Julien B. Bachelier

Biography

I started with practical studies in plant architecture and used Monte Carlo Markov Chain processes to model branching patterns. Initially I studied the correlation between branching pattern plasticity and genetic diversity in the genus Cupressus, and later participated in a major project investigating the correlation between plant development and photosynthetic performances in different species of tropical trees in French Guyana. Shortly thereafter, I began a PhD supervised by Peter Endress and comparatively studied the evolution of the flower and gynoecium (the female part of the flower) in two very closely related families of Sapindales, Anacardiaceae (mango family), and Burseraceae (frankincense family). Before I finished my PhD, advances in the molecular systematics of Sapindales showed that Kirkia (Kirkiaceae) does not belong to the Simaroubaceae and is sister to the Anacardiaceae and Burseraceae clade, whereas Nitraria, Peganum, and Tetradiclis, which were sometimes scattered in unrelated groups, actually form a robust clade now referred to as Nitrariaceae. Consequently, I compared the floral structure and development of Kirkia in the last chapter of my doctoral thesis and conducted an initial comparative study of flowers of Nitrariaceae prior to starting my postdoc.

Research Interest

I am interested in the evolution of seed plants, particularly in the origin of flowering plants and the evolutionary development of flower and carpel.