Lieu: Brunoy + visio
Abstract : Responding appropriately to changing conditions is crucial for fitness in dynamic environments. Organisms respond to a diversity of stressors by mounting coordinated changes in behavior and physiology. This stress response, which is coordinated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, is crucial to surviving a variety of challenges. Nevertheless, substantial within- and between- individual variations exist in the regulation of this response and in coping strategies resulting in different abilities to deal with challenges and thus affecting their fitness. This suggests that flexibility in HPA axis function may be a crucial mediator of coping strategies and of how vertebrates respond to adverse conditions. Furthermore, increasing evidence suggests that coping strategies are tightly linked with early life conditions. Early life stress has been shown to shape individual stress physiology and behavior resulting in within and among population variation. These consequences have long been considered to be maladaptive because offspring phenotypes that develop in response to early life stress are considered of lower quality. However, an ecologically driven hypothesis suggests that exposure to glucocorticoids during early development may adaptively prepare offspring for their future environment when conditions experienced in later environment match those experienced early in life. My research bridges physiology, behavior and evolution to investigate the function, development, and evolution of physiological and behavioral mechanisms that result in phenotypic shifts across contexts under both controlled and natural conditions.
