Julien Devilliers

PhD student, my main interests are the action of selective pressures at different scales: from the proteins (molecular biology/biophysics/biochemistry) to insect’s behaviour (ethology/ecology/evolutionnary biology).

Entomologist, I am using different insect models (mosquitoes, butterflies, cockroaches) to study the evolution of their communication and behaviour. I aim particularly keen on studying the evolution of visual communication: how did vision evolved, under which selective pressure and physiological constrainsts, and what is the impact of this evolution on species communication? On the vision side, insects possess photosensitive pigments (opsins) to which amino-acid sequence determines colour range sensitivity. Studying evolution of such genes can highligth the evolution of colour vision in these organisms. Insects are also able to perceive polarised light, direction of ligth vibration. Did emergence of polarised ligth vision enable a new visual communication pathway ‘hidden’ from predators?

I am particularly keen on using multidisciplinary approaches in my work, my backgroud includes ecology, evolutionary biology, molecular biology, genetics, biophysics, bioinformatics and museomics.