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Meeting ID: 588 186 1923

Topic description / abstract

The mammalian ear is strikingly complex. Unlike other vertebrates, most mammals have an external ear, three ossicles in the middle ear instead of one, and a uniquely coiled cochlea of the inner ear that allows them to detect a very wide range of sounds, especially high frequencies. These features arose more than 200 million years ago, when some bones of the vertebrate jaw joint were co-opted into the ear of early mammals. This major transformation increased not only the number of elements of the whole ear structure in mammals, but also the complexity of its genetic and developmental control. Because of this, I have argued with some colleagues that the ear of mammals is more evolvable than in other vertebrates, i.e., it has a higher capacity to respond to selective pressures during evolution (Le Maître et al., 2020). If this assumption is correct, one would expect the ear to be more variable and better adapted to the environment in mammals compared to other vertebrates. I will present some empirical results that support our ‘evolvability hypothesis’ of the mammalian ear, both at the intraspecific level and across many species.

Biographical note

Trained in Natural Sciences, I completed a Master’s in Paleontology at the Universities of Poitiers and Montpellier, as well as a Master’s in Education in Biology and Geology at the École Normale Supérieure of Lyon, France. I did my doctoral degree on the adaptation and phylogeny of the inner ear in extant and fossil primates at the Université de Poitiers, where I also taught Geology and Plant Biology for three years. In relation to these activities, I have participated in paleontological excavations in Myanmar, Greece and France. Between 2017 and 2023, I have worked at the Department of Theoretical Biology at the University of Vienna, Austria, to study the evolutionary mechanisms (developmental canalisation, evolvability) underlying morphological variation from an empirical perspective, always grounded in a theoretical framework. My research at the KLI since 2024 is focused on the evolvability of the inner and middle ear from a macroevolutionary point of view, and its role in the adaptive radiation of mammals.

My work is at the crossroads of evolutionary biology, paleontology and biological anthropology. I am also interested in the history of these disciplines and the relationships between science and society. In parallel to my research activities, I am active in diverse initiatives to promote equity, justice and democracy in research institutions and in the society. I am a board member of the Société d’Anthropologie de Paris, as well as a member the Editor-in-Chief of its journal, the BMSAP.