Axis 2 : Adaptive mechanisms of populations
The specific and functional biodiversity, and the resilience of marine ecosystems in the face of changing environmental conditions, derive from the adaptive capacities of organisms, which result from a set of responses operating at different structural scales (molecule, organ, individual, population), temporal scales (intra- and inter-generational, contemporary and historical) and spatial scales (local, regional and global).
The fluctuations of environmental parameters (e.g. temperature, salinity, oxygen, pH conditions, etc.) underlying these responses can prove particularly significant in certain habitats, especially in land-sea interfaces. While the animals living there benefit from the productivity of these environments, they must nevertheless cope with their vulnerability and their degradation (fragmentation, contamination, rapid climate changes), often of anthropogenic origin.
In order to bring an evolutionary perspective to the study of the response of marine species to environmental pressures, we study neutral and selected genetic variability through two complementary approaches : (i) on the one hand, by studying the structuring and functioning of natural populations according to their demographic history and gene flow between populations, (ii) on the other hand, through an experimental component, to understand the response of individuals and populations to anthropogenic impacts.
The tools of population genetics and genomics, which allow us to move from the individual to the population and to integrate a trans-generational scale, make it possible to infer the evolutionary mechanisms of the contemporary adaptation of marine populations to rapid environmental changes caused by climate change and habitat degradation.
Some ongoing projects :
- Within the framework of the ANR project "DRIVE", we study the involvement of mito-nuclear incompatibilities in the maintenance of barriers to gene flow in a species characterised by doubly uniparental inheritance of mitochondria, the marine bivalve Limecola balthica.
- The "CŒUR" project aims to assess the combined effect, at the molecular scale, of thermal acclimatisation and the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) content of the trophic resource on the cardiac performance of the mullet Liza aurata (collaboration with Marie Vagner, axis 1 of the AMARE team)
- Within the framework of the FRB research programme "MERCy", the "RNA-SEP" project aims to understand the responses of cuttlefish embryos to different pCO2 conditions and metal concentrations (silver and mercury) using transcriptomics (collaboration with Thomas Lacoue Labarthe, axis 3 of the AMARE team)
- Within the framework of the CPER "DYPOMAR", we study the response of the black scallop to polymetallic pollution at the gene expression scale (collaboration with the BIOFEEL team and axis 1 of the AMARE team)
Contributors to this axis :
Researchers and Lecturers : Pascale Garcia, Giraudeau Mathieu, Malkócs Tamás, Hagemann Justus
Facilities/Platforms : Aquarium, Marais, Biologie Moléculaire, Cytométrie-Imagerie.