This axis investigates the biotic environment during the Pleistocene and the Holocene, its evolution and its interactions with the physical environment and the humans:

• Contributing to the debate on domestication and propagation history of animals and plants in Europe, by a combination of traditional palaeontological, archaeozoological and archaeobotanical studies with state-of-the-art analyses (geometric morphometrics, ancient DNA, stable isotopes).
• Reconstructing the subsistence of past societies. The acquisition, production, distribution and consumption of animal and plant resources are reconstructed on a selection of archaeological sites dating between the Paleolithic and post-medieval times. Various disciplines are involved for the traditional bioarchaeological studies (archaeozoology, macrobotany, palynology, anthracology, analysis of phytoliths and starch grains, anthropology) and this is combined with stable isotope and residue analyses. For the two last millennia, attention is also focused on food as a reflection of social status and identity.
• Documenting the human impact on the environment through geoarchaeological and bioarchaeological studies. Processes such as deforestation resulting in erosion, overgrazing, overhunting, overfishing, extinctions, invasions, and pollution are analyzed.