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Urbanization is a major ecological constraint on biodiversity that can shape species evolution. With an empirical approach with behavioral experiment in natura, we study how urbanization can impact interspecific competition between Blue tit and Great tit. Particularly, we study how communication signal (the song) and behavior vary across urbanization and interspecific competition gradients in France.
Collaborators:
Dr. Claire Doutrelant (CEFE Montpellier)
Dr. Thierry Lengagne (LEHNA Lyon)
Pr. Bruno Faivre (UB Dijon)
Aymeric Mauroy
​Species invasions are a global scourge. Nonetheless, they provide the appropriate evolutionary setting to rigorously test the role that interspecific competition plays in species' evolution.
Through an interdisciplinary approach involving the study of ecological, behavioral and morphological traits, my postdoctoral research in the Losos lab (Harvard University) followed by my current research take an integrative view of the coexistence mechanisms between the native Anolis oculatus and the invasive Anolis cristatellus lizard species in the Caribbean island Dominica.
The study of Ecological and Agonistic Character Displacement simultaneously allows us to determine how the evolution of habitat use, limb morphology and agonistic display behavior of the two species are inter-connected.
Claire Dufour
Collaborators:
Pr. Jonathan Losos (Harvard University)
Dr. Anthony Herrel (MNHN Paris)
Dr. Dave Clark (Alma College)
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By combining laboratory and field experiments, my PhD research (Montpellier University) addressed the ecological mechanisms involved in species divergence and coexistence between two sister species of striped mice (Rhabodmys bechuanae and R. dilectus dilectus). The two species diverged in contrasting environments and form secondary contacts in South Africa in similar macro-environment.
I used this natural laboratory (i.e. common garden setting) to evaluate the plastic versus adaptive nature of species responses to abiotic and biotic interactions. I focused on four traits (i.e. habitat, space use, diet and sociality) and compared their characteristics in parapatry and sympatry in different micro-environments.
Collaborators:
Dr. Guila Ganem (ISEM Montpellier)
Pr. Neville Pillay (Wits University)
Dr. Christine Meynard (VIMS Virginia)
Dr. Simon Benhamou (CEFE Montpellier)
Dr. Nico Avenant (Museum Bloemfontein)
Johan Watson
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My Masters research (Rennes University) addressed i) the role of female distribution on male reproductive strategy in the parasitoid wasp Asobara tabida and ii) the impact of sister species competition on these strategies and life history traits, using laboratory experiments.
Collaborators:
Pr. Johan van Baaren (ECOBIO, Rennes University)
Dr. Véronique Martel (Laurentian Forestry Centre Canadian Forest Service)
Dr. Philippe Louâpre (Bourgogne Franche-Comté University)
Pr. Jean Sebastien Pierre (ECOBIO, Rennes University)
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