NEMO-Nature, Marine Ecology and Oceans team
Presentation
The NEMO team studies all aspects of marine biodiversity, and combines naturalist methods with chemical and experimental analyses.
Specialities : Taxonomy and Biology of Marine Invertebrates (sponges, crustaceans, bryozoans and ascidians), Marine Ecology and Natural Product Chemistry
Study areas : Mediterranean and special ecosystems such as underwater caves, deepwater and polar environments, as well as urban environments (Ports & Marinas)
Keywords: Integrative Taxonomy, Phylogeny, Phylogeography, Connectivity, Biological Invasions, Phenology, Adaptation, Individual Resilience, Chemical Ecology, and Marine Natural Product Chemistry.
Research topics
The Team
Collaborations
2025 Scientific Events
November 2025: International Field School in Tunisia: “Taxonomy-based early detection of Alien Species in the Mediterranean marinas“
The course covered the taxonomy of benthic species in port areas, with a focus on invasive species.
Two members of the NEMO team took part, Christophe LEJEUSNE (co-organiser) and Eloïse THOMINE (Doctoral student).
October 2025: XIVe European Conference on Natural Marine Products in Piran (Slovenia). Link here
The team's marine natural substance chemists (Charlotte SIMMLER, Alexandre LE LOARER and Titouan BIRE) attended the XIVᵉ edition of ECMNP. The event brought together 151 participants from 29 countries.
More specifically, Alexandre LE LOARER (post-doctoral student), presented his initial results on the chemodiversity of invasive species in ports.
Titouan BIRÉ (doctoral student) answered many questions about his poster summarising part of his current thesis work on exometabolites. of Aplysina.
September 202512th World Congress of Sponges in Vila do Conde (Portugal). LINK here
This event, which takes place every 4 years, brought together more than 230 researchers from 44 different countries.
Several members of the NEMO team, including Jean Vacelet, Alexander Ereskovskiy, Thierry Pérez.
Two doctoral students presented their posters: Clément CABIOCH and Morgane MONTEIL
Post-doctoral students César Ruiz, Marie DERRIEN, Tal IDAN and Marie GRENIER gave oral presentations.
August 2025 : 4th MARRIO workshop in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
A week of meetings and collaborations between the NEMO team and those of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
The programme 2-day course on Genomic Analyses by Brazilian teams and Metabolomic Analyses (Charlotte Simmler & Stéphane Greff) followed by 3 days of scientific conferences with oral presentations by doctoral students and researchers.
June 2025International second Monod Conference “Origin of Metazoans” Roscoff, France Link here
Alexander Ereskovsky Invited speaker: “What sponges tell us about the early evolution of morphogenesis in Metazoa”.”
The Conference aimed to promote discussions and collaboration around the theme of the emergence of metazoans by bringing together expertise on the fossil record, cell biology, genome regulation, cell type evolution, animal phylogeny, unicellular and non-metazoan multicellular organisms, and non-bilaterian model organisms.
To our Friend and Colleague
It is with great sadness that the NEMO team bids farewell to our great friend and colleague, Denise Bellan-Santini.
Her departure leaves a huge void in the world of marine biology and in our hearts. Denise was much more than an exceptional scientist, she was a valuable collaborator, a source of inspiration and a loyal friend. Her scientific legacy and the warmth of her humanity will remain with us forever.
Our sincerest condolences go out to his family and friends.
2024 Scientific Events
20 December 2024: Congratulations to Dr. Marie Derrien for her successful PhD defense!
Research topic: Chemical mediation in underwater caves: towards a better understanding of how ecosystems function in the ocean
PhD Research topic: Chemical mediation in underwater seacaves: towards a better understanding of the functioning of ecosystems in the Oceans
November 22, 2024: Congratulations to Dr. Petr Kuznetsov for his successful PhD defense!
PhD Research topic: The anatomy and ultrastructure of females of Bonellia viridis (Annelida: Thalassematidae: Bonelliinae)
November 2024: Marine Sponge Biodiversity Meeting (SponBiodiv)
You have to find Thierry Pérez and Marie Grenier in the photo. It's up to you.
October 2024: Participation in the ChemEcol GDR in St Etienne
Titouan Biré tied for best poster + flash presentation. Well done and we look forward to some great reading ....
Dr. Nicole Boury-Esnault
Today, at NEMO, I have coordinated the creation of a "sme-taxa.imbe". This database covers all the new species described by researchers and teacher-researchers who have worked at the Endoume Marine Station since Marion 1870 up to the most recent species described in 2024. All references where these species have been described are included in the database. This database was the subject of an article published in Zootaxa (2023):
Boury-Esnault, N., G. Bellan, D. Bellan-Santini, C.F. Boudouresque, P.Chevaldonné, A. Dias, D. Faget, J.G. Harmelin, M. Harmelin-Vivien, C. Lejeusne, T. Pérez, J. Vacelet, M. Verlaque (2023). The Station Marine d'Endoume, Marseille: 150 years of natural history. Zootaxa. 5249(2): 213-252.
I keep this database up to date as new species are published.
I am also the editor of the WoRMS Porifera.
I train students to use these databases, as well as tohe nomenclature rulesIt provides them with old articles that are useful for their research but not always accessible.
Research projects:
Amidex International MARRIO: MARseille to RIO: MARine biodiversity under global change scenaRIOs
Coordinators: T. Pérez (France) M. Klautau (Brazil) Duration: Feb 2024 - Jan 2029
The main framework for this international project is global environmental change in the oceans. Among the components of global change, this project takes into account climate (change in temperature regime, marine heat waves, ocean acidification), bio-invasions and local changes caused by pollution due to anthropogenic pressures, with particular emphasis on the capacity of marine organisms to adapt to this new reality.
SponBIODIV: Marine sponge biodiversity, from genes to ecosystems: delivering knowledge and tools for sustainable management and conservation.
Coordinators: T. Pérez (France, AMU)
This project aims to establish a knowledge network concerning the diversity and distribution of sponges, while proposing a set of tools to improve the management and conservation of the various species in the Atlantic and Mediterranean (from coastal habitats to mesophotic and deep-sea ecosystems).
More information here
Research projects:
MARINDIV: Biological and Chemical Diversities of Mediterranean Invertebrates in Marinas with AntiMicrobial Potentials
Dr. Alexandre Le Loarer (Post-Doctoral Fellow) joined our team in November 2024 to complete this project.
Co-leaders: C. Simmler, C. Lejeusne, V. Sinou (BAC-SCREEN)
Duration: Nov 2024 -Nov 2025, Financed by theInstitute of Ocean Sciences
SESAM: Sponge Exometabolites as Sources of AntiMicrobials (ANR JCJC)- Find out more about the project here
Coordinator: C. Simmler Duration: Feb 2021 - Jan 2025
EPIMAR (MITI CNRS): Epigenetic signatures of invasive processes under pollution pressure in artificial marine ecosystems
Coordinator: C. Lejeusne Duration: 2022-24
Morgane Mauduit
2021-2023: Doctoral student in our team (co-directed by Thierry Pérez & Charlotte Simmler).
Subject: Capture and chemical characterisation of exometabolites ofAplysina cavernicola (Vacelet, 1959) and Agelas oroides (Schmidt, 1864)
2024: Post-doctoral fellow in Denmark at DTU see here
The GIS Posidonia is a Scientific Interest Group created in 1982. Its main purpose is research into the marine environment. It carries out research and expertise in marine ecology for regional and local authorities, the State and international organisations. For further information here
Active NEMO members: T. Pérez, P. Chevaldonné, C. Lejeusne and C. Ruiz
