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 61 to 90 publications on 449 in total

Are human natal sex ratio differences across the world adaptive? A test of Fisher's principle

Mathieu Douhard, Stéphane Dray

Biology Letters . 17 ( 3 )

DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0620

Journal article

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Cytotype Affects the Capability of the Whitefly Bemisia tabaci MED Species To Feed and Oviposit on an Unfavorable Host Plant

Sylvain Benhamou, Isabelle Rahioui, Hélène Henri, Hubert Charles, Pedro da Silva, Abdelaziz Heddi...

mBio . 12 ( 6 ) : 1-16

DOI: 10.1128/mBio.00730-21

Journal article

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Microorganisms Associated with Mosquito Oviposition Sites: Implications for Habitat Selection and Insect Life Histories

Maxime Girard, Edwige Martin, Laurent Vallon, Vincent Raquin, Christophe Bellet, Yves Rozier...

Microorganisms . 9 ( 8 ) : 1589

DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms9081589

Journal article

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Inferring insect feeding patterns from sugar profiles: a comparison of statistical methods

Martin Luquet, Nicolas Parisey, Maxime Hervé, Emmanuel Desouhant, Anne‐marie Cortesero, Ainara Peñalver‐cruz...

Ecological Entomology . 46 ( 1 ) : 19-32

DOI: 10.1111/een.12971

Journal article

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Genetic Variability, Population Differentiation, and Correlations for Thermal Tolerance Indices in the Minute Wasp, Trichogramma cacoeciae

Michela Ion Scot, Lucas Margris, Nadine Sellier, Sylvie Warot, Flavio Gatti, Fabio Siccardi...

Insects . 12 ( 11 ) : 1013

DOI: 10.3390/insects12111013

Journal article

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Note technique sur la reprise progressive des activités de médecine préventive à la levée du confinement le 11 mai – Gestion des protocoles vaccinaux

Ludovic L. Freyburger, Marie-Pierre Callait-Cardinal, Lionel Zenner, Marie Abitbol, J.-F. Audrin, Florence Ayral...

Revue Vétérinaire Clinique . 55 ( 3 ) : 73-93

DOI: 10.1016/j.anicom.2020.05.001

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Genomic Analysis of European Drosophila melanogaster Populations Reveals Longitudinal Structure, Continent-Wide Selection, and Previously Unknown DNA Viruses

Martin Kapun, Maite G Barrón, Fabian Staubach, Darren J Obbard, R Axel W Wiberg, Jorge Vieira...

Molecular Biology and Evolution . 37 ( 9 ) : 2661-2678

DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msaa120

Journal article

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Sons accelerate maternal aging in a wild mammal

Mathieu Douhard, Marco Festa-Bianchet, Fanie Pelletier

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America . 117 ( 9 ) : 4850-4857

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1914654117

Journal article

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Extend standardised methods and protocols for insect diet composition to insect energy and nutrient budgets

J. Casas, T. Corbet, Emmanuel Desouhant, David Giron

Journal of Insects as Food and Feed . 6 ( 5 ) : 441-443

DOI: 10.3920/JIFF2020.x005

Journal article

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Kin recognition: Neurogenomic response to mate choice and sib mating avoidance in a parasitic wasp

Aurore Gallot, Sandrine Sauzet, Emmanuel Desouhant

PLoS ONE . 15 ( 10 ) : e0241128

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241128

Journal article

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Artificial light at night alters the sexual behaviour and fertilisation success of the common toad

Morgane Touzot, Thierry Lengagne, Jean Secondi, Emmanuel Desouhant, Marc Thery, Adeline Dumet...

Environmental Pollution . 259 : 113883

DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.113883

Journal article

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Bacterial Transformation Buffers Environmental Fluctuations through the Reversible Integration of Mobile Genetic Elements

Gabriel Carvalho, David Fouchet, Gonché Danesh, Anne-Sophie Godeux, Maria-Halima Laaberki, Dominique Pontier...

mBio . 11 ( 2 ) : e02443-19

DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02443-19

Journal article

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Quantitative genetics of the use of conspecific and heterospecific social cues for breeding site choice

Jere Tolvanen, Sami Kivelä, Blandine Doligez, Jennifer Morinay, Lars Gustafsson, Piter Bijma...

Evolution - International Journal of Organic Evolution . 74 ( 10 ) : 2332-2347

DOI: 10.1111/evo.14071

Journal article

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Interaction of climate change with effects of conspecific and heterospecific density on reproduction

Anders Pape Møller, Javier Balbontín, André A Dhondt, Frank Adriaensen, Alexandr Artemyev, Jerzy Bańbura...

Oikos . 129 : 1807 - 1819

DOI: 10.1111/oik.07305

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The roles of temperature, nest predators and information parasites for geographical variation in egg covering behaviour of tits (Paridae)

Olli Loukola, Peter Adamik, Frank Adriaensen, Emilio Barba, Blandine Doligez, Einar Flensted‐jensen...

Journal of Biogeography . 47 ( 7 ) : 1482-1493

DOI: 10.1111/jbi.13830

Journal article

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Behavioural traits modulate the use of heterospecific social information for nest site selection: experimental evidence from a wild bird population

Jennifer Morinay, Jukka Forsman, Marion Germain, Blandine Doligez

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences . 287 ( 1925 ) : 20200265

DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.0265

Journal article

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Toxoplasmose, chat et femme enceinte

Lionel Zenner, G. Bourgoin, Marie-Pierre Callait-Cardinal

Pratique Veterinaire . ( 55 ) : 196-201

Journal article

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Experimental evolution of virulence and associated traits in a Drosophila melanogaster - Wolbachia symbiosis

David Monnin, Natacha Kremer, Caroline Michaud, Manon Villa, Hélène Henri, Emmanuel Desouhant...

Peer Community In Evolutionary Biology . : e9

DOI: 10.24072/pcjournal.9

Journal article

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Pathogens Shape Sex Differences in Mammalian Aging

Morgane Tidière, Adèle Badruna, David Fouchet, Jean-Michel Gaillard, Jean-François Lemaître Lemaître, Dominique Pontier

Trends in Parasitology . 36 ( 8 ) : 668-676

DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2020.05.004

Journal article

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Born to be young? Prenatal thyroid hormones increase early-life telomere length in wild collared flycatchers

Antoine Stier, Bin-Yan Hsu, Coline Marciau, Blandine Doligez, Lars Gustafsson, Pierre Bize...

Biology Letters . 16 ( 11 ) : 20200364

DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0364

Journal article

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Heterospecific song quality as social information for settlement decisions: an experimental approach in a wild bird

Jennifer Morinay, Jukka Forsman, Blandine Doligez

Animal Behaviour . 161 : 103-113

DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.01.002

Journal article

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Host dispersal shapes the population structure of a tick‐borne bacterial pathogen

Ana Cláudia Norte, Gabriele Margos, Noémie Becker, Jaime Albino Ramos, Maria Sofia Núncio, Volker Fingerle...

Molecular Ecology . 29 ( 3 ) : 485-501

DOI: 10.1111/mec.15336

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Drosophila suzukii oxidative stress response involves Jheh gene cluster but not transposable elements

Pierre Marin, Angelo Jacquet, Hélène Henri, Patricia Gibert, Cristina Vieira

Preprint

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Biological Invasion: The Influence of the Hidden Side of the (Epi)Genome

Pierre Marin, Julien Genitoni, Dominique D. Barloy, Stéphane Maury, Patricia Gibert, Cameron K Ghalambor...

Functional Ecology . 34 ( 2 ) : 385-400

DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.13317

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A negative association between horn length and survival in a weakly dimorphic ungulate

Mathieu Douhard, Jean‐paul Crampe, Anne Loison, Christophe Bonenfant

Ecology and Evolution . 10 ( 6 ) : 2793-2802

DOI: 10.1002/ece3.6050

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The Role of Cognition in Social Information Use for Breeding Site Selection: Experimental Evidence in a Wild Passerine Population

Jennifer Morinay, Laure Cauchard, Pierre Bize, Blandine Doligez

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution . 8

DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.559690

Journal article

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Influence of bacterial symbionts on host niche and ecological diversification: a metabolic approach in a whitefly model.

Sylvain Benhamou, Isabelle Rahioui, Abdelaziz Heddi, Emmanuel Desouhant, Fabrice Vavre, Federica Calevro...

Journées Microbiome .

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