Montpellier Scientific Community



Ecophysiology of Plants under Environmental Stresses (LEPSE)

Director: Thierry SIMONNEAU
Research area
The Ecophysiology of Plants under Environmental Stresses (LEPSE) research focuses on the characterisation of the available genetic variability of responses to water deficit to participate in the construction of genotypes with contrasted strategies suited to environments with various levels of constraints (explanation of the responses of genotypes in quantitative terms, analysis of the genetic variability of these responses and in silico reconstruction of genotype behaviour).
Research highlights
Development of phenotyping methodologies for dissecting and modelling whole plant responses (leaf and root development, water use) to challenging climate changes.
Detection of QTLs (maize, Arabidopsis) or heritable traits (sunflower, vine grape) favourable for yield maintenance under abiotic stresses. Quantification of the impacts of allelic diversity on target traits.
Combination of genetics with ecophysiological modelling, to simulate the behaviour of virtual genotypes in different climatic scenarios.
Staff profile
Total permanent staff Total Scientists Scientists with "HDR" [1] Post-doc fellows PhD
28
13
3
5
8
[1]French university degree for confirmed thesis supervisor
Research teams
  • Analysis and modelling of the genotype x environment interaction (Modélisation et Analyse de l'interaction Génotype Environnement - MAGE)
  • Analysis and Modelling of Plant Integrated Phenotypes (Modélisation et Analyse du Phénotype Intégré des plantes - MAPI)
  • Integrated Processes, Plant Growth and Environmental Stresses (Stress environnementaux et Processus Intégrés du contrôle de la Croissance - SPIC)
Platforms and other tools
The Phenodyn and Phenopsis phenotyping platforms (greenhouse and growth chambers) for continuous measurement of leaf growth rate, transpiration rate, photosynthesis, leaf temperature (Infra-Red imaging) in response to changes in soil water status and micrometeorological variables (up to 400 "agronomic" plants like maize in Phenodyn; and up to 1500 small-sized plants like Arabidopis in Phenopsis).
Mathematical and computer-assisted tools that enable architectural analysis of leaf and root development of plants, dissection of interactions between computer representations of plants and climatic factors, and simulation of plant responses to the environment
Most important international partnerships
Generation Challenge Program: 2 ongoing programs with international research centres (IRRI, CIMMYT, CIRAD), universities (Queensland, Australia) and national programmes (Kenya and India)
EU : Integrated project Agron-Omics : 14 partners including major EU laboratories (ETH Zurich, PSB Gand, MPI Gölm, UMH Alicante; JIC Norwhich, NASC Nottingham,...) working on molecular and cellular controls of leaf Growth in the model plant Arabidosis (LEPSE coordinates one Work-Package)
Facts and figures
Publications in international ranking journals
2007: 12
2006: 14
2005: 15
Representative publications
Chenu K, Franck N, Lecoeur J (2007) Simulations of virtual plants reveal a role for SERRATE in the response of leaf development to light in Arabidopsis thaliana. New Phytol. 175(3):472-481

Muller B et al. (2007) Association of specific expansins with longitudinal and lateral expansion in maize leaves is maintained under environmental, genetic and developmental sources of variation. Plant Physiol. 143(1):278-290

Hammer G, Cooper M, Tardieu F, Welch S, Walsh B, van Eeuwijk F, Chapman S, Podlich D(2006) Models for navigating biological complexity in breeding improved crop plants. Trends Plant Sci. 11(12):587-593

Granier C et al. (2006) PHENOPSIS an automated platform for reproducible phenotyping of plant responses to soil water deficit in Arabidopsis thaliana permitted the identification of an accession with low sensitivity to soil water deficit. New Phytol. 169(3):623-635

Lydie Guilioni, Jean-Paul Lhomme (2006) Modelling the daily course of capitulum temperature in a sunflower canopy. Agr. Forest Meteorol. 138(1-4):258-272

Dosio GAA, Tardieu F, Turc O (2006) How does the meristem of sunflower capitulum cope with tissue expansion and floret initiation? A quantitative analysis. New Phytol. 170(4):711-722