Françoise Blanc

Françoise Blanc
Françoise_Blanc_au_ski.jpg Françoise_Blanc_au_ski.jpg Françoise Blanc
Born	Françoise Georgette Germaine Dingeon (1936-10-01)1 October 1936 Vauchelles-les-Quesnoy, France
💀Died	24 January 2017(2017-01-24) (aged 80) Montpellier, France24 January 2017(2017-01-24) (aged 80)
🏳️ Nationality	French
🎓 Alma mater	University of Paris
💼 Occupation
Known for	Genetic zoogeography; studies of reptiles, terrestrial gastropods and bivalve population genetics; research on pearl oysters and Malagasy fauna
👩 Spouse(s)	Charles Pierre Blanc

Françoise Blanc (née Dingeon; 1 October 1936 – 24 January 2017) was a French biologist whose research focused on zoogeography, herpetology, invertrebrate biology and population genetics. She worked on the use of genetic zoogeography to reconstruct the phylogeny of animal groups and to inform conservation, particularly in reptiles, terrestrial gastropods, game birds and marine bivalves. The gecko species Lygodactylus blancae from Madagascar was named after her.

Early life and education

Françoise Georgette Germaine Dingeon was born on 1 October 1936 in Vauchelles-les-Quesnoy, near Abbeville, France. She studied natural sciences at the University of Paris, completing certificates in botany, geology, zoology and physiology between 1956 and 1958. In 1959 she completed a postgraduate dissertation in comparative physiology, and in 1972 she obtained her D.Sc. in Natural Sciences () from Université de Paris VII.

Career

Blanc began her career in 1961 as an agrégée teacher at the girls' lycée in Amiens. She was then seconded to the French Ministry of Cooperation and posted to the Lycée Galliéni in Antananarivo, Madagascar. From 1962 to 1965 she taught at the École normale de Tananarive. In 1965 she joined the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Madagascar, where she progressed from assistant lecturer to maître-assistante titulaire by 1971.

From 1971 to 1973, Blanc worked at the Laboratory of Zoogeography at Paul Valéry University Montpellier 3, which had been founded by Renaud Paulian. In 1973 she was seconded to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and appointed to the Faculty of Sciences of Tunis. She subsequently held positions at the École normale supérieure de Tunis from 1974 to 1977 and the Faculty of Medicine of Tunis from 1977 to 1979. Her time in Tunisia allowed her to study non-island reptile fauna adapted to arid environments.

Blanc returned to Montpellier in 1979, first as maître-assistante titulaire and then, from 1983, as professor at Paul Valéry University Montpellier 3. In 1981 she founded the Laboratory of Genetic Zoogeography at Montpellier, where she used electrophoretic methods to investigate genetic variation in animal populations. She retired on 31 October 1997.

Research

Blanc's work combined classical biogeography with genetic and biochemical approaches. Her research dealt with the relationships between geography, genetic variation, speciation and conservation in several animal groups.

Terrestrial gastropods of Madagascar

During her years in Madagascar, Blanc collected terrestrial gastropods and helped establish reference material for students and researchers. Her work contributed to systematic revisions of Madagascan land snails, including prosobranch and pulmonate gastropods. She collaborated with the malacology laboratory of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris, especially through work associated with Édouard Fischer-Piette.

The material collected in Madagascar supported later volumes of the Faune de Madagascar series on terrestrial gastropods. These studies helped document patterns of endemism in genera such as Tropidophora, Helicophanta and Ampelita, and contributed to understanding the relationships between Madagascan mollusc distributions and phytogeographic regions.

Françoise Blanc in her genetics laboratory in Tunis.

Reptiles

Blanc studied several reptile groups, including Malagasy iguanids, chameleons, lacertid lizards and tortoises. She contributed chromosomal, serotaxonomic and immunochemical data to studies of the phylogeny of Malagasy iguanids.

Embryo of Furcifer lateralis displaying cyclopia, studied by Blanc during her embryological research.

Her doctoral work concerned the embryological, morphological and enzymological development of the carpet chameleon, then known as Chamaeleo lateralis and now generally placed in Furcifer. This research produced one of the first developmental tables for a chameleon species and examined enzymatic changes during embryonic and post-embryonic development.

In Tunisia, Blanc created an electrophoresis laboratory and studied genetic variation in sand-dwelling lacertid lizards of the genus Acanthodactylus. Her studies used allozyme variation to examine systematic relationships, dispersal, vicariance and speciation in North African and southern Spanish populations.

Blanc also worked on the genetic differentiation of populations related to Hermann's tortoise (Testudo hermanni). In 1995, the herpetologist Georges Pasteur named the Malagasy gecko species Lygodactylus blancae in her honour. The naming recognised her contributions to the study of Malagasy reptiles and biogeography.

Game birds

At Montpellier, Blanc's research increasingly addressed the effects of human activity on genetic diversity in managed or threatened species. She studied genetic variation in populations of grey partridge (Perdix perdix) and red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa), including the consequences of restocking programmes. Her work identified genetic markers useful for distinguishing red-legged partridges from hybrids involving the chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar), an issue relevant to conservation and wildlife management.

Marine bivalves

Blanc studied genetic variation in economically important bivalves, especially the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) and pearl oysters of the genus Pinctada. Her work on Ostrea contributed to distinguishing sympatric oyster species using diagnostic genetic loci, including in Mediterranean populations.

In French Polynesia, Blanc studied the black-lip pearl oyster, Pinctada margaritifera, whose distribution is strongly shaped by lagoon and island geography. She investigated population structure, genetic diversity and the relationship between geographic isolation and morph differentiation in pearl oyster populations. Her research contributed to broader work on pearl oyster genetics, aquaculture and conservation.

Personal life

Blanc married zoologist Charles Pierre Blanc in 1959. The couple had two children and frequently collaborated scientifically. Blanc travelled widely for research, teaching and scientific meetings, including work in Madagascar, Tunisia, French Polynesia, Venezuela, Mexico, Japan, Norway and the United States. She was also active in the French Alpine Club. "Charles Blanc et ses contributions herpétologiques : hommage d'un élève". Bulletin de la Société Herpétologique de France (in français) (171): 57–96. 2019.

Selected publications

• Blanc, Françoise (1970). "Contribution à l'étude de la croissance post-embryonnaire de Chamaeleo lateralis Gray, 1831". Annales de l'Université de Madagascar.

• Blanc, Françoise (1972). Le développement de Chamaeleo lateralis Gray, 1831 (Reptilia, Chamaeleontidae): aspects morphologiques et enzymologiques (Doctoral thesis). Université de Paris VII.

• Blanc, Françoise (1973). "Table de développement de Chamaeleo lateralis Gray, 1831". Annales d'Embryologie et de Morphogenèse. 7: 99–115.

• Blanc, Françoise; Cariou, M. L. (1980). "High genetic variability of lizards of the sand-dwelling Lacertid genus Acanthodactylus". Genetica. 54: 141–147.

• Blanc, Françoise; Cariou, M. L.; Blanc, C. P. (1981). "Études sur les Acanthodactyles de Tunisie. V. Différenciation génétique et divergence". Amphibia-Reptilia. 3–4: 329–335.

• Blanc, C. P.; Blanc, Françoise; Rouault, J. (1983). "The interrelationships of Malagasy iguanids". In Burghardt, G. M.; Rand, A. S. Iguanas of the World. New York: Noyes Publications. pp. 129–136. Search this book on

• Blanc, Françoise; Ledemé, P.; Blanc, C. P. (1986). "Variation géographique de la diversité génétique chez la Perdrix grise (Perdix perdix)". Gibier Faune Sauvage. 3: 5–41.

• Blanc, Françoise; Pichot, P.; Attard, J. (1986). "Genetic variability in the European oyster Ostrea edulis: geographic variation between local French stocks". In Gall, G. A. E. Genetics in Aquaculture II. Elsevier. pp. 362–363. Search this book on

• Blanc, Françoise; Cariou, M. L. (1987). "Geographical variability of allozyme variation and genetic divergence between Tunisian lizards of the sand-dwelling Lacertid genus Acanthodactylus". Genetica. 72: 13–25.

• Blanc, Françoise; Durand, P. (1989). "Genetic variability in natural bivalve populations: the case of the black-lipped pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera". La Mer. 27: 125–128.

• Durand, P.; Wada, K. T.; Blanc, Françoise (1993). "Genetic variation in wild and hatchery stocks of the black pearl oyster, Pinctada margaritifera, from Japan". Aquaculture. 110: 27–40.

• Fischer-Piette, E.; Blanc, C. P.; Blanc, Françoise; Salvat, F. (1993). Gastéropodes terrestres, Tome 1: Prosobranches. Faune de Madagascar. 80. CNRS-ORSTOM. Search this book on

• Fischer-Piette, E.; Blanc, C. P.; Blanc, Françoise; Salvat, F. (1994). Gastéropodes terrestres, Tome 2: Pulmonés. Faune de Madagascar. 83. CNRS-ORSTOM. Search this book on

• Arnaud-Haond, Sophie; Bonhomme, François; Blanc, Françoise; Monteforte, Mario (2003). "Large discrepancies in differentiation of allozymes, nuclear and mitochondrial DNA loci in recently founded Pacific populations of the pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera". Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 16: 388–398.

• Arnaud-Haond, Sophie; Vonau, V.; Bonhomme, François; Boudry, Pierre; Blanc, Françoise; Prou, J.; Seaman, S.; Goyard, Emmanuel (2004). "Spatio-temporal variation of the genetic composition of wild populations of pearl oyster Pinctada margaritifera cumingii in French Polynesia following 10 years of juvenile translocation". Molecular Ecology. 13: 2001–2007.

• Cunha, Regina L.; Blanc, Françoise; Bonhomme, François; Arnaud-Haond, Sophie (2011). "Evolutionary patterns in pearl oysters of the genus Pinctada (Bivalvia: Pteriidae)". Marine Biotechnology. 13 (2): 181–192. doi:10.1007/s10126-010-9278-y.

Legacy

Blanc's work contributed to the development of genetic zoogeography in France through the application of electrophoretic and population-genetic methods to biogeography, taxonomy and conservation biology. Her studies on reptiles, terrestrial gastropods, oysters and pearl oysters combined classical zoological approaches with molecular and biochemical analyses.

Her research on pearl oysters and marine bivalves was used in studies of aquaculture, genetic diversity and conservation management in French Polynesia and other Pacific regions.

Blanc is recognised in biodiversity and taxonomic databases including Wikispecies and the reptile taxonomy literature.

External links

Blanc contributed to the development of genetic zoogeography in France by applying biochemical and population-genetic methods to questions in biogeography, systematics and conservation. Her work ranged from Madagascan terrestrial molluscs and reptiles to managed game birds and pearl oyster aquaculture.

See also

• Zoogeography
• Population genetics
• Malacology
• Herpetology

External links

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