Themes: Species Conservation | Management and restoration of Natural and Agricultural ecosystems
Position at the Tour du Valat: Research Scientist, PhD – HDR (post-doctorate qualifications authorising the supervision of research)
Contact: e-mail [1] | Ph. +33 (0)4 90 97 29 73
Personal page: http://arnaudbechet.ouvaton.org [2]
Joined our team: 2002
Research interests and expertise
I am interested in approaching biodiversity conservation from scientific, ethical, and political points of view.
I coordinate our long-term study on the Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) and the Slender-billed Gull (Chroicocephalus genei). We are using an integrated approach based on tools from the fields of population dynamics, genetics, and behavioural ecology to improve our understanding of the biology of these two species.
Current & past projects carried out at the Tour du Valat
Publications
Find below the most recent publications of Arnaud Béchet, or see the full list [13] on the Tour du Valat’s documentary web portal:
- Drought-driven breeding failures of greater flamingos in an important bird area, in semi-arid southern Iran [14]de Ali Gholamhosseini, Mahta Jafari, Arnaud Béchet In Ornithology Research, 34(1) (April, 2026), 20 En ligne : doi.org[...] [15] In recent years, many wetlands in the semi-arid and arid regions of southwest Asia, particularly in southern Iran, have completely dried up, raising significant concerns regarding the reproductive success of ... read more [14]
- Interdependencies among hydro-saline dynamics, economic activities, ecological processes, and biodiversity in a deltaic social-ecological system: insights from the Rhône delta (southern France) [16]de Rose Rodier, Olivier Boutron, Arnaud Béchet, Olivier Therond In Ecology and Society, 30(3) (July, 2025) En ligne : ecologyandsociety.org[...] [17] Deltas are complex social-ecological systems (SESs) that involve many economic activities that interconnect closely with ecological processes and biodiversity. Sustainable management of such intricate SESs requires developing an ... read more [16]
- Cohort effect on discriminant rate: the case of greater flamingo (Phœnicopterus roseus) chicks sexed with morphological characters [18]de Abdennour Boucheker, Riad Nedjah, Roger Prodon, Mark Gillingham, François-Xavier Dechaume-Moncharmont, Arnaud Béchet, Boudjema Samraoui In Web Ecology, 20(2) (2020), 153 En ligne : univ-lyon1.hal.science[...] [19] We used a large dataset of greater flamingo chicks banded and measured at Camargue, France, to verify the applicability of discriminant function analysis ... read more [18]
- The color of greater flamingo feathers fades when no cosmetics are applied [20]de Maria Cecilia Chiale, Miguel A. Rendon, Sophie Labaude, Anne-Sophie Deville, Juan Garrido-Fernandez, Antonio Pérez-Gálvez, Araceli Garrido, Manuel Rendón-Martos, Arnaud Béchet, Juan A. Amat In Ecology and Evolution, Online (September, 2021), 7 En ligne : onlinelibrary.wiley.com[...] [21] Greater flamingos use cosmetic coloration by spreading uropygial secretions pigmented with carotenoids ... read more [20]
- Phylogeny- and Abundance-Based Metrics Allow for the Consistent Comparison of Core Gut Microbiome Diversity Indices Across Host Species [22]de Alice Risely, Mark A. F. Gillingham, Arnaud Béchet, Stefan Brändel, Alexander C. Heni, Marco Heurich, Sebastian Menke, Marta B. Manser, Marco Tschapka, Wasimuddin, et al. In Frontiers in Microbiology, 12 (2021) En ligne : www.frontiersin.org[...] [23] The filtering of gut microbial datasets to retain high prevalence taxa is ... read more [22]
- Bioaccumulation of trace elements affects chick body condition and gut microbiome in greater flamingos [24]de Mark A.F. Gillingham, Fabrizio Borghesi, B. Karina Montero, Francesca Migani, Arnaud Béchet, Manuel Rendón-Martos, Juan A. Amat, Enrico Dinelli, Simone Sommer In Science of The Total Environment, Online (11/2020), 143250 En ligne : linkinghub.elsevier.com[...] [25] Elevated concentrations of trace elements represent a major concern to wetland ecosystems, since ... read more [24]
- The dimensions of evolutionary potential in biological conservation [26]de Emmanuel Milot, Arnaud Béchet, Virginie Maris In Evolutionary Applications, Online (2020-06-12), eva.12995 En ligne : onlinelibrary.wiley.com[...] [27] It is now well admitted by ecologists that the conservation of biodiversity should imply preserving the evolutionary processes that will permit its adaptation to ongoing and future environmental changes. This is ... read more [26]
- Applications of hidden hybrid Markov/semi-Markov models: from stopover duration to breeding success dynamics [28]de Remi Choquet, Arnaud Béchet, Yann Guédon In Ecology and Evolution, 4(6) (2014), 817–826 ... read more [28]
- Late snowmelt can result in smaller eggs in Arctic shorebirds [29]de Jean-Louis Martin, Paul Allen Smith, Arnaud Béchet, Tanguy Daufresne In Polar Biology, 41(11) (2018-11-01), 2289-2295 En ligne : doi.org[...] [30] Migratory birds often travel long distances between non-breeding and breeding areas. The suitability of weather and foraging conditions they experience upon arrival at their breeding grounds is an ... read more [29]
- Dynamic signalling using cosmetics may explain the reversed sexual dichromatism in the monogamous greater flamingo [31]de Juan A. Amat, Araceli Garrido, Francesca Portavia, Manuel Rendón-Martos, Antonio Pérez-Gálvez, Juan Garrido-Fernandez, Jesus Gomez, Arnaud Béchet, Miguel A. Rendon In Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 72(8) (August 2018) En ligne : link.springer.com[...] [32] Colourful plumage is typical of males in species with conventional sex roles, in which females ... read more [31]