Annaëlle Bénard

Postdoctoral Positions

Joint likelihood approaches for combining opportunistic and standardized data in species distribution modelling (2025–)

Biostatistics and Spatial Processes, INRAE

Studying wildlife–vehicle collisions using citizen science data (2024)

LPO Auvergne–Rhône-Alpes & LEHNA UMR 5023 (funding: DRÉAL AuRA, LPO France, French Ministry for Ecological Transition)

Reports

• Estimating the impacts of road mortality on wildlife in metropolitan France using unstructured data, Bénard A. & Lengagne T., LPO AuRA – CNRS LEHNA (2025).
• Density maps of wildlife–vehicle collisions in metropolitan France based on semi‑structured and unstructured data, Bénard A. & Lengagne T., LPO AuRA – CNRS LEHNA (2025).

PhD Thesis (2023)

Road ecology: towards a predictive model of wildlife–vehicle collision risk

UMR 5023, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1.

Involvement: Communications Officer, DocE2M2 Association (2021–2023). Teaching (192h)

Publications

• Bénard, A., Bonenfant, C., & Lengagne, T. (2024). Traffic and weather influence on small wildlife carcass persistence time on roads. Transportation Research Part D.
• Bénard, A., Lengagne, T., & Bonenfant, C. (2024). Integration of animal movement into vehicle–wildlife collision models. Ecological Modelling.
• Bénard, A., & Lengagne, T. (2025). Experimental and Simulated Approaches to Roadkill Persistence: Implications for Road Mortality Assessment. bioRxiv.
• Bénard, A., & Lengagne, T. (2025). What We Miss on the Road: Visual Attention and Species Detectability in Roadkill Surveys. bioRxiv.

Master’s Degree in Behavioural Ecology and Wildlife Management (2020)

Université de Bourgogne

Simulation and abundance estimation using camera traps

BEER Center, Durham University, UK (Professor Philip Stephens).

Estimating species abundance is a major challenge in ecology, especially for cryptic, nocturnal, or rare species. Camera traps offer an alternative to intensive or unrealistic field surveys.


In an individual‑based simulation framework, we tested three published estimation methods (Time‑to‑Event, Moeller et al. 2018; Random Encounter Model, Lucas et al. 2015; Distance Sampling on Transects, Howe et al. 2017) using animal trajectories based on correlated random walks. The work evaluates precision, robustness, and sampling effort required to obtain reliable estimates.

Hierarchical organisation of food exchange in the ant Lasius niger

IPHC UMR7178, Strasbourg (Dr Cédric Sueur)

Using individual identification tags, we were able to track trophallaxis (liquid food transfer) among all members of a social insect colony. Through graph‑theoretical analyses, we reconstructed food‑exchange networks in several colonies of the ant Lasius niger and examined how these networks interact with caste structure (workers, foragers, etc.).


The results reveal strongly hierarchical networks in which certain individuals act as key intermediaries, facilitating efficient resource distribution throughout the colony.

Quque, M., Bles, O., Bénard, A., et al. (2021). Hierarchical networks of food exchange in the black garden ant Lasius niger. Insect Science.

Bachelor’s Degree in Biology & Mathematics (double major)

Sorbonne University – Marine Biological Station of Roscoff.
Final year at Dalhousie University (Nova Scotia, Canada).