Professor
Phone : (33)1.40.97.74.83
Mail : Eric.Vallet@parisnanterre.fr
Research interests
The thematic axe on which my research has been developed in close collaboration with
Michel Kreutzer,
Laurent Nagle and a number of foreign specialists, is that of
Acoustic Preferences in Female Songbirds. We chose the
common canary as a model for this research. This species has shown to be an ideal model for pinpointing, within complex songs, vocalizations having an important sexual value, neuronal substrates involved in the emitter's and the receiver's discrimination abilities and also peripheral restraints at various levels of the emitter's acoustic-respiratory apparatus. Thanks to recent advances on this model, numerous collaborations have been carried out, notably with
Roderick Suthers (University of Bloomington, USA) and
Manfred Gahr (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands), in order to test the legitimacy of certain of our observations in other songbird species and to isolate the physiological mechanisms involved in these vocalizations. I have also recently found an interest in the common canary's
social status in relation to mate choice, using behavioral, hormonal, and vocal indicators.
Collaborations Roderick Suthers
Université de Bloomington
USA
Manfred Gahr
Université d'Amsterdam
Pays-Bas
Selection of Publications (past ten years)
Parisot, M., Tanvez, A., Lacroix, A, Vallet, E., Beguin, N. & Leboucher, G. 2005. Social competition and plasma testosterone profile in domesticated canaries : An experimental test of the challenge hypothesis. Hormones and Behavior , 48, 225-232.
Suthers, R.A., Vallet, E., Tanvez, A. & Kreutzer, M. 2004. Bilateral song production in domestic canaries. Journal of Neurobiology, 60, issue 3, 381-393.
Parisot, M., Nagle, L., Vallet, E. & Kreutzer, M. 2004. Dominance-related foraging in female domesticated canaries under laboratory condition. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 82, 1246-1250.
Parisot, M., Vallet, E., Nagle, L. & Kreutzer, M. 2002. Male canaries discriminate among songs : Call rate is a reliable measure. Behaviour, 139, 55-63.
Nagle, L., Kreutzer, M. & Vallet, E. 2002. Adult female canaries respond to male song by calling. Ethology, 107, 1-10.
Kreutzer, M., Beme, I. ,Vallet, E. & Kiosseva, L. 1999. Social stimulation modulates the use of the "A" phrase in male canary songs. Behaviour, 136,1325-1334