emilie.berlioz[at]univ-poitiers.fr
Main research
My research focuses on the palaeoecology of large herbivores from the European Pleistocene. I analyse their responses to past climatic oscillations in order to anticipate their future ecological trajectories under the combined pressures of global warming and anthropisation.
Rooted in the field of Conservation Palaeobiology, this approach bridges fossil archives and modern data to better guide species management and conservation strategies.
Study workshops
Quaternary ecological dynamics: I reconstruct the ecologies, niche-partitioning, and palaeoenvironments of large herbivores (equids, bovids, and cervids) from archaeological and palaeontological sites across the European Quaternary. These analyses make it possible to identify how their ecological responses evolved in relation to past climatic oscillations.
Human-herbivore-environment interactions: I study the relationships between Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens and the herbivores they hunted. By combining ecological and archaeological data, I help to understand how human populations adapted their subsistence, mobility and land use strategies in response to climatic fluctuations, revealing their resilience in changing environments.
The case of the rusa deer in New Caledonia: In New Caledonia, I study the ecological impact of the rusa deer (Rusa timorensis), a cervid introduced in the 19th century and now highly invasive, on natural and anthropised habitats. Between 2018 and 2019, I built a reference database for this species that is unic in the world, currently accessible for consultation at the Palévoprim lab.
Multi-scale eco-indicators: I integrate several eco-indicators extracted from the masticatory apparatus (dental micro-wear textures (DMTA), dental meso-wear, stable isotopes, mandibular morphometry) in order to reconstruct different aspects of herbivore ecology at different scales of time, space and (socio)ecosystem structure.
- External collaborator at the EvoAdapta lab, University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain: https://www.evoadapta.unican.es/en/home/
- Initiator, co-founder, co-organiser and member of the scientific committee of the Virtual Conference for Women Archaeologists and Palaeontologists (VCWAP).
- Founding member and board member of AWAP (Association of Early Career Women Archaeologists and Palaeontologists).
- Member of the Conservation Paleobiology Network.
- Member of “L’Odyssée du cerf” (The Deer Odyssey), World Deer Conservation Centre, Carentoir, France.
- Listed in the Francophone professional directory Les Expertes.
