PhD: Reproductive investment and mate choice when facing a pathogen, France

April 20, 2009

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Reproductive investment and mate choice when facing a pathogen

Duration: 01.09.2010 – 31.08.2013 (slight shifts of the dates are possible)

Type: PhD

Supervisor: Dirk S. Schmeller, Adeline Loyau

General Framework:
Individual decisions about how much to invest in reproduction with whom to mate and can have tremendous
consequences on population dynamics and therefore on population persistence. Costs of mounting an immune response against pathogens are known to be very high. Life history trade-offs teach us that an individual´s energy is limited. Therefore, when an individual is facing, or has just been facing, a pathogen, this individual will invest less energy in reproduction. Low reproductive investment can be expressed both in males and females by lower display frequency, coloured signals of bad quality, poor quality sperm, poor quality eggs etc. Sexual selection theories about honest signalling predict that female mating preferences evolved to provide females with both direct and indirect benefits. Indeed, by preferring males of high phenotypic quality, females would mate with males of high health status. Therefore, females would avoid contracting a disease during mating, and they would gather genes for attractiveness and genes for resistance against pathogens for their offspring. When given the choice, individuals should avoid infected individuals as potential partners. In a population infected by a disease, mate choice should thus help resisting the infection at the population level. Female mate choice and female condition are known to affect maternal allocation in reproduction. Female in good health and females mated with attractive healthy males are indeed expected to produce better quality eggs. Parental effects can be strong and can even last over several generations, especially in amphibians for which carry-over effects were described. A low parental investment can therefore have major fitness consequences on offspring and even on several of the following generations.

Amphibians are currently facing a decline worldwide due to a pathogen, the chytrid fungus (Bd). The candidate will be part of the Biodiversa-project RACE (Risk Assessment of Chytridiomycosis to European amphibians), an international project aiming to develop a threat abatement plan for European amphibians. The PhD student will be supported by at least one master student every year and several internships (duration between 2 to 6 month).

The aims of the PhD project are:

* to investigate the costs imposed by the Bd pathogen on reproduction of Lisotriton helveticus in terms of expression of secondary sexual traits and display, and maternal investment,

* to examine whether mating decisions avoid spreading the disease

Profile:
Knowledge of R, Matlab or SAS

Knowledge or willingness to learn at least two of the following languages: French, Spanish, English Knowledge in behavioural ecology and population dynamics, interest in conservation biology Knowledge of genetic methods
The successful candidate is required to hold a Master diploma or equivalent experience in biology. The salary will be in the range of around 1400EUR net/month.

Place of work:
The Station d´Ecologie Experimentale in Moulis (SEEM) is a recently founded research and service unit of the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). SEEM, where the candidate will be working, is an interdisciplinary research group that combines the skills of population ecologists, behavioural ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and geneticists to study animal ecology. SEEM has a strong international flavour due its international staff and cooperation with institutes in the US and several European countries. SEEM is located in the foothills of the Pyrenean region Ariege (France). The station is currently undergoing extensive renovation and will soon host well equipped laboratories, comprising physiologic, genetic, and ecologic lab facilities as well as experimental sites. See our webpage at http://www.ecoex-moulis.cnrs.fr for more details.

Application:
Applicants should submit a letter of application describing their experience and interests in the position, curriculum vitae, list of publications, and copies of certificates. Applicants may be called for an interview. We accept applications in pdf format sent to the addresses below. The closing date for applications will be 15th of June 2009. Interviews are foreseen during June 2009.

Contact details:
Dirk S. Schmeller
Adeline Loyau
Station d’Ecologie Expérimentale du CNRS à Moulis
09200 Saint Girons, France
phone: +33 5 61 04 03 73 / 64
fax: +33 5 61 96 08 51
dirk.schmeller@ecoex-moulis.cnrs.fr
al@adeline-loyau.net
www.ecoex-moulis.cnrs.fr

Scholarship Tags: choice, facing, Investment, mate, Pathogen, PhD, Reproductive, when