Mickaël Henry

Mickaël Henry is a Researcher at INRA's Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur center, leading the Bees and the Environment unit (UR0406). His work focuses on animal behavior in ecological contexts, particularly pesticide impacts on bees and seed dispersal by bats in tropical ecosystems.

He holds a License and Master in Landscape Ecology and Population Biology from Canada, a PhD from French Guiana on tropical bats, and completed post-doctoral research in Mexico. His early bat studies established him as an international expert in tropical ecology.

Henry's research integrates field telemetry and statistical modeling to decode animal behavior. He pioneered RFID tracking of pesticide-exposed bees, demonstrating how neonicotinoids disrupt navigation and cause colony collapse. His bat research revealed critical seed dispersal mechanisms for tropical forest regeneration.

His publications emphasize agricultural landscape management, with the 2012 Science article directly triggering the withdrawal of Cruiser pesticide and reshaping EU neonicotinoid regulations.

Awards:

• Zellidja Prize (1998) for ethnographic reports
• ATBC Excellence Award (2008)
• La Recherche Magazine Prize in Biology (2013)

Henry actively translates research into policy through media engagement and professional collaborations, notably co-founding the Ecobee apiary monitoring platform.

He co-founded the Ecobee platform in 2011—an apiary monitoring system testing agricultural practices' effects on bees—with CNRS Chizé and Magneraud Entomology colleagues.