Étienne Léveillé-BourretUniversité de Montréal | UdeM · Department of Biological Sciences
Étienne Léveillé-Bourret
PhD
About
35
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Publications
Publications (35)
Premise
The huge diversity of Salix subgenus Chamaetia/Vetrix clade in North America and the lack of phylogenetic resolution within this clade has presented a difficult but fascinating challenge for taxonomists to resolve. Here we tested the existing taxonomic classification with molecular tools.
Methods
In this study, 132 samples representing 46...
Introgression is an important source of genetic variation that can determine species adaptation to environmental conditions. Yet, definitive evidence of the genomic and adaptive implications of introgression in nature remains scarce.
The widespread hybrid zones of Darwin's primroses (Primula elatior, Primula veris, and Primula vulgaris) provide a u...
Due to the differences in individual’s color perception and the variations in color naming and color rendering under different settings, color has historically been a challenging trait in describing species for taxonomic and systematic research. Reusing a noisy color dataset collected from high-quality images of Carex specimens, we developed a data...
Biodiversity hotspots, such as the Caucasus mountains, provide unprecedented opportunities for understanding the evolutionary processes that shape species diversity and richness. Therefore, we investigated the evolution of Primula sect. Primula, a clade with a high degree of endemism in the Caucasus.
We performed phylogenetic and network analyses o...
Taxonomic treatments start with the creation of taxon-by-character matrices. Systematics authors recognized data ambiguity issues in published phenotypic characters and are willing to adopt an ontology-aware authoring tool (Cui et al. 2022). To promote interoperable and reusable taxonomic treatments, we have developed two research prototypes:
a web...
Supergenes are non-recombining genomic regions ensuring the co-inheritance of multiple, co-adapted genes. Despite the importance of supergenes in adaptation, little is known on how they originate. A classic example of supergene is the S locus controlling heterostyly, a floral heteromorphism occurring in 28 angiosperm families. In Primula, heterosty...
We report three rare dodders (Cuscuta L.) from Quebec: Buttonbush Dodder (Cuscuta cephalanthi Engelmann), Hazel
Dodder (Cuscuta coryli Engelmann), and Smartweed Dodder (Cuscuta polygonorum Engelmann). Detailed descriptions of
their morphological characteristics, ecology, and host range are discussed. The genus Cuscuta is severely under-collected in...
We report three rare dodders (Cuscuta L.) from Quebec: Buttonbush Dodder (Cuscuta cephalanthi Engelmann), Hazel Dodder (Cuscuta coryli Engelmann), and Smartweed Dodder (Cuscuta polygonorum Engelmann). Detailed descriptions of their morphological characteristics, ecology, and host range are discussed. The genus Cuscuta is severely under-collected in...
The repeated transition from outcrossing to selfing is a key topic in evolutionary biology. However, the molecular basis of such shifts has been rarely examined due to lack of knowledge of the genes controlling these transitions. A classic example of mating system transition is the repeated shift from heterostyly to homostyly. Occurring in 28 angio...
It takes great effort to manually or semi-automatically convert free-text phenotype narratives (e.g., morphological descriptions in taxonomic works) to a computable format before they can be used in large-scale analyses. We argue that neither a manual curation approach nor an information extraction approach based on machine learning is a sustainabl...
The repeated transition from outcrossing to selfing is a key topic in evolutionary biology. However, the molecular basis of such shifts has been rarely examined due to lack of knowledge of the genes controlling these transitions. A classic example of mating system transition is the repeated shift from heterostyly to homostyly. Occurring in 28 angio...
Cyperaceae (sedges) are the third largest monocot family and are of considerable economic and ecological importance. Sedges represent an ideal model family to study evolutionary biology because of their species richness, global distribution, large discrepancies in lineage diversity, broad range of ecological preferences, and adaptations including m...
Plants play important roles as habitat and food for a tremendous diversity of specialist animals and fungi. The disappearance of any plant species can lead to extinction cascades of its associated biota. In consequence, documenting the diversity and specificity of plant‐associated organisms is of high practical relevance in biodiversity conservatio...
A new hybrid is described between two boreal species of Carex sect. Racemosae, the North American Carex atratiformis and the circumboreal Carex media, under the name of Carex ×payettei. It is reported in Nunavik (Northern Quebec, Canada), in nine localities within the Forest Tundra and Open Boreal Forest zones. It is intermediate in morphology betw...
Molecular phylogenetic studies based on Sanger sequences have shown that Cyperaceae tribe Fuireneae s.l. is paraphyletic. However, taxonomic sampling in these studies has been poor, topologies have been inconsistent, and support for the backbone of trees has been weak. Moreover, uncertainty still surrounds the morphological limits of Schoenoplectie...
The molecular basis of phenotypic convergence, a key topic in evolutionary biology and ecology, has been investigated especially between species. However, it remains unclear whether mutations in the same or different positions of the same gene, or in different genes underlie phenotypic convergence within species. A classic example of convergence is...
Phylogenetic studies of Carex L. (Cyperaceae) have consistently demonstrated that most subgenera and sections are para‐ or polyphyletic. Yet taxonomists continue to use subgenera and sections in Carex classification. Why? The Global Carex Group here takes the position that the historical and continued use of subgenera and sections serves to (1) org...
Trichophoreae is a nearly cosmopolitan Cyperaceae tribe that contains ∼17 species displaying striking variation in size, inflorescence complexity, and perianth morphology. Although morphologically distinct, the status of its three genera (Cypringlea, Oreobolopsis and Trichophorum) are controversial because recent phylogenetic studies have suggested...
The megadiverse genus Carex (c. 2000 species, Cyperaceae) has a nearly cosmopolitan distribution, displaying
an inverted latitudinal richness gradient with higher species diversity in cold‐temperate areas of the Northern
Hemisphere. Despite great expansion in our knowledge of the phylogenetic history of the genus and many molecular
studies focusing...
For those familiar with boreal bogs and wet tundra, species of Eriophorum (“the cotton grasses”) will undoubtedly represent some of the most striking and memorable taxa they have encountered. This small genus of 20 Holarctic sedge species (Cyperaceae) is remarkable because its inflorescences produce large, brilliantly white to rusty-red cottony mas...
The circumscription of the circumboreal tribe Scirpeae has been contentious since the earliest infrafamilial classifications of the Cyperaceae (>100 genera, ~ 5500 species). Molecular phylogenetic studies place Scirpeae in a strongly supported clade with the enigmatic genus Khaosokia and tribes Cariceae, Dulichieae, and Sumatroscirpeae, a lineage c...
Despite recent advances in molecular phylogenetic studies, deep evolutionary relationships in Cyperaceae are still not entirely resolved. Reduction of floral morphology and complex inflorescences pose difficulties to unravel relationships based on morphology alone. One of the most phylogenetically informative structures in Cyperaceae are the embryo...
For over 40 yr, Sumatroscirpus (Sumatroscirpeae, Cyperaceae) has been treated as a monospecific genus endemic to the Indonesian island of Sumatra. This genus possesses sheathing fertile prophylls that have recently been shown to be homologous with the perigynia of Carex, its highly diverse sister-group (>2000 species, Cariceae). In this taxonomic r...
Flowers show important structural variation as reproductive organs but the evolutionary forces underlying this diversity are still poorly understood. In animal-pollinated species, flower shape is strongly fashioned by selection imposed by pollinators, which is expected to vary according to guilds of effective pollinators. Using the Antillean subtri...
Flowers show important structural variation as reproductive organs but the evolutionary forces underlying this diversity are still poorly understood. In animal-pollinated species, flower shape is strongly fashioned by selection imposed by pollinators, which is expected to vary according to guilds of effective pollinators. Using the Antillean subtri...
Despite the promise that molecular data would provide a seemingly unlimited source of independent characters, many plant phylogenetic studies are still based on only two regions, the plastid genome and nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA). Their popularity can be explained by high copy numbers and universal PCR primers that make their sequences easily amp...
Despite the promise that molecular data would provide a seemingly unlimited source of independent characters, many plant phylogenetic studies are based on only two regions, the plastid genome and nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA). Their popularity can be explained by high copy numbers and universal PCR primers that make their sequences easily amplified...
La presence de la naiade grele, Najas gracillima (Najadaceae), dans la flore aquatique indigene du Quebec est confirmee. Cette espece sensible a la pollution est en declin dans toute son aire naturelle nord-americaine en raison de l’eutrophisation des lacs et des cours d’eau. Pour faciliter l’identification de cette rarete, une cle des Najas de la...
We present the first survey of the vascular flora of Scotty Creek, a peatland-dominated watershed with discontinuous permafrost about 60 km south of Fort Simpson, Northwest Territories (NWT). Of the 140 vascular plant taxa found at Scotty Creek, two are additions to the boreal flora of NWT: Arethusa bulbosa (Dragon's-mouth, Orchidaceae) and Carex p...
In its broadest sense, Scirpus consists of a heterogeneous assemblage of up to 250 species, but modern circumscriptions suggest that only 40–50 species are part of the genus. Despite a narrower definition of the genus, atypical species continue to be segregated from Scirpus with a common pattern being the removal of Southern Hemisphere taxa to othe...
With approximately 2000 species, tribe Cariceae (Cyperaceae) comprises a morphologically distinctive cosmopolitan clade, with holocentric chromosomes (N = 6 to 56), complex biogeographical patterns, and habitat diversity ranging from rainforests to deserts. Such a remarkable combination of characteristics should make Cariceae an ideal model for stu...
Abstract— Asexual reproduction, polyploidy and hybridization are well-known sources of taxonomic complexity in angiosperms. All these processes are believed to occur in Potentilla sect. Niveae (Rosaceae). Although it has been assumed that hybridization is common in section Niveae, this hypothesis has not been tested and recent studies suggest that...