Curriculum Vitae
After finishing his studies in Environmental Science at the Saxion University (2002), Luc worked as a research assistant for the ecological research institute Alterra on Texel (now called IMARES). Besides practical skills, he gained expert expertise in ArcGIS and MS Access. After deciding he wanted to become an independent researcher, he studied Biology at the University of Groningen, where he became a part of the furniture at the Animal Ecology Department.
Luc did three major research projects during his masters. Fistly, under Joost Tinbergen he studied frequency depedent survival in great tit fledglings in an experiment where brood sex ratio of whole woodlots were manipulated. His knowledge of survival analyses greatly helped him doing his second project on density dependent survival in the growing population of Mediterranean gulls in the Netherlands and Belgium under the supervision of Niels Dingemanse. For his last project, Luc travelled to Melbourne, Australia, where he worked with Jonathan Wright and Paul McDonald where he studied provisioning behaviour of parents and helpers in the cooperatively breeding bell miner.
Each of these projects resulted in published, or soon to be published findings. After completeing his masters with Cum Laude, he started a PhD at the Animal Ecology Department of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology under Marcel Visser in 2008 on the project ‘Adapting to a warmer world: phenology, physiology and fitness’.
Projects
The mechanism underlying plasticity: cost of reproduction
Many organisms reproduce earlier in warmer springs but, although it appears so at first glance, this phenotypic plasticity is not sufficient to cope with increased temperatures due to global climate change. Plants, insects and vertebrates respond differently to the increased temperature so organisms become mistimed to their food supply. This leads to selection on the way animals vary their timing in relation to environmental conditions (their phenotypic plasticity), as we have convincingly shown in the great tit. This makes studies of selection on, and heritability of, phenotypic plasticity both timely and important.
The variation in plasticity in timing of reproduction may be explained by among-individual variation in their ability to obtain resources for egg production. This project will therefore determine whether laying dates are constrained by the cost of egg production and incubation in early spring. Individuals who have to work hard to acquire enough resources under cold conditions will not be able to advance their laying dates without paying a large fitness cost. Such individuals should have shallow reaction norm slopes.
Research question: How does daily energy expenditure (DEE) change when the initial lay date of breeding great tits is either advanced or delayed and does the effect of the manipulation differ (1) between birds with different genetic backgrounds and (2) between birds in a rich or poor habitat?
Selected Publications
Luc te Marvelde, Simone L. Webber, Harro A.J. Meijer & Marce E. Visser. 2011. Energy expenditure during egg laying is equal for early and late breeding free-living female great tits. Oecologia. In Press
Luc te Marvelde, Simone L. Webber, Harro A.J. Meijer & Marcel E. Visser. 2011. Mismatched reproduction is energetically costly for chick feeding female great tits. Functional Ecology. In Press
Luc te Marvelde, Simone L. Webber, Arnold B. van den Burg & Marcel E. Visser. 2011. A new method for catching cavity-nesting birds during egg laying and incubation. Journal of Field Ornithology. In Press
Jonathan Wright, Paul G. McDonald, Luc te Marvelde, Anahita J.N. Kazem & Charles M. Bishop 2010
Helping effort increases with relatedness in bell miners, but unrelated helpers of both sexes still provide substantial care
Proceedings of the Royal Society B 277: 437-445
Luc te Marvelde, Peter L. Meininger, Renaud Flamant & Niels J. Dingemanse 2009
Age-specific density-dependent survival in Mediterranean Gulls Larus melanocephalus
Ardea 97(3): 305-312
Luc te Marvelde, Paul G. McDonald PG, Anahita J.N. Kazem & Jonathan Wright 2009
Do helpers really help? Provisioning biomass and prey type effects on nestling growth in the cooperative bell miner
Animal Behaviour 77 (3): 727-735
Paul G. McDonald, Luc te Marvelde, Anahita J.N. Kazem & Jonathan Wright 2008
Helping as a signal and the effect of a potential audience during provisioning visits in a cooperative bird
Animal Behaviour 75 : 1319-1330
Christiaan Both & Luc te Marvelde 2007
Climate change and timing of avian breeding and migration throughout Europe
Climate Research 35: 93–105
ResearcherID Luc te Marvelde
Links
Personal webpage Marcel Visser
Personal webpage Sonja Schaper
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