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 271 to 300 publications on 449 in total

Natural simian immunodeficiency virus transmission in mandrills: a family affair?

David Fouchet, Delphine Verrier, Barthélémy Ngoubangoye, Sandrine Souquière, Maria Makuwa, Mirdad Kazanji...

Biology Letters . 279 ( 1742 ) : 3426-35

DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2012.0963

Journal article

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Long-term effects of yolk androgens on phenotype and parental feeding behavior in a wild passerine

S. Ruuskanen, Blandine Doligez, L. Gustafsson, T. Laaksonen

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology . 66 : 1201--1211

DOI: 10.1007/s00265-012-1373-9

Journal article

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Ability of European parasitoids (Hymenoptera) to control a new invasive Asiatic pest, Drosophila suzukii

Stan Chabert, Roland Allemand, Mathilde Poyet, Patrice Eslin, Patricia Gibert

Biological Control . 63 ( 1 ) : 40 - 47

DOI: 10.1016/j.biocontrol.2012.05.005

Journal article

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Variability among tobacco cyst nematode subspecies and consequences on their sustainable management with host resistances

Charline Alenda, Didier Fouville, Aurore Gallot-Le Grand, Nicolas Mariette, Eric Grenier

Journal of Nematology . 44 (4) : np

Conference paper

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Paternity and Dominance Loss in Male Breeders: The Cost of Helpers in a Cooperatively Breeding Mammal

S. Lardy, A. Cohas, E. Desouhant, M. Tafani, Dominique Allainé

PLoS ONE . 7 : 1-6

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029508

Journal article

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A handbook for uncovering the complete energetic budget in insects: the van Handel's method (1985) revisited

Vincent Foray, Pierre-François Pelisson, Marie-Claude Bel-Venner, Emmanuel Desouhant, Samuel Venner, Frédéric Menu...

Physiological Entomology . 37 ( 3 ) : 295-302

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-3032.2012.00831.x

Journal article

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Emergence and prevalence of human vector-borne diseases in sink vector populations

Guilhem Rascalou, Dominique Pontier, Frédéric Menu, Sébastien Gourbière

PLoS ONE . 7 ( 5 ) : e36858

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0036858

Journal article

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Effects of brood size manipulation and common origin on phenotype and telomere length in nestling collared flycatchers.

Marie Voillemot, Kathryn Hine, Sandrine Zahn, François Criscuolo, Lars Gustafsson, Blandine Doligez...

BMC Ecology . 12 ( 1 ) : 17

DOI: 10.1186/1472-6785-12-17

Journal article

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On the Equivalence of Host Local Adaptation and Parasite Maladaptation: An Experimental Test

M. Lemoine, Blandine Doligez, H. Richner

The American Naturalist . 179 : 270-281

Journal article

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Long-term fitness consequences of high yolk androgen levels : sons pay the costs

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

Functional Ecology . 26 : 884--894

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2012.01994.x

Journal article

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Effet Allee comportemental chez les parasitoïdes : impacts démographiques et conséquences pour la lutte biologique

Anaïs Bompard, Isabelle Amat, Xavier Fauvergue, Thierry Spataro

2. Entomophagous Insects Conference .

Conference paper

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Plasticité phénotypique et réponses adaptatives aux changements environnementaux chez les insectes

Patricia Gibert

HDR

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Geographic variations of life history traits and potential trade-offs in different populations of the parasitoid Leptopilina heterotoma

Pauline Vuarin, Roland Allemand, Joffrey Moiroux, Joan van Baaren, Patricia Gibert

The Science of Nature Naturwissenschaften . 99 ( 11 ) : 903-912

DOI: 10.1007/s00114-012-0972-7

Journal article

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Fuelling flight in a parasitic wasp: which energetic substrate to use?

Isabelle Amat, Sébastien Besnard, Vincent Foray, Perrine Pelosse, Carlos Bernstein, Emmanuel Desouhant

Ecological Entomology . 37 ( 6 ) : 480-489

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2311.2012.01388.x

Journal article

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True versus false parasite interactions: a robust method to take risk factors into account and its application to feline viruses.

Eléonore Hellard, Dominique Pontier, Frank Sauvage, Hervé Poulet, David Fouchet

PLoS ONE . 7 ( 1 ) : e29618

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029618

Journal article

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Molecular Variability and Evolution of the Pectate Lyase (pel-2) Parasitism Gene in Cyst Nematodes Parasitizing Different Solanaceous Plants

Barbara Geric Stare, Didier Fouville, S Sirca, Aurore Gallot-Le Grand, G. Urek, Eric Grenier

Journal of Molecular Evolution . 72 ( 2 ) : 169-181

DOI: 10.1007/s00239-010-9413-4

Journal article

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Conséquences démographiques des Effets Allee comportementaux dans les systèmes hôte-parasitoïde

Anaïs Bompard, Isabelle Amat, Xavier Fauvergue, Thierry Spataro

Entomological Society of America, Canada and British Columbia joint annual meeting .

Conference paper

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When cats' ways of life interact with their viruses: A study in 15 natural populations of owned and unowned cats Felis silvestris catus

E. Hellard, D. Fouchet, H. Santin-Janin, B. Tarin, V. Badol, C. Coupier...

Preventive Veterinary Medicine . 101 : 250-264

Journal article

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Influence of host profitability and microenvironmental conditions on parasite specialization on a main and an alternative hosts

M. Lemoine, Blandine Doligez, M. Passerault, H. Richner

Journal of Evolutionary Biology . 24 : 1212-1225

Journal article

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Prospectors combine social and environmental information to improve habitat selection and breeding success in the subsequent year

T. Pärt, D. Arlt, Blandine Doligez, M. Low, A. Qvarnström

Journal of Animal Ecology . 80 : 1227-1235

Journal article

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Differential thermal performance curves in response to different habitats in the parasitoid Venturia canescens

Vincent Foray, Patricia Gibert, Emmanuel Desouhant

The Science of Nature Naturwissenschaften . 98 ( 8 ) : 683 - 691

DOI: 10.1007/s00114-011-0818-8

Journal article

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Does synovigeny confer reproductive plasticity upon a parasitoid wasp that is faced with variability in habitat richness?

P. Pelosse, M.A. Jervis, C. Bernstein, E. Desouhant

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society . 104 : 621-632

Journal article

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Coexistence of Insect Species competing for a pulsed resource: toward a unified theory of biodiversity in fluctuating environments

Samuel Venner, P-F. Pelisson, Marie-Claude Bel-Venner, F. Debias, Etienne Rajon, F. Menu

PLoS ONE . 6 ( 3 ) : e18039

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018039

Journal article

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Identification at the larval stage of four Curculio species coexisting on oak trees using PCR-RFLP

P-F. Pelisson, H. Henri, Marie-Claude Bel-Venner, R. Allemand, A. Merville, F. Menu...

Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata . 138 : 77-82

DOI: 10.1111/j.1570-7458.2010.01077.x

Journal article

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Estimation and comparison of heritability and parent-offspring resemblance in dispersal probability from capture-recapture data using different methods: the Collared Flycatcher as a case study

Blandine Doligez, Grégory Daniel, P. Warin, T. Pärt, L. Gustafsson, D. Réale

Journal of Ornithology . 152 : S539-S554

DOI: 10.1007/s10336-010-0643-4

Journal article

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Evolution of molecular error rates and the consequences for evolvability

Etienne Rajon, J. Masel

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 108 ( 3 ) : 1082-1087

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1012918108

Journal article

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The dynamics of energy allocation in adult arrhenotokous and thelytokous Venturia canescens

P. Pelosse, Isabelle Amat, C. Bernstein, E. Desouhant

Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata . 135(1) : 68-76

Journal article

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Does Kin Recognition and Sib-Mating Avoidance Limit the Risk of Genetic Incompatibility in a Parasitic Wasp?

M. Metzger, C. Bernstein, T.S. Hoffmeister, E. Desouhant

PLoS ONE . 5(10) : 167-174

Journal article

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Can cat predation help competitors coexist in seabird communities?

D. Pontier, D. Fouchet, J. Bried

Journal of Theoretical Biology . 262(2010) : 90-96

Journal article

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Social Information Use

J. Morand-Ferron, Blandine Doligez, Srx. Dall, S.M. Reader

Encyclopedia of Animal Behavio . 3 : 242-250

Journal article

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