in office work, retail, and childcare/summer school
  • 07/2020 – 09/2020: Scientific Intern, Wolf Science Center, Ernstbrunn, Austria
  • 2018 – 2019: Secretary
  • 2011 – 2017: Forwarding Agent

Grants and Scholarships

  • 02/2025 – 07/2025: Erasmus+ Grant – Traineeship in the Czech Republic
  • 2024: ASAB Conference Attendance Grant – ASAB Winter Conference, Edinburgh (Scotland)
  • 01/2024 – 03/2024: Short-term Scientific Mobility Scholarship (KWA) – Fieldwork on the Galápagos Islands
  • 2022/2023: Merit Scholarship, University of Vienna
  • 2019 – 2024: Self-supporting Student Scholarship

Software Skills

  • MS Office
  • Statistics: R
  • Bioacoustics: Audacity, Raven Pro, Lucinia
  • Video Analysis: BORIS

Language Skills

  • German (native)
  • English (fluent)
  • Spanish (basic knowledge)

Publications

Kaluppa M, García-Loor J, Yelimlieş A, Akçay Ç, Kleindorfer S (2025) Cultural and morphological divergence of Darwin’s cactus finches (Geospiza scandens) across Galápagos Islands. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.  https://doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blaf098