Permanent staff

Research Interest

As a botanist, I am interested in describing biodiversity, trying to explain the diversity of flowering plants using evolutionary and ecological approaches, and conservation biology. I have a particular interest in insular systems (especially New Caledonia and Cuba), edaphically extreme environments, and in the plant families Cunoniaceae and Proteaceae. I have conducted research on peculiar plants known as metal hyperaccumulators. My work spans a wide range of disciplines including taxonomy, population genetics, molecular phylogenetics, macroecology, and ionomics.

Edition and expertise

• Associate editor of IRD Editions. Lien.

• Associate editor of Phytotaxa. Lien.

• Guest editor for Botany Letters (special volume “The vegetation on ultramafic rocks in New Caledonia”). Lien.

• Member of the Red List Authority – flora of New Caledonia

• Vice-president of the scientific council of the Botanical Conservatory of New Caledonia

• Member of the Nomenclature Committee for Vascular Plants

• Member of the Community of Knowledge Georesources and Sustainability

Education past positions

• 2020                 HDR from the University of Montpellier

• 2017-present  Researcher at IRD

• 2015-2017       Lecturer (ATER) at the University of Limoges

• 2010-2015       Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Hawai’i at Hilo

• 2009                 Postdoctoral fellow at IRD DIADE, Nouméa

• 2008                 PhD from the University of New Caledonia

Publications

For a complete list, see profile on google scholar and Researchgate:

• https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=u3wIhGUAAAAJ&hl=fr&oi=ao 

• https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yohan-Pillon 

Book

Hopkins, H.C.F., Pillon, Y. & Hoogland, R.D. (2014) Cunoniaceae : flore de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, vol. 26. Muséum national d’histoire naturelle / IRD, Paris (collection Faune et Flore Tropicales). Lien.

Selected articles

Hocedez, J., Gotty, K., Hequet, V., Chay, S., Léopold, A., Dray, S. & Pillon, Y. (2024) Community ionomics reveals a diversity of mineral nutrition in a species‐rich shrubland on infertile soil. Journal of Vegetation Science, 35 (5), e13301. Lien.

Pillon, Y. (2021) The inequity of species names: The flora of New Caledonia as a case study. Biological Conservation, 253, 108934. Lien.

Pillon, Y., Hopkins, H.C.F., Maurin, O., Epitawalage, N., Bradford, J., Rogers, Z.S., Baker, W.J. & Forest, F. (2021) Phylogenomics and biogeography of Cunoniaceae (Oxalidales) with complete generic sampling and taxonomic realignments. American Journal of Botany, 108 (7), 1181–1200. Lien.

Majourau, P. & Pillon, Y. (2020) A review of Grevillea (Proteaceae) from New Caledonia with the description of two new species. Phytotaxa, 477 (2), 243–252. Lien.

Pillon, Y., González, D.A., Randriambanona, H., Lowry, P.P., Jaffré, T. & Merlot, S. (2019) Parallel ecological filtering of ultramafic soils in three distant island floras. Journal of Biogeography, 46 (11), 2457–2465. Lien.

Pillon, Y., Petit, D., Gady, C., Soubrand, M., Joussein, E. & Saladin, G. (2019) Ionomics suggests niche differences between sympatric heathers (Ericaceae). Plant and Soil, 434 (1–2), 481–489. Lien.

Stacy, E.A., Johansen, J.B., Sakishima, T., Price, D.K. & Pillon, Y. (2014) Incipient radiation within the dominant Hawaiian tree Metrosideros polymorpha. Heredity, 113 (4), 334–342. Lien.

Jaffré, T., Pillon, Y., Thomine, S. & Merlot, S. (2013) The metal hyperaccumulators from New Caledonia can broaden our understanding of nickel accumulation in plants. Frontiers in Plant Science, 4, 279. Lien.

Pillon, Y., Qamaruz-Zaman, F., Fay, M.F., Hendoux, F. & Piquot, Y. (2007) Genetic diversity and ecological differentiation in the endangered fen orchid (Liparis loeselii). Conservation Genetics, 8 (1), 177–184. Lien.

Pillon, Y., Fay, M.F., Shipunov, A.B. & Chase, M.W. (2006) Species diversity versus phylogenetic diversity: A practical study in the taxonomically difficult genus Dactylorhiza (Orchidaceae). Biological Conservation, 129 (1), 4–13. Lien.