EcoSys
EcoSys is a Joint Research Unit (UMR) whose mission is to study the functioning of agro-ecosystems, taking into account biogeochemical processes, matter and energy flows, and the functions of organisms in isolation or in interaction with their environment. Some of the end products of our research contribute to the ecosystem services required by agroecosystems.
To implement the ecosystem service network approach and study more specific environmental issues, ECOSYS mobilizes functional ecology concepts through, for example, the analysis of flows between biosphere compartments, the study of interactions between biological functions and environmental factors, and the study of structural and functional plasticity in plants.
ECOSYS’ challenge was to appropriate the concepts and theories of functional ecology to propose tools and models that could be used for forecasting, evaluation and decision support.
Within the Ecophysiology and Physical Chemistry of Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions team, research over the last period has focused on 4 main objectives:
- Explain and model the functioning of agroecosystems and their interactions with biotics (pathogens, macro-fauna, multispecific associations) and abiotics (low nitrogen levels, water stress, thermal stress and oxidative stress).
- Identify the ecophysiological processes involved in canopy resilience and their associated functional traits
- Quantify and predict biosphere-atmosphere exchanges of greenhouse gases, pollutants and particles, and the fate of nitrogen and pesticides at supra-parcel scales.
- Evaluate the balance sheet of food and energy agroecosystems in an integrated way, considering production, costs and environmental impacts.
One of the team's distinctive features is its mastery of a continuum of models from process to operational, combining them with a range of experimental tools from controlled environments to field and landscape levels.
The team is recognized nationally and internationally in the research fields of agriculture's contribution to greenhouse gases and air pollution, crop bioenergy and soil use assessment, plant structure function modeling, plant disease development and landscape-scale integration, thanks to projects funded notably by ANR (ESCAPADE), a European H2020 project (LOGISTEC), as well as recognized publications in the field (e.g. Oswald et al., 2013; Smith et al., 2016;).
A notable development over the last period has been the strong focus on the interaction of agro-ecosystems with reactive gases (volatile organic compounds - VOCs, particles, ozone), with the recruitment of a young scientist (Raluca Ciuraru) with a background in atmospheric chemistry, as well as the investment of several engineers and scientists in new methodologies (PTR-TOF-MS, DT-GC-MS, PM...).
Another notable development concerns the better integration of root function and its interactions with the soil in soil-plant-atmosphere exchange, which has recently been reinforced by the recruitment of a young scientist (Frédéric Rees) to study rhizodeposition processes.
Finally, certain research topics (ammonia and GHG emissions, biofuels, photosynthesis) have reached a level of maturity that has led to the development of operational tools (Cadastre-NH3, FIDES), several patent applications (organ photosynthesis chamber, NH3 analyzer, NH3 emissions inference method), and the recent creation of a business unit for NH3 and GHG emissions monitoring, "INRAE Transfert Agrosystèmes", within the new ECOSYS team.
Sorry, no records were found. Please adjust your search criteria and try again.
Sorry, unable to load the Maps API.
