Welcome to the functional ecology Lab!
Organisms are the integrated expression of multiple traits that are jointly influenced by developmental, genetic, and environmental factors. Our research tackles the causes and consequences of functional integration among suites of ecologically relevant traits using a variety of approaches (quantitative genetics, experimental evolution, and comparative methods). By examining trait co-variation across multiple levels of organization (e.g., intra-individual, inter-individual, inter-population, and inter-specific levels), we discover how complex phenotypes have jointly evolved into modules of co-adapted traits. Co-adaptation – a key concept in evolutionary biology – is a multivariate process in which traits interact to determine fitness. Thus, our long-term research goal is to test the working hypothesis that metabolic, performance, and behavioural traits are co-adapted with “slow-fast” life-history strategies favoured by particular sets of ecological conditions.
Recent News
January 2019
One position open in the lab for a graduate student. See the Join the lab page!
December 2018
Our paper on using long-term heart rate measurements to test models of energy management was accepted in Functional Ecology. Check our the publications page!
One position open in the lab for a graduate student. See the Join the lab page!
December 2018
Our paper on using long-term heart rate measurements to test models of energy management was accepted in Functional Ecology. Check our the publications page!
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October 2018
Congrats to first MSc student Ilias Berberi who successfully and graciously defended his thesis. You are an inspiration to everyone in the lab! Former honours student Ian Dewan published his first paper! Check this out: Dewan I, Garland T Jr., Hiramatsu L & Careau V. I smell a mouse: indirect genetic effects on voluntary wheel-running distance, duration and speed. Behavior Genetics In press PDF |
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May 2018
The field crew has settled at QUBS for the third field season. So far we're looking for a great year. Nest boxes have a very high occupancy...finally! We already caught about 200 individuals in our nest boxes already. And lots of reproductive females with their pups (we tagged about 15 litters so far). Now let's phenotype them all! We continue measuring open-field behaviour, performance, and now we started measuring BMR and VO2max. Stay tuned! |
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April 2018
Congrats to Sabine Bouchard and Sharla Foster for completing their honours thesis! Also, Paul Agnani is back from South Africa with some nice data on bush karoo rats. And while we were all together, we took a lab picture! |
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March 2018
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We are hosting Shinichi Nakagawa through uOttawa the Visiting Researcher Program! Shinichi gave a truly inspiring seminar on the importance of methods, hard work, and planned missing data. I made sure Shinichi experiences the local traditinoal food, such as poutile and "cabanne à sucre"!
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Field season has started! Ilias and Alyssa caught 18 mice on the first two lines of nest boxes. Two days later I went with my daughter and we caught 18 more mice, including two litters. And we haven't even checked all nest boxes yet, so this is promising!
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February 2018
First results on the link between metabolic rate and behaviour in the fall field crickets! Both standard metabolic rate and latency to exit a refuge are repeatable, and positively correlated at the among-individual level. |
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January 2018
Congrats to Sasha Newar on geting her honours thesis accepted in Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology! |
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June 2017
Our 8-chambers respirometry system is up and running! |
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May 2017
Field season is started! We have fun canoeing to Cow Island, but our capture success is very low (seems like the population really crashed over the winter). |
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April 2017
First batch of honours students graduating! Congrats to Sasha Newar, Jasmine Veitch, and Ian Dewan for their great honours thesis work. All of them will be pursuing graduate studies in other universities... Good luck! |
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November 2016
We're back from SQÉBC meeting in Rimouski. Quite a bit of a drive for quite a bit of fun... Congrats to Sasha Newar who won the Jerry Fitzgerald award. Way to go! |
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October 2016
Matt and Ilias won the pumpkin contest! Also, our high-throughput respirometry system is now up and running (see equipment page). We can monitor CO2 production and activity in up to 64 animals! We are now using the system with Drosophila flies, which is probably the smallest animals this system can measure accurately at a flow rate of 20 ml/min. However, the system can be cranked up to a flow rate of 200 ml/min to accommodate bigger animals. Contact us if you would like to initiate a collaboration based on this system! |
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June 2016
Lots of stuff happening in the field. We are catching lots of mice! We have already caught 120 mice for a total of more than 250 captures. This is good news, but even better news is that we are now even more efficient in our trapping effort: 100 of our permanent sampling locations have been installed with a cage in which we place our Longworth trap (see picture to the right). So far they seem to be raccoon-proof, so let's hope they stay so! |
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May 2016
Some juveniles from the 2 litters born in April are using nest boxes! Two siblings were found sharing a box the others were on their own. Hopefully they will use the boxes for their first reproduction in June.
Some juveniles from the 2 litters born in April are using nest boxes! Two siblings were found sharing a box the others were on their own. Hopefully they will use the boxes for their first reproduction in June.
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April 2016
Mice started using our nest boxes for reproduction! Two litters so far, with 5 and 6 pups. From now on, numbers should increase exponentially until October, and then we will probably need to adjust our protocols for handling many, many, many mice... |
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March 2016
We started installing nest boxes on Cow Island at the Queens University Biological Station. |
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Nov 2015
VC has won the Bartholomew award! He will give a special address at the next SICB meeting in Portland, Oregon.
Our paper on the effect of selection on the quantitative genetic architecture of behaviour just came out in Proceedings of the Royal Society, B. Big thanks to Matthew Wolak (University of Aberdeen) for doing some of the heavyweight lifting involved in this (long) process...
Oct 2015
VC has been awarded a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Functional Ecology
VC has won the Bartholomew award! He will give a special address at the next SICB meeting in Portland, Oregon.
Our paper on the effect of selection on the quantitative genetic architecture of behaviour just came out in Proceedings of the Royal Society, B. Big thanks to Matthew Wolak (University of Aberdeen) for doing some of the heavyweight lifting involved in this (long) process...
Oct 2015
VC has been awarded a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Functional Ecology
