Research team
Expertise
My research is centered on avian behavioral ecology, conservation ecology and urban ecology. I particularly focus on how exposure to anthropogenic disturbance factors, including chemical pollution and direct human disturbance, affect the behavioral traits, life histories and fitness of birds. I am especially interested in how anthropogenic disturbance affects rates of senescence and the expression of sexual signals. Moreover, I am also interested in how urban environments affect avian personalities, as defined by consistent among individual differences in behavior.
Long-term effects of metal pollution: linking telomere dynamics, biological aging, infection and fitness.
Abstract
Past studies have largely ignored the effects of toxic pollutants on long-term processes, including the rate of biological aging. Metal pollution may have particularly strong effects on aging rates by increasing disease and oxidative stress. Telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes, shorten with age and stress exposure, and modulate cellular senescence. Telomeres have recently emerged as markers of long-term stress exposure and aging, but have rarely been studied in free-living populations exposed to pollutants. Using great tits (Parus major) as a model species, I will comprehensively explore how metal pollution affects biological aging by quantifying telomere dynamics in juveniles and adults, and determining whether aging-related changes also occur in sexual signals, behavior and fitness. I will test state-dependent models that predict behavioral shifts in individuals with reduced life expectancies, as predicted to occur due to metal exposure and telomere loss. Further, I will assess whether infectious disease (malaria) in metal-exposed birds contributes to elevating oxidative stress and telomere attrition. I will study nest box populations of great tits across a pollution gradient, and experimentally expose nestlings to metals and antioxidants. This study will make a pioneering contribution to evolutionary biology by testing theories of aging and state-dependent behavior in the context of metal pollution, and have critical importance to conservation biology.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Grunst Andrea
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project
Metal Pollution and Oxidative Stress: Exploring effects on aging rate, behavior and fitness.
Abstract
Toxic pollutants increasingly threaten the integrity of natural populations. Metal pollution can have particularly detrimental effects on organisms and entire ecosystems. One potent means by which metal pollution may affect organisms is by elevating oxidative stress, resulting in biomolecular damage and fitness declines. However, the long-term behavioral and fitness implications of metal-induced oxidative stress are poorly understood. Using great tits (Parus major) as a model species, I propose to comprehensively explore how metal pollution affects oxidative stress, aging rate, behavior and fitness. I will perform the first study to examine whether metal-induced oxidative stress affects aging rate, on the molecular level as indicated by telomere degradation, and in terms of sexual signals and fitness traits. I will also explore effects of metal pollution on risk-taking behavior, which may be altered via effects of oxidative stress on neural function and life history decisions. I will study nest box populations of great-tits located across a metal pollution gradient. Experimental approaches will include exposing nestlings to metals and antioxidants, a parental risk-taking experiment, and measuring exploratory behavior in the laboratory. This study will make a pioneering contribution to evolutionary biology by testing the oxidative stress theory of aging in the context of metal pollution, and have critical importance to ecotoxicology and conservation biology.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Eens Marcel
- Co-promoter: Pinxten Annie
- Fellow: Grunst Andrea
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project