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Email: guillaume.simioni(at)inrae.fr
Phone: +33 (0)4 32 72 29 03
Fax: +33 (0)4 32 72 29 02
INRAE
URFM - UR629
Site Agroparc
Domaine Saint Paul
F-84914 AVIGNON Cedex 9

Research associate at the Ecology of Mediterranean Forests Research Unit, part of the Ecology and Biodiversity Department (ECODIV).

Head of the Functional Ecology and Community Dynamics team (EFDC).

2007 : Research scientist at INRAE - URFM.
 

2005 - 2006 : Postdoc (Forest Products Commission, Perth, Australia, under the aegis of the Centre Coopératif de Recherche sur l'Effet de Serre). Prediction of climate change effects on timber production and carbon balance of Pinus radiata plantations in South West Australia.

2002 - 2004: Postdoc (Forestry Division of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) under the aegis of the Cooperative Centre for Research on the Greenhouse Effect (CRC Greenhouse Accounting), Canberra, Australia). Modelling the effects of climate change on Australian ecosystems, in particular the development of CenW-TG, a comprehensive and generic mechanistic model designed to study the effects of climate change on the carbon balance of grass-tree ecosystems.

1998 - 2001: DEA, then PhD in ecology, Université Paris Sud, on the subject "Importance of the spatial structure of the tree stratum on the carbon and water functions of grass-tree ecosystems. Exemple d'une savane d'Afrique de l'Ouest", carried out within the Functionnement et Evolution des Systèmes Ecologiques laboratory, UMR 7625, ENS, Paris. Development of the TREEGRASS model, field measurements in the Lamto savannah to parameterize and test the model, and use of TREEGRASS to demonstrate the influence of vegetation structure on primary production, water balance, and light, water and nitrogen use efficiencies at ecosystem scale.
 

Integrated modeling of ecosystem functioning

Understanding the key mechanisms that control ecosystem functioning is essential if we are to develop 1) methods for managing, monitoring or taking ecosystems into account, and 2) methods for downscaling (i.e. understanding what looks complicated in order to be able to represent it in a simple way).I'm interested in using integrated modeling (which takes into account a large number of processes) as a tool to identify the key mechanisms controlling ecosystem carbon balance in the context of climate change.

In this context, I'm involved in work that crosses different climate change scenarios and different canopy structures in order to assess their consequences on carbon and water fluxes in Mediterranean mixed forests. This work combines modeling (taking into account three-dimensional canopy structure) and in situ experimentation.

Simioni G, Ritson P, McGrath J, Kirschbaum MUF, Copeland B, and Dumbrell I. Predicting wood production and net ecosystem exchange of carbon of Pinus radiata plantations in south-western Australia: application of a process-based model. Submitted.

Boulain N, Simioni G, and Gignoux J. 2007. Changing scale in ecological modelling: a bottom up approach with an individual based vegetation model. Ecological Modelling, 203:257-269.

Simioni G, Gignoux, J, Le Roux X, Appé R, and Benest D. 2004. Spatial and temporal variations in leaf area index, specific leaf area, and leaf nitrogen of two co-occurring savanna tree species. Tree Physiology 24:205-216.

Simioni G, Le Roux X, Gignoux J, and Walcroft AS. 2004. Leaf gas exchange characteristics and water- and nitrogen-use efficiencies of dominant grass and tree species in a West African savanna. Plant Ecology 173:233-246.

House JI, Archer S, Breshears DD, Scholes RJ, Coughenour MB, Dodd MB, Gignoux J, Hall DO, Hanan NP, Joffre R, Le Roux X, Ludwig JA, Menaut JC, Montes R, Parton WJ, San Jose JJ, Scanlan JC,

Scurlock JMO, Simioni G, and Thorrold B. 2003. Conundrums in Mixed Woody-Herbaceous Plant Systems. Journal of Biogeography 30:1763-1777.

Leriche H, Le Roux X, Desnoyers F, Benest D, Simioni G, and Abbadie L. 2003. Response of grass dry matter- and nitrogen-yields to clipping in an african savanna: an experimental test of the herbivory optimization hypothesis. Ecological Applications 13:1346-1354.

Simioni G, Gignoux J, and Le Roux X. 2003. How does the spatial structure of the tree layer influence water balance and primary production in savannas? Results of a 3D modelling approach. Ecology 84:1879-1894.

Kirschbaum MUF, Simioni G, Medlyn BE, and McMurtrie RE. 2003. The importance of including soil nutrient feed-back effects for predicting ecosystem carbon exchange. Functional Plant Biology 30:223-237.

Simioni G, Le Roux X, Gignoux J, and Sinoquet H. 2000. TREEGRASS: a 3D, process-based model for simulating the functioning of tree-grass ecosystems. Ecological Modelling 131:47-63.
Conférences/Conference papers

Simioni G, Le Roux X, and Gignoux J. 2002. Tree canopy spatial structure and savanna ecosystem production. 3rd International Canopy Conference, Cairns, Australia.

Boulain N, Simioni G, Gignoux J, et Leroux X. 2002. Modèle spatialement explicite et changement d’échelle (Spatially explicit models and scaling). Journées d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle, Gourdon, France, 5-8 mars.

Simioni G, Gignoux J, Le Roux X, and Leriche H. April 2001. TREEGRASS: a 3D process based model for simulating the functioning of tree-grass ecosystems: potential for herbivory studies. International Symposium on Silvopastoral Systems, Second Congress on Agroforestry and Livestock Production in Latin America, San José, Costa Rica.

Le Roux X, Simioni G, Walcroft AS, and Gignoux J. 2001. Leaf gas exchange characteristics of the dominant grass and tree species of a humid African savanna. Winter meeting of the British Ecological Society, Birmingham, 3-5 January.

Simioni G, Gignoux J, et Le Roux X. 1999. Effet de la structure spatiale des arbres sur la production primaire et le bilan hydrique en savane: résultats de simulations (Effects of tree spatial distribution on primary production and water balance in savannas : simulation results). CATCH conference (Couplage de l’Atmosphère Tropicale et du Cycle Hydrologique), Ecole de Physique des Houches, France.

Simioni G, Gignoux J, et Le Roux X. 1999. Effet de la structure spatiale des arbres sur la production primaire et le bilan hydrique en savane: résultats de simulations (Effects of tree spatial distribution on primary production and water balance in savannas : simulation results). 1ères Journées d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle, La Grande Motte, France.

PhD students supervised :

Guillaume MARIE 

Myriam MORENO