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Sexual Selection, Social Selection and Individual Quality

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Sexual Selection, Social Selection and Individual Quality Sexual selection, social selection and individual quality : underlying mechanisms and ultimate consequences of ornamentation in a monomorphic species, the King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) Quentin Schull To cite this version: Quentin Schull. Sexual selection, social selection and individual quality : underlying mechanisms and ultimate consequences of ornamentation in a monomorphic species, the King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus). Animal biology. Université de Strasbourg, 2016. English. NNT : 2016STRAJ110. tel-01587947 HAL Id: tel-01587947 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01587947 Submitted on 14 Sep 2017 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. UNIVERSITY OF STRASBOURG DOCTORAL SCHOOL Life Science and Health IPHC, Department of Ecology, Physiology and Ethology (UMR 7178) DISSERTATION by Quentin SCHULL Publically defended on the 21st of October 2016 With the view of graduating as a Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Strasbourg Discipline/ Speciality: Ecology - Ethology Sexual selection, social selection and individual quality: underlying mechanisms and ultimate consequences of ornamentation in a monomorphic species, the King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) PhD ADVISORS: Dr. Jean Patrice ROBIN Researcher, CNRS Strasbourg Dr. Pierre BIZE Senior Lecturer, University of Aberdeen REFEREE: Dr. Claire DOUTRELANT Researcher, CNRS Strasbourg Pr. Dr Geoffrey HILL Professor, University of Auburn OTHER MEMBERS OF THE JURY: Dr. Etienne CHALLET Research Director, CNRS Strasbourg Dr. Thierry BOULINIER Research Director, CNRS Montpellier Dr. Vincent VIBLANC Researcher, CNRS Strasbourg UNIVERSITÉ DE STRASBOURG ÉCOLE DOCTORALE Sciences de la Vie et de la Santé IPHC, Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (UMR 7178) Thèse présentée par : Quentin SCHULL soutenue le : 21 Octobre 2016 pour obtenir le grade de : Docteur de l’université de Strasbourg Discipline/ Spécialité : Ecologie - Ethologie Sélection sexuelle, sélection sociale et qualité individuelle : déterminisme et valeur sélective de l’ornementation chez une espèce monomorphique, le manchot royal (Aptenodytes patagonicus) THÈSE dirigée par : Dr. Jean Patrice ROBIN Maître de conférences, Université de Strasbourg Dr. Pierre BIZE Maître de conférences, Université d’Aberdeen RAPPORTEURS : Dr. Claire DOUTRELANT Chargé de recherche, CNRS Montpellier Pr. Dr Geoffrey HILL Professeur, Université d’Auburn AUTRES MEMBRES DU JURY : Dr. Etienne CHALLET Directeur de recherche, CNRS Strasbourg Dr. Thierry BOULINIER Directeur de recherche, CNRS Montpellier Dr. Vincent VIBLANC Chargé de recherche, CNRS Strasbourg Sexual selection, social selection and individual quality: underlying mechanisms and ultimate consequences of ornamentation in a monomorphic species, the King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) by Quentin SCHULL “Of the branches of biological science to which Charles Darwin’s life-work has given us the key, few, if any, are as attractive as the subject of sexual selection” Fisher 1915 Acknowledgements A number of internationally leading scientists have accepted to evaluate this work. I am very grateful to Professor Dr Geoffrey Edward Hill and Dr Claire Doutrelant for their time and work as external examiners on this PhD thesis. I also wish to thank Professor Dr Etienne Challet for accepting to evaluate this work and to be chair of the jury. Dr Thierry Bouliner and Dr Vincent Viblanc also accepted my invitation to be members of this jury and I wish to thank them for their time and input on the manuscript. Remerciements Au moment des remerciements se pose toujours la question de savoir comment commencer. C’est le moment tant attendu de boucler la dernière partie de ma thèse. Du coup, pour reprendre un commentaire que PapiBize m’a fait à maintes reprises, je vais commencer par résumer mes débuts, par là où toute cette aventure a débuté. Mes premiers pas dans la recherche ont commencé par l’accession au master Ecophy. Je me souviens encore comme si c’était hier, quand avec mon fidèle acolyte ER nous nous sommes présentés à la porte de la directrice du master, lui demandant des conseils, les usuels renseignements sur les enseignements, débouchés, salaires et autres aventures que l’on pourrait entreprendre durant ce cursus. Je dois reconnaître qu’à la sortie de cette entrevue, nous étions un peu inquiets : les débouchés sont quasi inexistants, la compétition est, semble-il, très rude et les salaires ne sont pas à la hauteur de l’investissement, mais on travaille avec des animaux et ça c’est plutôt sympa. Un nouveau challenge, il n’en fallu pas plus pour nous motiver. Mes premiers remerciements vont donc à Sylvie, qui m’a permis de passer la porte d’entrée du master me conduisant tout droit aux couloirs du DEPE. Merci Sylvie pour ta jovialité à toutes épreuves et ton soutien tout au long de ce cursus. Il faut bien le dire, tu es un peu notre deuxième maman à tous. Après avoir remercié maman#2, on en vient tout naturellement à remercier papa#2. Un grand merci à François, non pas pour, comme les usages le voudraient, m’avoir accueilli au sein de ce laboratoire pour faire ma thèse, mais pour m’avoir guidé et m’avoir fait aimer la science dès mes premières expériences de master. Et ce n’est pas tout, car je dois bien reconnaitre que s’il y a un chercheur qui m’a toujours inspiré, c’est bien Dr François Criscuolo. Les choses ont pas mal évolué ces dernières années et cette intermittence de carrière comme directeur de labo (oui, je sais que tu n’es pas le directeur du labo… mais le représentant du département…), tu resteras pour moi un modèle, un chercheur brillant, avec une santé de fer, une joie de vivre communicative et qui n’oublie pas sa vie de famille. Un grand merci pour ton soutien constant, ton oreille attentive, tes conseils et coups de gueule avisés, ton jugement précis et merci d’avoir accepté de travailler avec moi jusqu’au bout ! Toutefois, avant de commencer cette thèse il m’a tout de même fallu une année: 6 mois comme surveillant dans un lycée (merci à Stéphane et à mes deux acolytes, Sandrine et Jonathan, qui ont rendu cette année-là exceptionnelle), deux mois à étudier les mésanges (encore une fois, merci Sylvie !), une pelle brisée (encore désolé Sylvie). Cela a permis d’éviter que mon cerveau en manque de défis intellectuels ne s’ankylose et m’a décidé finalement à envisager un projet de thèse. Et quel projet de thèse ! Encadré par papi Jean-Pas-Triste (désolé Emilio pour le plagiat) et papi Bize, la « dream team ». Un entretien incroyable, le lendemain de l’ « Ecology and Behaviour » à Strasbourg (oui ce lendemain-là Emilio!) entre JP qui enchaîne un jeu de mots toutes les deux phrases et son voisin Suisse qui me demande comment je définirais le concept de qualité individuelle de manière exhaustive. Ce fut épuisant, mais combien stimulant. Merci JP, merci Pierre de m’avoir permis d’entreprendre ce projet avec vous. Merci JP pour cette première session de terrain et ta convivialité (oui le terrain rapproche), pour ces fous rires après un plaquage au milieu de la rivière du camp, merci pour ces merveilleux coups de soleil sur le nez que tu as partagé avec nous sur le terrain et qui nous rappelle qu’il y a aussi du soleil à Crozet. Un énorme merci JP pour ton soutien indéfectible, pour ta gestion de la logistique, pour ce terrain si difficile et ton habilité à toujours trouver le truc, le machin qu’il faut au moment où il faut. Un grand merci également pour la justesse de tes commentaires scientifiques, ta précision, pour repérer le détail qui change tout (et oui ce papier télomères-couleur, on s’en souviendra tous…). Ce fut un plaisir de travailler avec toi, et j’en suis certain l’aventure n’est pas terminée ! Vient le tour de notre ressortissant de la confédération helvétique qui s’en est allé au pays du haggis. Ce qui est sûr c’est que les Suisses ont la réputation d’être lents, par contre après avoir rencontré papi Bize on a la certitude qu’une fois lancé on ne les arrête plus (ici je ne fais aucune référence à un quelconque phénomène inertiel lié à la mise en mouvement d’un objet ou d’une personne d’une masse imposante). On m’avait vanté l’efficacité des franchises germaniques, autant dire que l’efficacité Suisse restera pour moi le nec plus ultra du chercheur. C’est comme partir avec son couteau (Suisse) faire de l’alpinisme, commencer une thèse avec Pierre Bize et tout tournera comme une horloge bien réglée. Un grand merci Pierre, que ce soit pour les enseignements (multiples, oui il y en aura eu beaucoup et je ne suis pas arrivé au bout) que j’ai appris à tes côtés, une leçon professionnelle mais également une leçon de vie. Un grand merci à toi et Sophie Cotting (!) pour les balades aux alentours de Rieddes, les fondues et autres dérivés de raclette, les bonnes bouteilles, les fou-rires, les batailles et tous les agréables moments passés autour de votre table. Merci également d’être si mauvais aux fléchettes, cela m’a souvent permis de retrouver un peu d’estime de soi après les batailles (très souvent contre moi-même) livrées sur le terrain de squash. Un grand merci encore, cette thèse de son début à sa concrétisation (encore merci pour le boulot énorme réalisé en un temps record) n’aurait pas été ce qu’elle est sans super papi Bize.
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