REPRODUCTION BY COLONY FISSION IN ANTS
A post-doctoral position is opened at the Laboratory of Ecology, University
Pierre and Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris. The position is funded for 18 months
by ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche).
The applicant will work with a team studying the reproduction of social
insects by colony fission, at both proximate and ultimate levels. The
subject of the post-doc is flexible within this general research theme. We
aim at increasing the general knowledge on the production of new colonies
by fission, using the Mediterranean ants Cataglyphis cursor and
Aphaenogaster senilis. More specifically, we seek (i) to analyse the
factors that trigger colony fission, such as colony size, nest densities
and resources availability, (ii) to investigate the trade off between
number and size of daughter colonies produced, and (iii) to study the
social conflicts associated with colony fission. For instance, in the
highly polyandrous C. cursor new queens can be produced either sexually or
by parthenogenesis, so that during colony fission workers may join
parthenogenetic queens, sister queens or half-sister queens.
The applicant will be based at the laboratory of ecology in Paris, and will
participate to experimental works at a field station in Banyuls-sur-mer,
southern France. The applicant should have a formation in Behavioural
Ecology and in Evolution, and preferentially some knowledge of social insects.
The salary is ca 2,300 per month, depending on the experience of the
post-doc. The post-doc will preferentially start between April and June
2008. The position will remain opened until it is filled. Applicants should
submit their CV, a short summary of research interests and contact
information of two references to Thibaud Monnin ([EMAIL PROTECTED]).
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Dr Thibaud MONNIN
Laboratoire Écologie & Évolution CNRS UMR 7625,
Université Pierre et Marie Curie
7 quai St Bernard, Bâtiment A 7ème étage, Case 237
75 252 Paris Cedex 05, France
Tél: (+33) (0)1 44 27 36 10; Fax: (+33) (0)1 44 27 35 16
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://ecologie.snv.jussieu.fr/monnin
