François LALLIER

I am a biologist and I work on the comparative ecophysiology of marine invertebrates, particularly those living around deep-sea hydrothermal vents.

I obtained my PhD from the University of Bordeaux in 1988, where I studied the comparative physiology of crustacean respiration (Carcinus, Penaeus) in Arcachon and the Médoc area, followed by a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at RSMAS in Miami on the sea-air transition of crabs (Callinectes, Gecarcinus). I then became interested in the adaptations of marine invertebrates endemic around deepsea hydrothermal vents, extreme environments where annelids (Riftia, Alvinella), crustaceans (Rimicaris), and mollusks (Bathymodiolus) have developed symbioses with chemoautotrophic bacteria in order to thrive. Starting with studies focused on respiratory pigments (hemoglobin, hemocyanin) and the adaptation of these animals to their oxygen-poor, sulfide-rich environments, I then developed more comprehensive approaches, analyzing variations in gene expression in relation to symbiotic lifestyles in these extreme environments. This comparative approach was continued on models of coastal bivalves, Lucinidae from seagrass beds (Loripes, Lucinoma) and flat oysters (Ostrea).

As a professor at Sorbonne University, I have been assigned to the Roscoff Biological Station in Brittany since 1991, where I headed the Adaptation and Diversity in Marine Environments laboratory, a joint research unit with the CNRS, from 2001 to 2018. I also headed a national research network, ECCHIS, bringing together French scientists working on the biology of deepsea chemosynthetic ecosystems, and I was mission leader for several oceanographic cruises, and co-author of the 2017 French Fleet Prospective. I am a member of the Executive Committee of the SU Alliance Ocean Institute, vice-chair of the European Marine Board, and France 2030 ambassador for the Deep Sea. I was also coordinator of the French Network of Marine Universities from 2019 to 2025. I have published nearly a hundred articles.

I teach animal biology, particularly comparative physiology, ecophysiology, and marine biology, at the bachelor’s and master’s levels in Paris and Roscoff. I founded and co-directed the master’s program in Ecophysiology and Ecotoxicology from 2013 to 2023.