Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive

Jeanne Chaupitre - PhD Student 2025/2028 Jeanne

Supervised by Samuel Caro (CEFE-CNRS) and Xavier Bonnefont (IGF-CNRS)

Contact

CEFE - CNRS UMR5175, 1919, route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier

Aile B, Floor 2, Office 201.B

Email : Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser. / Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.

PhD Project : Influence of the urban environment on the circadian rhythms of wild great tits and mice

Urbanisation transforms natural habitats into artificial environments, deeply disrupting ecosystems. Urban light, noise, and pollution alter animal activity patterns and affect internal biological clocks. The project project aims to understand how urban night conditions influence circadian mechanisms, through plasticity or genetic adaptation, in two model species: the great tit (Parus major, diurnal) and the house mouse (Mus musculus, nocturnal). By linking ecological, behavioral, and physiological effects, the project seeks to uncover how urban life drives the evolution of biological rhythms.

This PhD is part of an interdisciplinary project (IDIL – POLLUNOCT), in which two theses address the same questions from different perspectives and disciplines. While my approach focuses on evolutionary ecology, Maxence Boissonade’s work explores the neurophysiological aspects of circadian rhythms.

Bio

2022–2025 - Master in Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Darwin - University of Montpellier
- 2^nd year Master’s thesis: Influence of urbanisation on phenotypical traits in Parus major: Experimental study in a common garden - CEFE, CNRS - supervised by Anne Charmantier and Samuel Caro
- Experimental tests of sexual selection in female Tribolium castaneum - CEFE, CNRS - supervised by Tim Janicke
- Effects of urbanisation on Arctic bird populations in northern Finland, and analysis of song variation due to urbanisation in Parus major - Arctic Centre (Rovaniemi, Finland) - supervised by Jukka Jokimäki
- Postnatal growth and differential growth of a passerine bird in restrictive developmental environments, and analysis of the effects of temperature on incubation behaviour - Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina) - supervised by Vanina Fiorini
- 1^st-year Master’s thesis: Effects of temperature on the strength of sexual selection in Tribolium castaneum - CEFE, CNRS - supervised by Tim Janicke
2020–2022 - Bachelor in Biology (International Section) - University of Tours
- 2021–2022: Third year, Erasmus exchange - Nord University (Bodø, Norway)

Lire la suite : Jeanne CHAUPITRE

Colombe Lefort

– PhD Student 2025-2028

Contact

CNRS - CEFE UMR5175, 1919 Route de Mende, 34283 Montpellier

Aile B Etage 2, Bureau 206

Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.

Current Project

My PhD research takes a biogeographical approach and aims to characterize the spatial distribution of seabird communities along the latitudinal gradient of the Southern Ocean.

It also seeks to identify the underlying ecological mechanisms structuring these assemblages within an environment that, on the surface, appears homogeneous.

A better understanding of these biogeographical dynamics will enable us to refine their mapping and thus identify key areas for the conservation of seabirds and associated food webs

Supervied by Jean-Yves Barnagaud, Johan Etourneau and Megan Clampitt

Short Bio

With an engineering background in agronomy (ENSAIA), I reoriented my career towards ecology, focusing on my areas of interest, i.e. biodiversity conservation issues. I have taken part in several projects in this field, mobilizing a variety of approaches at different scales:

- Conservation of aquatic habitats in American deserts (Arizona, USA),

- Cohabitation between wolves and humans (DDT and OFB, France), and

- Restoration of endemic ecosystems (Southern Patagonia, Argentina and Amsterdam Island, TAAF - France).

This last project strengthened my interest in ornithology themes, and more precisely in the seabirds of the Southern Ocean, true sentinels of the state of our oceans.