Jean-Christophe Lata

The general framework within which fits my research, targets at understanding the functioning and the temporal and spatial dynamics of ecosystems. In particular, I sought to address in my career the links between diversity of organisms (plants, microorganisms) and the realization of functions related to C and N cycles (e.g. nitrification , carbon respiration). From these links may depend (according to the degree of functional redundancy, competition between organisms or levels of disturbance) the ecosystem stability including their resistance and resilience to global change.

In this context, I particularly focused on:

1 . The intercomparison of different types of temperate, Mediterranean or tropical (African, South American) ecosystems;
2 . The intercomparison of different types of natural (savannas, grasslands, forests) vs. anthropic (crop fields, lakes, urban soils and lawns) ecosystems;
3 . The intercomparison of different pressures on these ecosystems, whether natural (fire, competition) or anthropogenic (climate change, land use, pollution);
4 . Scaling, trying to understand the diversity - function relationships from microbial scale (soil aggregate, rhizosphere) to the ecosystem scale (landscape) under both controlled conditions (microcosms) as well as in situ;
5 . The integration of temporal scale (small scale to interannual);
6 . The link between terrestrial and freshwater aquatic ecosystems;
7 . Modeling of some of these processes through collaborations;
8 . Finally, trying to translate the capacity of ecosystem engineering of some organisms (e.g. plants, social insects) in potential applications (e.g. ability of some perennial grasses to inhibit nitrogen transformation processes in soil).