ATER (Université Montpellier II)

CEFE/CNRS
Campus du CNRS
1919, route de Mende
34293 Montpellier cedex 5
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Mots clés :

Discipline : Ecologie
Thématique : Interaction Hôte-Parasite
Organismes biologiques : Oiseaux, Parasites sanguins

Research Interests

My interests can broadly be defined as evolutionary ecology in different aspects. I am particularly interested in anthropogenic impacts on host-parasite interactions, such as changes in habitat and climate change.

My postdoctoral research focused on two main projects. One was on the evolutionary strategies of malaria parasites among different bird host communities across Africa. With environmental changes, we anticipate a change in the distribution of both specialist and generalist parasites with potential impacts on bird communities.
My second project focused on global climate change and spread of malaria in Alaska. As a comparison with tropical regions, we wish to determine how climate change can also affect parasite transmission in Arctic regions since the main prediction is that malaria parasites will spread to both higher altitudes and to northern latitudes with global warming. For this project, I also studied vector ecology that plays a crucial role in the spread of avian blood parasites.

Understand how ecological changes affect the prevalence, distribution and strategy of specialization of parasites is an important challenge both in terms of the ecological consequences of the dynamics of the interaction between the host and the parasite as well in terms of conservation.

Past Research Projects (PhD and Master)

Association between MHC diversity and risk of infection with avian malaria parasite

The nature of selection acting on MHC by comparison of patterns of genetic differentiation based on MHC and microsatellite loci

Effects of stress on behavior and immunity

Effects of corticosterone on carotenoid-based signal