Gaining a mechanistic understanding of spatial biodiversity patterns

Apr 27, 2019
Hengduan mountains in China. Montane regions are more biodiverse than other environments on Earth. Why so?

Biodiversity results from differentiation mechanisms developing within biological populations. Such mechanisms are influenced by the properties of the landscape over which individuals interact, disperse and evolve. The documentation of high levels of species diversity in complex mountain region or riverine systems suggest that some peculiar landscape properties foster diversity. I use mathematical models to investigate how connectivity and habitat heterogeneity foster diversity. My modeling approach complements empirical work on biodiversity by connecting documented patterns to the processes that have generated it.

Biodiversity Population dynamics Mathematical modelling Ecology and evolution
Victor Boussange
Victor Boussange
Postdoctoral researcher

Researcher in ecology and evolution, scientific machine learning enthusiastic.

Publications

Paleoenvironments shaped the exchange of terrestrial vertebrates across Wallace’s Line
Faunal turnover in Indo-Australia across Wallace’s Line is one of the most recognizable patterns in biogeography and has catalyzed …
Alexander Skeels, Lydian Boschman, Ian R. McFadden, Elizabeth Marie Joyce, Oskar Hagen, Octavio Jiménez Robles, Wilhelmine Bach, Victor Boussange, Thomas Keggin, Walter Jetz, Loïc Pellissier
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Paleoenvironments shaped the exchange of terrestrial vertebrates across Wallace’s Line
Eco-evolutionary model on spatial graphs reveals how habitat structure affects phenotypic differentiation
Differentiation mechanisms are influenced by the properties of the landscape over which individuals interact, disperse and evolve. Here, we investigate how habitat connectivity and habitat heterogeneity affect phenotypic differentiation by formulating a stochastic eco-evolutionary model where individuals are structured over a spatial graph. By formalising the eco-evolutionary and spatial dynamics of biological populations on graphs, our study establishes fundamental links between landscape features and phenotypic differentiation.
Victor Boussange, LoĂŻc Pellissier
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Eco-evolutionary model on spatial graphs reveals how habitat structure affects phenotypic differentiation