About me
My primary research interest is in the comprehension of the developmental and evolutionary mechanisms underlying body morphology in vertebrates. I use and develop diverse quantification tools (traditional and geometric morphometrics, Fourier analyses, spherical harmonics) and multivariate statistics (PCA, bgPCA, relative PCA, PCoA, 2B-PLS, partial warps) to explore the morphological diversity in extant and fossil species. I am skilled in digital imaging techniques (µCT-scanning, 3D-data reconstruction, image segmentation) and in programming using R and Matlab.
My current research focus is on the morphological variability, integration and evolvability of the ear in modern and fossil vertebrates. My research project Evolvability of the mammalian ear: A macroevolutionary approach is funded by the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, where I have my main affiliation.
Previously, I was part of the project "Evolvability of inner and middle ears in birds and mammals" (PI Philipp Mitteröcker, FWF grant number P33736). I also worked on genetic aspects of craniofacial development as part of the project "Developmental canalization in the human head" (PI Philipp Mitteröcker, FWF grant number P29397). Besides lab work, I have participated to palaeontological excavations in France (PI Xavier Valentin), in Burma (PIs Jean-Jacques Jaeger and Olivier Chavasseau) and in Greece (PIs Dimitris S. Kostopoulos and Gildas Merceron).
At the University of Vienna, I regularly teach practical courses in geometric morphometrics and multivariate statistics. In previous years at the University of Poitiers, France, I taught plant biology (histology, physiology, development, anatomy, botany), molecular biology, and bio-engineering, as well as palaeontology and geology (cartography, petrology, regional geology, sedimentology).
I am also an active member of the Société d'Anthropologie de Paris and the Editor-in-Chief of its scientific journal, the Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris (BMSAP).
Sound is transmitted to the inner ear (purple) by the bony ossicles (light blue), both in mammals (left) and birds (right). Among the three ossicles of mammals, the stapes (S) corresponds to the columella (Co) of birds, whereas the incus (I) and the malleus (M) evolved from bones of the primary jaw joint. © Anne Le Maître
The bony molding of the inner ear can virtually be reconstructed from X-ray images of the skull, here for a baboon. © Jérôme Surault (Université de Poitiers, France)
The shape of the osseous moulding of the inner ear, the organ of hearing and balance (represented here by a mouse deer ear, with landmarks that capture the shape). Inner ear shape was compared among a total of 40 mammals in the study by Grunstra et al. Sea cows, golden moles, tenrecs and tree hyraxes all belong to Afrotheria, a morphologically and ecologically very diverse group of mammals. The shape of the inner ear for a given afrotherian species is more similar to distantly related non-afrotherian mammals sharing the same environment (for example, sea cows and dolphins, which are both strictly aquatic) than to more closely related species (for example, sea cows and elephants). © Anne Le Maître
Publications
Grunstra NDS, Hollinetz F, Bravo Morante G, Zachos FE, Pfaff C, Winkler V, Mitteroecker P, Le Maitre A. (2024) Convergent evolution in Afrotheria and non-afrotherians demonstrates high evolvability of the mammalian inner ear. Nature Communications, 15, 7869. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52180-1
Goude G, Le Maître A, Bertrand B, Mounier A. (2024) Invasive, micro-invasive and non-invasive analyses of anthropobiological remains: what changes in current practices and recommendations? BMSAP, 36(1). DOI: 10.4000/bmsap.14170 [in French]
Le Maître A, Guy F, Merceron G, Kostopoulos DS. (2023) Morphology of the bony labyrinth supports the affinities of Paradolichopithecus with the Papionina. International Journal of Primatology, 44, 209–236. DOI: 10.1007/s10764-022-00329-4
Le Maître A, Daver G, Mounier A, Prat S, Villotte S, Noûs C. (2022) How to define humanity? A theoretical and empirical perspective. BMSAP, 34(2). DOI: 10.4000/bmsap.10434 [in French]
Grunstra NDS, Bartsch S, Le Maître A, Mitteroecker P. (2021) Detecting phylogenetic signal and adaptation in papionin cranial shape by decomposing variation at different spatial scales. Systematic Biology, 70(4), 694–706. DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syaa093
Morlo M, Le Maître A, Bastl K, Engel T, Lutz H, Lischewsky B, von Berg A, Nagel D. (2021) First record of the mustelid Trochictis (Carnivora, Mammalia) from the early Late Miocene (MN 9/10) of Germany and a re-appraisal of the genus Trochictis. Historical Biology, 33(8), 1183–1195. DOI: 10.1080/08912963.2019.1683172
Le Maître A, Grunstra NDS, Pfaff C, Mitteroecker P. (2020) Evolution of the mammalian ear: An evolvability hypothesis. Evolutionary Biology, 47, 187–192. DOI: 10.1007/s11692-020-09502-0
Mitteroecker P, Bartsch S, Grunstra NDS, Le Maître A, Matiasch C, Bookstein FL. (2020) Morphometric variation at different spatial scales: Coordination and compensation in the emergence of organismal form. Systematic Biology, 69(5), 913–926. DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syaa007
Jaeger J-J, Chavasseau O, Lazzari V, Soe AN, Sein C, Le Maître A, Shwe H, Chaimanee Y. (2019) New Eocene primate from Myanmar shares dental characters with African Eocene crown anthropoids. Nature Communications, 10(1), 3531. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-11295-6
Le Maître A. (2019) Role of spatial integration in the morphology of the bony labyrinth in modern humans. BMSAP, 31(1-2), 34–42. DOI: 10.3166/bmsap-2018-0039
Le Maître A, Mitteorecker P. (2019) Multivariate comparison of variance in R. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 10(9), 1380–1392. DOI:10.1111/2041-210X.13253
Le Maître A, Schuetz P, Vignaud P, Brunet M. (2017) New data about semicircular canal morphology and locomotion in modern hominoids. Journal of Anatomy, 231(1), 95–109. DOI:10.1111/joa.12619
Software
Le Maître A, Bartsch S, Grunstra NDS, Mitteroecker P. (2020) prWarp: Warping Landmark Configurations. R package version 1.0.0. https://cran.r-project.org/package=prWarp
Le Maître A, Mitteroecker P. (2020) vcvComp: Comparison of Variance-Covariance Patterns. R package version 1.0.2. https://cran.r-project.org/package=vcvComp