General research interest

I am interested in all things relating to the behaviour and the ecology of social insects, particularly ants. Topics of interest include sociality, mate choice, colony foundation, dispersal, and the interplay between individual- and colony-level behaviours among others, as well as the effects of environmental changes (notably habitat fragmentation and global warming) on ants.

Main current research projects

Social organization and dispersal: the dual role of a supergene in ants (funded by ANR)

I currently work on a collaborative project on the ant Myrmecina graminicola, where one supergene determines queen morphology (winged vs apterous) while another one determines the colony social type (monogynous vs polygynous colonies). The project seeks to unravel the evolutionary history of these newly discovered supergenes, and what maintains these polymorphisms. Colleagues of the consortium study the structure and evolution of the supergenes. I’m involved in studies on mate choice, on the alternative strategies of colony foundation (prevalence and performance under varied environmental conditions), and in an eco-evolutionary model that aims to determine the conditions allowing for the maintenance of the polymorphisms.

Members of the ANR funded project “Social organization and dispersal: the dual role of a supergene in ants”:

• Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité: Claudie Doums, coordinator (École Pratique des Hautes Études, DE), Stefano Mona (EPHE, DE), Romuald Laso-jadart (ANR, post-doc), Joshua Ducancel (EPHE, PhD student) Pascaline Chifflet-Belle (EPHE, technician), Elise Gay (EPHE, technician)

• Institute of ecology and environmental science of Paris: Thibaud Monnin (CNRS, DR), Nicolas Loeuille (Sorbonne Université, Pr), Mathieu Molet (SU, Pr), Brandon Duquenoy (ANR, PhD student), Pierre Fédérici (CNRS, technician), Angélique Bultelle (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, technician)

•  Laboratoire d'éthologie expérimentale et comparée: Patrizia d’Ettorre (Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Pr), Chloé Leroy (USPN, technician)

Effects of global warming on ectotherm ecosystem engineers: from genes to behavior (funded by Sorbonne université)

This project aims at investigating how heat stress affects ants, through measuring the detrimental effects of heat on mortality and colony growth, pinpointing genes that may respond to heat stress, unravelling how heat stress impact cognitive skills, and characterizing how ants may respond to heat through eg adjusting nest architecture. This work is carried out with Rafael Carvalho da Silva (post-doc).

Other collaborations

• Prof Carlos Roberto Fonseca, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

• Prof Adam Cronin, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japon