Laboratoire Evolution et Diversite Biologique

Research interests

My research aims at assessing the impacts of global changes on freshwater ecosystems, in particular on stream fish. Freshwater ecosystems are facing multiple human-induced changes and ectothermic organisms such as stream fish are predicted to be strongly affected by climate warming. In this context, I’m interested in how climate change and the potential interacting effects of other anthropogenic disturbances have affected the spatial distribution of stream fish in France during the last decades and how biological and ecological characteristics of species are linked to observed changes in distribution through the identification of vulnerability traits. Finally, as responses of organisms to environmental disturbance can have strong impacts at higher levels of biological organization through trophic interactions, I’m also interested in understanding how hydrological alteration (especially low-flow events), one of the predicted outcome of climate change, can affect food web structure and ecosystem functioning.

Publications

Comte, L., Lek, S., de Deckere, E., de Zwart, D., Gevrey, M. (2010). Assessment of stream biological responses under multiple-stress conditions. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 17 (8) : 1469-1478.

Gevrey, M., Comte, L., de Zwart, D., de Deckere, E., Lek, S. (2010). Modeling the chemical and toxic water status of the Scheldt basin (Belgium), using aquatic invertebrate assemblages and an advanced modeling method. Environmental Pollution 158 (10) : 3209-3218.