Maxim Lamotte

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Maxime Lamotte (1986)

Maxime Georges Lamotte (born June 26, 1920 in the 14th arrondissement , Paris ; † August 31, 2007 in Collobrières , Département Var ) was a French evolutionary biologist , field naturalist and herpetologist .

Life

Lamotte was the son of Georges Lamotte and Denise Huguet. After graduating with excellent degrees from the Lycées Lycée Henri IV and Lycée Saint-Louis , he studied mathematics at the École normal supérieure (ENS) from 1939 to 1943 . During this time he made a six-month excursion to West Africa , which should set the course for his later career. In 1951 he received his doctorate from the ENS with a dissertation on the genetic structure of the natural population of the European grove cepaea nemoralis ( Docteur ès Sciences) (DSc). In this work he estimated the allele frequencies in many populations to test the Sewall-Wright models of natural selection . In 1953 he became a professor at the Université Lille Nord de France and in 1956 at the Sorbonne and at the ENS. In 1988 he retired as professor emeritus at the University of Pierre and Marie Curie and moved to Collobrières in southern France.

Lamotte's first expedition from 1941 to 1942 made him familiar with the Nimbaberge region in the border area between Guinea and the Ivory Coast , where altitudes of 1750 m are reached. It was here that he first worked with quantitative methods for field studies and it was here that he made his most important herpetological discovery. In 1905 Gustav Tornier described the species Nectophrynoides viviparus , from which he assumed that this would be the first viviparous frog. However, it was later found that Nectophrynoides viviparus is ovoviviparous . Lamotte discovered a frog on Mont Nimba with real viviparity . This taxon was described by Fernand Angel in 1942 as Nectophrynoides occidentalis (now Nimbaphrynoides occidentalis ). Lamotte and his co-workers published several scientific articles on this species, in which they described its evolution, ecology and physiology . Their early assumption that parthenogenesis might be present has not been confirmed. A very high population density was also determined with six specimens per m². Lamotte's biological activities led to the Nimbaberge being declared a Biosphere Reserve and a World Heritage Site by UNESCO . At Mont Nimba, Lamotte also discovered the first African frog with a direct development, which was first described by Fernand Angel in 1950 as Arthroleptis crusculum .

In 1962, Lamotte and the ethnologist Jean-Luc Tournier founded the ecological field station Lamto in the forest savannah of the Ivory Coast. Between 1967 and 1983 he published several books on the work of Lamto in collaboration with the ecologist François Bourlière. Their discussions include coevolution , niche theory, as well as competitive interactions that provide the basis for the trophic networks observed by the Lamto station. In addition to his research work in West Africa (Ivory Coast, Guinea, Mali ), Lamotte traveled to Guyana , Cuba , Mexico , Venezuela and Colombia .

Most of Lamotte's bibliography deals with frogs. From 1942 to 2006 he published 87 herpetological writings, 80 of which are specifically devoted to the frogs. He has published many illustrated papers describing the tadpole biology of over 40 species. He also promoted the use of the African clawed frog Xenopus tropicalis as a laboratory animal for the production of pregnancy tests . He published many scientific articles on the systematics of frogs and wrote several first descriptions from the families Phrynobatrachidae and Ptychadenidae . Most of this work was done in collaboration with Jean Guibé from the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle . The largest herpetological research program in France was developed in Lamotte's laboratory. Well-known researchers such as Alain Dubois were among his students .

Starting with his doctoral thesis, Lamotte became increasingly interested in evolutionary biology, biostatistics and general biology, on which he wrote several books. These include Introduction à la biologie quantitative (1948), Initiation aux méthodes statistiques en Biologie (1957), Biologie générale (1968, three volumes in collaboration with Philippe L'Héritier ), Le polymorphisme dans de règne animal (1974), Lesproblemèmes de l'espèce dans le règne animal (1976–1980, three volumes in collaboration with Charles Bocquet ) and Théorie actuelle de l'évolution (1994).

In June 1944, Lamotte married Françoise Polonovski. From this marriage two sons and four daughters were born.

Memberships and honors

From 1973 to 1977 he was chairman of the administrative committee of the Center d'Études Phytosociologiques et écologiques du Laboratoire de Biologie Évolutive des populations in Gif-sur-Yvette . From 1976 to 1980 he was president of the ecological commission of the Center national de la recherche scientifique . From 1978 to 1983 he was President of the Société zoologique de France . From 1986 to 1987 he was President of the Société d'Écologie . He was also a member of the Société de Biogéographie, the Société française de Malacologie, the Société Française de Herpétologie, the Société de Biométrie, the Société de Génétique, the Société d'Écophysiologie and the Société royale des sciences de Belgique. Lamotte is holder of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques , Knight of the Legion of Honor , Officer of the Ordre national de la République de Côte d'Ivoire and Officer of the Ordre national du Mérite . He also received honorary doctorates from the Free University of Brussels and the University of Liège , the Prix Gadeau-de-Kerville in Biology from the Société zoologique de France (1952), the Cuvier Prize (1952) and the Prix Gadeau-de-Kerville from the Société entomologique de France (2004).

Dedication names

Several vertebrates and invertebrates are named after Maxime Lamotte , including

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Lamotte, Maxime
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lamotte, Maxime Georges (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French evolutionary biologist, field naturalist and herpetologist
DATE OF BIRTH June 26, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH 14th arrondissement , Paris
DATE OF DEATH August 31, 2007
Place of death Collobrières , Var department