Date : 30/03/2009

Laboratory
Labo Ecology, Systematics and Evolution
UMR 8079 CNRS University Paris-Sud
bat 362
91405 Orsay Cedex
Director :Paul Leadley

PhD Supervisor
Anne-Caroline Prevot-Julliard
email : This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
phone : +33 686787545

Subjects / Tools-Methodologies:
1 : population dynamics / Capture-Mark-Recapture
2 :conservation biology / Statistics and data analyses
3 :urban ecology / field studies, interdisciplinary projects

Summary of lab's interests

In the lab Ecology, Systematics and Evolution, the team \"Ecology of communities\" is studying the relations between biodiversity and human activities. The study models are diverses: plant communities, endangered species, invasive species, polluted habitats and ecosystems, urban ecosystems. The tools and methods are also various, including notably experimental studies, statistical analyses and population modeling. Some aspects of our studies remain fundamental, but many of them are conducted to answer societal questions, in relation to conservation and management of biodiversity.

Summary of project

The global increase in human activities led to the emergence of new systems that link ecological and social dynamics in their functioning. Understanding the dynamics of these novel ecosystems is of primary importance in order to propose management strategies that achieve conservation objectives. However, studying novel ecosystems needs to combine ecological and social approaches in order to truly understand these social-ecological systems. Urban systems are typical novel ecosystems: entirely created by human societies, these habitats home to biodiversity (or nature) that is desired and accepted by city dwellers to varying extents. Urban nature (mostly green) is often a desirable nature, relating to mental health and welfare of city dwellers. However, accepting the presence of urban nature is increasingly important in the context of conservation; indeed, several authors have underlined the importance of experience of nature to achieve an ecological conscience; as most citizens are now living in the cities, the close contact and experience of nearby urban nature becomes a crucial stake in conservation. The interdisciplinary research program "Urban pigeon: ecology of reconciliation and Management of nature" started in 2006 and was developed to deal with these questions. This program brings together 6 research teams from both natural and social sciences fields, as well as 3 NGOs locally involved in urban ecology. We aim at understanding the social-ecological system around urban pigeons: very common, widespread and daily experienced by everybody in the cities. This species is more than just an animal species in an urban habitat; it is the object of many different and opposite social representations and meanings, it is managed in various ways depending on local authorities and it is the object of many social conflicts. One of the research axes in this program aims at studying the ecology of urban pigeons, in relation with both management strategies and practices of city dwellers. More precisely, the PhD student will be able to study different questions: Pigeon life-history traits (survival, fecundity, recruitment, dispersal) in relation to public policies (no control, captures, reproduction control in public pigeon houses), Habitat selection for breeding and/or foraging, Use of the urban space.