Claire DOUTRELANT.Tenure CNRS Research Scientist (DR2)
PhD Evolutionary Biology & Ecology CNRS - CEFE UMR5175
1919 route de Mende 34393 Montpellier 5 FRANCE claire[dot]doutrelant[at]cefe[dot]cnrs[dot]fr +33 (0) 4 67 61 32 60 |
visit my personal website here
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What am I doing.
My research, centred in the theoretical framework of evolutionary ecology, aims at understanding the function and evolution of colour ornamentation in birds and the evolution of cooperation in birds. Below are three main projects I develop on colour evolution.
In this project we use a combination of empirical, comparative, and theoretical approaches to address three fundamental questions: (i) Are female conspicuous traits under sexual /social selection ? (ii) Do female conspicuous traits reflect female quality and which mechanisms maintain signal honesty? (iii) What are the population consequences of female signalling and mutual sexual selection. I work in both monomorphic species and dimorphic species in which females present conspicuous traits or colour eggs.
Causes and consequences of the spatio temporal variationin plumage ornamentation. |
Selection often varies in space and time and long-term research that spans broad spatial scales is needed to understand the factors driving phenotypic variation and to assess the links between traits and fitness. To assess the importance of spatiotemporal variation and its consequences on selection estimates, we collected data on two study systems: (i) the blue tit (yellow and UV-blue colorations measured by spectrophotometry since 2005, 600 birds measured each year); (ii) the size of the sociable weaver melanin patch since 2010 (the bib patch is photographied each year on 400 individuals)
Island environments share distinctive characteristics that offer unique opportunities to investigate convergent evolution. We work on colour evolution on islands, comparing colouration of species endemic to islands and their closest mainland relatives and measuring the main factors known to affect colour variation to determine the mechanisms behind convergent evolution.
