Nouveau membre de l'équipe (New team member)

As I wrote about in an earlier post, science is most certainly a team endeavor. And I must say that I feel extremely lucky to be working with some great people and astute scientists on this project. And now we have one more! Laura Kouyoumdjian has joined the project and has already shown herself to be a smart researcher and an important contributor. Laura is currently a second year master’s student at Université Pierre et Marie Curie à Paris in Ecology, Biodiversity, and Evolution with a focus on Conservation. I’m glad that she has chosen Project PODARCIS at the SETE in Moulis to complete her second internship (stage de Master 2).

Laura holding a Couleuvre verte et jaune (Hierophis viridiflavus).

Laura sent an e-mail to Fabien back in October about the possibility of coming here for an internship this spring. While I knew that having another student working on the project would be good, I knew that it had to be a good fit (especially after all of Mahaut’s great work in the fall). It was quickly apparent that Laura would be perfect for the project: she had a great CV and a strong recommendation from Jérémie who knew her previously. After a quick video meeting a few weeks later, it was settled…and now I’m glad to say that she’s been here for two weeks already.

Before her master’s program, Laura earned her undergraduate degree at Université Paris-Est Créteil, where she studied ecology and biology. Laura has previously worked on a couple very interesting projects, both at the CNRS Centre d'Etudes Biologique de Chizé. First, assisted with a study examining the effects of a widely-used pesticide (glyphosate) on the common toad (Bufo bufo). Next, she worked with renowned herpetologist (and Fabien’s PhD co-advisor) Xavier Bonnet studying the sexual dimorphism of organ placement in two snake species: the Aesculapian Snake (Zamenis longissimus) and the Green Whip Snake(Hierophis viridiflavus). Laura brings to our project experience in the field and with live animal experiments, knowledge of physiology and morphology, and of course a passion for herpetology!

Her first weeks have been spent planning and preparing for our work this spring, a transplant experiment to compare the response to hypoxia in gravid females from low- and high-elevation populations. Laura is especially interested in how hypoxic environments will affect maternal reproductive allocation and success. By quantifying individual plasticity, cross-generational plasticity, and local adaptation, we will better understand the ability of these lizards to colonize high-altitude habitats as the globe continues to warm. This is especially important given the threatened status of the endemic lizard species that currently occupy these high-altitude environments.

Laura proudly shows off her second-ever lizard!

Despite arriving in the cold month February, Laura has already had the opportunity to demonstrate her great enthusiasm and skill in catching lizards! Even though it’s still winter for sure here in the Ariège, lizards came out to bask on a couple warm, sunny afternoons last week. We thought we’d use that as an excuse to get out of the office and let Laura try her hand at some lizard-noosing. Impressively, even though she was a complete novice, she successfully caught both of her first two lizards! Though she attributed it to beginner’s luck (la chance du débutant), I am quite confident that Laura’s skills in the field will combine with her biological knowledge, sharp thinking, and excitement to contribute a great deal to the project. Welcome aboard, Laura!