Evolutionary quantitative genetics of animal personality in the wild

Individuals within populations often show repeatable behavioural differences which reflect variation in personality. In contrast to human personality, which has been extensively studied by psychologists for several decades, animal personality has only recently drawn the attention of behavioural ecologists. Animal personality is now known as a widespread phenomenon in nature and has been increasingly studied over the last 15 years due to its important ecological and evolutionary implications. Importantly, the mere existence and maintenance of personality, when individuals are expected to be behaviourally flexible, remains a puzzle which needs to be solved. The bulk of animal personality studies aims at understanding the evolution and causation of animal personality, and has shown that personality is often related to individual performance such as survival and reproductive success. In this context, quantitative genetics provide a framework to study the evolution of animal personality. This is because personality traits vary continuously within populations and can be considered as quantitative traits comparable to size, determined by many genes which are inherited according to Mendelian rules. Unfortunately, the uptake of ideas and concepts of quantitative genetics to the study of animal personality has been slow and questions related to personality development, although essential to understand its evolution, have been understudied. The main aim of my thesis is to provide a quantitative genetics view of personality in a wild population of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). The research presented in this thesis addresses a range of classical themes in evolutionary quantitative genetics in the context of animal personality evolution, that is, heritability, genetic correlations, (correlated) selection and plasticity. Indeed, quantitative genetic approaches were applied to two behavioural responses to handling measured in adults and nestlings and showed that that these two responses are heritable and reflect aspects of blue tits’ personality. Although these personality traits are genetically correlated in nestlings, the genetic correlation between them disappears in adults because of developmental plasticity. In addition, the personality traits measured in adults are linked to their survival and reproductive success, and one of these traits shows an age-related decline which is consistent with predictions from evolutionary theories of senescence. Finally, a variance-partitioning description of assortative mating shows that the approach traditionally used for estimating assortative mating in fixed traits is largely inappropriate when applied to labile traits such as behaviour. Alternative approaches allowing for a better estimation of assortative mating and other sources of phenotypic resemblance between mated partners are then introduced. In addition to providing some methodologies and examples to facilitate the use of quantitative genetics in the study of personality, this thesis shows the merits of adopting this framework, which has the potential to move personality research further. This is because applying quantitative genetics to the study of animal personality not only enables answering questions that have been overlooked, such as age-related plasticity, but also gives insight into potential mechanisms maintaining variation in personality

Leveraging Virtual Learning Environments for Training Interpreter Trainers

While the demand for conference interpreters in traditional language combinations (the more widely used languages) is decreasing, the need for experts in less widely used languages is rapidly increasing with each enlargement of the EU. Post-war peace-keeping operations as well as warcrime tribunals have also increased the need for high-level interpreters in languages hitherto not used in the international arena and consequently more well-trained interpreter trainers both for traditional programs as well as ad-hoc intensive programs must be available. Interpreters are a highly mobile community of professionals, unable to be physically present in a university for long periods of time to be trained as trainers. The Certificate course for Interpreter Trainers at ETI (University of Geneva) has been offering the only postgraduate course for training interpreter trainers since 1996. To meet the demand for training around the world the Certificate course is now offered in a blended format: Nine months of distance learning are blended with one week of faceto-face learning. The portal (www.unige.ch/eti/certificate/training) offers a rich learning environment with a number of tools to implement the philosophy of collaborative learning. With its public access and a special section for students of interpreting the portal has become an international meeting point for interpreter trainers where participants in the Certificate course interact with interpreting students at ETI, and interpreter trainers from schools around the world can interact with the Certificate teaching staff and students. This paper reports on the first systematic assessment of both the learning environment and the learning outcomes of the Certificate course.La demande d’interprètes de conférence dans les langues les plus répandues est en baisse. Par contre, la demande ne cesse de croître dans des langues moins utilisées, notamment lors de chaque élargissement de l’UE. En parallèle, sur la scène internationale, la demande d’interprètes qualifiés ne cesse d’augmenter que ce soit dans des opérations de maintien de la paix ou dans des tribunaux de crime de guerre. Cette donne contribue à un besoin accru en formateurs d’interprètes tant pour des formations traditionnelles que pour des formations intensives et ponctuelles. Les interprètes forment un corps professionnel très mobile et de ce fait, il est difficile de les mobiliser pour de longues périodes de formation. Le cours du Certificat de formateurs d’interprète dispensé par l’ETI (Université de Genève) est le seul cours postgrade du genre depuis 1996. Pour répondre à la demande venue du monde entier, le cours est maintenant offert dans un format hybride, alliant neuf mois de distance à une semaine présentielle à Genève. Le portail utilisé (www.unige.ch/eti/certificate/training) offre un environnement d’apprentissage collaboratif élaboré. De part son interface accessible à tout public et une section réservée aux étudiants en interprétation, il devient un espace de rencontre entre différentes communautés. Cet article présente les premiers résultats obtenus, au niveau de l’environnement d’apprentissage et au niveau de l’apprentissage lui-même

Contrasting multilevel relationships between behavior and body mass in blue tit nestlings

Repeatable behaviors (i.e., animal personality) are pervasive in the animal kingdom and various mechanisms have been proposed to explain their existence. Genetic and nongenetic mechanisms, which can be equally important, predict correlations between behavior and body mass on different levels (e.g., genetic and environmental) of variation. We investigated multilevel relationships between body mass measured on weeks 1, 2, and 3 and three behavioral responses to handling, measured on week 3, which form a behavioral syndrome in wild blue tit nestlings. Using 1 years of data and quantitative genetic models, we find that all behaviors and body mass on week 3 are heritable (h(2) = 0.18-0.231 and genetically correlated, whereas earlier body masses are not heritable. We also find evidence for environmental correlations between body masses and behaviors. Interestingly, these environmental correlations have different signs for early and late body masses. Altogether, these findings indicate genetic integration between body mass and behavior and illustrate the impacts of early environmental factors and environmentally mediated growth trajectory on behaviors expressed later in life. This study, therefore, suggests that the relationship between personality and body mass in developing individuals is due to various underlying mechanisms, which can have opposing effects. Future research on the link between behavior and body mass would benefit from considering these multiple mechanisms simultaneously

Exploratory behavior undergoes genotype-age interactions in a wild bird

Animal personality traits are often heritable and plastic at the same time. Indeed, behaviors that reflect an individual's personality can respond to environmental factors or change with age. To date, little is known regarding personality changes during a wild animals' lifetime and even less about stability in heritability of behavior across ages. In this study, we investigated age-related changes in the mean and in the additive genetic variance of exploratory behavior, a commonly used measure of animal personality, in a wild population of great tits. Heritability of exploration is reduced in adults compared to juveniles, with a low genetic correlation across these age classes. A random regression animal model confirmed the occurrence of genotype-age interactions (GxA) in exploration, causing a decrease in additive genetic variance before individuals become 1 year old, and a decline in cross-age genetic correlations between young and increasingly old individuals. Of the few studies investigating GxA in behaviors, this study provides rare evidence for this phenomenon in an extensively studied behavior. We indeed demonstrate that heritability and cross-age genetic correlations in this behavior are not stable over an individual's lifetime, which can affect its potential response to selection. Because GxA is likely to be common in behaviors and have consequences for our understanding of the evolution of animal personality, more attention should be turned to this phenomenon in the future work

1956 Ruby Yearbook

A digitized copy of the 1956 Ruby, the Ursinus College yearbook.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/ruby/1059/thumbnail.jp

1966 Ruby Yearbook

A digitized copy of the 1966 Ruby, the Ursinus College yearbook.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/ruby/1069/thumbnail.jp

1969 Ruby Yearbook

A digitized copy of the 1969 Ruby, the Ursinus College yearbook.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/ruby/1072/thumbnail.jp

Disease Mongering in Drug Promotion: Do Governments Have a Regulatory Role?

Most regulatory agencies, says Mintzes, fail to treat regulation of drug promotion as a public health concern. Unless this changes, she says, the public can expect more unfettered disease mongering

1971 Ruby Yearbook

A digitized copy of the 1971 Ruby, the Ursinus College yearbook.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/ruby/1074/thumbnail.jp

The Freshman, vol. 6, January 1936

The Freshman was a weekly, student newsletter issued on Mondays throughout the academic year. The newsletter included calendar notices, coverage of campus social events, lectures, and athletic teams. The intent of the publication was to create unity, a sense of community, and class spirit among first year students. Featured in this issue is Bob Cail\u27s eye witness account of the Oaks Hall dormitory fire. Cail was an Oak Hall occupant