Offre de stage de M1

 Internship M1 Animal Behaviour 01/04/2025 – 31/05/2025
Supervisors : Prof. Dr. Barbara Taborsky; Océane Ferreira (PhD candidate)
Lab : Division of Behavioural Biology, University of Bern
e-mail : barbara.taborsky@unibe.ch; oceane.ferreira@unibe.ch
Phone number : +41 78 847 32 72
Address : University of Bern, Division of Behavioural Ecology, Wohlenstrasse 50a, CH-3032
Hinterkappelen, Switzerland
Title of internship: Individual performance of helping behaviour based on early life
experiences
Abstract:
Early life experiences can profoundly and persistently shape the behavioural phenotypes of
animals, influencing traits such as social competence, risk-taking, and predator avoidance. This
study aims to investigate whether exposure to specific helping behaviours during early life
affects their subsequent performance in adulthood. Using cooperatively breeding cichlid fish as
a model, we provided early experiences in two helping tasks: defence and territory
maintenance. In this proposed master’s project, the student will conduct a series of experiments
to examine how these early experiences influence individual performance in the corresponding
helping behaviours later in life, shedding light on the developmental plasticity of cooperative
behaviours.
Gratification: no gratifications for Master students in Switzerland
Cost covered: The student may stay for free in the guest room of the Division.
Specific request (driving licence, English level …): This is an international lab with people
communicating in English. So a good communication level in English is required (Note:
Océane Ferreira is a native French speaker and can communicate with the student in French).