Hej!
I’m Aurélien, a French PhD student from southern France (Marseille). I joined the Division of Biodiversity and Evolution on October 1st, and my PhD is supervised by Magne Friberg, with co-supervision from Øystein Opedal.
My research focuses on the diversification of complex floral traits in Lithophragma, including both floral morphology and scent. These plants are pollinated by both specialised pollinators (Greya moths, which lay eggs in the corolla) and more generalised pollinators. I’m interested in how these interactions, together with the genomic rearrangements that occur across the species’ distribution range, drive trait variation. Hopefully, my work will shed new light on the drivers behind the astonishing diversity of floral traits and provide relevant insights into floral trait evolution.
Before my PhD, I completed my Bachelor’s and Master’s at the University of Montpellier, focusing on plant biology and statistics. For my Master’s thesis, I spent six months at Lund University through an Erasmus program (Jan–Aug 2025), working in the same research group with Yedra Garcia Garcia, Magne Friberg, and Øystein Opedal. There, I studied pollination niche partitioning in orchid communities on Öland. My work aimed to show how plants that live together and share pollinators can coexist, depending on their pollination strategies.
Outside of research, I love dancing, mainly urban styles like street jazz and commercial dance. I really enjoy having this artistic hobby alongside my scientific work! Whenever I can, I attend workshops with other dancers to broaden my skills, and I’m also working on my own choreography, which I hope to teach one day. I also enjoy spending time in nature, and I’m currently starting to learn Swedish!
