SEEM Seminar- Food insecurity and obesity: Unpacking the paradox Food insecurity describes the state where an individual's access to food is restricted or uncertain. In humans, at least in Western countries, people who suffer food insecurity are fatter than those who do not. Social scientists find this paradoxical: the people with the worst access to [...]
Evolution of reproductive seasonality: a multi-scale investigation in mammals Reproductive seasonality is a major adaptation to seasonal cycles, which consists in temporally grouping reproductive events in order to synchronize the associated energetic costs with the most productive season of the year. This strategy is widespread, particularly in mammals [...].
SEEM Seminar - The evolution of vocal communication is the result of multiple selection pressures, among which social life plays an important role. Indeed, different types of information must be reliably encoded in vocalizations according to the social needs of the species. In this presentation, I will first examine the influences [...]
Sexual bulges in primates have long sparked debate about their function - do they reliably indicate female fertility, or do they deceptively blur it? Here, we provide evidence that female primates can manipulate sexual swellings to outwardly indicate fecundity while inwardly failing [...].
Title and summary to come
"Orangutan life cycle: slow but sure" Among our closest extant relatives, the life of orangutans remains the least documented and understood, mainly due to their solitary lifestyle. Based on a 15-year study of Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii), our research aims to [...]
The expensive brain and the evolution of brain size Vertebrate brains vary considerably in size, and this variation is often attributed to differing cognitive demands. Here, we ask whether the unusually high costs of brains have acted as constraints on the evolution of brain size. We confirm that [...]
The expensive brain and the evolution of brain size Vertebrate brains vary considerably in size, and this variation is often attributed to differing cognitive demands. Here, we ask whether the unusually high costs of brains have acted as constraints on the evolution of brain size. We confirm that [...]
Frontiers in Social Evolution Seminar
In animal societies, control over resources and reproduction is often biased towards one sex. Such power asymmetries between the sexes largely shape male-female sexual and social relationships. In particular, males often coerce females in reproductive contexts, but also in other contexts. Yet, the ecological and evolutionary underpinnings of male-female power asymmetries remain poorly understood. In [...]
Our species' long childhood is hypothesized to have evolved as a period for learning complex foraging skills. Researchers have focused on assessing this hypothesis, yet studies present inconsistent conclusions regarding the connection between niche complexity, the development of foraging skill development, and ecological knowledge . I will present three studies addressing this hypothesis using both cross cultural [...]
