Research at ISEM is based primarily on the observation, description and characterisation of past and present biodiversity, through extensive fieldwork, locally, regionally and worldwide. These surveys and long-term monitoring studies enhance the collections (fossils, pollen, charcoal, seeds, tissues, molecules), databases (morphological and behavioural traits, DNA sequences) and genetic resources that constitute the wellspring of our research unit. Our research also involves laboratory experiments (molecular biology, cytogenomics, histology, trait measurement and analysis, etc.) to study relevant phenotypes (growth, fertility, development, behaviour, virulence, resistance, etc.), their genetic and environmental links (hybridization, quantitative genetics, acclimatization, high throughput genotyping), and their response under experimental evolution conditions. Finally, major modelling, biostatistics and bioinformatics developments in fields as varied as evolutionary genomics, ecosystem dynamics, geometric morphometry and evolutionary ecology are undertaken to interpret and synthesise these data and results.