Laure TURCATI

Dynamics of functional diversity in plant communities

We focus on:

• Obtaining long-term, large-scale data on plant communities via a plant monitoring programme involving volunteer botanists (www.vigie-flore.fr)

• How to measure functional diversity, by comparing different indices.

• How to use biological traits to assess functional diversity

• How functional diversity is linked with environmental factors, especially with human-induced disturbance.

Keywords: plant monitoring programme, measure of functional diversity, biological traits, human disturbance.

Impact of habitat fragmentation on plant community structure in Île-de-France region

Supervisors: Emmanuelle Porcher, Jacques Moret

Summary: Land use change is known to affect biodiversity, notably via the replacement of natural habitats by croplands and urban zones that induces a fragmentation of the remaining natural habitats. Fragmentation impact on population dynamics and species persistence is well-known, but it may also alter the composition and functioning of plant communities, notably because its effects on species may differ according to their traits. Here, we aimed to assess the impact of fragmentation on the structure of plant communities in Île-de-France, a densely populated French region. We analysed the effects of fragmentation on species richness, average community specialization and on the probability of presence of a species according to their traits (specialization and dispersal type). Our study showed that fragmentation induces an increase in species richness and a decrease in plant community specialization and that sensitivity of species to fragmentation does not depend on their dispersal types but can be explained by their degree of habitat specialization. Consequently, fragmentation is associated with higher species richness but lower plant community specialization. Thus, fragmentation is linked with a biotic homogenization of plant communities: communities are more similar to each other.

Keywords: habitat fragmentation, plant communities, species richness, degree of specialisation, dispersion traits, biotic homogeneisation.

Publications

Conferences:

• Specialization indices: another way to measure biodiversity
French meeting in Ecology (Ecologie 2010) Montpellier, France, September 2010
Poster

• What is behind specialization? French-speaking conference on plant community ecology (Ecoveg), Rouen, France, April 2010
Presentation

• Impact of habitat fragmentation on forest plant community structure of the Île-de-France region
European congress of conservation biology (ECCB) Prague, Czech Republic, September 2009
Speed presentation

• Impact of habitat fragmentation on forest plant community structure of Île-de-France region
French-speaking conference on plant community ecology (Ecoveg) Gembloux, Belgium, april 2009
Poster

• Vigie-Flore: observatoire de la flore commune
French-speaking conference on conservation biology (Le réveil du dodo) Montpellier, France, march 2009
Poster

Teaching

• Licence 1
Module diversité du vivant (LV102)

• Centre de préparation à l’agrégation science de la vie, sciences de la Terre et de l’Univers
Corrections d’oraux et de devoirs blancs, TP de botanique