Current members
As a team we aspire to achieve excellence in our research by fostering a supportive and inclusive research environment.
PhD students
Tim Andries (PhD) Sources of individual variation (in the mechanics) of feeding behaviour (joint PhD with Sam van Wassenbergh)
Mélibée Morel (PhD) Ecological and evolutionary drivers of foraging specialisation in lesser black-backed gulls – from causes to consequences (joint PhD with Luc Lens UGent and Eric Stienen INBO)
Marjolein Meijdam (PhD) The ecology and adaptive significance of time-keeping in the wild (joint PhD with Marcel Eens)
Clara García I Co (PhD) Behavioural and cognitive effects of an adverse early social environment: towards a better understanding of the adaptive significance and transgenerational transmission (joint PhD with with Judith Morales at the MNCN Spain and Frederick Verbruggen UGent)
Alejandro García Anton (PhD) A social life right from the start. How mothers adaptively shape offspring social phenotype for the within family environment - and beyond (joint PhD with with Judith Morales at the MNCN Spain)
Jolien van Malderen (PhD) From the cradle to the grave – the urban environment impinges on developmental programming and acts as selective agent (joint PhD with Luc Lens UGent, Frederick Verbruggen UGent, and Eric Stienen INBO)
Valentin Kiss (PhD) Infection dynamics in the Anthropocene - tracking super spreaders and infection hotspots in the urban jungle (joint PhD with Herwig Leirs)
Reinoud Allaert (PhD) How do juvenile herring gulls stop and change behaviour in the wild: A novel eco-deco approach. (joint PhD with Frederick Verbruggen UGent, Luc Lens UGent, and Eric Stienen INBO)
Daniel Parejo Pulido (University of Castilla-La Mancha, visiting PhD) Begging behaviour and family conflicts in the spotless starling
Master students (supervised by my PhDs/Post-docs):
Oliver Diaz (University of Antwerp, 2024/25) (supervised by Valentin)
Joel Diaz-Ortega (University of Antwerp, 2024/25) (supervised by Alejandro)
Loïc Trebignaud (University of Lyon, Erasmus student, 2024) (supervised by Mélibée)
Mariam El barbouchi (University of Almeria, Erasmus student, 2024) (supervised by Alejandro)
Ian Van Riel (University of Antwerp, 2023/24) (supervised by Clara)
Traineeships (supervised by my PhDs/Post-docs):
Zoë Maesen (University of Antwerp, 2024) (supervised by Tim)
Floor Van Mol (University of Antwerp, 2024) (supervsied by Clara)
Former members
Vivian Goerlich (Post-doc) (2009) Heritability of yolk hormone deposition. (now: University of Utrecht, The Netherlands)
Samantha Farrell (PhD) (2012) Sexual conflict over parental care and its consequences for offspring development.
Jonas Vergauwen (PhD thesis defended 2013) Think outside the egg: Integrating pre- and postnatal maternal effects. (now: Passion for Animals)
Natalia Estramil (PhD thesis defended 2014) Parent-offspring conflict in canaries: individual plasticity, genetic basis and co-adaptation. (now: Eurofins Agro)
Carsten Lucass (PhD thesis defended 2016) Conflict and co-adaptation: the evolution of parental care in a wild bird species.(now: Otto Beisheim School of Management (WHU))
Anke Vermeulen (PhD thesis defended 2016) Sources of individual variation in immune traits.(now: Antwerp University Hospital)
Raissa de Boer (PhD thesis defended 2017) Inbreeding-environment interactions throughout the life of a songbird.(Now: Stockholm University, Sweden)
Lissa Breugelmans (PhD 2016-17) Behavioural plasticity - determining the adaptive significance of parental care
Nolwenn Fresneau (PhD thesis defended 2017) Evolutionary ecological perspectives on bird family life: A study into the genetic and phenotypic mechanisms of offspring begging. (now: University of Pannonia, Hungary)
Brigitte Heylen (2017-2019) Optimal foraging strategies in a rapidly changing world
Arne Iserbyt (Post-doc 2013-2019) Optimal parental investment – a battle between the sexes
Marwa Kavelaars (PhD thesis defended 2020) Parental investment in a changing world
Maaike Griffioen (PhD thesis defended 2021) Conditional cooperation as a potential resolution for sexual conflict between caring blue tit parents
Jan Baert (Post-doc 2017-2022) The eco-evolutionary consequences of reward-based learning for behavioural variation.
Jorge Garcia Campa (PhD thesis defended 2023) Signals in social conflict: Plasticity and negotiation of behavioural response rules.
Reyes Salas (PhD thesis defended 2023) Living on the edge – Lesser black-backed gulls foraging and breeding at a coastal-urban interface.
Former Master students (and title of their thesis)
Numerous students have contributed to my work during numerous field seasons, and without their help a lot of experiments would not have been possible to such extent! I enjoyed working with each of them and hope they learned as much as I did when working with them.
Former master students and title of their thesis:
Alexander Brand (University of Bologna) (2023) Exploring the sources of individual variation in foraging behaviour of Lesser Black-backed gulls (supervised by Mélibée)
Kevin Beckers (2021-22) Effects of food availability on the timing of activities in great tits (supervised by Marjolein)
Sarah Aubry (2018/19) Male-male competition versus paternal care (supervised by Arne)
Janne de Vil (Master 2014/15) Sexual selection in canaries: effects of inbreeding and early growth conditions (supervised by Raïssa)
Miléna Trösch (Master 2015/16) Song and parental behaviour in canaries, nature or nurture? (supervised by Arne)
Sven Eggermont (Master 2014/15) Evolutionary ecological aspects of begging and sibling competition (supervised by Nolwenn)
Elsa Wouters (2014) Mate choice, parental investment and parent-offspring co-adaptation (supervised by Natalia)
Sofie Boonen (2009) Family conflicts in canaries
Jonas Vergauwen (2007) Does testosterone increase attractiveness? On the function of maternal hormones in birds.
In Groningen:
Nynke Detmar (2005) Long-term effects of embryonic testosterone exposure on social and aggressive behavior of the black-headed gull.
Alice Kasprzik (2004), co-supervised by Prof. Gabriele Uhl, University of Bonn (now at: University of Greifswald) Are maternal yolk hormones immunosuppressive? An experimental study in black-headed gulls Larus ridibundus.
Fanny Stavasius (2004) Testosterone sensitisation in juvenile black-headed gulls.
Sebastian Dusseljee (2003) The effect of testosterone on begging behaviour and growth in black-headed gull Larus ridibundus chicks.
Hilco G. Jansma (2002) The effect of prenatal exposure to testosterone on begging behaviour in black-headed gull Larus ridibundus chicks.
Durk Venema (2002) Factors influencing sex ratios, survival and reproductive success in black-headed gulls Larus ridibundus.
Jenny de Vries (2001) Sex-specific differences in the begging behaviour: a study in black-headed gulls Larus ridibundus.
Grietje Zijlstra (2000) Maternal yolk hormones and brood sex ratios in black-headed gulls Larus ridibundus.
Former traineeships (and topics)
Roberta Sanna (University of Cagliari, Erasmus student) (2023) Bachelor project: Exploring the relationship between parental abuse and neglectful feeding strategies (supervised by Clara)
Fréderick Lescouhier (University of Antwerp) (2023) Impulsivity and its impact on parental care in canaries (supervised by Clara)
Lore Marckx (University of Antwerp) (2023) Higher levels of aggressiveness in Great tits with an early chronotype (supervised by Marjolein)
Brent Timmermans (University of Antwerp) (2003) Feeding strategies of abusive/neglectful parents in domestic canaries (supervised by Clara)
Clara Garcia i Co (Erasmus 2021) Identification of individual movements in an open field test (using Deep Lab Cut) and social network analyses
Noelia Ruiz Paredes (2021) Molecular genetic analyses (supervised by Reyes)
Laura Bellato (Erasmus 2020) Migratory phenology of European Larus Fuscus in a changing world (supervised by Reyes)
Maria Bernad (2019) GPS tracking of Lesser black-backed gulls (supervised by Reyes)
Lucía Buendía (2017) Artificial selection for high and low begging behaviour (supervised by Nolwenn and Arne)
Tommaso Biglino (2017) Alternation of parental feeding visits in Blue tits (supervised by Maaike and Arne)
Sergio Delgado (2017) Parental coordination of incubation (supervised by Marwa)
Bjorn Briesen (2016) Parental cooperation during conflict (supervised by Arne)
Silke Cleuren (2016) Sexual conflict in Blue tits (supervised by Arne)
Shana van de Vreken (2016) Consequences of sexual conflict for parents and offspring (supervised by Arne)
Tiffanie Kortenhoff (2016) Parent-offspring co-adapation (supervised by Nolwenn & Arne)
Aurelie Dailledouze (2016) Time partitioning during incubation: Are more coordinated pairs better parents? (supervised by Marwa)
Nino Franssens (2015) Begging reaction norms (supervised by Nolwenn)
Eva Creemers (2015) How genetic quality influences mate choice (supervised by Raïssa)
Mark Heus (2015) Costs of sexual conflict over parental care (supervised by Arne)
Begoña Bárcena (2015) Analysing videos of parental provisioning in blue tits (supervised by Carsten)
Marylou Helsly (2014) Influence of testosterone on parental provisioning in blue tits
Wendy Baetens (2014) Within- and among-individual variation in parental care
Janne de Vil (2014) Parental provisioning in blue tits
Annelies Jacobs (2012) Parental care in canaries
Joannes Van Cann (2012) Endocrine control of begging in blue tits
Jolien Verhelst (2011) Male-male competition in canaries
Billy Dries (2011) Parental care in canaries
Nicole Lammers (2011) Nutritional stress
Thomas Minne (2010-11) Eco-immunology in starlings
Tom Smets (2008) Social dominance in canaries
Julie Demeulenmeester (2007) Song activity in starlings
Elisabeth Erauw (2006) Field assistant starling project
Geert Van den Heuvel (2006) Field assistant starling project
Jonas Vergauwen (2006) Field assistant starling project
In Madrid:
Kinga Deptuch (2005) Field assistant spotless starling project
In Groningen:
Cas Eikenaar (2000) Field assistant black-headed gull project