Luc Francois Bussiere

• Bauld, Joshua; Lehmann, David; Bussière, Luc F.; Bush, Emma R.; Dimoto, Edmond & Dikangadissi, Jean‐Thoussaint [Show all 13 contributors for this article] (2025). Rare Long‐Term Data Reveal the Seasonal Dietary Plasticity of Mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) in Response to Fruiting Tree Phenology. American Journal of Primatology. ISSN 0275-2565. 87(3). doi: 10.1002/ajp.70012. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  ABSTRACT Understanding primate dietary plasticity provides insights into trait evolution and resilience to environmental change. Here, we investigate the feeding ecology of mandrills ( Mandrillus sphinx ), a species that forms groups of close to 1000 individuals, which presumably impacts feeding ecology by creating exceptionally high feeding competition. Mandrills are also threatened by habitat loss and climate change, and a full understanding of their dietary plasticity is essential to ongoing conservation efforts. Evidence suggests that mandrills are generalist feeders and consume a wide variety of resources to compensate for shortfalls in fruit availability. However, a lack of long‐term data on fruit production within the mandrill geographic range means that it is unknown whether the flexible feeding strategies observed previously are stable over multiple years. We combined two rare data sets comprising 8 years of fecal collection and fruit availability to assess the dietary flexibility of mandrills in Lopé National Park, Gabon. We found fruit to be the most frequently consumed resource and fruit consumption covaried positively with fruit availability, peaking during periods of fruit abundance. Mandrill dietary diversity increased during periods of fruit scarcity, through greater consumption of animal prey, leaves, seeds, and other plant fibers. These results demonstrate that mandrills are primarily frugivorous, but that they are also highly flexible feeders, able to respond to temporal variation in fruit production over several annual cycles. In addition, we found that mandrills varied in the extent to which they preferred different fruit taxa. Lipid‐rich oil palm ( Elaeis guineensis ) fruits were by far the most frequently consumed resource and may constitute a staple resource for mandrills in the study site. Our multiyear study provides robust evidence for generalist feeding behavior by mandrills, which may be driven by extreme group sizes or past environmental fluctuations and provide resilience to future environmental change.

• Valero, Diana E.; McKeon, C. Rose; Bussière, Luc; Corniani, Natália; Colmenarez, Yelitza C. & Hodgson, Isla [Show all 10 contributors for this article] (2025). A Practical Approach to Developing and Using Online Games for Transdisciplinary Research into Complex Social-Ecological Systems. Society & Natural Resources. ISSN 0894-1920. 38(5), p. 539–539. doi: 10.1080/08941920.2025.2456938. Full text in Research Archive
• Mangan, Rosie M.; Vale,, Pedro F; Tinsley, Matthew C.; Ferrari, Ester; Polanczyk, Ricardo A. & Bussiere, Luc Francois (2025). Crop diversity induces trade-offs in microbial biopesticide susceptibility that could delay pest resistance evolution. PLoS Pathogens. ISSN 1553-7366. 21(5), p. 1013150–1013150. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1013150. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Pathogens often exert strong selection on host populations, yet considerable genetic variation for infection defence persists. Environmental heterogeneity may cause fitness trade-offs that prevent fixation of host alleles affecting survival when exposed to pathogens in wild populations. Pathogens are extensively used in biocontrol for crop protection. However, the risks of pest resistance evolution to biocontrol are frequently underappreciated: the key drivers of fitness trade-offs for pathogen resistance remain unclear, both in natural and managed populations. We investigate whether pathogen identity or host diet has a stronger effect on allelic fitness by quantifying genetic variation and covariation for survival in an insect pest across distinct combinations of fungal pathogen infection and plant diet. We demonstrate substantial heritability, indicating considerable risks of biopesticide resistance evolution. Contrary to conventional thinking in host-pathogen biology, we found no strong genetic trade-offs for surviving exposure to two different fungal pathogen species. However, changes in plant diet dramatically altered selection, revealing diet-mediated genetic trade-offs affecting pest survival. Our data suggest that trade-offs in traits not strictly related to infection responses could nevertheless maintain genetic variation in natural and agricultural landscapes.

• Partoft, Hanna; Bussière, Luc F; Cardinale, Massimiliano; Strand, Åsa & Laugen, Ane T (2025). Estimating a length-at-age relationship for an invasive bivalve with density-determined plastic growth. Journal of molluscan studies. ISSN 0260-1230. 91(2). doi: 10.1093/mollus/eyaf003. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  At the base of stock assessments, used to monitor invasive aquatic species and to sustainably harvest stocks, are estimates of body growth, a key parameter regulating animal populations. However, due to lack of data, obtaining these estimates can be challenging, but analytical approaches for ‘data-poor’ situations have been developed. Currently, the Pacific oyster (Magallana gigas) is spreading in northern Europe and a need for management strategies to control the invasion is evident. Using methods developed for data-poor situations, the von Bertalanffy growth function and electronic length-frequency analysis, we analysed 17,289 length measurements of wild Pacific oysters collected between 2007 and 2018 at five sites in Sweden to estimate its growth in temperate waters. We identified two distinct growth patterns, where individuals in habitats with high bivalve density grow faster in length compared to those in less dense habitats. Additionally, we found that Pacific oyster populations in Sweden are still growing towards their asymptotic lengths and that growth is reduced but not stopped during colder months. We conclude that our analysis constitutes the basis for future stock assessment and management of the species in areas with feral populations of commercial interest.

• Pärssinen, Varpu; Bussiere, Luc Francois; Wiberg, R Axel W; Wahlberg, Emma; LeBas, Natasha R & Irestedt, Martin [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2025). Evolution of female ornamentation in dance flies: valuable gifts are worth dressing up for. Evolution. ISSN 0014-3820. 80(1), p. 154–167. doi: 10.1093/evolut/qpaf212. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Elaborate female ornaments are rare in nature. One explanation for this is that female investment in ornamentation may take away crucial resources from other costly life history traits, such as fecundity, for which there is likely to be a higher fitness return. However, this trade-off between ornaments and fecundity may be less severe in species where the males offer the female an edible nuptial gift during mating. The nutrition gained from mating may make attracting males with elaborate ornaments more cost-effective for the female. We investigated this link in dance flies in which there is large variation in nuptial gifts, as well as female ornaments. Our phylogenetic analysis showed that nuptial gift value is positively associated with the evolution of female ornaments. We found that species that lack nuptial gifts have no ornaments, and high levels of female ornamentation have evolved most frequently in species with reliable access to an edible nuptial gift with each mating. Our results also suggest that female ornaments have most likely evolved following the evolution of nuptial gifts. We argue that the added benefits from each mating have helped the females to overcome the costs associated with the development and maintenance of ornaments.

• Harvey-Carroll, Jessica; Stevenson, Tyler J.; Bussiere, Luc Francois & Spencer, Karen A. (2024). Pre-natal exposure to glucocorticoids causes changes in developmental circadian clock gene expression and post-natal behaviour in the Japanese quail. Hormones and Behavior. ISSN 0018-506X. 163, p. 105562–105562. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2024.105562. Full text in Research Archive
• Wiberg, R Axel W; Clark, Nathan; Murray, Rosalind L; Connallon, Tim; Herridge, Elizabeth & Pärssinen, Varpu [Show all 8 contributors for this article] (2024). Sexually antagonistic coevolution can explain female display signals and male sensory adaptations. Evolution. ISSN 0014-3820. 78(12), p. 2016–2016. doi: 10.1093/evolut/qpae133. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract The prevalence and diversity of female ornaments pose a challenge to evolutionary theory because males should prefer mates that spend resources on offspring rather than on ornaments. Among dance flies, there is extraordinary variation in sexual dimorphism. Females of many species have conspicuous ornaments (leg scales and inflatable abdominal sacs). Meanwhile, males of some species have exaggerated regions of their eyes with larger ommatidial facets that allow for regionally elevated photosensitivity and/or acuity. Here, we conduct a comparative study of these traits using both species descriptions available from the literature, as well as quantitative measures of eyes and ornaments from wild-caught flies. We show a conspicuous covariance across species between exaggerated male dorsal eye regions and the extent of female ornaments: species with highly ornamented females have males with more exaggerated eyes. We discuss this pattern in the context of competing hypotheses for the evolution of these traits and propose a plausible role for sexually antagonistic coevolution.

• Auld, Stuart K. J. R.; Brand, June & Bussiere, Luc Francois (2023). The timings of host diapause and epidemic progression mediate host genetic diversity and future epidemic size in Daphnia parasite populations. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences. ISSN 0962-8452. 290(1995). doi: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2139. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Epidemics commonly exert parasite-mediated selection and cause declines in host population genetic diversity. This can lead to evolution of resistance in the long term and smaller subsequent epidemics. Alternatively, the loss of genetic diversity can increase host vulnerability to future disease spread and larger future epidemics. Matters are made more complex by the fact that a great many host organisms produce diapausing life stages in response to environmental change (often as a result of sexual reproduction; e.g. plant seeds and invertebrate resting eggs). These diapausing stages can disrupt the relationship between past epidemics, host genetic diversity and future epidemics because they allow host dispersal through time. Specifically, temporally dispersing hosts avoid infection and thus selection from contemporary parasites, and also archive genetic variation for the future. We studied 80 epidemics in 20 semi-natural populations of the temporally dispersing crustacean Daphnia magna and its sterilizing bacterial parasite Pasteuria ramosa , and half of these populations experienced a simulated environmental disturbance treatment. We found that early initiation of diapause relative to the timing of the epidemic led to greater host genetic diversity and reduced epidemic size in the subsequent year, but this was unaffected by environmental disturbance.

• Mangan, Rosie; Bussiere, Luc Francois; Polanczyk, Ricardo Antônio & Tinsley, Matthew C. (2023). Increasing ecological heterogeneity can constrain biopesticide resistance evolution. Trends in Ecology & Evolution. ISSN 0169-5347. 38(7), p. 614–614. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2023.01.012. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Microbial biopesticides containing living parasites are valuable emerging crop protection technologies against insect pests, but they are vulnerable to resistance evolution. Fortunately, the fitness of alleles that provide resistance, including to parasites used in biopesticides, frequently depends on parasite identity and environmental conditions. This context-specificity suggests a sustainable approach to biopesticide resistance management through landscape diversification. To mitigate resistance risks, we advocate increasing the range of biopesticides available to farmers, whilst simultaneously encouraging other aspects of landscape-wide crop heterogeneity that can generate variable selection on resistance alleles. This approach requires agricultural stakeholders to prioritize diversity as well as efficiency, both within agricultural landscapes and the biocontrol marketplace.

• Duthie, A. Bradley; Noble, Robert; Mangan, Rosie; McKeon, C. Rose; Tinsley, Matthew C. & Bussiere, Luc Francois (2023). resevol: An R package for spatially explicit models of pesticide resistance given evolving pest genomes. PLoS Computational Biology. ISSN 1553-734X. 19(12), p. 1011691–1011691. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1011691. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The evolution of pesticide resistance is a widespread problem with potentially severe consequences for global food security. We introduce the resevol R package, which simulates individual-based models of pests with evolving genomes that produce complex, polygenic, and covarying traits affecting pest life history and pesticide resistance. Simulations are modelled on a spatially-explicit and highly customisable landscape in which crop and pesticide application and rotation can vary, making the package a highly flexible tool for both general and tactical models of pest management and resistance evolution. We present the key features of the resevol package and demonstrate its use for a simple example simulating pests with two covarying traits. The resevol R package is open source under GNU Public License. All source code and documentation are available on GitHub.

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