Research director
Researcher in Tropical Soil Ecology and Biological Resource Management
IRD, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement
iEES-Paris, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences – Paris (Sorbonne University, France).
ITC, Institut of Technology of Cambodia (Phnom Penh, Cambodia)
N° ORCID : 0000-0002-4189-5133
Biography
I’m soil ecologist and my research focuses on the ecosystem services provided by soil biodiversity, and especially on the ecological impacts of soil invertebrates (e.g., termites and earthworms) on soil and water dynamics but also on the services they provide to humankind in terms of food security and access to health. My research has mainly been carried out in tropical countries in Côte d’Ivoire (during my thesis), Vietnam and India, where he spent about 10 years, as well as in Thailand and Cambodia via the supervision of PhDs.
Research outlook
Sheetings, mounds, casts, galleries, etc. are some of the beautiful structures made by soil invertebrates. Not all the invertebrates that we can find in soil but those that we call “bioturbators” and soil “physical engineers”. They are primarily termites, of course (….) and earthworms, obviously (….) but also beetles and ants and their distributions and impacts still hide many mysteries in the tropics…
Sheetings, mounds, casts, galleries, etc. How are they made? Why are they made? What are their properties and impacts on ecosystem functioning? Can we predict their properties? Any benefit or utilization for a better management of the natural resources? All of these questions and many others are what motivate my research.
