I am a theoretical ecologist interested in dynamic systems and emerging properties in ecosystems. My training was in marine ecology, but my group has been working on the development of general theories as well as their application to a broad range of natural ecosystems, both marine and terrestrial, from the tropics to the arctic. People in my group develop and test theories using a combination of mathematical, computational and field-based approaches. These are a few examples of recent and ongoing research projects:
1. Applying theories of coupled oscillators to understand the role of species traits for the maintenance of strong oscillations and of their spatial asynchrony. We are interested in how specific patterns of spatial asynchrony can drive the stability of populations and the coexistence of species across spatial scales.
2. Meta-ecosystem dynamics considers the role of spatial fluxes of both organisms and of (in)organic matter for the functioning of ecosystems, including their productivity, stability, and the maintenance of species diversity and food web complexity. We develop meta-ecosystem models that predict the impact of these spatial fluxes in relation to the topology of landscapes and food webs.
3. The efficiency of marine reserve networks as conservation and management tools depend on their spatial connectivity. We apply meta-ecosystem theories to the optimal configuration of reserve networks, taking into consideration connectivity mediated by the movement of both organisms and of organic and inorganic matter.
4. Ecologists predict that biodiversity is important for the maintenance of key ecosystem functions such as productivity, but great variability in the strength of these diversity-function relationships suggest their dependance of spatial and temporal scales. We develop and run field-based experiments in coastal ecosystems to establish the dynamics and scale dependence of these relationships.
Taken together these projects contribute to the general study of spatial structure and dynamics and their role for the emergence of ecosystems properties across spatial and temporal scales.
For more information, see the Guichard Lab Website.