Nicole Boury-Esnault

Nicole Boury-Esnault is a retired French researcher of sponges, formerly at Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille, Aix-Marseille University.

Nicole Boury-Esnault
NationalityFrench
Academic work
DisciplineMarine biology
Sub-disciplineSpongiology
InstitutionsAix-Marseille University

Research

In 1995, Nicole Boury-Esnault and Jean Vacelet discovered a species of carnivorous sponges of the genus Asbestopluma, during an exploration of a shallow cave in the Mediterranean.[1][2][3][4] Caves can recapitulate the environment of the deep sea-bed due to the darkness and lack of nutrient, permitting the study of deep-sea-like regions in shallow areas of water.[3][4] Carnivorous sponges, lacking the normal filter feeding apparatus, had been previously discovered during deep-sea trawls and presumed to be damaged since they did not have a known feeding mechanism. The discovery of members of the family in shallow water meant that they could be experimentally tested, which is when Boury-Esnault and Vacelet observed feeding on small crustaceans.[3] Later they also reported on a member of the genus which used both carnivory and methanotrophy to survive in deep-sea expeditions of the Barbados trench.[5]

Boury-Esnault and Vacelet also found hexactinellid (glass) sponges, another deep-sea species, in these shallow cave waters, permitting detailed study for the first time.[6] She led a collaboration with Oceana and the University of Victoria which found new glass sponges in the Mediterranean Sea, and in the Atlantic Ocean.[7] In 1997 Boury-Esnault and Klaus Rutzler published a 'Thesaurus of Sponge Morphology' with the Smithsonian Institution.[8] In 2012 Boury-Esnault was involved in a study capturing the number and diversity of sponges in seas all around the world.[9]

Publications

Books
  • NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Taxonomy of Porifera from the N.E. Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea (1986 : Marseille, France); Vacelet, Jean; Boury-Esnault, Nicole; SpringerLink (Online service) (29 June 2013), Taxonomy of Porifera : from the N.E. Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, Springer-Verlag (published 1987), ISBN 978-3-642-70892-3

See also
  • Taxa named by Nicole Boury-Esnault

References
  1. Crew, Becky. "New carnivorous harp sponge discovered in deep sea". Scientific American Blog Network. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  2. Vacelet, J.; Boury-Esnault, N. (1995). "Carnivorous sponges". Nature. 373 (6512): 333–335. Bibcode:1995Natur.373..333V. doi:10.1038/373333a0. ISSN 1476-4687. S2CID 4320216.
  3. "A La Ciotat, une grotte reproduit les conditions des grands fonds et dévoile des espèces rares". LaProvence.com (in French). 5 September 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  4. Kelly-Borges, Michelle (1995). "Sponges out of their depth". Nature. 373 (6512): 284. Bibcode:1995Natur.373..284K. doi:10.1038/373284a0. ISSN 0028-0836.
  5. Vacelet, Jean; Boury-Esnault, Nicole; Fiala-Medioni, Aline; Fisher, C. R. (1995). "A methanotrophic carnivorous sponge". Nature. 377 (6547): 296. Bibcode:1995Natur.377..296V. doi:10.1038/377296a0. ISSN 1476-4687.
  6. Vacelet, Jean; Boury-Esnault, Nicole; Harmelin, Jean-Georges (1994). "Hexactinellid cave, a unique deep-sea habitat in the scuba zone". Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers. 41 (7): 965–973. Bibcode:1994DSRI...41..965V. doi:10.1016/0967-0637(94)90013-2.
  7. "New species of 'Glass Sponge' discovered in Portuguese Atlantic". www.theportugalnews.com. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  8. Thesaurus of Sponge Morphology (SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ZOOLOGY • NUMBER 596). SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS. 1997.
  9. Van Soest, Rob W. M.; Boury-Esnault, Nicole; Vacelet, Jean; Dohrmann, Martin; Erpenbeck, Dirk; De Voogd, Nicole J.; Santodomingo, Nadiezhda; Vanhoorne, Bart; Kelly, Michelle; Hooper, John N. A. (27 April 2012). Roberts, John Murray (ed.). "Global Diversity of Sponges (Porifera)". PLOS ONE. 7 (4): e35105. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...735105V. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035105. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3338747. PMID 22558119.
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