MONNIN Thibaud
Directeur de Recherche au CNRS
Directeur adjoint de iEES Paris
Recherche
Régulation des conflits sociaux
Je m’intéresse à l’évolution de la coopération et plus précisément à la manière dont les groupes sociaux régulent les inévitables conflits d’intérêts qui existent en leurs seins. Ceux-ci comprennent la compétition entre reines, la production de mâles par les ouvrières, et la production de reines par les ouvrières dans les espèces primitivement eusociales où les ouvrières peuvent s’accoupler ou dans les espèces où la parthénogenèse thélytoque existe. J’étudie ces conflits expérimentalement dans la cadre de la sélection de parentèle, c’est-à-dire en prenant en compte les coûts et les bénéfices de la reproduction directe et de la reproduction indirecte de toutes les parties impliquées (reine, ouvrières pondeuses et non pondeuses). Ce travail est fait en collaboration avec Claudie Doums.
Regulation of social conflitcs
I am interested in the evolution of cooperation and, more specifically, in how social groups regulate the inevitable conflicts of interest between group members. These include competition between queens, male production by workers, and queen production by workers in primitively eusocial species where they can mate or in species where thelytokous parthenogenesis occurs. I experimentally study these reproductive conflicts using kin selection theory thinking, i.e. taking into account the inclusive fitness costs and expected benefits for all parties of interest involved (queen, reproducing workers, non-reproducing workers). Most of these works are done in collaboration with Claudie Doums.

A Cataglyphis piliscapa forager transports another worker to a new colony founded by colony fission
Compromis compétition/colonisation
Je m’intéresse aussi aux stratégies au niveau de la colonie, comme le déménagement des colonies et la fondation de nouvelles colonies. J’étudie quels facteurs favorisent la fondation par fission (c.-à-d. la production de quelques propagules compétitives, formées par une reine accompagnée de nombreuses ouvrières) ou au contraire la fondation indépendante (c.-à-d. production de nombreuses propagules très dispersives, formées d’une reine volante seule). Ceci est fait à l’aide de simulations en collaboration avec Adam Cronin et Nicolas Loeuille.
Competition/colonization trade-off
I am also interested in colony-level strategies, such as colony relocation and the foundation of new colonies. Using agent-based modelling, I am starting to study which factors favour foundation by colony fission (i.e. production of few competitive propagules, formed by a queen accompanied by numerous workers) and which favour independent colony foundation (i.e. production of numerous high dispersal propagules, formed by a lone winged queen). This is done in collaboration with Adam Cronin and Nicolas Loeuille.
Foundation of new colonies by winged queens dispersing solitary by flight (blue, dispersal strategy) and apterous queens dispersing with workers on foot (red, competitive strategy) in rich (green) and poor (brown) patches
Évolution des castes et tampon social
En collaboration avec Mathieu Molet j’étudie aussi comment la socialité peut favoriser l’évolution de nouvelles morphologies de reines et d’ouvrières. La répartition des tâches et la division du travail qui caractérisent les sociétés d’insectes pourraient permettre de bénéficier de la présence d’individus meilleurs à réaliser certaines tâches même s’ils sont très mauvais aux autres.
Caste evolution and colony buffering
In collaboration with Mathieu Molet I also study whether and how colonies may facilitate the evolution of new queen and worker morphology. Indeed, division of labour and task partitioning that is characteristic of social insect societies may allow taking advantage of individuals better at one task even if they are disproportionately poor at other tasks.
Publications
The full list and formated pdfs are available at https://sites.google.com/view/thibaudmonnin/publications
Référence Liens
Eyer P-A, Finand B~, Mona S, Khimoun A, d’Ettorre P, Fédérici P*, Leroy C, Cornette R, Chifflet-Belle P, Monnin T*, Doums C (2022) Integrative characterisation of genetic and phenotypic differentiation in an ant species complex with strong hierarchical population structure and low dispersal abilities. Heredity 10.1038/s41437-022-00590-6
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Planas-Sitjà I., Monnin T.*, Loeuille N.*, Cronin A.L. (2022) To disperse or compete? Coevolution of traits leads to a limited number of reproductive strategies. bioRxiv 10.1101/2022.11.27.518112
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Finand B.~, Monnin T.*, Loeuille N.* (2022) Evolution of dispersal and the maintenance of fragmented metapopulations. bioRxiv 10.1101/2022.06.08.495260
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Lavallée F, Chérel G, Monnin T* (2021) No coordination required for resources allocation during colony fission in a social insect? An individual-based model reproduces empirical patterns. Animal Cognition 10.1007/s10071-021-01561-w
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Picot A~, Monnin T, Loeuille N (2021) Implications of (co)evolution of agriculture and resource foraging for the maintenance of species diversity and community structure. bioRxiv 10.1101/2021.03.02.433551
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Doums C, Monnin T* (2020) To have and not to have sex: when multiple evolutions of conditional use of sex elegantly solve the question in the ant genus Cataglyphis. Molecular Ecology 29:445-447 10.1111/mec.15352
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Picot A~, Monnin T*, Loeuille N* (2019) From apparent competition to facilitation: impacts of consumer niche construction on the coexistence and stability of consumer-resource communities. Functional Ecology 33:1746-1757 10.1111/1365-2435.13378
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Monnin T*, Helft F, Leroy C, d’Ettorre P, Doums C (2018) Chemical characterization of young virgin queens and mated egg-laying queens in the ant Cataglyphis cursor: random forest classification analysis for multivariate datasets. Journal of Chemical Ecology 44:127-136 10.1007/s10886-018-0923-7
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Doums C, Fédérici P*, Schiffet-Belle P, Monnin T* (2018) Worker thelytoky allows requeening of orphaned colonies but increases susceptibility to reproductive cheating in an ant. Animal Behaviour 135:109-119 10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.11.013
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Boulay R, Aron S, Cerdá X, Doums C, Graham P, Hefetz A, Monnin T* (2017) Social life in arid environments: the case study of Cataglyphis ants. Annual Review of Entomology. 62:305-321 10.1146/annurev-ento-031616-034941
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Londe S~, Molet M*, Fisher BL, Monnin T* (2016) Reproductive and aggressive behaviours of queen-worker intercastes in the ant Mystrium rogeriand caste evolution.Animal Behaviour120:67-76 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.07.026
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Cronin AL, Monnin T*, Sillam-Dussès D*, Aubrun F~., Fédérici P*, Doums C (2016) Qualitative bias in offspring investment in a superorganism is linked to dispersal and nest inheritance. Animal Behaviour119:1-9 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.06.018
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Cronin AL, Loeuille N*, Monnin T* (2016) Strategies of offspring investment and dispersal in a spatially structured environment: a theoretical study using ants. BMC Ecology 16:4 10.1186/s12898-016-0058-z
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Helft F,~ Doums C, Monnin T* (2016) No evidence of pre-copulatory mate choice by gynes in the facultatively parthenogenetic ant Cataglyphis cursor. Insectes sociaux 63:199-201 10.1007/s00040-015-0444-0
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Sylvain Londe,Thibaud Monnin,Raphaël Cornette,Vincent Debat,Brian L. Fisher,Mathieu Molet (2015-12) Phenotypic plasticity and modularity allow for the production of novel mosaic phenotypes in ants. EvoDevo. 6:42005 10.1186/s13227-015-0031-5
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Florence Helft,Thibaud Monnin,Claudie Doums,T. Tregenza (2015-07) First Evidence of Inclusive Sexual Selection in the Ant Cataglyphis cursor : Worker Aggressions Differentially Affect Male Access to Virgin Queens. Ethology. 121:641-650 10.1111/eth.12376
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Alessandro Cini,Rachele Nieri,Leonardo Dapporto,Thibaud Monnin,Rita Cervo (2014-03) Almost royal: incomplete suppression of host worker ovarian development by a social parasite wasp. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 68:467-475 10.1007/s00265-013-1661-z
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- Boulinier T, Charmantier A, Doligez B, Doutrelant C, Ganem G, Grégoire A, Leitão A, Monnin T (2016) Ecologie comportementale: une approche évolutive du comportement. In “Biologie évolutive“, 2nde édition (Thomas F, Lefevre T, Raymond M éds.). De Boeck Université, Bruxelles, pp 511-552 (1ère édition 2010, pp 491-532)
- Monnin T, Espadaler X, Lenoir A, Peeters C (2013) Guide des fourmis de France. Éditions Belin, collection «Guides des fous de nature». 160 p
- Monnin T, Peeters C, Doums C (2007) Conflits sociaux. Hors-série Sciences et Avenir 152:57-60 pdf
- Monnin T, Peeters C (2007) Fourmis ouvrières au pouvoir. La Recherche 405:58-6 1 pdf
- Monnin T (2006) Les stratégies de reproduction chez la guêpe sociale Polistes dominulus : estimation de la fertilité et conflits d’intérêts lors de l’héritage de la colonie. Annales de la fondation Fyssen 21:114-123 pdf
Encadrement | Supervision
Contact me (thibaud.monnin@sorbonne-universite.fr) for inquiries and additional information regarding master internships, PhDs and post-docs.
- 2014-2015: Thomas Garcia. Co-supervision with Nicolas Loeuille, funded by the Programme Convergence of Sorbonne Université
- 2012-2013: Alessandro Cini. Funded by Fyssen fondation
- 2010-2012: David Sillam-Dussès. Co-supervision with Claudie Doums, funded by Sorbonne Université (ATER)
- 2008-2010: Adam Cronin. Funded by National Research Agency (ANR)
- 2007-2007: Mathias Gauduchon. Co-supervision with Minus van Baalen, funded by National Research Agency (ANR)
- 2021-2024: Fátima Abigail García Ibarra. Co-supervision with Pascal Jouquet, funded by the Mexican National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT) and Research Institute for Development (IRD)
- 2019-2022: Basile Finand. Co-supervision with Nicolas Loeuille, funded by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research
- 2015-2018: Aurore Picot. Co-supervision with Nicolas Loeuille, funded by École Nationale Supérieure (ENS)
- 2011-2014: Florence Helft. Co-supervision with Claudie Doums, funded by École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE)
- 2011-2014: Sylvain Londe. Co-supervision with Mathieu Molet, funded by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research
- 2006-2009: Blandine Chéron. Co-supervision with Claudie Doums, funded by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research
- 2021-2022: Léa Darmedru. Co-supervision with Nicolas Loeuille & Basile Finand. M1, Sorbonne Université
- 2021-2022: Luna Vion-Guibert. Co-supervision with Fátima García Ibarra & Pascal Jouquet. M1, Sorbonne Université
- 2021-2022: Clara Ducrocq. Co-supervision with Fátima García Ibarra & Pascal Jouquet. M1, Sorbonne Université
- 2020-2021: Manon Dehalle. Co-supervision with Nicolas Loeuille & Basile Finand. M1, Université Paris Saclay
- 2020-2021: Joséphine Ledamoisel. Co-supervision with Nicolas Loeuille & Basile Finand. M1, Université Paris Saclay
- 2019-2020: Justine Descloitre. Co-supervision with Pascal Jouquet. M2, Sorbonne Université
- 2019-2020: Michelle Silva del Pozo. Co-supervision with Nicolas Loeuille & Basile Finand. M1, Sorbonne Université
- 2019-2020: Nina Vittorelli. M1, École Nationale Supérieure
- 2018-2020: Pascaline Chifflet-Belle. Co-supervision with Claudie Doums. Diplôme de l’École Pratique des Hautes Études
- 2017-2018: Elise Verrier. Co-supervision with Nicolas Loeuille & Aurore Picot. M2, Université Paris Sud
- 2017-2018: Miranda Adele Vogt. Visiting student, Stanford University
- 2014-2015: Camille Sanchez. Co-supervision with Claudie Doums. M2, Université Pierre et Marie Curie
- 2013-2014: Anna Mazaleyrat. Co-supervision with Claudie Doums. M1, Université Paris Sud
- 2013-2014: Mathilde Salamon. L3, Université Paris Sud
- 2012-2013: Elena González de Benito. Co-supervision with Pierre Fédérici. M1, UPMC (Erasmus, Madrid)
- 2011-2012: Nick van der Veken. Co-supervision with Patrizia d’Ettorre. M1, Université Paris Nord
- 2011-2012: Jeffrey Carbillet-Malherbe. Co-supervision with Claudie Doums et Mathieu Molet. L2, Université Paris Nord
- 2011-2012: Clarisse Judes. Co-supervision with Claudie Doums et Mathieu Molet. L2, Université Paris Nord
- 2010-2011: Lawrence Chu. M1, Université Pierre et Marie Curie
- 2009-2010: Darja Dubravcic. Co-supervision with Claudie Doums. M2, Université Paris Descartes
- 2009-2010: Elphie Hamdi. Co-supervision with Claudie Doums. M1, AgroParisTech
- 2009-2010: Chloé Monestier. Co-supervision with Claudie Doums. M1, AgroParisTech
- 2008-2009: Florence Helft. Co-supervision with Claudie Doums. M2, Université Paris Nord
- 2008-2009: Ulla Vattulainen. M1, UPMC (Erasmus, Helsinki)
- 2006-2007: Aurore Avargues. M2, Université Paris Nord
- 2006-2007: Alessandro Cini. M2, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy
- 2006-2007: Isabelle Follin. M1, Université de Bordeaux 1
- 2006-2007: Vincent Lecat. M1, Université Pierre et Marie Curie
- 2004-2005: Antoine Collin. Co-supervision with Claudie Doums. M1, Université Pierre et Marie Curie
- 2004-2005: Aude Crébassa. M1, Université Pierre et Marie Curie
- 2003-2004: Laëtitia Maruejouls. M1, Université Pierre et Marie Curie
- 2002-2003: Mathieu Molet. M2, École Nationale Supérieure
- 2002-2003: Samuel Guiton. M1, Université Pierre et Marie Curie
- 2002-2003: Sébastien Virth. M1, Université Pierre et Marie Curie