Peer-Reviewed Publications

Merkx-Jacques, M, Despland, E and Bede, JC. Nutrient utilization by generalist caterpillars of the beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua. Physiological Entomology in press.

Babic, B, Poisson, A, Darwish, SA, Lacasse, J, Merkx-Jacques, M, Despland, E and Bede, JC. Influence of dietary nutritional composition on caterpillar salivary enzyme activity. Journal of Insect Physiology in press.

Nemiroff, L and Despland, E. 2007. Consistent individual differences in the foraging behaviour of forest tent caterpillars ( Malacosoma disstria). Canadian Journal of Zoology in press.

Etile, E and Despland, E. 2007. Developmental variation in the forest tent caterpillar: life history consequences of a threshold size for pupation. Oikos in press.

Colasurdo, N, Dussutour, A & Despland, E. Do food protein and carbohydrate content influence the timing of caterpillar meals? Physiological Entomology in press.

Dussutour, A, Simpson, S.J., Despland, E. & Colasurdo, N. 2007. When the group denies individual nutritional wisdom. Animal Behaviour in press.

Despland, E. & Le Huu, A. 2007. Pros and cons of group-living in the forest tent caterpillar: separating the roles of silk and of grouping. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 122: 181-189

Jones, B. C. and Despland, E. 2006. Effects of synchronization with host plant phenology occur early in the larval development of a spring folivore. Canadian Journal of Zoology 84: 628-633.

Noseworthy, M. and Despland, E. 2006. How do primary nutrients affect the performance and preference of forest tent caterpillars on trembling aspen? The Canadian Entomologist 138: 367-375.

Buhl, J., Sumpter, D.J., Couzin, I.D., Hale, J., Despland, E, Miller, E & Simpson, S.J. 2006. From disorder to order in marching locusts. Science 312: 1402-1406.

Despland, E. 2006. Diet breadth and anti-predator strategies in desert locusts and other Orthoptera. Journal of Orthoptera Research 14: 227-233.

Despland, E. and Simpson, S. J. 2006. Resource distribution mediates synchronization of physiological rhythms in locust groups. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 273: 1517-1522.

Despland, E. and Noseworthy, M. 2006. How well do specialist feeders regulate nutrient intake? Evidence from a gregarious tree-feeding caterpillar. Journal of Experimental Biology 209: 1301-1309.

Peters, M. I. and Despland, E. 2006. Plasticity in forest tent caterpillar self-organized collective foraging. Ethology 112: 521-528

Colasurdo, N and Despland, E. 2005. Social cues and following behavior in the forest tent caterpillar. Journal of Insect Behavior 18: 77-87.

Despland, E. and Simpson, S.J. 2005. Surviving the change to warning colouration: density-dependent polyphenism suggests a route for the evolution of aposematism. Chemoecology 15: 69-75.

Despland, E. and Simpson, S.J. 2005. Food choices of solitarious and gregarious locusts reflect cryptic and aposematic anti-predator strategies. Animal Behaviour 69:471-479.

Despland, E. and Hamzeh, S. 2004. Ontogenetic changes in social behaviour in the forest tent caterpillar Malacosoma disstria. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 56: 177-184.

Despland, E., Simpson, S.J., Rosenberg, J. 2004. Landscape structure and locust swarming: a satellite's eye view. Ecography 27: 381-391.

Despland, E. 2004. Locust transformation: from solitarious Dr Jekyll to swarming Mr. Hyde. Biologist 51:18-22.

Rogers, S.M., Despland, E., Dodgson, T., Burrows, M., Simpson, S.J. & Matheson, T. 2003. Mechanisms of mechanosensory induced behavioural gregarization in the Desert Locust Schistocerca gregaria. Journal of Experimental Biology 206: 3991-4002.

Despland, E. 2003. Fractal index captures role of vegetation clumping in locust swarming. Functional Ecology 17:315-322.

Simpson, S.J., Despland, E., Hägele, B., & Dodgson, T. 2001. Gregarious behavior in desert locusts is evoked by touching their back legs. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 98:3895-3897.

Despland, E. 2001. Role of olfactory and visual cues in the attraction/repulsion responses of crowd- and solitary-reared locusts. Journal of Insect Behaviour 14:35-46.

Despland, E., Collett, M. & Simpson, S. J. 2000. Small-scale processes in Desert Locust swarm formation: how vegetation patterns influence gregarisation. Oikos, 88, 652-663.

Despland, E. & Simpson, S. J. 2000a . The role of food distribution and nutritional quality in behavioural phase change in the desert locust. Animal Behaviour, 59: 643-652.

Despland, E. & Simpson, S. J. 2000b. Small-scale vegetation patterns in the parental environment influence the phase state of hatchlings of the Desert Locust. Physiological Entomology, 25, 74-81.

Fréchette, M. & Despland, E. 1999. Impaired shell gaping and food depletion as mechanisms of asymmetric competition in mussels. Ecoscience, 6, 1-11.

Collett, M., Despland, E., Simpson, S. J. & Krakauer, D. C. 1998. The spatial scales of desert locust gregarisation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 95, 13052-13055.

Despland, E. & Houle, G. 1997b. Aspect influences cone abundance within the crown of Pinus banksiana, Lamb. at the limit of the species distribution in northern Québec (Canada). Ecoscience 4, 521-525.

Despland, E. & Houle, G. 1997a. Climate influences growth and reproduction of Pinus banksiana (Pinaceae) at the limit of the species distribution in eastern North America. American Journal of Botany 84:928-937.

Conference Communications

  • Second International Workshop on the Mathematics and Algorithms of Social Insects. Georgia Tech, Atlanta, USA, December 2003
  • Centre for Studies in Behavioural Neurobiology guest seminar. Concordia University, November 2003.
  • Societé Entomologique du Québec. Québec, Canada, November 2003
  • International Symposium for Behavioral Ecology, Montreal, Canada, July 2002
  • Guest member of the Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge, UK. Participant in the Workshop From Worker to Colony: Understanding the Organisation of Insect Societies , December 2001
  • Royal Entomological Society, Aberdeen, UK, September 2001
  • XIth Symposium on Insect-Plant Interactions. Helsingør, Denmark, July 2001
  • Oxford Entomological Society seminar, April 2000
  • Ecological Society of America 84th Annual Meeting. Spokane, USA, August 1999.
  • EMPRES-FA0 (UN), Desert Locust Western Region Programme. Nouakchott, Mauritania, March 1998.
  • CIRAD-PRIFAS guest seminar. Montpellier, France, July 1997.
  • 63rd Congress of the Association Canadienne-Française pour l'Avancement des Sciences. University of Québec in Chicoutimi, Canada, May 1995.
  • 25th Arctic Workshop. Laval University, March 1995.

Public Education

  • Despland, E. 2003.Studying Natural Predators at CAT. Clean Slate 50: 18-19
  • Despland, E. 1997. What makes a locust swarm? Second prize in the Wellcome Trust/New Scientist Millenial Science Essay Competition.
  • Despland, E. 1997. Boreal forest under pressure: two roads diverge in the Alaskan woods. Understory 7(1): 8-10.
  • Antoniazza, M., Paquet, G. & Despland, E. 1993. Recensement des batraciens: technique et résultats. Rapport du Groupe d'Etude et de Gestion, La Grande Cariçaie, Champ-Pittet, Switzerland.