Behavioural Ecology

Research subject

A major focus of our group is to better understand the sensory ecology of other organisms, and how these systems are shaped by evolution. In particular, we are interested in interactions between individuals and between individuals and their environment. Much of our research has focused on those cues and signals that induce changes in behaviour, either immediately (e.g. communication among individuals) or in the long term (e.g. plasticity, microevolution).

Our studies on inter-individual interactions mainly deal with sexual selection (e.g. mate choice). Concerning the study of the interactions between individuals and their environment, two main themes are investigated. By one side, we deal with phenotypic plasticity and/or microevolution in response to climate changes. By the other, we investigate the nature of stimuli used by animals in spatial tasks, such as orientation and navigation.

Ongoing projects :

• Chemical communication in birds (behaviour, genetics, chemistry). In particular we deal with the link between mate choice, odours, and MHC. At international level, there is growing interest in this original subject, and we showed for the first time, that odor-mediated individual recognition does exist in birds (Bonadonna & Nevitt, Science 2004).
• Function of visual signals in king penguins with particular interest in mate choice. In this species, both sexes actively select their partner in mate choice. Therefore, sexual selection operates simultaneously on males and females, resulting in the monomorphic plumage ornaments of king penguins.
• Development of a competence centre in “Movement ecology” focused on animal navigation and behaviour in spatial tasks.

Scientific approaches

• Behavioural experiments (i.e. Y-maze)
• Use of electronic devices (e.g. Argos PTTs, GPS loggers) to track free ranging animals.
• Chemical ecology. Development of chemical analyses specific for vertebrate animals (so far ignored by chemical ecology that is mainly addressed to insects and plants).
• In the aim to test if odours can provide information such as kin, sex or identity, we developed a method using lab mice as discriminating “noses” in a habituation-discrimination test.
• MHC sequencing in Petrels