I am studying the factors driving plant coexistence in wetlands along ecological gradients (disturbance and/or stress). I am especially interested in systems of managed wetlands with combined gradients of grazing and flooding. My main interest concerns the reproductive strategies of plants in response to these gradients.


Reproductive strategies of plants in response to stress or disturbance gradients

I am studying especially clonal species and investigate the resource allocated to sexual vs. asexual reproduction and within the asexual reproductive types in various situations of stress, competition and disturbance. While considering asexual reproduction through clonal growth, a particular attention is drawn to investigate the plastic adjustments in reproductive clonal strategies of plants. We evaluate in particular the balance between caespitose vs. rhizomatous/stoloniferous forms for plant species depending on the level of competition, disturbance or stress experienced (collaborative program with B. Clément).

A more precise study is developed on plant clonal strategies in response to heterogeneous grazing through a phD project. The work of ML. Benot (phD student, advisors: C. Mony & A. Bonis) investigate more precisely the clonal response of plants to heterogeneous cutting (as simulating grazing patterns). She has underlined through her master experiments that plants show passive plasticity in response to cutting which can be more or less important. Plant clonal responses depended on phylogeny and especially on the initial type of clonal architecture. She is now looking during her phD project to different aspects of plant clonality linked with the spatial patterns of disturbance, both via in situ studies and experimentations. A complementary project in collaboration with S. Puijalon (university of Lyon) has investigated the effect of the type of disturbance experienced in the response shown: we simulated the impact of a major disturbance vs. recurrent disturbance on plant responses. Traits characterizing clonal propagation, water-content and fitness were used.

Studies on plant response to flooding was conducted with a particular attention to clonal trait variations. A first controlled-condition experiment has highlighted no significant impact of flooding duration on clonal propagation and allocation. These results were found for hygrophilic species and may explain partly their tolerance to the variability in flooding conditions.


Simultaneous effects of competition and flooding on wetland plants

This project is achieved through a collaboration with V. Jung (university of Metz). We evaluated the impact of competition and flooding on the survival and fitness of selected species from wetlands. These species were selected to have different ecological range along the in situ flooding gradient. We made an outdoor experiment in which we simulated flooding treatments using in situ hydrological data. We wanted to evaluate the respective effect of competition and flooding in explaining plant distribution along the flooding gradient (Is it hierarchical or amplified ?) and highlight the response traits of plants in function of competition and flooding. Through additional work, we aim to determine traits responsive to flooding or indicating the stress individual experiment.


Using modelling as an experimental tool

Studying plant responses to variable environmental conditions and their adaptive value is particularly difficult to carry experimentally. Through a collaborative projects with M. Garbey (university of Houston), we are developing modelisation tools to simulate clonal plant spatial foraging in disturbed environment. The difference found between experimental results and theorical hypothesis should be explained via this tool.


Other minor projects

I have been working during my phD on aquatic plant plasticity. I am still working on minor projects on aquatic plants especially on species with high conservation value (Luronium natans, Littorella uniflora).


Teaching activities

I am teaching mainly at master level ecological sciences, statistical analyses and GIS.