Description du sujet de thèse

The PhD project is part of the CARAPATE project built within a partnership between CNRS, INRAE and EDF, aiming to characterize physiological adaptations of fish, in response to increasing water temperature, in a global warming context.

Continental aquatic ecosystems are facing high environmental constraints, such as high temperature variation, due to global change. However, mechanisms that precisely drive ecology of aquatic organisms remain unclear, and adaptive capacities of these species to chronic and acute temperature variability still need to be investigated. This component is of interest because ectotherm's metabolism is mainly driven by environmental temperature. Fish life history traits (growth, reproduction, survival) depend on temperature and could ultimately impact population dynamics and persistence.
Two contradictory hypotheses could be raised here: 1) fish already living in warmer environment could be better adapted to global warming, or 2) fish living in warmer environment are already at the edge of their adaptive capacities and will therefore drastically suffer from warming.

Using an integrative method that includes measures ranging from in vivo performance (swimming performance, metabolic rate) to cellular bioenergetics (mitochondrial efficiency, cellular respiration rate), and couples field work and experimental protocols, this PhD project aims to estimate the global energy budget of two freshwater fish species, European chub and Spirlin. Different populations distributed along a temperature gradient (from north to south of the Rhône River) will be sampled in situ and transferred to the lab to decipher adaptive mechanisms from metabolic plasticity.

Contexte de travail

Skills expected: the PhD candidate should have a strong background in ecophysiology, with particular interest on metabolism (in vivo and/or cellular level) measurements. The PhD candidate will have to deal with field sessions and experimental work, more specifically on fish biological model. English (oral and written) and statistical skills will be appreciated.

Supervision: the PhD candidate will join the ED205 EDISS doctoral school (Lyon), and will be supervised by two co-directors, Martin DAUFRESNE (INRAE Aix-Marseille) and Loic TEULIER (University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, UCBL). The PhD project is a collaborative work between Aix-Marseille INRAE Freshco team, LEHNA lab (UCBL) and EDF R&D (LNHE). During these 3 years, the PhD candidate will have to spend time in the different labs, especially in Lyon and Aix.

Informations complémentaires

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