is an animal ecologist and zoologist. His focal study organisms are spiders, which arthropods are important predators in almost all terrestrial ecosystems. Most of his research projects are in connection with the ecological impact of spiders in agricultural and natural ecosystems, with special reference to interactions between them. He established co-operation with a number of Hungarian research groups, resulting in a still ongoing nation-wide survey of the Hungarian agricultural spider fauna. These results led to the compilation of the complete arachnological bibliography and check list of spiders for Hungary. These data are currently in a desktop database, but efforts are made to make them available through the Internet. Building on the extensive database gained by these surveys, current research focuses on the biological difference between species that are dominant in agroecosystems (so called agrobiont species), versus species dominant in natural ecosystems. These projects are at their beginning and they focus on differences in life history traits and habitat affinities.

In a related line of research Dr. Samu and a group of Ph.D. students study a particular agrobiont spider, the lycosid Pardosa agrestis. This species serves as a model organism, through which various traits that can make an animal successful in the harsh agricultural environments are studied. The studied traits include: feeding behaviour (functional response, wasteful killing), life history (life cycle, development, overwintering, fecundity), sexual behaviour (mating times, sexual selection, sperm competition), movement patterns, cannibalism, population density.