Pierre-Oliver Cheptou

Dr. Pierre-Olivier Cheptou, Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CNRS), 1919 route de Mende 34293 Montpellier Cedex 05-France

Dr. Cheptou is a theoretical and empirical evolutionary ecologist working on plant life history traits contemporary evolution in the context of global change. Dr. Cheptou has developed a field work research program in urban environment since 2004 in the city of Montpellier focusing on weeds growing in small patches around using demographical and population genetics tools. He demonstrated the rapid turn-over of populations in the city. He also discovered that the weed Crepis sancta has adapted to the hostile concrete matrix in the city by reducing the dispersal ability of its seeds. This work has been considered as the first empirical demonstration of dispersal evolution in fragmented environment by Facultyof1000 biology.​​