Researcher in Ecology & Agriculture, INRAE

My enduring motivation is to bring ecological principles into cultivated systems and to bridge fundamental and applied questions, using agrobiodiversity both as (i) a model to tackle fundamental research questions and (ii) a lever to address complex agroecological challenges. Uniquely, I address questions across scales, combining experimental studies to clarify how functional diversity drives multiple agronomic outcomes with global-scale analyses of (agro)biodiversity."

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Publications

Przybylska, M. S., Mahaut, L., Violle, C., Vile, D., Munoz, F., Scheepens, J. F., Le Roux, X., Kazakou, E., Exposito‐Alonso, M., Bossdorf, O., Weigel, D., & Vasseur, F. (2026). An evolutionary perspective on the response‐effect framework. Functional Ecology, 40(2), 298–310. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.70236

Vasseur, F., Mahaut, L., Enquist, B. J., & Violle, C. (2025). From Organism Traits to Ecosystem Processes: Why Size Is So Important. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-102723-054525

Mahaut, L., Loiseau, N., Villéger, S., Auber, A., Hautecoeur, C., Maire, A., Mellin, C., Mouquet, N., Stuart-Smith, R., Violle, C., & Mouillot, D. (2025). Functional diversity shapes the stability of reef fish biomass under global change. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 292(2046), 20250252. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.0252

Rahajaharilaza, K., Violle, C., Muller, B., Brocke, K. vom, Morel, J. B., Pelissier, R., Ballini, E., Luquet, D., Ramavovololona, P., Fort, F., & Mahaut, L. (2025). Crop gains induced by diversification exceed crop losses to diseases and weeds in a low-input rice cultivation system. Basic and Applied Ecology, 84, 81–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2025.03.001

Mouquet, N., Mahaut, L., Thuiller, W., Auber, A., Casajus, N., Enquist, B. J., Gaüzère, P., Loiseau, N., Mouillot, D., Munoz, F., Villéger, S., & Violle, C. (2025). Spatial Insurance of Distinct Ecological Functions. Ecology Letters, 28(11), e70266. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70266

Przybylska, M. S., Violle, C., Vile, D., Scheepens, J. F., Cornet, D., Beurier, G., Rouan, L., Estarague, A., Kazakou, E., & Mahaut, L. (2025). Divergent and stabilizing selection shape the phenotypic space of Arabidopsis thaliana. PLoS Biology, 23(12), e3003536. https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3003536

Chebbo, S., Violle, C., Mahaut, L., Kattge, J., Peaucelle, M., Choler, P., & Viovy, N. (2025). Unveiling the Role of Spatial Functional Trait Variations on Grassland Primary Productivity at France Scale. JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.15079

Rolhauser, A. G., Isaac, M. E., Violle, C., Martin, A. R., Vasseur, F., Lemoine, T., Mahaut, L., Fort, F., Rotundo, J. L., & Vile, D. (2024). Phenotypic limits of crop diversity: A data exploration of functional trait space. New Phytologist, 244(2), 708–718. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.20050

Mahaut, L., Choler, P., Denelle, P., Garnier, E., Thuiller, W., Kattge, J., Lemauviel-Lavenant, S., Lavorel, S., Munoz, F., Renard, D., Serra-Diaz, J. M., Viovy, N., & Violle, C. (2023). Trade-offs and synergies between ecosystem productivity and stability in temperate grasslands. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 32(4), 561–572. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13645

Mahaut, L., Violle, C., Shihan, A., Pelissier, R., Morel, J.-B., de Tombeur, F., Rahajaharilaza, K., Fabre, D., Luquet, D., Hartley, S., Thorne, S. J., Ballini, E., & Fort, F. (2023). Beyond trait distances: Functional distinctiveness captures the outcome of plant competition. FUNCTIONAL ECOLOGY, 37(9), 2399–2412. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.14397

Renard, D., Mahaut, L., & Noack, F. (2023). Crop diversity buffers the impact of droughts and high temperatures on food production. Environmental Research Letters, 18(4), 045002. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acc2d6

de Tombeur, F., Pelissier, R., Shihan, A., Rahajaharilaza, K., Fort, F., Mahaut, L., Lemoine, T., Thorne, S. J., Hartley, S. E., Luquet, D., Fabre, D., Lambers, H., Morel, J.-B., Ballini, E., & Violle, C. (2023). Growth-defence trade-off in rice: Fast-growing and acquisitive genotypes have lower expression of genes involved in immunity. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY, 74(10), 3094–3103. https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erad071

Munoz, F., Klausmeier, C. A., Gaüzère, P., Kandlikar, G., Litchman, E., Mouquet, N., Ostling, A., Thuiller, W., Algar, A. C., Auber, A., Cadotte, M. W., Delalandre, L., Denelle, P., Enquist, B. J., Fortunel, C., Grenié, M., Loiseau, N., Mahaut, L., Maire, A., … Kraft, N. J. B. (2023). The ecological causes of functional distinctiveness in communities. Ecology Letters, 26(8), 1452–1465. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.14265

Mahaut, L., Pironon, S., Barnagaud, J.-Y., Bretagnolle, F., Khoury, C. K., Mehrabi, Z., Milla, R., Phillips, C., Rieseberg, L. H., Violle, C., & Renard, D. (2022). Matches and mismatches between the global distribution of major food crops and climate suitability. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 289(1983), 20221542. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1542

Mahaut, L., Violle, C., & Renard, D. (2021). Complementary mechanisms stabilize national food production. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 4922. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-84272-z

Mahaut, L., Fort, F., Violle, C., & Freschet, G. T. (2020). Multiple facets of diversity effects on plant productivity: Species richness, functional diversity, species identity and intraspecific competition. Functional Ecology, 34(1), 287–298. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13473

Mahaut, L., Cheptou, P.-O., Fried, G., Munoz, F., Storkey, J., Vasseur, F., Violle, C., & Bretagnolle, F. (2020). Weeds: Against the Rules? Trends in Plant Science, 25(11), 1107–1116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2020.05.013

Munoz, F., Fried, G., Armengot, L., Bourgeois, B., Bretagnolle, V., Chadoeuf, J., Mahaut, L., Plumejeaud, C., Storkey, J., Violle, C., & Gaba, S. (2020). Ecological Specialization and Rarity of Arable Weeds: Insights from a Comprehensive Survey in France. Plants (Basel, Switzerland), 9(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9070824

Mahaut, L., Gaba, S., & Fried, G. (2019). A functional diversity approach of crop sequences reveals that weed diversity and abundance show different responses to environmental variability. Journal of Applied Ecology, 56(6), 1400–1409. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13389

Bourgeois, B., Munoz, F., Fried, G., Mahaut, L., Armengot, L., Denelle, P., Starkey, J., Gabe, S., & Voile, C. (2019). What makes a weed a weed? A large-scale evaluation of arable weeds through a functional lens. American Journal of Botany, 106(1), 90–100. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.1213

Fried, G., Carboni, M., Mahaut, L., & Violle, C. (2019). Functional traits modulate plant community responses to alien plant invasion. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 37, 53–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ppees.2019.02.003

Mahaut, L., Fried, G., & Gaba, S. (2018). Patch dynamics and temporal dispersal partly shape annual plant communities in ephemeral habitat patches. Oikos, 127(1), 147–159. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.04415

Fried, G., Mahaut, L., Pinston, A., & Carboni, M. (2017). Abiotic constraints and biotic resistance control the establishment success and abundance of invasive Humulus japonicus in riparian habitats. Biological Invasions, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-017-1533-y

Munoz, F., Fried, G., Armengot, L., Bourgeois, B., Bretagnolle, V. V., Chadoeuf, J. J., Mahaut, L., Plumejeaud-Perreau, C., Storkey, J., Violle, C., & Gaba, S. (2017). Database Of Weeds In Cultivation Fields Of France And Uk, With Ecological And Biogeographical Information. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1112342