Patrice Pottier - Projects

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Vulnerability of ectotherms to global warming

A large focus of my research revolves around quantifying the vulnerability of biodiversity to climate change. I find ectotherms (most fishes, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates) to be particularly interesting systems to study responses to climate change because their physiological processes are directly tied to environmental temperatures.

I am currently particularly interested in the following questions:

How do extreme heat events impact different life stages?
What are the consequences of extreme heat events on species interactions?
How can we best model the processes of heat damage and repair in climate vulnerability assessments?
How can we best integrate adaptive mechanisms (e.g., plasticity, adaptation) in climate vulnerability assessments?
How can we use past responses to climate change to predict the future of biodiversity?

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Plasticity and adaptation to changing temperatures

Phenotypic plasticity and genetic adaptation are two key mechanisms by which organisms can cope with climatic changes. I am particularly interested in investigating the benefits and limits of those mechanisms for buffering climate change impacts.

I am currently interested in the following questions:

What explains the variation in plasticity within and across taxa?
To what extent can life-history traits evolve in response to changing environments?
Does plasticity in one trait trade off with the plasticity of other traits?
What are the consequences of early developmental plasticity on phenotypes later in life?

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The impacts of temperature on reproduction

Recent evidence suggests that fertility fails at temperatures lower than survival in many species. However, we still know little about the impacts of climate warming on reproduction.

I am currently interested in the following questions:

Do animals recover their reproductive function after experiencing extreme heat events?
What are the physiological mechanisms causing reproduction to fail before survival?
What explains sex differences in thermal fertility limits?
What are the consequences of climate change on population fitness?

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Developmental responses to environmental stressors

Early-life environments often have a strong and long-lasting influence on later-life phenotypes. However, most projections of climate warming on natural populations often focus on adults, or ignore (non)adaptive mechanisms occurring early in life.

I am currently in the following questions:

What are the consequences of early developmental plasticity on phenotypes later in life?
How does accounting for developmental plasticity impact population dynamics under climate warming?
To what extent do developmental responses to temperatures vary across taxa?
What environmental pressures drive the evolution of developmental plasticity?

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Solving biases in the ecological literature

Taxonomic and geographic biases in ecological datasets are ubiquitous. These biases directly challenge our ability to establish global ecological patterns and address pressing challenges such as climate change.

I am currently interested in the following questions:

How does ignoring taxonomic and geographic biases influence ecological inferences?
Can distributed experiments improve taxonomic and geographic coverage?
Can we integrate statistical data imputation approaches to overcome some of these biases?
To what extent does synthesising data from the non-English literature improve geographic and taxonomic coverage?

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Improving methods for evidence synthesis

Exponentially increasing publication rates currently challenge our ability to synthesise comprehensive datasets for comparative analyses and meta-analyses.

I am currently interested in the following questions:

How can we integrate AI tools to facilitate evidence synthesis across multiple languages?
Can we use targeted sampling strategies to reduce labour without compromising ecological inferences?
How can we best synthesise and model heterogeneous datasets?