Animal ecophysiology is a discipline at the interface between the ecology and physiology of organisms that aims to understand the mechanisms by which organisms cope with the constraints of their environment. It uses concepts and techniques from comparative physiology, behavioral biology, energetics and evolutionary biology. The large community of ecophysiologists in France brings together lecturers from prestigious Universities and researchers from various institutes (CNRS, IFREMER, IRD, etc.) and extends well beyond France. The different members of this community encourage scientific excellence by promoting multidisciplinarity and improving communication between scientists and professionals who need the most recent information on the fundamental processes that govern the function of animals in their environment, and applications for the conservation and sustainability of resources in an ever-changing world. Newsletters via an electronic mailing list and a biennial conference allow the dissemination of results covering basic and applied research in animal ecophysiology to the scientific and professional community, resource users and the general public.

Every two years, the ecophysiologists of France organize the Colloque d'Ecophysiologie Animale, CEPA, to exchange knowledge and results between French and foreign researchers in the many fields of this discipline. The first meeting took place in 2013 in Lyon, then, in La Rochelle (2015), Strasbourg (2017) and Rennes (2019). In 2021, this conference will take place for the first time in Occitanie, in Montpellier. It will offer dedicated scientific sessions for the students, young and established researchers interested in presenting their latest results and thoughts. One priority will be to include as many young researchers as possible at the start of their careers (Master and PhD students, post-docs).

This 5^th edition of the CEPA / MAEP conference will be located on the Triolet campus of the University of Montpellier, France.

1/ Ecophysiology applied to conservation: understanding the mechanisms underlying biodiversity losses

Environmental requirements, constraints or changes sculpt the physiology, behaviour and life history traits of every individuals. Therefore, animal eco-physiology contributes to conservation biology through different sub-disciplines such as reproductive physiology and energetics, endocrinology, immunology, migration, energy and mass balance, feeding ecology… This approach provides mechanistic linkages with population processes and conservation policies. Questions about habitat usage, activity times, competition, foraging, reproduction, body condition are examined in order to develop a mechanistic understanding of how habitats (for example degrading habitats) influence animals at the individual, population and species level. Understanding physiological pathways sensitive to sensory stress, nutritional status, chronic hormonal stress and deprived immunology are central for deciphering and predicting the long-term survival of animals in human-shaped landscapes.

2/ Physiological plasticity and Adaptation: Move, acclimate/adapt or die.

The influences of plasticity, adaptation and distributional changes exhibit different levels of importance within and across the species range. Observing changes in performance and abundance within a population that are additional to natural demographic fluctuations through time is particularly difficult but can improve our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary processes occurring in the ‘core’, ‘leading’ and ‘trailing areas’ of a species range. Understanding the interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes as species respond to environmental and climate change is of primordial importance to explore how these processes might play out differently throughout a species’ range.

3/ Physiology, behavior & Energetics

Most species exhibit a wide range of physiological and behavioural adaptations that enable them to cope with fluctuations in climate and energy availability. Measuring energy demands and individual or group behaviours are indispensable to understand how animals organize their annual cycles and how individuals and populations respond to ecological stressors and climate-induced changes. This is a useful tool for conservation planning for invasive, endemic or endangered species.

4/ Environmental stress & Ecotoxicology

The aim of assessing the effects of environmental stressors such as xenobiotics, emerging pollutants such as micro/nanoplastics, pesticides… on individual living organisms, communities or populations is to provide reliable estimates for risk assessment and optimize health. More recently, the need for an evolutionary approach to ecotoxicology relying on the species fitness has been clearly emphasized for ecotoxicological risk assessment. Furthermore, the natural variation in the epigenetic profiles of species in responses to environmental stressors, the nature of dose-response relationships for epigenetic effects, and how to incorporate this information into ecological risk assessment should also be considered.

5/ Biological Invasions & Ecophysiology

The understanding of adaptive strategies of species to environmental stressors (including climate change) is of major importance in ecophysiology. In fact, species can colonize and establish in novel environments thanks to rapid adaptation and evolutionary change as well as phenotypic plasticity in response to different stressors. Invasive animal species are considered as the Anthropocene 'winners' and overall biological invasions can represent profound consequences for conservation of the biodiversity with notably the appearance of an increasing number of introduced species. To develop methods and predict the impact of biological invasions, a better knowledge of adaptive strategies is necessary.      

confirmed

Rosa FREITAS (Aveiro)

Claire Saraux (Strasbourg)

Myron PECK (Hambourg)

Shaun KILLEN (Glasgow)

Johannes OVERGAARD (Aarhus)

Carol LEE (Madison)