Research

Research Invasive species H. armigera outbreaks in cotton fields Landscape pollen index and hoverflies Fields hedgerows and ground beetles Dwelling beetles in North China grasslands My main skills Where I worked

Overview on my research experience Keywords: Landscape ecology – spatial and temporal dynamic of insects’ communities – ecosystem services – data analysis on R. My work is about landscape ecology, spanning from field to landscape. At the field scale, I studied the effects of local management on arthropods community structure. In a landscape context, I studied interactions between spatial drivers and ecological processes. My research work aims to understand the ecological processes underlying pest outbreaks, for their control, as well as for biodiversity conservation. An important part of my work is biostatistics for ecological processes modelling. Yinchuan (China) - Current postdoctoral position | Amiens (France) Previous postdoctoral position | Toulouse (France) - Postdoctoral position and PhD | North Benin - PhD field work | St Louis (USA) - collaboration during PhD | Garoua (Cameroon) - PhD lab work | Lyon (France) - Master internship   Master internship   Invasive species   My research work during my master internship fits into two major disciplines: ecology and microbiology. I studied the mechanisms driving the invasive success of the Asian knotweed (Fallopia sp). I investigated the effects of Fallopia sp rhizomes extracts on the activities of soil denitrifying bacteria. My results showed that Fallopia sp was able to modify soil bacteria activity for their profit and success over other plants of the community. The results were since published in Bardon et al., 2014.   PhD research work   Factors explaining Helicoverpa armigera outbreaks in cotton fields   My PhD research work aimed at determining the agricultural practices and landscape factors explaining the spatial distribution of a cotton pest: Helicoverpa armigera (Tsafack et al., 2013, 2016). I found that agricultural practices were more important than landscape factors to explain the abundance of H. armigera. The results also showed that landscape scale for H. armigera monitoring should be at least 500 m.   Post-doctorate research work   Landscape pollen index and hoverflies    In the study (Vialatte et al., 2017), we investigated the functional role of landscape complexity for a common natural enemies (hoverflies) and aphids. We showed that landscapes with a high pollen index favored parasitism but had a negative effect on the abundance of syrphids. We suspect that these landscapes also favor other aphid parasitoids than syrphids. This study is an example of a multi-taxonomic approach, highlighting the complexity of interactions in insect communities in agrosystems.   Fields hedgerows and ground beetles Lately, I studied the relative importance of hedgerows for ground beetles in agricultural landscapes of the North of France. Two main questions drive the study: (i) At local scale, do hedgerow features and quality effect carabid assemblages? (ii) At landscape scale, do woods elements (proportion of forest and hedgerow network) effect carabid assemblages? We found a great variability in the response of activity-density and species richness of ground beetle to hedgerow features depending both on their ecological group and landscape. Local effects were more important than landscape effects. We found that the connection of hedgerows to forest enhanced forest species richness in the hedgerows. This study highlights the importance of hedgerows as key components of agricultural landscapes. Integrated pest management involving ground beetles should first focus on local scale before considering the landscape context. Hedgerow management should be adapted to the target ground beetles ecological group.   Dwelling beetles in North China grasslands Currently, my research focuses on dwelling beetles in Northern China grasslands. I am studying how dwelling beetles change along a gradient of common disturbances observed in desert and typical steppes. I will also investigate the local patterns (soil characteristics, cropland and pastoral management) and landscape patterns which may influence the structure of dwelling beetle communities.   Main skills acquired with my experience   My experience allowed me to acquire strong skills to lead and carry out research projects: Hence, I have skills in: Ecology and landscape ecology disciplines. Design and implementation of field protocols: I have experience in protocol design and field work, insects trapping (light, pitfall). Management and analysis of complex data sets: I have experience in data analysis, I often use the free software R for data analysis. I have experience of the use of landscape tools like GIS.   References Bardon, C., Piola, F., Bellvert, F., Haichar, F. el Z., Comte, G., Meiffren, G., Pommier, T., Puijalon, S., Tsafack, N., Poly, F., 2014. Evidence for biological denitrification inhibition (BDI) by plant secondary metabolites. New Phytol. 204, 620–630. https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.12944 Tsafack, N., Alignier, A., Head, G.P., Kim, J.H., Goulard, M., Menozzi, P., Ouin, A., 2016. Landscape effects on the abundance and larval diet of the polyphagous pest Helicoverpa armigera in cotton fields in North Benin. Pest Manag. Sci. 72, 1613–1626. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.4197 Tsafack, N., Menozzi, P., Brevault, T., Soti, V., Deconchat, M., Ouin, A., 2013. Effects of landscape context and agricultural practices on the abundance of cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera in cotton fields: A case study in northern Benin. Int. J. Pest Manag. 59, 294–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/09670874.2013.852270 Vialatte, A., Tsafack, N., Hassan, D.A., Duflot, R., Plantegenest, M., Ouin, A., Villenave-Chasset, J., Ernoult, A., 2017. Landscape potential for pollen provisioning for beneficial insects favours biological control in crop fields. Landsc. Ecol. 32, 465–480. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-016-0481-8