GARDIN Axelle

Postdoctoral researcher
Associated member

Main research question

As a specialist in ancient continental ecosystems, my goal is to replace extinct species in their environment and relate the evolution of fauna to that of the environment.

My research is carried out in an interdisciplinary approach integrating studies of functional anatomy, skeletal growth and isotopic geochemistry.

Topics of study

As part of my postdoctoral contract, my objectives are as follows:

Carry out and valorise the analysis of aquatic vertebrates from Neogene sites in Chad and from the Plio-Pleistocene of the Shungura Formation in Ethiopia, for the purposes of paleoenvironmental reconstructions. These data are provided by the Mission Paléoanthropologique Franco-Tchadienne and the Omo Group Research Expedition.
Establish modern reference database for the interpretation of skeletal growth marks (actinopterygians) and oxygen geochemistry (crocodilians) to compare the seasonality regime and degree of aridity recorded by vertebrates ectotherms in aquatic environments.

Funding

This recruitment is carried out within the framework of the New Aquitaine Region AH-HEM project (L’Afrique et le genre Homo, Histoire Evolutive et Migrations).

Prize

Jury Prize awarded by the Association for early-career Women Archaeologists and Paleontologists 2022: Axelle Gardin for her short oral communication: Gardin A., Griffet J., Mahamat A., Dufour E., Garcia G., Otero O. Skeletal growth rhythmed by seasonal environmental fluctuations in Nile perch (Lates niloticus): implication for paleoclimatic reconstructions. 2nd Virtual Conference for Women Archaeologists and Paleontologists.
Depéret Prize 2021 awarded by the French Paleontological Association: Axelle Gardin for her oral communication: Gardin A., Salesa M.J., Siliceo G., Antón M., Pastor J.-F., de Bonis L. – Adaptations au grimper et paléoécologie d’Amphicynodon leptorhynchus, petit carnivore énigmatique de l’Oligocène inférieur des Phosphorites du Quercy. Réunion de l’Association Paléontologique Française, Troyes.
Transmitting Science Prize awarded by the European Association of Vertebrate Paleontology 2021: Axelle Gardin for her oral communication: Gardin A., Salesa M.J., Siliceo G., Antón M., Pastor J. F., de Bonis L. Meet Amphicynodon leptorhynchus, a 30 Myr old emblematic small carnivoran from the Quercy Phosphorites: locomotor adaptations of the forelimb and paleoecology. 18th Conference of the European Association of Vertebrate Palaeontologists.

Other responsibilities

Member of the Board of Directors of the Association for early-career Women Archaeologists and Paleontologists and of the organization team of its annual international congress.

Find out more

Contact

Isotopologue Paleoscience Laboratory at the University of Michigan
axelleg@umich.edu
axelle.gardin@univ-poitiers.fr

Iconic publication

Gardin A., Pucéat E., Garcia G., Boisserie J.-R., Euriat A., Joachimski M. M., Nutz A., Schuster M., Otero O. 2024 – Stable oxygen isotopes of crocodilian tooth enamel allow tracking Plio-Pleistocene evolution of freshwater environments and climate in the Shungura Formation (Turkana Depression, Ethiopia) – Biogeosciences,21,437–454 – https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-437-2024

Gardin A., Otero O., Réveillac E., Lafitte A., Valentin X., Lapalus F., Garcia G. 2023 – Seasonality and growth in tropical freshwater ectotherm vertebrates: Results from 1-year experimentation in the African gray bichir, giraffe catfish, and the West African mud turtle – Ecology and Evolution 13, e9936 – https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9936

Gardin A., Salesa M.J., Siliceo G., Antón M., Pastor J. F., De Bonis L. 2022 – The hindlimb of Amphicynodon leptorhynchus from the lower Oligocene of the Quercy Phosphorites (France): Highlight of new climbing adaptations of this early arctoid. J Mammal Evol. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-022-09621-9

Bonis L. de, Grohé C., Surault J., Gardin A. 2022 – Description of the first cranium and endocranial structures of Stenoplesictis minor (Mammalia, Carnivora), an early aeluroid from the Oligocene of the Quercy Phosphorites (southwestern France) – Historical Biology. doi: 10.1080/08912963.2022.2045980

Axelle Gardin, Manuel J. Salesa, Gema Siliceo, Mauricio Antón, Juan Francisco Pastor & Louis de Bonis, 2021 – Climbing Adaptations of an Enigmatic Early Arctoid Carnivoran: the Functional Anatomy of the Forelimb of Amphicynodon leptorhynchus From the Lower Oligocene of the Quercy Phosphorites (France) – Journal of Mammalian Evolution: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10914-021-09553-w

Bonis L. de, Gardin A. & Blondel C., 2019 – Carnivora from the early Oligocene of the ‘Phosphorites du Quercy’ in southwestern France, in Bonis L. de & Werdelin L. (eds), Memorial to Stéphane Peigné: Carnivores (Hyaenodonta and Carnivora) of the Cenozoic. – Geodiversitas 41 (15): 601-621.