François Mesléard

Department: Ecosystems

Position at the Tour du Valat : Director of Research & Associate Professor at the University of Avignon (Mediterranean Institute of marine and terrestrial Biodiversity and Ecology – IMBE)

Contact: e-mail | Ph. +33 (0)4 90 97 29 52

Joined our team: March 1989

Research Gate profile: www.researchgate.net/profile/Francois_Mesleard

Research interests

• Vegetation dynamics in disturbed habitats
• Restoration ecology
• Interactions between agriculture and the environment
• Herbivory
• Invasive species

Fields of expertise

• Mediterranean plant community ecology
• Wetlands ecology
• Restoration ecology
• Pastoralism

Projects carried out at the Tour du Valat

Education

• Accreditation to supervise research (HDR), Aix-Marseille University, 1999
• Ph.D. in biology, University of Montpellier, 1987

Supervision of PhD students

• Fontes Hugo, 2018. Écosystèmes de référence : quelle pertinence pour la création d’écosystèmes aquatiques temporaires en Camargue. Co-direction P. Grillas (Tour du valat) & T. Dutoit (IMBE)
• Arslan Dilara, 2018 Étude comparative de la biodiversité entre les milieux naturel, agricole intensif et extensif dans le delta du Gediz, Turquie. Co-direction A. Béchet (Tour du Valat ) & L. Ernoul (Tour du Valat)
• De Almedia Tania, 2017. Restauration : utiliser les fourmis comme ingénieures des écosystèmes pour restaurer les espaces dégradés en Provence. Co-direction O Blight (Avignon Université, IMBE) & Thierry Dutoit (CNRS, IMBE)
• Hess manon, 2017. Restauration écologique des communautés végétales après éradicaion des espèces invasives Codirection. Élise Buisson (Avignon université, IMBE ). CIFRE scholarship – company NGE/Guintoli
• Moinardeau Cannelle, 2015-2018. Impacts du pastoralisme sur les communautés végétales des digues artificielles du Rhône. Co-direction T. Dutoit (CNRS, IMBE)
• Masson Solène 2014-2016. Restauration écologique des écosystèmes dégradés par pilotage in situ des régimes de perturbation et des ressources trophiques. Codirection T. Dutoit (CNRS, IMBE), funded by the Ministry of Research
• Muller Isabelle 2013-2017. Réhabilitation de marais temporaires et de pelouses méso-xériques à partir d’anciennes rizières : Rôle respectif des filtres dans l’assemblage des communautés. Codirection E. Buisson (Avignon Université, IMBE), funded by the PACA Region

Publications

Find below the most recent publications of François Mesléard, or see the full list on the Tour du Valat’s documentary web portal:

• L’écopastoralisme comme outil de gestion des digues artificielles : le cas de la réserve de chasse et de faune sauvage de Donzère-Mondragon
  de Cannelle Moinardeau, Thierry Dutoit, François Mesléard, Bruna Romanini, Virginie Croquet, Romain Brusson In Sciences Eaux & Territoires, HS 63 (Mai 2020), 7 L'écopastoralisme est une pratique de gestion écologique en plein essor, dont les bienfaits pour le maintien ou la restauration des milieux naturels ont été largement ... read more
• Harvester ants as ecological engineers for Mediterranean grassland restoration: Impacts on soil and vegetation
  de Tania De Almeida, Olivier Blight, François Mesléard, Adeline Bulot, Erick Provost, Thierry Dutoit In Biological Conservation, 245 (May, 2020), 8 En ligne : linkinghub.elsevier.com[...] Although not widely used, ecosystem engineers represent a promising and sustainable tool in nature-based ecosystem management and restoration. In grassland ecosystems, a few ... read more
• Using limiting similarity to enhance invasion resistance: Theoretical and practical concerns
  de Manon C. M. Hess, Elise Buisson, Renaud Jaunatre, François Mesléard, Inderjit Singh In Journal of Applied Ecology, Online (December, 2019), 7 En ligne : onlinelibrary.wiley.com[...] The control of invasive species is a central topic of both applied and theoretical research. Understanding how and which ecological theories can ... read more
• Using mechanical clearing and goat grazing for restoring understorey plant diversity of embankments in the Rhône valley (Southern France)
  de Cannelle Moinardeau, François Mesléard, Hervé Ramone, Thierry Dutoit In Plant Biosystems, Online (October, 2019), 1-11 En ligne : doi.org[...] Consumption by animals remains one of the key points to assess the effectiveness of grazing impacts in woodland for increasing understorey plant diversity. To limit the spread of ... read more
• Soil compaction enhances the impact of microwave heating on seedling emergence
  de Elise Buisson, François Mesléard In Flora, 259 (10/2019), 151457 En ligne : linkinghub.elsevier.com[...] An innovative microwave-based process to control invasive species in the field is currently under development. We investigated the effect of soil compaction levels under three microwave treatment pairings of power and duration (2kW4 min, ... read more
• Priority effects: Emerging principles for invasive plant species management
  de Manon C. M. Hess, François Mesléard, Elise Buisson In Ecological Engineering, 127 (2019), 48-57 En ligne : linkinghub.elsevier.com[...] Many anthropic activities generate soil disturbances, favoring competitive, fast growing invasive plant species at the expense of natives. Active restoration of invasion-resistant plant communities is increasingly recognized as a ... read more
• Short-Term Effects on Diversity and Biomass on Grasslands from Artificial Dykes under Grazing and Mowing Treatments
  de Cannelle Moinardeau, François Mesléard, Hervé Ramone, Thierry Dutoit In Environmental Conservation, 46:Special Issue 2 (June, 2019), 1-8 En ligne : www.cambridge.org[...] Few studies document the impacts of conservation management practices such as extensive grazing or mowing on the new ecosystems created by industrial conversions. In southern France, ... read more
• Gestion expérimentale des habitats sur la Réserve de chasse et de faune sauvage de Donzère-Mondragon : impacts de l’éco-pastoralisme sur les communautés végétales
  de Cannelle Moinardeau, Denis Roux, François Mesléard, Romain Brusson, Thierry Dutoit In Faune sauvage, 318 (2018), 37-41 Mise en place sur un site artificiel créé par l’homme il y a 65 ans, la Réserve de chasse et de faune sauvage de Donzère-Mondragon possède aujourd’hui une grande richesse faunistique ... read more
• Microwave soil heating reduces seedling emergence of a wide range of species including invasives
  de Manon C. M. Hess, Melissa De Wilde, Nicole Yavercovski, Loic Willm, François Mesléard, Elise Buisson In Restoration Ecology, 10.1111/rec.12668 (2018), 10 pp. En ligne : onlinelibrary.wiley.com[...] A microwave-based process to control invasive species (seeds and adult stages) in the field prior to plant community restoration is currently ... read more
• Geometagenomics illuminates the impact of agriculture on the distribution and prevalence of plant viruses at the ecosystem scale
  de Pauline Bernardo, Tristan Charles-Dominique, Mohamed Barakat, Philippe Ortet, Emmanuel Fernandez, Denis Filloux, Penelope Hartnady, Tony A Rebelo, Stephen R Cousins, François Mesléard, et al. In The ISME Journal, 12 (2017-10-20), 12 En ligne : www.nature.com[...] Disease emergence events regularly result from human activities such as agriculture, which ... read more