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Managers: Thomas BOIVIN & Pilar FERNANDEZ-CONRADI
Tel: +33 (0)4 32 72 29 44 & +33 (0)4 32 72 29 77 / email: Thomas.Boivin@inrae.fr and Pilar.Fernandez@inrae.fr

Participating in this activity: Thomas BOIVIN (CRCN HDR), Pilar FERNANDEZ-CONRADI (CRCN), Marion PARIZAT (TR).
SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVES

To understand the role played by insects in the dynamics and evolution of Mediterranean forest ecosystems undergoing global change. Using a resolutely multi-disciplinary approach (ecology, biology-genetics-population dynamics, chemical ecology, modelling), our research focuses on analysing key population processes in ecology leading to functional changes in these ecosystems. This issue is addressed in two specific contexts: biological invasions (Axis 1) and insect-tree-environment interactions (Axis 2).

Axis 1 : Invasions of exotic forest insects and their ecological impacts in Mediterranean forests.
We are interested in the ecological, environmental and anthropogenic factors that favour these invasions and determine their ecological impacts, by analysing :

•     invasion routes and secondary expansion mechanisms in the area of introduction (local and regional scales) ;
•     the ecology of introduced populations;
•     interspecific interactions in the recipient ecosystem with (1) host plants (reproductive success, ecophysiology and genetic diversity) and (2) associated communities (predators, competitors, symbionts).

AXIS 2 : insect-tree-environment interactions.
We are interested in the ecological, ecophysiological and chemical mechanisms of interactions between insects, trees and their biotic and abiotic environment.This knowledge is intended to shed light on insect population dynamics and the resilience-mortality processes of trees exposed to disturbance regimes (droughts, fires).We are focusing on    the composition and spatio-temporal distribution of different communities of forest phytophagous insects ;    the key population processes involved in their dynamics, in relation to climatic factors and individual host characteristics (ecophysiology, chemistry, growth).The aim of our research is twofold:

1. To assess and predict the ecological and evolutionary consequences of insect-tree-environment interactions using mechanistic approaches with spatial and temporal dimensions.

2. To bring this knowledge to a higher level of integration in forest dynamics models.

Key words : Ecology, entomology, biological invasions, forest dieback, plant-insect interactions, global change, Mediterranean forests.
EDYPOP

A few publications :

Boutte B, Boivin T, Fernandez-Conradi P, Fabre J-P, Chalon A, Parizat M (2021) Le cèdre face aux aléas : aspects sanitaires, p. 251. Forêt méditerranéenne t. XLII, n° 3, septembre.

Fernandez-Conradi P et al. (2021) Combining phytochemicals and multitrophic interactions to control forest insect pests. Current opinion in insect science 44 (2021): 101-106.

Valdés-Correcher E et al. (2021) Herbivory on the pedunculate oak along urbanization range in Europe: effects of local forest cover and insect feeding guild. Authorea Preprints.

Davi H, Durand-Gillmann M, Damesin C, Delzon S, Petit C, Rozenberg P, Sabatier S-A, Chadoeuf J, Boutte B, Boivin T (2020) Distribution of endemic bark beetle attacks and their physiological consequences on Pinus halepensis. Forest Ecology and Management.

Boivin T, Chalon A, Doublet V, Parizat M 2020. Histoire et conséquences d’une invasion d’insectes spécialistes des graines de cèdre de l’atlas au Mont Ventoux. Rendez-vous techniques de l’O.N.F., n° 63-64.

Doublet V, Gidoin C, Lefèvre F, Boivin T (2019) Spatial and temporal patterns of a pulsed resource dynamically drive the distribution of specialist herbivores. Scientific Reports 9, 17787 (2019) doi:10.1038/s41598-019-54297-6.

Martínez M, Cognato AI, Guachambala M, Urdànigo JP, Boivin T (2019) Effects of Climate and Host Age on Flight Activity, Infestation Percentage, and Intensity by Coptoborus ochromactonus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) in Commercial Balsa Plantations of Ecuador. Journal of Economic Entomology. DOI: 10.1093/jee/toz303

Boivin T, Doublet V, Candau J-N (2019) The ecology of predispersal insect herbivory on tree reproductive structures in natural forest ecosystems. [REVIEW] Insect Science 26, 182–198, DOI 10.1111/1744-7917.12549

Parizat M. et Chalon A., Cahiers des Techniques de l’INRA, 2017, Innovations entomologiques : du laboratoire au champ ! p196-204

Dehnen-Schmutz K, Boivin T, Essl F, Groom QJ, Harrison L, Touza JM, Bayliss H (2018) Alien Futures: What is on the horizon for biological invasions? Diversity and Distributions 24, 1149-1157. DOI: doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12755

Gidoin C et al. (2014) Linking niche theory to ecological impacts of successful invaders:  insights from resource fluctuation-specialist herbivore interactions. Journal of Animal Ecology. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12303