Department of Integrative Ecology

Our research uses an interdisciplinary and integrative approach to address how biodiversity is organized at different scales from genes to communities. We combine fieldwork with meta-analysis, molecular tools, and experimental and theoretical approaches in the belief that only a synthetic approach can satisfactorily address complex questions in ecology and evolutionary biology. Our work is eminently collaborative and has an important component of outreach and formation. Our synthetic approach aims at asking new questions and addressing old questions in innovative ways at the interface between traditionally segregated biological disciplines.

 

We study: 
1) how ecological interactions, e.g. mutualisms, shape complex ecological systems,
2) how global change drivers impact community structure and composition, with an emphasis on plant-pollinator communities,
3) the conservation genetics and genomics of endangered species,
4) patterns and processes of biological invasions, and aim at the development of ecology-based tools for their management,
5) genetic changes in populations through time,
6) factors determining genetic variation across space (evolutionary biogeography),
7) intrinsic and extrinsic factors that determine the origin of species diversity
8) the diversity and functions of known plant genes in natural environments.