Claudie DOUMS

MAIN ONGOING RESEARCH PROJECTS

Key-words

Evolutionary ecology, molecular ecology, reproductive strategies, life-history traits, morphology, phenotypic plasticity, social conflicts, social insects.

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If you are interested by a M2 internship for one of the two first projects, do not hesitate to contact me using my ephe.psl email

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Evolution of supergenes in ants (ANR SOGENANT)

Supergenes are groups of neighbouring genes inherited as a single Mendelian element. They play a central role in the evolution of complex phenotypes. Recently, our PhD student, Antoine Taupenot,  has discovered a novel social supergene in the ant species Myrmecina graminicola accompanied by another (smaller) supergene determining wing polymorphism (presence or absence of wings in the queen). This unique and original system of supergenes offers a great opportunity to shed light on the intricated multilevel effects of supergenes combining selfish and cooperative effects and on the powerful role of supergenes as drivers of adaptation, especially through their effects on dispersal. 

The aim of our project is therefore to combine genomics, ecological, behavioural and chemical approaches to better characterize the evolutionary history of these supergenes and the maintenance of their associated polymorphisms in the ant genus Myrmecina. Our project addresses two main questions: (i) How do these supergenes evolve at a deep evolutionary scale? and (ii) Which mechanisms act on the maintenance of the supergene polymorphism?

Collaborators: ISYEB (S. Mona), IEES-Paris (T. Monnin, M. Molet), LEEC Villetaneuse (P. D’Ettore)

Evolution of sex and sexual selection in C. piliscapa

C. piliscapa is a peculiar thermophilic ant in which the queen mate with males from different colonies to produce workers but use thelytokous parthenogenesis (originating daughters by asexual reproduction) to produce part, if not all, of the new queens (Doums et al. 2013; Pearcy et al. 2004). We are currently starting a new project on popopulation genomics with Stefano Mona and an ATER of EPHE-PSL, to compare peripheral and core populations of this species with the aim of (i) testing the hypothesis that sexual reproduction is selected for in peripheral populations submitted to more stressful environmental conditions, (ii) investigating the role of mutation load and gene flow in limiting the adaptation of peripheral populations. 

Mating strategies can be of considerable importance when the queen mate with several males on the ground as it is the case in C. cursor. We discovered that workers aggress males during mating, acting as a potential filtering process and indirect source of sexual selection (Helft et al. 2015, Eyer et al. 2022). Pascaline Chifflet-Belle, during her EPHE-PSL Diploma obtained in 2025, showed that workers play a role in limiting the mating efficiency of immigrant males by aggressing differentially males according to their genetic proximities to the young queens. 

Collaborators: IEES-Paris (T. Monnin), LEEC Villetaneuse (P. D’Ettore)

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 Urban ecology

Cities can be used as in situ replicates to assess the responses of organisms to environmental changes, such as increased heat or pollution. Using the small ant, Temnothorax nylanderi, we tested whether urban colonies differ from rural ones. We showed that urban and rural populations are not genetically differentiated (Khimoun et al 2020) whereas they differed by some foraging behaviors (Jacquier et al. 2023) and by their sensitivity to a major pollutant (Cadmium) (Jacquier et al. 2020). With Marie Gressler, a PhD student co-supervised by M. Molet, we tested whether urban ants show less bioaccumulation and are better at detoxifying. 

Collaborators: IEES-Paris (M. Molet), LEHNA Lyon (B. Kaufman).