EcoSys (Functional Ecology and Ecotoxicology of Agroecosystems)
February 11 2022UMR (Joint Research Unit) AgroParisTech, Inra
General scientific orientation
The work of this joint research unit focuses on integrated studies of the functioning of agroecosystems and their relationship to the environment. This functioning is understood through the use of concepts from functional ecology and ecotoxicology, taking into account fluxes of matter and energy and the functions of organisms either in isolation or interacting with their environment at various levels of spatial organization (local, regional, national). The work of the unit concerns the notion of “ecosystem services” and aims to quantify experimentally and to predict, by modeling, the agronomic, environmental and health performance of agrosystems subjected to the constraints of global changes (climate, changes in land use and practices, pollution).
Fields of research
The unit is organized into three scientific groups :
- Understanding and modeling the function of crops in interaction with biotic (pathogens, macrofauna, plurispecies associations) and abiotic (low nitrogen
levels, water, heat and oxidative stresses) factors - Identification of the ecophysiological processes involved in the resilience of ground cover and associated functional traits
- Quantification and prediction of biosphere-atmosphere exchanges of greenhouse gases, pollutants and particles, and the fate of nitrogen and pesticides at a scale beyond that of individual plots
- Integrated evaluation of the results for food and energy crops, taking into account production, costs and environmental impact
- Optimization of the valorization of organic residues in agriculture
- Analysis of the fate, dispersion and environmental impact of pesticides and of other organic contaminants in agrosystems
- Studies of the dynamics of organic matter in soils and the mechanisms of carbon storage at diverse levels of spatial organization
- Consideration, in system evaluations, of the services supplied by soils
- Characterization of exposure to contaminants, through studies of the dynamics of interactions between micropollutants and organisms in the soil, at different biological scales
- Understanding and modeling of the influence of landscape elements on this exposure
- Studies of the long-term effects of low doses and mixtures of contaminants on soil organisms
- Development and validation of indicators of soil function and of the health of soil organisms (biomarkers, bioindicators).
- Analysis of the contribution of ecotoxicology to the multicriteria evaluation of agroecosystem soils and the services they supply.