I am a postdoctoral researcher funded by the Marie-Skłodowska Curie fellowship (EU project 655694 - GETAGRIP). I am currently working with Anthony Herrel, Emmanuelle Pouydebat and Marc Herbin at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris (France).

My research project entails research questions concerning evolutionary biology, principally focused on a functional morphological study of the skeleton. To do so I employ different types of 3D geometric morphometric and comparative approaches. I explore the influence of body mass on the shape of bones and I investigate the interrelationships among the shape of each element in the context of locomotion with a special focus on grasping behaviours. In all my analyses I take into account the phylogenetic history of the species under study to better understand the effect of shared ancestry in explaining the observed ecomorphological patterns. In the context of the current  postdoc, I want to incorporate an explicit ethological approach allowing me to quantify 1) behaviour, 2) anatomy and 3) function in an explicit evolutionary context using a primate model system.

My current project aims  to provide an integrative approach that examines the occurrence of grasping behavior, the anatomy and function of the forelimb, and the evolution of grasping across three major tetrapod clades that show manual grasping abilities: mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. Within each clade I will compare and contrast the use of the forelimb, its anatomy, and its function in both arboreal and terrestrial animals to test the hypothesis of an arboreal origin of fine manipulative capacities. I will study the use of the hand and the forelimb in the context of locomotion and object/food manipulation in tetrapod to understand the relations between anatomy, function and ecology. To do so, I will use state-of-the-art approaches to quantify the anatomy (µCT scanning, 3D geometric morphometrics), the function (pressure and force measurements, 3D kinematics and biomechanical models), and the evolution of these traits in an explicit phylogenetic context.

 

Publications

1. Genise JF, Garrouste R, Nel P, Grandcolas P, Maurizot P, Cluzel D, Cornette R, Fabre A-C and A Nel (2012) Asthenopodichnium in fossil wood: different trace makers as indicators of different terrestrial palaeoenvironments. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 365-366: 184-191.

2. Herrel A, Fabre A-C, Hugo J-P, Keovichit K, Adriaens D, Van Hoorebeke L and R Cornette (2012) Ontogeny of the cranial system in Laonastes aenigmamus. Journal of Anatomy 221 (2):128-137.

3. Polly PD, Lawing AM, Fabre A-C and A Goswami (2013) Phylogenetic principal components analysis and geometric morphometrics. Hystrix 24(1):1-9.

4. Fabre A-C, Cornette R, Slater G, Argot C, Peigné S, Goswami A and E Pouydebat (2013) Getting a grip on the evolution of grasping in musteloid carnivorans: a three-dimensional analysis of forelimb shape. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 26(7):1521-1535.

5. Fabre A-C, Cornette R, Peigné S and A Goswami (2013) Influence of body mass on the shape of forelimb in musteloid carnivorans. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 110(1):91-103.

6. Fabre A-C, Cornette R, Perrard A, Boyer D, Prasad GVP, Hooker JJ and A Goswami (2014) A three-dimensional morphometric analysis of the locomotory ecology of Deccanolestes, a eutherian mammal from the late Cretaceous of India. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 34(1):146-156.

7. Fabre A-C, Goswami A, Peigné S and R Cornette (2014) Morphological integration in the forelimb of musteloid carnivorans. Journal of Anatomy 225(1):19-30.

8. Fabre A-C, Cornette R, Huyghe K, Andrade DV and A Herrel (2014) Linear versus geometric morphometric approaches for the analysis of head shape dimorphism in lizards. Journal of Morphology 275: 1016-1026.

9.
Robovska-Havelkova P, Aerts P, Rocek Z, Prikryl T, Fabre A-C and A Herrel (2014) Do all frogs swim alike? The effect of ecological specialization on swimming kinematics in frogs. Journal of Experimental Biology 217: 3637-3644.

10.
Fabre A-C, Andrade DV, Huyghe K, Cornette R and A Herrel (2014) Interrelationships between bones, muscles, and performance: biting in the lizard Tupinambis merianae. Evolutionary Biology 41: 518-527.

11.
Fabre A-C, Salesa MJ, Cornette R, Antón M, Morales J and S Peigné (2015) Quantitative inferences on the locomotor behaviour of extinct species applied to Simocyon batalleri (Ailuridae, Late Miocene, Spain).The Science of Nature 102:30.

12.
Fabre A-C, Cornette R, Goswami A and S Peigné (2015) Do constraints associated with the locomotor habitat drive the evolution of forelimb shape? A case study in musteloid carnivorans. Journal of Anatomy 226:596-610.

13.
Botton-Divet L, Houssaye A, Herrel A, Fabre A-C and R Cornette (2015) Tools for quantitative form description; an evalutation of different software packages for semi-landmark analysis. PeerJ 3:e1417.

14. Dumont M, Wall CE, Botton-Divet L, Goswami A, Peigné S and A-C Fabre (in press) Do functional demands associated with locomotor habitat, diet, and activity pattern drive skull shape evolution in musteloid carnivorans? Biological Journal of the Linnean Society DOI: 10.1111/bij.12719

15. Fabre A-C, Bickford D, Segall M and A Herrel (in press) The impact of diet, habitat use, and behavior on head shape evolution in homalopsid snakes. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 118(3): 634-647.

16. Granatosky MC, Tripp CH, Fabre A-C and D Schmitt (2016) Patterns of quadrupedal locomotion in a vertical clinging and leaping primate (Propithecus coquereli) with implications for understanding the functional demands of primate quadrupedal locomotion. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 160: 644-652.

17. Segall M, Cornette R, Fabre A-C, Godoy-Diana R and A Herrel (2016) Does aquatic foraging impact head shape evolution in snakes? Proceedings of the Royal Society B 283: 20161645.

18. Peckre L, Fabre A-C*, Wall CE, Brewer D, Ehmke E, Haring D, Shaw E, Welser K and E Pouydebat (2016) Holding-on: co-evolution between infant carrying and grasping behaviour in strepsirrhines. Scientific Reports 6: 37729.
* co-first author with my student

19. Botton-Divet L, Cornette R, Fabre A-C, Herrel A and A Houssaye (2016) Morphological analysis of long bones in semi-aquatic mustelids and their terrestrial relatives. Integrative and Comparative Biology 56 (6): 1298-1309.

20. Dollion A, Measy GJ, Cornette R, Carne L, Tolley K, da Silva J, Boistel R, Fabre A-C and A Herrel (2017) Does diet drive the evolution of head shape and bite force in chameleons of the genus Bradypodion? Functional Ecology 31: 671-684.

21. Botton-Divet L, Cornette R, Houssaye A, Fabre A-C and A Herrel (2017) Swimming and running, a study of the convergences in long bone morphology among semi-aquatic mustelids (Carnivora: Mustelidae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society doi : 10.1093/biolinnean/blw027

22. Fabre A-C, Marigó J, Granatosky MC and D Schmitt (in press) Functional associations between support use and forelimb shape in strepsirrhines and their relevance to inferring locomotor behavior in early primates. Journal of Human Evolution 108: 11-30.

23. Manzano A, Herrel A, Fabre A-C and V Abdala (in press) Variation in brain anatomy in frogs and its possible bearing on their locomotor ecology. Journal of Anatomy DOI:10.1111/joa.12613

24. Abourachid A,  Fabre A-C, Cornette R and E Hofling (in press) Foot shape in arboreal birds: two morphological patterns for the same pincer-like tool. Journal of Anatomy DOI: 10.1111/joa.12614