Evolution, Behaviour, Adaptation Group

Members

The Evolution, Adaptation and Behavior group aims at studying the evolution of phenotypic and behavioral traits through a combination of long-term monitoring of natural populations, of field and lab experiments, of molecular analyses, and of mathematical and computational modeling. Our research mainly focuses on animals, in particular mammals (alpine marmot, giraffe), birds (white-throated dipper, collared flycatcher, great tit) and insects (various Drosophila species, the parasitoid wasp Venturia canescens).

 
We study the evolution of fitness-related traits in interaction, either selective or plastic, with an individual’s biotic and abiotic environment. Interactions between individuals have a special importance in our reasoning and are thus the object of a first axis of research on group dynamics and social interactions. We also consider the environment as providing resources and informative signals through two other axes, one on phenotypic plasticity and the other on resource allocation and the sensitivity to environmental variables. In both, we consider the impact of stress factors caused by human activities — such as global warming, artificial lighting or invading species — or by the presence of pathogens.
 
 
Group dynamics and social interaction. The environment encountered by numerous animals contains, on top of resources and other elements, other individuals. Social interactions vary immensely between species, from a solitary lifestyle to such an extreme degree of cooperation that a part of the group sacrifices their reproduction at the benefit of others, specialized in this task. In this axis, we try to understand how groups form and how social structures are maintained, at various scales extending from unicellular organisms to cooperative mammals.
Here are a few examples of questions that we address:

  • Evolution of sociality: what are the consequences of climate change on the benefits of group living (in the alpine marmot)? How does that impact group composition and the probability and age of dispersal?
  • Group dynamics: how does the size and composition of familial groups evolve in the context of climate change? In giraffes, how do temporary groups form, and what role do kinship play in the probability and duration of pairing?
  • Which evolutionary trajectories have led to multicellular organisms expressing differentiated cell types, a part of which sacrifice their reproduction?
  • What are the neurogenomic determinants that signal the presence of related individuals in solitary individuals, triggering altruistic behaviors?

 
Phenotypic plasticity. Evolution by natural selection can drive phenotype changes on short timescales, in the order of a few generations. Yet it remains inefficient to track more frequent environmental changes. Phenotypic plasticity is a means to buffer such environmental variations, either through informed decisions or fixed reaction norms, which are the object of study in this axis.
Here are a few examples of questions that we address:

  • How do individual characteristics, in particular personality traits, shape the use of information on the environment for decision-making?
  • Is there a trade-off between the speed of decision making and its accuracy? What conditions favor genotypes that make fast, error-prone decisions, or slower, more accurate genotypes?
  • What types of environmental variations select for plastic genotypes?
  • Do changes in gene expression observed during environmental fluctuations induce behavioral changes?

 
Resource allocation and sensitivity to environmental variables. Organisms make other decisions throughout their lives as they decide how much resources to allocate to various traits, such as survival, growth, reproduction or immunity. This differential allocation of resources relies on complex systems, or instance the endocrine system in animals, that we study. These systems can be disturbed by anthropogenic changes that disrupt the long-term ecological setting in which they have evolves, resulting in major phenotype perturbations.
Here are a few examples of questions that we address:

  • How do endocrine systems — that allow the communication between tissues and control the differential allocation of resources — evolve?
  • How do chemical pollutants affect physiological processes, ageing and thereby life-history strategies in response to environmental variation?
  • What role do climatic fluctuations play in the heterogeneity of parasite infection, especially at stages that go through the external environment?

 

Publications

Display of 301 to 330 publications on 449 in total

Local adaptation and evolution of parasitoid interactions in an invasive species, Drosophila subobscura

Patricia Gibert, Roland Allemand, Hélène Henri, Raymond B Huey

Evolutionary Ecology Research . 12 : 873-883

Journal article

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Genes regulated in early embryogenesis during the switch from parthenogenetic to sexual reproduction in the pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum)

Aurore Gallot, Grégory Guernec, Stefano Colella, Hubert Charles, Stéphanie Jaubert-Possamai, Denis Tagu

4. Annual Arthropod Genomics Symposium on “Arthropod Genomics: New Approaches and Outcomes” .

Conference paper

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Adaptive Developmental Delay in Chagas Disease Vectors: An Evolutionary Ecology Approach

Fréderic Menu, Marine Ginoux, Etienne Rajon, Claudio Lazzari, Jorge E. Rabinovich

PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases . 4 ( 5 ) : e691

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0000691

Journal article

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Cuticular proteins and seasonal photoperiodism in aphid

Aurore Gallot-Le Grand, Claude Rispe, Nathalie Prunier Leterme, Jean-Pierre Gauthier, Stéphanie Jaubert, Denis Tagu

Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology . 40 ( 3 ) : 235-240

DOI: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2009.12.001

Journal article

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Synergy in information use for mate finding: demonstration in a parasitoid wasp

Marie Metzger, Deborah Fischbein, Alexandra Auguste, Xavier Fauvergue, Carlos Bernstein, Emmanuel Desouhant

Animal Behaviour . 79 ( 6 ) : 1307-1315

DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.03.003

Journal article

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Variations in Sex Ratio Feeding and Fecundity of Triatoma dimidiata (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) Among Habitats in the Yucatan Peninsula Mexico

V. Payet, M.J. Ramirez-Sierra, J. Rabinovich, F. Menu, E. Dumonteil

Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases . 9 ( 3 ) : 243-251

DOI: 10.1089/vbz.2008.0078

Journal article

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Evolution of microparasites in spatially and genetically structured host populations: The example of RHDV infecting rabbits

D. Fouchet, J. Le Pendu, J.-S. Guitton, M. Guiserix, S. Marchandeau, D. Pontier

Journal of Theoretical Biology . 257(2) : 212-227

Journal article

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Recombination and drug resistance in HIV: Population dynamics and stochasticity

Rd Kouyos, D. Fouchet, S. Bonhoeffer

Epidemics . 1(1) : 171-174

Journal article

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Heritability of dispersal propensity in a patchy population

Blandine Doligez, L. Gustafsson, T. Pärt

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences . 276(1668) : 2829-2836

Journal article

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Yolk androgens do not appear to mediate sexual conflict over parental investment in the collared flycatcher /Ficedula albicollis

S. Ruuskanen, Blandine Doligez, B. Tschirren, N. Pitala, L. Gustafsson, G.G. Groothuis...

Hormones and Behavior . 55 : 514-519

Journal article

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Heritable variation in maternal yolk hormone deposition in a wild bird population

B. Tschirren, J. Sendecka, G. Groothuis T.G., L. Gustafsson, Blandine Doligez

The American Naturalist . 174(4) : 492-498

Journal article

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Ecology and life history evolution of frugivorous Drosophila parasitoids

Frédéric Fleury, Patricia Gibert, Nicolas Ris, Roland Allemand

Advances in Parasitology : Parasitoids of Drosophila . 70 : 381 p.

DOI: 10.1016/S0065-308X(09)70001-6

Book chapter

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Ecology and Life History Evolution of Frugivorous Drosophila Parasitoids

Frédéric Fleury, Patricia Gibert, N. Ris, R. Allemand

Advances in Parasitology . 70 : 6-35

Journal article

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Phenotypic plasticity of abdomen pigmentation in two geographic populations of TexitDrosophila melanogaster: male-female comparison and sexual dimorphism

Patricia Gibert, B. Moreteau, J.R. David

Genetica . 135(3) : 403-413

Journal article

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Ecophysiological attributes of adult overwintering in insects: insights from a field study of the nut weevil, Curculio nucum

Marie-Claude Bel-Venner, Nathalie Mondy, Florent Arthaud, Julien Marandet, David Giron, Samuel Venner...

Physiological Entomology . 34 : 61-70

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3032.2008.00652.x

Journal article

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What matters in the associative learning of visual cues in foraging parasitoid wasps: colour or brightness?

Emmanuel Desouhant, Simon Navel, Emmeline Foubert, Deborah Fischbein, Marc Théry, Carlos Bernstein

Animal Cognition . : epub ahead of print

DOI: 10.1007/s10071-009-0304-2

Journal article

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Differential use of conspecific-derived information by sexual and asexual parasitic wasps exploiting partially depleted host patches

Isabelle Amat, E. Desouhant, Carlos Bernstein

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology . 63 : 563-572

Journal article

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Adaptive dynamics of dormancy duration variability: evolutionary trade-off and priority effect lead to suboptimal adaptation.

Sébastien Gourbière, Fréderic Menu

Evolution - International Journal of Organic Evolution . 63 ( 7 ) : 1879-92

DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00731.x

Journal article

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Using Dynamic Stochastic Modelling to Estimate Population Risk Factors in Infectious Disease: The Example of FIV in 15 Cat Populations

D. Fouchet, G. Leblanc, F. Sauvage, M. Guiserix, H. Poulet, D. Pontier

PLoS ONE . 4(10) : 1-13

Journal article

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Emergence of infectious diseases: when hidden pathogens break out

D. Pontier, M. Guiserix, D. Fouchet, F. Sauvage

Comptes Rendus Biologies . 332(6) : 539-547

Journal article

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The effects of experimentally manipulated yolk androgens on growth and immune function of male and female nestling collared flycatchers TextitFicedula albicollis

N. Pitala, S. Ruuskanen, T. Laaksonen, Blandine Doligez, B. Tschirren, L. Gustafsson

Journal of Avian Biology . 40(2) : 225-230

Journal article

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Flock management and histomonosis in free-range turkeys in France: description and search for potential risk factors

Marie-Pierre Callait-Cardinal, Emmanuelle Gilot-Fromont, Ludovic Chossat, A. Gonthier, Claude Chauve, Lionel Zenner

Epidemiology and Infection . 138 ( 3 ) : 353–363

DOI: 10.1017/S0950268809990562

Journal article

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Does constrained oviposition infl uence offspring sex ratio in the solitary parasitoid wasp Venturia canescens ?

M. Metzger, C. Bernstein, E. Desouhant

Ecological Entomology . 33 : 167-174

Journal article

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Unexpected male choosiness for mates in a spider

Marie-Claude Bel-Venner, S. Dray, Dominique Allainé, F. Menu, Samuel Venner

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences . 275 : 77-82

Journal article

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Demographic and Dispersal Constraints for Domestic Infestation by Non-Domicilated Chagas Disease Vectors in the Yucatan Peninsula Mexico

S. Gourbière, E. Dumonteil, J.E. Rabinovich, R. Minkoue, F. Menu

American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene . 78 : 133-139

Journal article

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Des souris et des hommes l'étude des systèmes à hantavirus

F. Sauvage, D. Fouchet, D. Pontier

incollection . -- : 413-456

Journal article

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Limited nest site availability helps seabirds to survive cat predation on islands

D. Pontier, D. Fouchet, J. Bried, N. Bahi-Jaber

Ecological Modelling . 214 : 316-324

Journal article

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Fecundity and survival in relation to resistance to oxidative stress in a free-living bird

P. Bize, G. Devevey, P. Monaghan, Blandine Doligez, P. Christe

Ecology . 89(8) : 2584-2593

Journal article

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Habitat Selection and Habitat Suitability Preferences

Blandine Doligez, T. Boulinier

incollection . 3 : 1810-1830

Journal article

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