People

My current research areas include community ecology and invertebrates (earthworms). Understanding how communities are formed enables us to predict their dynamics in response to environmental changes. This information is therefore of great value. Earthworms are abundant invertebrates representing an important part of soil biomass. They are involved in essential ecological processes that govern soil function and production of ecosystems services (key species). My PhD project aims to assess diversity level, community composition and assembling rules for earthworm communities, as well as the impact of agricultural practices on them. For this, I will use a comparative approach utilizing data from tropical and temperate regions, and an integrative approach that combines the use of molecular taxonomic, functional trait and community phylogeny features. Prior to my PhD, I was involved in research during my BSc in Biology and Ecology where I did a phylogenetic analysis of a red algae (Asparagopsis taxiformis) from the Pacific Ocean with the use of barcoding technology. Then, I completed two masters in Ecology and Marine Biology in France. During my masters, I did several studies on the analysis of the diversity of the genus Halimeda (calcified green algae) in coral reef environments, the development of a new NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) sequencing method for studying the specific diversity of Peruvian Amazonian catfish larvae and the analysis of genetic diversity of a Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias) Australian population. All these studies where based on the use of molecular tools such as barcoding and metabarcoding.
Having been raised in tropical countries, such as French Guyana and New-Caledonia, in contact with nature was a chance and sparked my curiosity about the diversity of organisms and the functioning of ecosystems. These personal and professional experiences allowed me to develop an interest for the study, the understanding and the preservation of the environment and the ecosystems which compose it, with the help of molecular tools.