Cassandre Aimon

About

I am a biologist with a special interest in animal behaviour and especially in fish. I have joined Dr. Vishwesha Guttal’s lab at IISc in October 2021 as a post-doctoral fellow to investigate the inter-individual interactions involved in information transfer during collective threat avoidance in mobile animal groups. This collaborative project with Pr. Guy Theraulaz from CNRS is funded by the CEFIPRA. In this project I use empirical and theoretical approaches including a method of aversive conditioning that mimics a natural threat detection event. This allows us to introduce perturbations in a controlled manner in the fish school and study how the information limited to only the trained individuals propagate through the entire school. Our data-driven modelling approach considers the stochastic nature of interactions in groups and finite group size aspects. This will enable us to quantitatively understand how local information transfers to the group-level collective response. Previously, I did my PhD at the University of Bretagne Occidentale in France. I have studied the behavioural and physiological response of fish to diverse changes in environmental conditions (food shortage, oil spill, mild hypercapnia). I have examined individual and social behaviours as well as individual energy metabolism as proxies of environmental disruption for the animals. In the past, I also worked on crab and mussel species.

Employment

• Université de Bordeaux Associate professor
  2025 - Present
• Centre Bretagne-Normandie Post-doc
  2024 - 2025
• Université de Caen Normandie ATER
  2023 - 2024
• Indian Institute of Science Research Associate
  2021 - 2024
• Université de Bretagne Occidentale Tutor in biology cognitive science to undergraduate classes of bachelor of psychology
  2016 - 2017
• Université de Bretagne Occidentale PhD student in Marine biology
  2015 - 2019
• University of Exeter Erasmus Master research project - Impact of sound and vibration on the physiology and the behaviour of mussels and crabs.
  2015 - 2015
• STARESO (Station de recherche océanographiques et sous-marines) Internship for population monitoring of patella ferruginea in Calvi Bay
  2014 - 2014
• Aquabio - Coopérative d'experts en écologie aquatique Sampler technician
  2013 - 2013
• Sorbonne University Internship
  2012 - 2012
• Université de Bordeaux Internship
  2011 - 2011

Education

• Université de Bretagne Occidentale PhD : Effect of the environment on the behavioural strategies of the European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax. Case studies of food deprivation and an oil spill.
  2015 - 2019
• ERASMUS Mundus consortium Universidad del pais Vasco ; Université de Liège ; Universitté de Bordeaux Master degree in Marine Environment and Ressources
  2013 - 2015
• University of Bordeaux Bachelor of Science
  2010 - 2013

Projects & Funding

Projects & funding information is unavailable.

Publications (6)

• Tracing information propagation in fish schools with a conditioned escape response
  2026 DOI: 10.64898/2026.08.04.742699
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• A call for increased integration of experimental approaches in movement ecology
  Biological Reviews 2025 DOI: 10.1111/brv.70025
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• Anthropogenic underwater vibrations are sensed and stressful for the shore crab Carcinus maenas
  Environmental Pollution 2021 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117148
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• Effects of dispersant treated oil upon exploratory behaviour in juvenile European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax)
  Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 2021 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.111592
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• Effet de l'environnement sur les stratégies comportementales du bar Dicentrarchus labrax. Cas d'une pénurie de nourriture et d'une marée noire
  2019 DOI: 10.70675/c9d4e40az7fc9z47b1z9028zef39b2144b8f
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• Food deprivation reduces social interest in the European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax
  Journal of Experimental Biology 2019 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.190553
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