Van der Kooi, Dr Casper
Casper van der Kooi studied Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Groningen, after which he obtained his first PhD in Biopsychics and Plant Physiology and his second in Evolutionary Biology. His first dissertation was on flower colour, aided by methods from optics and botany. His second one was on the evolution of reproductive systems of insects. Van der Kooi is currently a researcher at the Faculty of Science and Engineering. In his research, he studies how flowers gain their colours and how these colours have evolved in the eyes of the animals that look at them. Blooming plants are pollinated by a diverse group of animals that see the world in different ways. If plants are to propagate, their flowers have to be attractive for pollinators while remaining unattractive to other animals, maintaining an optimal temperature, and maximizing their propagation results. All in all, this leads to a range of (often contradictory) selection conditions for plants and pollinators. Van der Kooi uses biophysics to study the optical and thermal characteristics of flowers and to then place these within the evolutionary context of animals’ visual capacities and reproductive biology.
Since 2020, he has been a member of Young Academy Groningen, a club for the most talented, enthusiastic, and ambitious young researchers at the University.
Previously in the news
2023
van
der Kooi, C., & Sage, R. F. (2023). A focus on
plant reproduction, and a new cover for Annals of Botany.
Annals of Botany, 132(1), i-iv. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcad101
van
der Kooi, C. J., Reuvers, L., & Spaethe, J. (2023).
Honesty, reliability, and information content of floral
signals. Iscience, 26(7),
Article 107093. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.107093
Sage,
R. F., & van der Kooi, C. (2023). Preface to
the Focus Issue on Pollination and Floral Regulation.
Annals of Botany, 132(6), i-iv. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcad177
van
der Kooi, C. J., & Spaethe, J. (2023). Visual
ecology: How glossy colours shine and confuse.
Current Biology, 33(16), R865-R867.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2023.07.011
2022
van
der Kooi, C., & Kelber, A. (2022). Achromatic cues
are important for flower visibility to hawkmoths and other
insects. Frontiers in Ecology and
Evolution, 10, 1-14. Article 819436. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.819436
van
der Kooi, C. J., & Spaethe, J. (2022). Caution
with colour calculations: Spectral purity is a poor descriptor of
flower colour visibility. Annals of
Botany, 130(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcac069
van
der Kooi, C., Spaethe, J., & Leonhardt, S. D. (2022).
Editorial: Sensory ecology of plant-pollinator
interactions. Frontiers in Ecology and
Evolution, 10, Article 1101114. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.1101114
2021
Stavenga,
D. G., Leertouwer, H. L., Dudek, B., & van der
Kooi, C. J. (2021). Coloration of flowers by
flavonoids and consequences of pH dependent absorption.
Frontiers in Plant Science , 11,
Article 600124. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.600124
Ausma,
T., Bansal, V., Kraaij, M., Verloop, A. C. M.,
Gasperl, A., Müller, M., Kopriva, S., de Kok, L. J.,
& van der Kooi, C. J. (2021). Floral displays
suffer from sulphur deprivation. Environmental and
Experimental Botany, 192, Article 104656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envexpbot.2021.104656
van
der Kooi, C. J. (2021). How much pigment should
flowers have? Flowers with moderate pigmentation have highest color
contrast. Frontiers in Ecology and
Evolution, 9, 1. Article 731626. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.731626
van
der Kooi, C. J., Vallejo-Marín, M., & Leonhardt, S.
D. (2021). Mutualisms and (a)symmetry in
plant–pollinator interactions. Current
Biology, 31(2), R91-R99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.11.020
2020
van
der Kooi, C. J., Stavenga, D. G., Arikawa, K.,
Belušič, G., & Kelber, A. (2021). Evolution of
insect color vision: From spectral sensitivity to visual
ecology. Annual review of entomology,
66, 435-461. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ento-061720-071644
Ausma,
T., Mulder, J., Polman, T. R., van der Kooi,
C., & de Kok, L. J. (2020). Atmospheric
H2S exposure does not affect stomatal aperture in
maize. Planta, 252(4),
Article 63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-020-03463-6
Stavenga,
D. G., Staal, M., & van der Kooi, C.
J. (2020). Conical epidermal cells cause velvety
colouration and enhanced patterning in Mandevilla
flowers. Faraday Discussions,
223, 98-106. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0fd00055h
Verloop,
A. C. M., Dyer, A. G., & van der Kooi, C. J.
(2020). How biotic and abiotic effects colour flowers in a
land Down Under. New Phytologist,
228(6), 1701-1703. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.16856
van
der Kooi, C., & Ollerton, J. (2020). The origins
of flowering plants and pollinators.
Science, 368(6497), 1306-1308. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay3662
2019
Kraaij,
M., & van der Kooi, C. J. (2020).
Surprising absence of association between flower surface
microstructure and pollination system. Plant
Biology, 22(2), 177-183. https://doi.org/10.1111/plb.13071
Dyer,
A. G., Boyd-Gerny, S., Shrestha, M., Garcia, J. E., van der
Kooi, C. J., & Wong, B. B. M. (2019). Colour
preferences of Tetragonula carbonaria Sm. stingless bees for
colour morphs of the Australian native orchid Caladenia
carnea. Journal of Comparative Physiology
A, 205(3), 347-361. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-019-01346-0
van
der Kooi, C. J., Dyer, A. G., Kevan, P. G., & Lunau, K.
(2019). Functional significance of the optical properties of
flowers for visual signalling. Annals of
Botany, 123(2), 263-276. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcy119
Matthey-Doret,
C., van der Kooi, C. J., Jeffries, D. L., Bast, J.,
Dennis, A. B., Vorburger, C., & Schwander, T. (2019).
Mapping of multiple complementary sex determination loci in a
parasitoid wasp. Genome Biology and
Evolution, 11(10), 2954-2962. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evz219
Ruedenauer,
F. A., Spaethe, J., van der Kooi, C. J., &
Leonhardt, S. D. (2019). Pollinator or pedigree: Which
factors determine the evolution of pollen nutrients?
Oecologia, 191(2), 349-358. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-019-04494-x
van
der Kooi, C. J., Kevan, P. G., & Koski, M. H. (2019).
The thermal ecology of flowers. Annals of
Botany, 124(3), 343-353. https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcz073
van
der Kooi, C. J., & Stavenga, D. G. (2019).
Vividly coloured poppy flowers due to dense pigmentation and
strong scattering in thin petals. Journal of
Comparative Physiology A, 205(3), 363-372. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-018-01313-1
2018
van
der Kooi, C. J., Ghali, K., Amptmeijer, D., & Schwander,
T. (2019). Niche differentiation among clones in asexual
grass thrips. Journal of Evolutionary
Biology, 22(1), 126-130. https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13393
2017
van
der Kooi, C. J., Matthey-doret, C., & Schwander, T.
(2017). Evolution and comparative ecology of parthenogenesis
in haplodiploid arthropods. Evolution
Letters, 1(6), 304-316. https://doi.org/10.1002/evl3.30
van
der Kooi, C. J., Elzenga, J. T. M.,
Dijksterhuis, J., & Stavenga, D. G. (2017).
Functional optics of glossy buttercup flowers.
Journal of the Royal Society Interface,
14(127), Article 20160933. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2016.0933
Stavenga,
D. G., van der Kooi, C. J., & Wilts, B. D.
(2017). Structural coloured feathers of mallards act by
simple multilayer photonics. Journal of the Royal
Society Interface, 14(133), Article 20170407.
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2017.0407
2016
Stavenga,
D. G., & van der Kooi, C. J. (2016).
Coloration of the Chilean Bellflower, Nolana paradoxa,
interpreted with a scattering and absorbing layer stack
model. Planta, 243(1),
171-181. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-015-2395-0
van
der Kooi, C. J., Pen, I., Staal,
M., Stavenga, D. G., & Elzenga, J. T.
M. (2016). Competition for pollinators and
intra-communal spectral dissimilarity of flowers.
Plant Biology, 18(1), 56-62. https://doi.org/10.1111/plb.12328
van
der Kooi, C. J., Reich, M., Löw, M., de Kok, L. J.,
& Tausz, M. (2016). Growth and yield stimulation under
elevated CO2 and drought: A meta-analysis on
crops. Environmental and Experimental
Botany, 122, 150-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envexpbot.2015.10.004
van
der Kooi, C. J., Elzenga, J. T. M.,
Staal, M., & Stavenga, D. G. (2016).
How to colour a flower: On the optical principles of flower
coloration. Proceedings of the Royal Society of
London. Series B, Biological Sciences,
283(1830), Article 20160429. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.0429
van
der Kooi, C. (2016). Plant biology: Flower
orientation, temperature regulation and pollinator
attraction. Current Biology,
26(21), R1143-R1145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.08.071
2015
van
der Kooi, C. J., Dyer, A. G., & Stavenga, D.
G. (2015). Is floral iridescence a biologically
relevant cue in plant-pollinator signaling? New
Phytologist, 205(1), 18-20. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.13066
van
der Kooi, C., & Schwander, T. (2015).
Parthenogenesis: Birth of a new lineage or reproductive
accident? Current Biology,
25(15), R659-R661. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.06.055
van
der Kooi, C. J. (2015). The coloration toolkit of
flowers: Filtering pigments, scattering structures and biological
significance. [Thesis fully internal (DIV), University
of Groningen]. University of Groningen.
2014
van
der Kooi, C. J., & Schwander, T. (2014). Evolution
of asexuality via different mechanisms in grass thrips
(Thysanoptra: Aptinothrips).
Evolution, 68(7), 1883-93. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.12402
van
der Kooi, C. J., Wilts, B. D., Leertouwer, H.
L., Staal, M., Elzenga, J. T.
M., & Stavenga, D. G. (2014).
Iridescent flowers? Contribution of surface structures to
optical signaling. New Phytologist,
203(2), 667-673. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.12808
van
der Kooi, C. J., & Schwander, T. (2014). On the
fate of sexual traits under asexuality. Biological
Reviews, 89(4), 805 – 819. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.12078
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