Fran Bonier - Adjunct Assistant Professor

Research: I am broadly interested in understanding how animals cope with challenges in their environment. I investigate how animals respond to environmental challenges both in the short term, through behavioural and physiological responses, and in the long term, through demographic and evolutionary responses. To address my research questions, I draw on tools from numerous disciplines, including endocrinology, hematology, population genetics, and field biology techniques. I am also interested in understanding local adaptation, and its impacts on population divergence.

In my current work, I primarily use field studies of birds to address my research questions, but I have studied other organisms, and I am always interested in addressing my research questions in the most tractable and potentially productive system available.

»» Lab Website »« email: bonierf@queensu.ca »« telephone: 613-533-6000 x77334 ««

Some Recent Publications:

• Martin, P. R., F. Bonier, I. T. Moore, and J. J. Tewksbury. 2009. Latitudinal variation in the asynchrony of seasons. Ideas in Ecology and Evolution 2: 9-17.
• Bonier, F., P. R. Martin, I. T. Moore, and J. C. Wingfield. 2009. Do baseline glucocorticoids predict fitness? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 24: 634-642. 
• Munro, H. J., P. R. Martin, I. T. Moore, and F. Bonier. 2009. Blood parasites in adult and nestling birds in the Ecuadorian Andes. Ornitologia Neotropical 20: 461-465. 
• Bonier, F., P. R. Martin, I. T. Moore, and R. J. Robertson. 2009. The relationship between fitness and baseline glucocorticoids in a Passerine bird. General and Comparative Endocrinology 163: 208-213. 
• Martin, P.R., F. Bonier, and I.T. Moore. 2009. First observation of sap well use and maintenance in the Glossy Flowerpiercer (Diglossa lafresnayii). The Wilson Journal of Ornithology 121: 213-215. 
• Bonier, F., P. R. Martin, and I. T. Moore. 2008. First description of the nest and young of the agile tit-tyrant (Uromyias agilis). Ornitologia Neotropical 19:117-122. 
• Tidhar, W. L., F. Bonier, and J. R. Speakman. 2007. Sex- and concentration-dependent effects of predator feces on seasonal regulation of body mass in the bank vole Clethrionomys glareolus. Hormones and Behavior 52:436-444.
• Bonier, F., P. R. Martin, J. P. Jensen, L. K. Butler, M. Ramenofsky, and J. C. Wingfield. 2007. Premigratory life history stages of juvenile arctic birds: Costs, constraints, and trade-offs. Ecology 88: 2729-2735.
• Bonier, F., P. R. Martin, and J. C. Wingfield. 2007. Urban birds have broader environmental tolerance. Biology Letters 3: 670-673.
• Bonier, F., P. R. Martin, and J. C. Wingfield. 2007. Maternal corticosteroids influence primary offspring sex ratio in a free-ranging passerine bird. Behavioral Ecology 18: 1045-1050.
• Martin, P.R., F. Bonier, and J.J. Tewksbury. 2007. Revisiting Jablonski (1993): Cladogenesis and range expansion explain latitudinal variation in taxonomic richness. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 20: 930-936.
• Bonier, F., P.R. Martin, K.S. Sheldon, J.P. Jensen, S. Foltz, and J.C. Wingfield. 2007. Sex-specific consequences of life in the city. Behavioral Ecology 18: 121-129.