Dr. Luc Bussière

Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology

Ph.D. University of Toronto (2003)

B.Sc. University of Saskatchewan (1996)

School of Biological & Environmental Sciences
University of Stirling
Stirling
Scotland, FK9 4LA

tel: +44 1786 467758
fax: +44 1786 467843
email: Luc Bussière

Research interests

I am interested in many aspects of sexual selection and evolution in insects and other arthropods. I work with several model systems to explore the influence of phenotypic traits on male and female reproductive fitness, and the expected and observed changes in quantitative traits in response to natural and sexual selection.

Sexual selection and life history allocation in insects

One of the fundamental problems in evolutionary biology concerns whether variation among animals in life history allocation patterns is adaptive. I approach this problem by examining how sexual selection alters the patterns and payoffs of investment in mating effort relative to investment in other aspects of life history, such as longevity or immunity. I am also interested in how genetic variation underlying investment in life history is maintained, particularly when investment in life history is subject to sexual selection as well as natural selection. The main study organism for this work is the Australian Black field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus. This work is in collaboration with Rob Brooks, Matthew Hall, John Hunt, and Michael Jennions.

Male (left) Australian field cricket (T. commodus) harassing a female after copulation to prevent her from dislodging his externally attached spermatophore (visible as a small brown capsule attached to the female’s abdomen).

Yellow dung flies (Scathophaga stercoraria) copulating on the oviposition resource in a cattle pasture. Photo by Andrew Pemberton.

The mechanisms and consequences of post-copulatory sexual selection

Although it is thought to be widespread and exert an important influence on sexual selection, cryptic female choice remains controversial because disentangling male and female effects on the outcome of sperm competition is difficult. I study the problem using two approaches.

1) I can directly observe the interruption of insemination by female crickets (and the efforts of males to delay interruption) because the spermatophores are externally attached. I can also manipulate the effect of males on insemination by removing them from the proximity of the female after copulation. This work is in collaboration with Rob Brooks, Matthew Hall, John Hunt, and Michael Jennions.

2) I am studying the mechanisms of sperm transfer and sorting in the most well studied model for post-copulatory sexual selection, the yellow dung fly, using a combination of molecular, physiological, and mathematical approaches. This work arises from my post-doctoral fellowship in the late Paul Ward's research group in Zurich. Ongoing work is in collaboration with Wolf Blanckenhorn, Marco Demont, Tracie Ivy, Ane Timenes Laugen, Andrew Pemberton, Gioia Schwarzenbach, Karin Thuler, and Christian Wüst.

Female dance fly (Rhamphomyia longicauda) bearing feathered legs and inflatable abdominal pouches used to attract gift-bearing males. Photo by Darryl Gwynne.

Direct and indirect benefits of mating in courtship feeding insects

The direct and indirect consequences of mating decisions remain one of the most controversial topics in sexual selection research. Insects with courtship feeding are ideal subjects for examining this question because the economic costs and benefits of mating often change with an animal’s condition and with environmental resource availability. I am pursuing research on Gryllodes crickets in collaboration with Paul Hallett, John Hunt, Tracie Ivy, and Scott Sakaluk, and studying courtship-feeding dance flies with Darryl Gwynne and Rob Brooks. Matthew Hall is leading work on Pteronemobius ground crickets in collaboration with Rob Brooks and me.

Radio-tagged female Cook Strait Giant weta (Deinacrida rugosa) retrieved from her diurnal refuge.

Sexual selection for reverse size-dimorphism

Although conventional sexual size dimorphism (in which males are larger than females) is relatively well understood, in many systems females are larger than males. One hypothesis for the evolution of so-called reverse size dimorphism is that small males are favoured through sexual selection for mobility, i.e., that small and agile males win mates by scrambling faster than larger rivals can. In collaboration with Clint Kelly and Darryl Gwynne, I am testing this hypothesis in the Cook Strait Giant Weta, a threatened insect native to New Zealand. We use small radio-transmitters to estimate male mobility and measure sexual selection via mating success and spermatophore transfer in the wild.

Research group members

Tom Houslay (PhD candidate, funded by SBES and Univ of Stirling)
Nicola Robinson (Honours student)
Ellen Rotheray (PhD candidate, funded by Univ of Stirling, SNH, and RSPB)
Chris Shirley (Research assistant)
Katarzyna Sroczynska (Undergraduate research assistant)

External collaborators

Wolf Blanckenhorn (University of Zurich)
Rob Brooks (University of New South Wales)
Claudia Buser (Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology)
Marco Demont (University of Zurich)
Darryl Gwynne (University of Toronto)
Matthew Hall (University of New South Wales)
Paul Hallett (Scottish Crop Research Institute)
John Hunt (University of Exeter in Cornwall)
Tracie Ivy (University of Rochester)
Michael Jennions (Australian National University)
Clint Kelly (Iowa State University)
Ane Timenes Laugen (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)
Andrew Pemberton (University of Zurich)
Scott Sakaluk (Illinois State University)
Martin Schäfer (University of Zurich)
Gioia Schwarzenbach (University of Zurich)
Karin Thüler (University of Zurich)
Christian Wüst (University of Zurich)

Studentship and post-doctoral research opportunities

PhD studentship in multivariate evolution I seek candidates for a full-time PhD studentship in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Stirling, for which funding has already been secured.

Project title: “Assessing the evolutionary potential of insects to respond to simultaneous climatic and pollutant-induced stresses”

Brief project description

Human activity is rapidly and simultaneously changing many aspects of the environment, including new stresses in the form of climate change and industrial pollutants. While individual stresses may provoke rapid phenotypic and evolutionary responses, the ability of populations to respond to simultaneously occurring novel stresses is not well known. This is at least partly because selection acts on individuals rather than traits, and genetic correlations between characters (either within or across environmental gradients) may therefore enhance or constrain responses to multivariate selection. This project will examine evolutionary responses of flies to natural selection through the combined action of thermal stress, pharmaceuticals excreted by livestock, and population dynamics. It may involve molecular ecology, experimental evolution experiments, and UK and international fieldwork.

Academic environment:

Stirling is conveniently situated within easy commuting distance from Glasgow and Edinburgh but is also moments from the stunning natural environments of the Scottish Highlands. With arguably the most scenic campus in the United Kingdom, the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Stirling features a young and research active group of scientists. The collegial and intellectual atmosphere combined with nearby and easy access to fantastic natural areas makes for an ideal working environment. Furthermore, the opportunities for scientific interactions with other Scottish Universities are numerous.

Requirements:

The successful candidate will be self-motivated, intellectually curious, creative, and dedicated to working long hours during periodically labour-intensive experiments. He or she will be expected to contribute actively to the intellectual climate of the School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, where the program includes active participation in School seminars and training in presentation skills, experimental design and advanced statistical techniques. The starting date is October, 2010.

Application procedure:

Candidates should provide a statement of research interests and a CV including contact information for at least 2 referees to Luc Bussière no later than February 28, 2010. Additional evidence of the candidate’s scholarly activities (e.g., published papers or theses) is welcome but not required. Screening of applicants will begin on Feb 1 and continue until the position is filled. Please direct any request for more information to the email address above.

Publications

Year	Reference	PDF
in press	Fricke C, Martin OY, Bretman A, Bussière LF & Chapman T. Sperm competitive ability: sperm offence, defense and lifetime reproductive success. Evolution. Accepted 04.02.10.
in press	Hall MD, Bussière LF, Demont M, Ward PI & Brooks R. In press. Competitive PCR reveals the complexity of postcopulatory sexual selection in Teleogryllus commodus. Molec. Ecol. Accepted 29.10.09.
in press	Bussière LF, Demont M, Pemberton AJ, Hall MD & Ward PI. 2009. The assessment of insemination success in yellow dung flies using competitive PCR. Mol. Ecol. Res. (accepted 26.05.09).
in press	Blanckenhorn WU, Pemberton AJ, Bussière LF, Roembke J & Floate KD. 2009. Natural history and laboratory culture of the yellow dung fly, Scathophaga stercoraria (L.; Diptera: Scathophagidae). J. Ins. Sci. (accepted 13.08.08).
2009	Hall MD, Bussière LF & Brooks R. 2009. Diet-dependent female evolution influences male life-span in a nuptial feeding insect. J. Evol. Biol. 22:873-881.
2008	Hall MD, Bussière LF & Brooks R. 2008. The effect of diet quality and wing morph on male and female reproductive investment in a nuptial feeding ground cricket. PLoS One 3(10) e3437.
2008	Bussière LF, Gwynne DT & Brooks R. 2008. Contrasting sexual selection on males and females in a role-reversed swarming dance fly, Rhamphomyia longicauda Loew (Diptera: Empididae). J. Evol. Biol. 21:1683-1691.
2008	Marshall DJ, Bonduriansky R & Bussière LF. 2008. Offspring size variation as a maternal bet-hedging strategy in unpredictable environments. Ecology 89:2506-2517.
2008	Hall M, Bussière LF, Hunt J & Brooks R. 2008. Experimental evidence that sexual conflict influences the opportunity, form and intensity of sexual selection. Evolution 62:2305-2315 .
2008	Kelly CD, Bussière LF & Gwynne DT. 2008. Sexual selection for male mobility in a giant insect with female-biased size dimorphism. Am. Nat. 172:417-423.
2008	Bussière LF, Hunt JH, Stölting KN, Jennions MD & Brooks R. 2008. Mate choice for genetic quality when environments vary: suggestions for empirical progress. Genetica 134:69-78.
2008	Lorch PD, Bussière LF & Gwynne DT. 2008. Quantifying the potential for sexual dimorphism using upper limits on Bateman gradients. Behaviour 145:1-24.
2007	Gwynne DT, Bussière LF & Ivy TM. 2007. Female ornaments hinder escape from spider webs in a role-reversed swarming dance fly. Anim. Behav. 73:1077-1082.
2007	Bussière LF. 2007. Richard Dawkins: How a scientist changed the way we think (book review). ISBE Newsletter 19:17-18.
2006	Bussière LF, Hunt J, Jennions MD & Brooks R. 2006. Sexual conflict and cryptic female choice in the black field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus. Evolution 60:792-800.
2005	Brooks R, Hunt J, Blows MW, Smith MJ, Bussière LF & Jennions MD. 2005. Experimental evidence for multivariate stabilizing sexual selection. Evolution 59:871-880.
2005	Bussière LF, Basit HA & Gwynne DT. 2005. Preferred males are not always good providers: female choice and male investment in tree crickets. Behav. Ecol. 16:223-231.
2005	Bussière LF, Clark AP & Gwynne DT. 2005. Precopulatory choice for cues of material benefits in tree crickets. Behav. Ecol. 16:255-259.
2004	Hunt J, Brooks R, Jennions MD, Smith MJ, Bentsen CL & Bussière LF. 2004. High-quality male field crickets invest heavily in sexual display but die young. Nature 432:1024-1027.
2004	Bussière LF & Head ML. 2004. Book review: Mating systems and strategies. Austr. Ecol. 29:603-604.
2004	Hunt J, Bussière LF, Jennions MD & Brooks R. 2004. What is genetic quality? Trends Ecol. Evol. 19:329-333.
2004	Brooks R, Bussière LF, Jennions MD & Hunt J. 2004. Sinister strategies succeed at the 2003 cricket world cup. Proc R. Soc. Lond. B (Suppl) 271:S64-S66.
2002	Gwynne DT & Bussière LF. 2002. Female mating swarms increase predation risk in a 'role-reversed' dance fly (Diptera: Empididae: Rhamphomyia longicauda Loew). Behaviour 139:1425-1430.
2002	Bussière LF. 2002. A model of the interaction between "good genes" and direct benefits in courtship feeding animals: when do males of high genetic quality invest less? Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 357:309-317.

Teaching

My current undergraduate teaching duties include instruction in the following modules:

Sci2FS: Field Skills

Bio3EE: Ecology, Genetics and Evolution

Bio5AP: Animal Physiology

Bio7FC: Animal Ecology Field Course

Bio7SX: The Evolution of Sex and its Consequences

Research Support

The research described on this page has been supported by several funding agencies, including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (Canada), the University of Toronto, the Australian Research Council, the University of New South Wales, the University of Zürich, the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences, the University of Stirling, the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and the Leverhulme Trust.

Sincere thanks to the staff at Airthrey Kerse Dairy Farm & Graham's Family Dairy for granting us the permission to conduct ongoing dung fly field work on their property.