François MESLÉARD

Theme: Management and restoration of Natural and Agricultural 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 | +33 (0)4 90 97 29 52

Joined our team: March 1989

Personal page: Reasearch Gate profile

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:

• Altering native community assembly history influences the performance of an annual invader
  de Manon C.M. Hess, François Mesléard, Truman P. Young, Benoit de Freitas, Nathan Haveneers, Elise Buisson In Basic and Applied Ecology, 59 (March, 2022), 70-81 En ligne : linkinghub.elsevier.com[...] Understanding the determinants of early invasion resistance is a major challenge for designing plant communities ... read more
• Different components of landscape complexity are necessary to preserve multiple taxonomic groups in intensively-managed rice paddy landscapes (2022)
  de Pierre Mallet, Arnaud Béchet, Thomas Galewski, François Mesléard, Samuel Hilaire, Gaëtan Lefebvre, Brigitte Poulin, Clelia Sirami 2022, 8 En ligne : www.sciencedirect.com[...] Increase in pesticide use and landscape homogenization are two key drivers of the decline in farmland biodiversity. The effects of these two drivers are often complex, ... read more
• Effects of experimental submersion on survival, growth, and dry biomass allocation of the rare salt marsh plant Limonium girardianum
  de Teddy Baumberger, François Mesléard, Thomas Croze, Laurence Affre In Aquatic Botany, 01/10/2012 (October, 2012), 65-70 En ligne : linkinghub.elsevier.com[...] In order to define the flooding tolerance capacity of Limonium girardianum according to growth development stage, we submerged 200 seedlings and 200 four-month-old juveniles ... read more
• Habitat requirements and population structure of the rare endangered Limonium girardianum in Mediterranean salt marshes
  de Teddy Baumberger, Laurence Affre, Thomas Croze, François Mesléard In Flora - Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants, 207(4) (4/2012), 283-293 En ligne : linkinghub.elsevier.com[...] The sea lavender Limonium girardianum (Guss.) Fourr. is endemic to the Mediterranean salt marshes of the French and Spanish ... read more
• Grazing in temporary paddocks with hardy breed horses (Konik polski) improved species-rich grasslands restoration in artificial embankments of the Rhône river (Southern France)
  de Cannelle Moinardeau, François Mesléard, Hervé Ramone, Thierry Dutoit In Global Ecology and Conservation, Online (October, 2021), 16 En ligne : www.sciencedirect.com[...] Extensive horse grazing with hardy breeds is largely used in conservation management for restoring species-rich semi-natural grasslands in Europe. As an example, ... read more
• Key issues in Northwestern Mediterranean dry grassland restoration
  de Elise Buisson, Tania De Almeida, Aure Durbecq, André J. Arruda, Christel Vidaller, Jean‐François Alignan, Tiago S. P. Toma, Manon C. M. Hess, Daniel Pavon, Francis Isselin‐Nondedeu, et al. In Restoration Ecology, 29(S1) (April, 2021), 10 En ligne : onlinelibrary.wiley.com[...] Dry grasslands of the Northwestern Mediterranean Basin are ... read more
• Key issues in Northwestern Mediterranean dry grassland restoration
  de Elise Buisson, Tania De Almeida, Aure Durbecq, André J. Arruda, Christel Vidaller, Jean-François Alignan, Tiago S. P. Toma, Manon C. M. Hess, Daniel Pavon, Francis Isselin‐Nondedeu, et al. In Restoration Ecology, On line (October, 2020) En ligne : onlinelibrary.wiley.com[...] Dry grasslands of the Northwestern Mediterranean Basin are ... read more
• Key issues in North-western Mediterranean dry grassland restoration
  de Elise Buisson, Tania De Almeida, Aure Durbecq, André J. Arruda, Christel Vidaller, Jean-François Alignan, Tiago Shizen P. Toma, Manon C. M. Hess, Daniel Pavon, Francis Isselin‐Nondedeu, et al. In Restoration Ecology, Online (August, 2020), rec.13258 En ligne : onlinelibrary.wiley.com[...] Dry grasslands of the North-western Mediterranean Basin are ... read more
• Restaurer la nature, un travail de fourmis ?
  de François Mesléard, Olivier Blight, Tania de Almeida, Thierry Dutoit In The Conversation, 142750 (27/09/2020) En ligne : theconversation.com[...] Après la marée noire dans la plaine de la Crau, en 2009, des fourmis ont été introduites dans les sols pour restaurer les écosystèmes du site pollué. Des premiers ... read more
• Above- and below-ground effects of an ecosystem engineer ant in Mediterranean dry grasslands
  de Tania De Almeida, François Mesléard, M. Santonja, Raphael Gros, Thierry Dutoit, O. Blight In Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287(1935) (September, 2020), 10 En ligne : royalsocietypublishing.org[...] Within a local assemblage, ecosystem engineers can have major impacts on population dynamics, community composition and ecosystem ... read more