Peripheral isolated populations can be confronted with environmental constraints that differ from those acting in other parts of species’ distribution ranges. Rapid evolution can occur when a peripheral population becomes isolated from gene flow, potentially causing it to evolve rapidly to its local ecological optimum (e.g. Garcia-Ramos & Kirkpatrick 1997, Evolution 51, 21-28). I present results from a long term multi-disciplinary research programme on Mediterranean cavity-nesting passerine species (Cyanistes or Parus caeruleus, Parus major) living near the edge of their distribution ranges. Mediterranean populations are characterised by genetic, behavioural, physiological and/or demographic traits that have not been reported in northern populations. This is illustrated with micro-geographic patterns limited to the Mediterranean region investigated via multi-disciplinary collaboration networking (e.g. Blondel et al 2006, Caro et al. 2006, Doutrelant et al. 2000, Johnsen et al. 2008, Lambrechts et al. 2004, Müller et al. 2006, Thomas et al. 2007, Ziane et al. 2006) and large-scale sampling networks describing and explaining macro-geographic patterns (e.g. Visser et al. 2003, Saether et al. 2004). Environmental factors influencing phenotypic expression seem to be “scale of analysis”-dependent.

I was interested in nature and biology well before high school, especially from an esthetic point of view. I bought Peterson’s ornithology field guide in 1976, though was not a fanatic bird watcher. Prof A. Dhondt at Antwerp University, Belgium (currently at Cornell University, USA), offered me in 1982 an exciting and novel topic on causes and consequences of intra-specific variation in bird song, at a time the field of Behavioral Ecology started to flourish internationally. PhD work focused on intra-specific variation in song performance in a passerine bird (1983 – 1987). Post doctoral positions at Antwerp University (1989 – 1990), at the University of Madison-Wisconsin (1990 – 1991), and a permanent position at the French Centre of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CEFE, from 1991 onwards) allowed me to stay in the field of ornithology to focus on interactions between individual phenotypic traits, population characteristics and environmental constraints in a global change framework. I am currently CNRS Research Director, at the CEFE (http://www.cefe.cnrs.fr), with a research team working on the spatial ecology of bird populations, using long-term studies of individually marked birds and captive passerines to address issues in population biology, adaptation, life history traits, reproduction, survival, phenotypic traits, development of (phenotypic) traits, phenotypic plasticity, genetic determination, selection of (phenotypic) traits, Mediterranean constraints, habitat heterogeneity, and global change. My work is currently concentrated in woodland habitats in the Mediterranean region. The goal is to carry out integrated multi-disciplinary research using collaboration networks at national and international levels using avian model organisms (Cyanistes caeruleus, Parus major). Other tasks include coordination and participation at international research networks (e.g. E-Bird), organization of scientific meetings, editorial activities (e.g. Ecology Letters since 1998), referee activities (e.g. scientific journals dealing with ecology, evolution, behavior and physiology), supervision of students at Master’s and PhD level (39 articles published with students since 1998), teaching, popularizing science, and participation at international advisory boards (Max Planck Institute-Germany, Academy of Finland). In 2007, I have been elected council member of the European Ornithological Union (EOU) and honorary fellow of the American Ornithological Union (AOU).

My date of birth is 31 March 1961. I am married and have two children.

• Blondel J. et al. 2006. A thirty-year study of phenotypic and genetic variation of blue tits in Mediterranean habitat mosaics. Bioscience 56, 661-673.
• Caro S.P. et al. 2006. Simultaneous pituitary-gonadal recrudescence in two Corsican populations of male blue tits with asynchronous breeding dates. Horm. Behav. 50, 347-360.
• Doutrelant C. et al. 2000. Effect of blue tit song syntax on great tit territorial responsiveness – an experimental test of the character shift hypothesis. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 48, 119-124.
• Johnsen A. et al. 2008. Avian Clock gene polymorphism: evidence for a latitudinal cline in allele frequencies. Mol. Ecol. In press.
• Lambrechts M. M. et al. 2004. Habitat quality as a predictor of spatial variation in blue tit reproductive performance: a multi-plot analysis in a heterogeneous landscape. Oecologia 141, 555-561.
• Müller C. et al. 2006. Effect of human presence and handling on circulating corticosterone levels in breeding blue tits (Parus caeruleus). Gen. Comp. Endocrinol. 148, 163-171.
• Thomas D.W. et al. 2007. Common paths link food abundance and ectoparasite loads to physiological performance and recruitment in nestling blue tits. Funct. Ecol. 21, 947-955.
• Seather B.-E. et al. 2004. Life-history variation predicts the effects of demographic stochasticity on avian population dynamics. Am. Nat. 164, 793-802.
• Visser M. E. et al. 2003. Variable responses to large-scale climate change in European Parus populations. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B 270, 367-372.
• Ziane N. et al. 2006. Breeding performance of blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus ultramarinus in relation to habitat richness of oak forest patches in north-eastern Algeria. Acta Ornithol. 41, 163-169.

• Marcel M. LAMBRECHTS
  Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CNRS, UMR 5175)
  1919 route de Mende,
  F-34293 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
  marcel.lambrechts@cefe.cnrs.fr
  Website: http://www.cefe.cnrs.fr/esp/en/M_Lambrechts.htm