Olivier CHAUVEAU

I am a botanist and my research interests concentrate on questions of evolution and more specifically, on how interactions could shape biodiversity. I use a broad range of approaches including systematics, taxonomy, macro- and micromorphology, phylogenetic reconstruction, and biogeography.

A key focus of my current and future research is related to plant-pollinator interactions, which are key components of the dynamics of most terrestrial ecosystems. Since species interactions are considered to play a central role in many speciation events, studying the evolutionary history of traits closely linked to this kind of interaction contributes to improve our knowledge of the mechanisms involved. Insects are the largest group of animals visiting flowers to collect mostly pollen and/or nectar, but some insects seek other resources. Relationships between oil-secreting flowers and specialized oil-collecting bees constitute an example of a close and uncommon interaction. Flowers offering oil as a resource are found in only 11 families distributed across the angiosperms among unrelated orders, including Iridaceae where oil rewards evolved multiple times.

The goal of my research is to improve our knowledge about the evolutionary history of this uncommon pollination system and to test whether the evolution of this uncommon pollination system is a causal factor of diversification among Iridaceae from the Neotropics.

Since 2018 Research engineer – ESE – Université Paris-Sud
2012-2018 Post-Doc. Biosciences Institute – UFRGS (RS, Brazil)
2012 PhD – Université Paris-Sud. Supervision: Pr. S. Nadot
2007-2012 Research engineer – ESE – Université Paris-Sud
2001-2007 Research engineer – Botanic Garden – Université Paris-Sud
1992-2001 Landscape designer
1992 Master’s degree in horticultural engineering – ENSH Versailles

Pastori T., Eggers L., Souza-Chies T.T., Chauveau O. (2018) Iterative taxonomy based on morphological and molecular evidence to estimate species boundaries: a case study in Cypella Herb. (Iridaceae: Iridoideae). Plant Systematics and Evolution 304: 1117–1140. doi: 10.1007/s00606-018-1536-x

B. F. G.; Chauveau, O. (2018) Brazilian Flora 2020: innovation and collaboration to meet target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC). Rodriguesia, 69: 1513-1527. doi: 10.1590/2175-7860201869402

Inácio C.D., Chauveau O., Eggers L. (2018) Three new species of Sisyrinchium (Iridaceae) from Campos of South America. Phytotaxa 361: 198–210. doi: 10.11646/phytotaxa.361.2.5

Burchardt P., Souza-Chies T.T., Chauveau O., Callegari-Jacques S.M., Brisolara-Corrêa L., Inácio C.D., Eggers L., Siljak-Yakovlev S., Campos J.M.S., Kaltchuk-Santos E. (2018) Cytological and genome size data analyzed in a phylogenetic frame: evolutionary implications concerning Sisyrinchium taxa (Iridaceae: Iridoideae). Genetics and Molecular Biology 41 : 288–307. doi: 10.1590/1678-4685-GMB-2017-0077

Inácio C.D., Chauveau O., Souza-Chies T.T., Sauquet H., Eggers L. (2017) An updated phylogeny and infrageneric classification of the genus Sisyrinchium (Iridaceae): challenges of molecular and morphological evidence. Taxon 66: 1317–1348. doi: 10.12705/666.4

Moraes A.P., Souza-Chies S.S., Stiehl-Alves E.M., Burchardt P., Eggers L., Siljak-Yakovlev S., Brown S.C., Chauveau O., Nadot S., Bourge M., Facio Viccini L and Kaltchuk-Santos E. (2015) Evolutionary trends in Iridaceae: new cytogenetic findings from the New World. Botanical Journal of the Linnaean Society 177: 27–49. doi: 10.1111/boj.12232

Chauveau O., Pastori T., Souza-Chies T.T., Eggers L. (2014) Overlooked diversity in Brazilian Cypella (Iridaceae, Iridoideae): four new taxa from the Río de la Plata grasslands. Phytotaxa 174: 25–42. doi: 10.11646/phytotaxa.174.1.2

Alves T.L.S., Chauveau O., Eggers L., Souza-Chies T.T. (2014) Species discrimination in Sisyrinchium (Iridaceae): assessment of DNA barcodes in a taxonomically challenging
genus. Molecular Ecology Resources 14: 324–335. doi: 10.1111/1755-0998.12182

Aita A.M., Chauveau O., Souza-Chies T.T., Eggers L. (2013) Two new species of Sisyrinchium (Iridaceae) from Subtropical Highland Grasslands of Southern Brazil. Phytotaxa 88: 9–18. doi:
10.11646/phytotaxa.88.1.3

Silvério A., Nadot S., Souza-Chies T.T. and Chauveau O. (2012) Floral rewards in the tribe Sisyrinchieae (Iridaceae): oil as an alternative to pollen and nectar? Sexual Plant Reproduction 25: 267-279. doi: 10.1007/s00497-012-0196-1

Chauveau O., Eggers L., Souza-Chies T.T. and Nadot S. (2012) Oil-producing flowers within the Iridoideae (Iridaceae): evolutionary trends in the flowers of the New World genera. Annals of Botany 110: 713-729. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcs134

Chauveau O., Eggers E., Raquin C., Silverio A., Couloux A., Cruaud C., Kaltchuk-Santos E., Yockteng R., Brown, S., Souza-Chies T. and Nadot S. (2011). Evolution of oil-producing trichomes in Sisyrinchium (Iridaceae): insights from the first comprehensive phylogeny of the genus. Annals of Botany 107: 1287–1312. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcr080