Research Interest

2005-2008: PhD Université Paris Sud, supervision T. AUBIN & N. MATHEVON

    The aim of my PhD was to do a comparison with an evolutionary perspective of the acoustic communication systems of 3 nocturnal mediterranean seabird species (2 phylogenetically closely related and showing allopatric breeding areas -Puffinus yelkouan and Puffinus mauretanicus- and 1 belonging to a different genus and breeding in sympatric conditions with either P. yelkouan or P. mauretanicus -Calonectris d.diomedea-).
Much of my work was to understand how birds are able to vocally identify the species, the gender of their congeners, and their partner, and to study the coding-decoding processes in those recognition contexts. Another part of my study was to look at the geographical variations in the vocalisations among populations of a given species. I performed recordings of birds, field playback experiments, and used different softwares of acoustic analyses and syntheses such as Syntana, Avisoft, or Seewave.


2008-2009: Postdoctoral Fellow, Suthers Lab, Department of Biology, Indiana University, USA

     I am currently analyzing the physiological basis of the song production in Bengalese finches. Our hypothesis is that the coordination between the upper vocal tract (larynx, oro-esophageal cavity, and beak) and the syrinx depends on an auditory feedback. The knowledge gained from these experiments should enlighten the mechanisms of vocal control that also apply to many mammals learnt vocalizations including human speech.

2009-2010: ATER, Université Jean Monnet, St Etienne.

Current Projects & Collaborations

Collaborations

- IMEP, CNRS-UMR 6116, Equipe "Ecologie du Paysage et Biologie de la Conservation" headed by Dr. E. Vidal, Université Paul Cézanne - Aix en Provence, France.

- Equipe INSERM-Avenir, Centre CYCERON, Caen, France.Team headed by Pr. D.Vivien.

- Laboratoire d’Ethologie et Cognition Comparées, University of PARIS X, Nanterre, France;
headed by Pr. M. Kreutzer.

- GEMARS, Porto Alegre, Rio grande do Sul, Brazil; headed by Dr. M. Borges Martins, Dr. D.
Danilewicz and Dr. I. Moreno.


Grants

- Financial support from the French association “Cétacés en mer, Science et Partage”.

- PhD financial support from Big Mat French industry.


Teaching

Animal Biology, Cell Biology


Some Selected Publications

Curé, C., Aubin, T. and Mathevon, N. Intra-sex vocal interactions in two hybridizing seabird species: the Yelkouan and the Balearic shearwaters (Puffinus yelkouan and P. mauretanicus). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (in revision).

Bourgeois, K., Curé, C., Legrand, J., Gómez-Díaz, E., Vidal, E., Aubin, T. and Mathevon, N. 2007. Morphological versus acoustic analysis: what is the most efficient method for sexing Yelkouan shearwaters Puffinus yelkouan? Journal of Ornithology, 148: 261-269.

Curé, C., Aubin, T. and Mathevon, N. (2009). Acoustic divergence between two sympatric nocturnal burrowing petrels: the Yelkouan and the Cory’s shearwaters. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 96: 115-134.

Curé, C., Aubin, T. and Mathevon, N. (In press). Sex discrimination and mate recognition by voice in the Yelkouan shearwater Puffinus yelkouan. Bioacoustics.