Post-Doctoral position   Research laboratory: U.M.R. 5175 Montpellier FRANCE Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive Research team : Spatial Population Ecology E-mail : marie.holveck@cefe.cnrs.fr Phone : +33/0 4 67 61 33 11 Fax :     +33/0 4 67 41 21 38

 

Keywords
General field : Themes : Biological models: Habitat : Techniques :   Additional keywords :	Behavioral biology and ecology Animal communication, sexual selection, mate choice, signal evolution Birds Terrestrial Experimental approach (field, lab), data analysis, spectrometry, bioacoustics Visual and acoustic signals, coloration, birdsong, preferences, secondary sexual traits, development, learning

 

Research themes

Scientific career history

Publications

Scientific awards

Other contributions

 

Research themes My research experience and interests are concerned mostly with the relationship between the mechanisms, the functions, the ontogeny and evolution of animal behavior. I am particularly interested in animal communication and its role in sexual selection, in signal evolution and in mating strategies. An important part of my work investigates the causes and consequences of phenotypic plasticity between individuals of a single species and of behavioral flexibility of each individual. Advertising for, recognizing and choosing a mate are important areas of animal signaling and communication. Despite the recognition of sexual selection as an important driving force in signal evolution, there are several important fields that are poorly understood. Good examples are the variation in female preference, which has received much less attention than condition or state dependent male signaling, and the occurrence of mutual mate choice, which raises the question of female ornaments and signalling. I have addressed the question of variation in female state dependent and learned preferences in relation with early developmental circumstances in the zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata, in my PhD. I am now investigating whether females, like males, signal their genetic and/or phenotypic quality to their mates and what signals males might use to assess female quality in a species with mutual mate choice and biparental care, the blue tit Cyaniste caeruleus. This work thus addresses the intriguing possibility that the selection acting on female traits might be a direct cause of the presence of their ornaments.

 

Scientific career history -     2007-current: Postdoc at CEFE-CNRS, Montpellier, France. Project: Sexual selection, maternal effects and evolution of egg color in the blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus. Funding: 1 year by Univ. of Montpellier, 4 months by ASAB (Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour) research grant, 11 months by young researcher ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) obtained by Dr. Claire Doutrelant.  Scientific supervision: Dr. Arnaud Grégoire and Dr. Claire Doutrelant (CEFE-CNRS, Montpellier). -     2003-2007: PhD at Leiden University, The Netherlands. Project: The effects of rearing conditions on sexual traits and preferences in zebra finches. Funding: 4 years by NWO/Alw Scientific supervision: Dr. Katharina Riebel and Pr. Dr. Carel ten Cate (Behavioural Biology Group, Leiden Univ.). -     2000-2002: Master at Paris 13 and Angers Universities, France. Project: Sexual selection and mating system in the agile frog Rana dalmatina (female mate choice, sex ratio and paternity diagnostics). Scientific supervision: Pr. Thierry Lodé (Animal Ecology Lab, Angers Univ.).

 

Publications (Last update 03/02/2010) Peer-reviewed  P7. Holveck M. J., Doutrelant C., Guerreiro R., Perret P., Gomez D.& Grégoire A. In press. Can eggs in a cavity be a female secondary sexual signal? Male nest visits and modelling of egg visual discrimination in blue tits. Biology Letters. P6. Holveck M. J. & Riebel K. 2010. Low-quality females prefer low-quality males when choosing a mate. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 277, 153-160.   P5. Holveck, M. J., Vieira de Castro A. C., Lachlan R. F., ten Cate C. & Riebel K. 2008. Accuracy of song syntax learning and singing consistency signal early condition in zebra finches. Behavioral Ecology, 19, 1267-1281. P4. Holveck, M. J. & Riebel, K. 2007. Preferred songs predict preferred males: female zebra finches show consistent and repeatable preferences across different testing paradigms. Animal Behaviour, 74, 297-309. P3.  Verhulst, S., Holveck, M. J. & Riebel, K. 2006. Long-term effects of manipulated natal brood size on metabolic rate in zebra finches. Biology Letters, 2, 478-480. P2.  Lode, T., Holveck, M. J. & Lesbarreres, D. 2005. Asynchronous arrival pattern, operational sex ratio and occurrence of multiple paternities in a territorial breeding anuran, Rana dalmatina. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 86, 191-200. P1.  Lode, T., Holveck, M. J., Lesbarreres, D. & Pagano, A. 2004. Sex-biased predation by polecats influences the mating system of frogs. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 271, S399-S401.   Conference abstract  -     Holveck M. J. & Riebel K. 2006. Effects of rearing condition on song and mate preferences in female zebra finches. Journal of Ornithology, 147, 89-89. (.pdf available on request)   Other written contributions  -     Holveck M. J. 2008. The effects of rearing conditions on sexual traits and preferences in zebra finches. Doctoral thesis: Department of Behavioural Biology, Institute of Biology, Faculty of Science, Leiden University. 132p. ISBN: 978-90-9022767-2. (.pdf available on request) -     Holveck M. J. 2008. The effects of rearing conditions on sexual traits and preferences in zebra finches. NVG Nieuwsbrief, 1, 11-14. (.pdf available on request)   Media coverage -     BBC News: "Lowly females pick mediocre mates", based on P6. -     The New Scientist: "Inferior males get lucky with the birds", based on P6.   -     CNRS INEE - En direct des laboratoires: "Influence de l'environnement sur les préférences sexuelles", based on P6. (in French) -     Radio Canada - Emission "Les années lumière": "La raison du moins fort...", based on P6. (in French) -     De Volkskrant: "Zwakke vogel gaat voor zwakke partner" and "Zwak vrouwtje heeft meer lol van een zwak mannetje" , based on P6. (in Dutch) -     Wetenschap: "Zwakke vogel kiest zwakke partner", based on P6. (in Dutch) -     Ander Nieuws Endandit: "Vrouwen houden wél van losers", based on P6. (in Dutch) -     The New York Times: "When birds burn more energy" (scroll down), based on P3

 

Scientific awards Riebel K. & Holveck M.J. -     2009: Jointly nominated after P6 was selected for the Biology "discovers of the year", Institute of Biology of Leiden, The Netherlands. (scroll down) (in Dutch) Holveck M.J. & Riebel K. -     2007, November: Award for the best student talk at the Annual Symposium of the Biology Institute of Leiden, Theme: “Stress: Responses and adaptations”, Leiden, The Netherlands. -     2007, March: Award for the best student talk at Third Meeting in Ecology and Behaviour, Montpellier, France.

 

Other contributions Invited oral contributions Holveck M.J. & Riebel K. -     2008, December: Seminar at Jean Monnet University, Saint Etienne, France. -     2007, June: Biology seminars of Leiden University “In the Spotlight”, Leiden, The Netherlands.   Other oral contributions Holveck M. J., Doutrelant C., Guerreiro R., Perret P., Gomez D. & Grégoire A. -     2009, September : ASAB (Association for the study of Animal Behaviour) Summer Meeting “The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex”, Oxford , UK . Riebel K. & Holveck M.J. -     2008, December: ASAB (Association for the study of Animal Behaviour) Winter Meeting “Maternal effects: evolution, physiology and implications for health and fitness”, London, UK. Holveck M.J. & Riebel K.   -     2007, November: Annual Symposium of the Biology Institute of Leiden, Theme: “Stress: Responses and adaptations”, Leiden, The Netherlands. -     2007, March: Third Meeting in Ecology and Behaviour, Montpellier, France. -     2006, November: Annual Scientific meeting of the Netherlands Society of Behavioural Biology, Dalfsen, The Netherlands. -     2006, August: 24th International Ornithological Congress IOC, Hamburg, Germany; Abstract published in Journal of Ornithology, 147 (5), 89-89. -     2005, November: Annual Scientific meeting of the Netherlands Society of Behavioural Biology, Dalfsen, The Netherlands. -     2005, October: Workshop on “Animal models in cognitive neuroscience” (NWO advanced study program), Leiden, The Netherlands.   Posters Holveck M. J., Grégoire A., Staszewski V., Perret P., Boulinier T. & Doutrelant C. -     2008, December: ASAB (Association for the study of Animal Behaviour) Winter Meeting “Maternal effects: evolution, physiology and implications for health and fitness”, London, UK. Holveck M. J. & Riebel K. -     2006, July: 11th International Behavioral Ecology Congress, Tours, France. -     2005, June: International Conference on Animal Social Learning, Saint-Andrews, Scotland. -     2004, November: Annual Scientific meeting of the Netherlands Society of Behavioural Biology, Dalfsen, The Netherlands. -     2004, August: Second European Conference on Behavioural Biology ECBB. Groningen, The Netherlands. -     2004, July: 10th Jubilee Congress of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology, Jyväskylä, Finland. Holveck M. J., Dumont-Dayot E. & Lodé T. -     2003, July: International congress Biodiversity Conservation and Management, Vouziers, France.

   

---

C.E.F.E., Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive  - UMR 5175 - 1919 Route de Mende F 34293 Montpellier cedex 5 Tél. : +33 4 67 61 32 01 Fax : +33 4 67 41 21 38