PEOPLE
Sylvain GIROUD
Principal Investigator
As an evolutionary ecophysiologist, my research focuses on the mechanisms enabling animal species to cope with environmental fluctuations. A particular interest of my research lies on the understanding of how heterothermic endotherms especially hibernators respond to environmental change and global warming. I tailored my education to learn how to use an integrative physiology approach to understand the animals ability to adapt at every levels of integration from the whole organism down to proteins and genes. In an effort to include in my research as many people as possible, I synergise my research, mentoring, and teaching to advance the field of energetics and metabolic adaptations of wild species in the context of environmental change. My inclusive and highly collaborative research provides many opportunities to students and young scientists to participate to multidisciplinary projects at local, national and international levels.
Alexandra THIEL
PhD Student
2020-2024
Alexandra holds a Master’s degree in wildlife ecology and wildlife management from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria and wrote her Master’s thesis on body temperature and activity patterns of wolverines in northern Sweden. Since then she has been working as a research technician at Inland Norway University, working intensively with ecophysiological data on a variety of species, including extensive field work, such as captures of various Scandinavian mammal species. In 2020, Alexandra started her PhD on the effects of environmental conditions and physical captures on Scandinavian brown bears. She is generally interested in ecological and ecophysiological questions, such as how the environment and human presence affect wildlife behaviour and physiology.
Lilian REDON
Master Student
2022-2023
Lilian pursued a Biology degree at Claude Bernard University of Lyon, specializing in Physiology. He then pursued a Master degree in Environment and Muscle Physiology, where he focused on evolutionary biology, ecophysiology, and ecology. During his master's thesis, Lilian conducted research on the intergenerational effects of early-life heterothermy expression in the Garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus), a small hibernating rodent. Specifically, he investigated how torpor patterns in early-life impacted the expression of heterothermy in the subsequent generation, as well as the potential consequences on seasonal telomere length dynamics throughout their lifespan. He performed experiments using a longitudinal protocol that involved recording temperature and activity data, along with measuring telomere length, in dormice placed in an outdoor experimental setup. Over the last year, Lilian has developed a keen interest in exploring the factors influencing torpor patterns during hibernation, their potential inheritance, and the resulting effects on life-history traits such as body mass, growth rate, and lifespan.
Barbara FUX
Master Student
2021-2023
Barbara obtained her Bachelor in Biology at the University of Vienna specialised in Animal Ecology. She further studied Ecology and Wildlife Management within the Master program of the University of Natural Resources & Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna. For her Master thesis she joined a perennial project investigating lifelong effects of energy saving strategies including the use of torpor or metabolic depression in a small hibernating rodent, the garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus). Concretely, she determines whether extensive torpor use during development has an effect on energy saving strategies later in life, and how it translates in terms of energetic management. Barbara is currently working on the writing of her thesis in order to make a significant and substantial contribution to the field of evolutionary physiology.
Beata SENTE
Master Student
2018-2023
Beata studied Biology at the University of Vienna with a focus on Zoology. Subsequently, she attended the University of Natural Resources & Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna, where she studied Wildlife Ecology and Management within the Master program. During her Master thesis, Beata investigates energetic strategies of juvenile garden dormice (Eliomys quercinus), a small hibernating rodent, during their first year of life. Specifically, she is studying the effects of social thermoregulation or huddling and food availability on the processes of growth & development, body mass gain & fattening in juvenile dormice prior to and during winter hibernation. She performed experiments using a longitudinal protocol including temperature and activity recordings, as well as measurements of metabolism in dormice under indoor experimental setup. Over the last years, Beata has developed a strong and particular interest in studying the adaptive responses of hibernating species in the context of ever-increasing climate change.
FORMER STUDENTS
Doctor of Philosophy, PhD
2019-2022
Théo CONSTANT
Théo has interest in the evolutionary aspects of dormancy, such as hibernation, daily torpor, diapause and aestivation, which have the potential to enhance survival in temporarily hostile environments across the animal kingdom. During his PhD conducted at the University of Strasbourg (France), Théo seek to understand what selection pressures, i.e., environmental factors including food availability, predation, competition, promote inactivity in some organisms. Another objective of his PhD work was to determine the survival benefits of dormancy and its influence on life history strategies in hibernating species. In an effort to foster a global vision, Théo developed theories to integrate different scales of biological organization (e.g., at the cellular, individual, and species levels) across various disciplines including ecophysiology, evolutionary ecology, disease ecology, and aging biology. To that end, he used during his PhD different approaches including comparative phylogeny analyses, laboratory experiments, and molecular assays (e.g., hormones, telomere length). Within his PhD work, he mainly focused on mammalian hibernation but has also interest in birds and ectotherms. His interest has brought him to develop a new project to test whether the expression of heterothermy in mammals and birds decreases the propensity of species to host pathogens.
Bernadette CARRÉ
Master of Science, MSc
2021-2022
Bernadette hold a Bachelor in Biology specialized in Physiology and a Master in Integrative Biology from Claude Bernard University of Lyon. During her studies, she took part in two scientific projects: one in Ecotoxicology at La Rochelle University (LIENSs) that aimed at investigating the impact of microplastics and pesticides on oysters (Crassostrea gigas) on their behaviour and survival, and one in Evolutionary Physiology at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Vienna, Austria. Her Master work had a particular focus on the lifelong effects of torpor use during early life stages on the seasonal heterothermy and telomere dynamics in the Garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus), a small hibernating rodent. Bernadette is specialized in Animal (Eco)Physiology and has a broad interest in Ecotoxicology, Genetic and Behaviour in connection to Animal Physiology.
Sandra STICKLER
Master of Science, MSc
2020-2022
Sandra studied Biology as Bachelor at the University of Vienna and Wildlife Ecology & Management as Master at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU). As a biologist, she is particularly interested in studying physiology and biochemistry of animals under extreme environmental situations. During her Master Thesis at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Vienna she worked on regional differences of within-body temperatures in hibernating garden dormice. In this research project, Sandra precisely measured organs temperatures and determined fatty acid composition of tissues and organelles, including of cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum membranes, which are known to play a crucial role in maintaining heart function during hibernation. Sandra demonstrated that the heart during torpor at single-digit body temperature has a temperature value about 7-8°C higher than the rest of the body, especially the abdomen where core body temperature (~2°C) is usually measured. Based on her interest in studying biochemical mechanisms, Sandra started a PhD thesis at the BOKU to study the biochemical changes occurring during cancer.
Lisa PRESTEL
Veterinary Diploma, Vet Dipl
2020-2022
In 2022 Lisa gained a diploma degree in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. During her last year of veterinary studies, she focused on Small Animal Medicine and Conservation Medicine. She conducted her diploma thesis at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Vienna, where she examined lifelong effects of developmental torpor use in the garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus). Specifically, she performed experiments in adult dormice of different torpor phenotypes triggered by contrasted early life experiences. The outcomes of this project shed great light on the understanding of evolutionary metabolic physiology and adaptive mechanisms enabling individuals to cope with long-term environmental variations. Currently Lisa is working at a small animal clinic in Lower Austria with a focus on internal medicine as well as emergency and critical care.
Laura CHARLANNE
Master of Science, MSc
2019-2020
Laura gained a Master degree in ecophysiology, evolution & behavioral ecology from the University of Rennes in 2021. As a veterinarian and biologist, she was always interested in understanding how organisms cope with environmental variations. She performed her Master thesis at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Vienna, where she worked on the role of social thermoregulation or huddling in hibernating garden dormice. Laura applied the use of infra-red thermography to test the effect of huddling on the energetic and heat exchanges in dormice during torpor and subsequent phases of periodic arousals where animals completely reverse their metabolism to return to euthermic body temperatures for a few hours. This project raised her interest for the study of physiological adaptations, such as hypometabolism, of animal species living in extreme environments. Currently a PhD researcher at the CNRS of Strasbourg (France), her interest lies in the study of behavioral and physiological strategies of the Southern elephant seal, a species repeatedly facing extreme events along its life, such as prolonged apnea during foraging at sea and prolonged fasting when molting or reproducing on land. Laura has particular interest in studying both behavioral and physiological strategies that highlight the complexity of animal adaptive responses to face extreme environments, as well as the importance of interindividual variability.
Marie-Thérèse RAGGER
Master of Science, MSc
2017-2020
Marie’s focus lies on wildlife conservation, notably on the ecology of animal species, a special interest that started when she found three endangered Forest dormice in the Carinthian mountains in Austria. As she raised and observed these emblematic species, Marie started a Bachelor in Biology at Karl-Franzens-University in Graz, Austria. Her observations and interest on dormice ecology has led her to write a Bachelor thesis on population dynamics of the Forest dormouse (Dryomys nitedula). Then, Marie carried on and obtained a Master degree in Wildlife Management and Ecology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna. During the Master, she realized her thesis on the Garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus) at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Vienna. The aim of this particular study was to find out how the Garden dormouse reacts to climate change, notably global warming during winter including physiological and cellular adaptations impacting individual’s somatic maintenance during hibernation. This study on the Garden dormouse, a highly endangered European species, particularly deals with nature conservation issue that is now part of Marie’s job at the District Office Freyung-Grafenau at the Bavarian Forest in Germany.
Anouck FOUR-CHABOUSSANT
Master of Science, MSc
2018-2019
Anouck studied Biology at Sorbonne University in Paris with a focus on Ecophysiology & Ecotoxicology. She joined the Ecophysiology group at the FIWI in Vienna to investigate telomere dynamics in juvenile garden dormice (Eliomys quercinus), a small hibernating rodent, during their first year of life. Specifically, Anouck studied the effects of social thermoregulation or huddling and food availability on telomere dynamics in juvenile dormice prior to and during winter hibernation. She performed experiments using a longitudinal protocol including temperature and activity recordings, as well as measurements of telomere length using qPCR in dormice under indoor experimental setup. Over the last years, Anouck developed a strong and particular interest in studying the adaptive responses of animal species in the context of ever-increasing climate change.
Kristina GASCH
Master of Science, MSc
2016-2018
Kristina studied Biological Sciences in Frankfurt and Wildlife Ecology & Management in Vienna. As a biologist, she was always interested in how the physiology and biochemistry of animals cope with extreme environmental conditions. During her Master Thesis at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Vienna she worked on periodic arousals in between torpor bouts in hibernating garden dormice. In this research project, Kristina used indirect calorimetry to measure oxygen consumption to test whether a metabolic imbalance occurs during torpor bouts as possible explanation of the occurence of periodic arousals during hibernation. Specifically, Kristina demonstrated the existence of an hourglass mechanism, where greater metabolic rate during torpor shortens torpor bout duration. Based on her interest in studying biochemical mechanisms of hypometabolism and hibernation, Kristina started and completed a PhD project during which she focused on cold adaptation in the red deer, notably by measuring membrane fatty acids composition and membrane bound enzyme activities during the cold and warm seasons.
Iris TARMANN
Master of Science, MSc
2016-2018
In 2018, Iris obtained her Master degree in Wildlife Ecology and Wildlife Management at the University of Natural Ressources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna. She performed her Master thesis at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology where she studied the effects of climate change, notably global warming, on the hibernation of the Garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus), an emblemetic European species thretaened by environmental changes. She compared torpor patterns, via measurements of metabolic rate and nest temperatures, at different controlled environmental temperatures, and assessed changes in relative telomere length, a good marker of biological ageing affected by oxidative stress. After her graduation, Iris started working at Greenpeace in Austria where she follows her original wish to protect the environment for endangered wildlife.
Britta MAHLERT
Master of Science, MSc
2013-2015
During her Bachelor degree, Britta studied Forest Sciences and Forest Ecology at the Georg-August University Göttingen before she decided to specialise herself in Wildlife Sciences by graduating from the Master Wildlife Ecology and Wildlife Management at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) in Vienna. Britta has a particular interest in life history strategies of mammals living under contrasted environmental conditions in a context of wildlife conservation. Within her Master thesis conducted at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Vienna, Britta studied the implications of being born late in the active season for growth and fattening, energetic strategies, winter survival and fecundity in a hibernating and highly endangered species, the Garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus). To this end, Britta compared pups from first litters to ones of the second litters, following individuals’ growth and development and during their first hibernation. After graduation Britta moved back to Germany where she is currently engaging in nature conservation.
Carla FRARE
Master of Science, MSc
2009-2010
Carla’s interest lies in the unique biological adaptations of species to face extreme conditions such as those occurring during hibernation. As a Master’s student at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology in Vienna, Carla focused on the maintenance of cardiac function during hibernation during which temperature plays a critical role. At low body temperature (<20°C), hibernators maintain cardiac contractility and function, while non-hibernator hearts experience severe arrhythmias and ventricular fibrillation, leading to cardiac arrest. During her Master, Carla demonstrated that (1) an increase in the activity of cardiac sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA), a key protein pump ensuring cardiac function, occurs in Syrian hamster heart during hibernation, which in turns (2) correlates with an increase in Linoleic acid in sarcoplasmic reticulum phospholipid membranes. These findings highlight the significant relationship between phospholipid composition, SERCA activity and body temperature, as well as SERCA as key enzyme in preventing heart failure during hibernation. Thereafter, Carla became gradually interested in understanding the central molecular mechanisms behind hibernation, and pursued in 2012 a PhD in Biochemistry and Neuroscience at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Since 2019, Carla joined Dr. Hewett’s laboratory at Syracuse University as an NIH F32 Post-Doctoral Fellow working on sex-dependent neuro-morphological adaptations to changes in the homeostasis of brain extracellular glutamate levels.
Undergraduate Researchers & Internships
2009-2010
Pierick Mouginot
Cécile Person
2011-13
Ines Hofer
Lea Weiß
Roland Tulzer
2013-14
Stefan Stumpfel
Stefanie Jernej
2016-17
Juraj Trecer
2019-2021
Laura Steininger
Sabrina Rosner
2021-22
Marta Grossiak
Camille Marie-Jean-Robert