Dov Corenblit

Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier | UPS Toulouse · Département de Biologie et Géosciences

Soil and Water Bioengineering (SWBE) for river management is a viable alternative to civil engineering when bank stabilization is needed. Unlike riprap, SWBE techniques support bank stabilization while promoting the development of riparian vegetation. The preservation of vegetation biodiversity on riverbanks helps maintain and create essential ecos...

Rivers have an intricate relationship with the vegetation that colonizes them. Riparian plants, capable of thriving within river corridors, both respond to and influence geomorphology. Yet interactions between river morphodynamics and vegetation tend to be context specific, making it challenging to generalize findings between locations. The current...

Research in fluvial biogeomorphology largely aims to promote our understanding of the interactions between riparian vegetation and fluvial morphodynamics within riverine ecosystems. Starting at the end of the last century, Angela M. Gurnell has made a major contribution to fluvial geomorphology by considering water flow and sediment transport in co...

Mars, with its physicochemical conditions resembling Earth's environment 4.5 to 3.5 Ga ago, is a planet of interest in the search for past conditions adequate to life (Cabrol, 2018; Mangold et al., 2021). Sedimentary rocks, specifically their geomorphological properties, have been identified as a promising avenue for detecting bacterial activity in...

The current focus of river restoration on flow and sediment transfer without proper consideration of vegetation as a key structuring agent, beyond its stabilising effect, is too simplistic. We contend that vegetation has an essential role in shaping the physical fluvial environment and should be considered equally alongside hydrogeomorphic processe...

A zoonosis is an infectious disease that can be transmitted to humans from animals, potentially leading to an epidemic or pandemic. Increasing research into the environmental drivers of zoonoses in a so‐called ‘Pandemicene’ has focused on changes to land use, land cover and climate. But what about the associated changes to earth surface processes,...

Contrairement aux techniques traditionnelles de protection des berges telles que les enrochements, les techniques de génie végétal (GV) favorisent la stabilisation des berges tout en encourageant le développement de la végétation riveraine. La préservation de la biodiversité végétale sur les rives des cours d’eau contribue au maintien et à la créat...

The current focus of river restoration on flow and sediment transfer without proper consideration of vegetation as a key structuring agent, beyond its stabilising effect, is too simplistic. We contend that vegetation has an essential role in shaping the physical fluvial environment and should be considered equally alongside hydrogeomorphic processe...

Research in fluvial biogeomorphology largely aims to promote our understanding of the interactions between riparian vegetation and fluvial morphodynamics within riverine ecosystems. Starting at the end of last century, Angela M. Gurnell has made a major contribution to fluvial geomorphology by considering, in addition to water flow and sediment tra...

We suggest that biogeomorphology should challenge the traditional dichotomy between living and non‐living components of Earth surface systems. To achieve this, biogeomorphologists should gain a better understanding of eco‐evolutionary models and empirical findings developing at the interface between ecology and evolutionary biology. Eco‐evolutionar...

Eco‐evolutionary dynamics, or eco‐evolution for short, are often thought to involve rapid demography (ecology) and equally rapid heritable phenotypic changes (evolution) leading to novel, emergent system behaviours. We argue that this focus on contemporary dynamics is too narrow: Eco‐evolution should be extended, first, beyond pure demography to in...

This review explores the implications of climate change for the functioning of plant species as biogeomorphic engineers of temperate river systems, including the potential for an increasing role of invasive alien plant species (IAPS). First, we introduce engineer plants as important controls, along with flowing water and transported sediments, on t...

Glacier forefields have long provided ecologists with a model to study patterns of plant succession following glacier retreat. While plant-survey-based approaches applied along chronosequences provide invaluable information on plant communities, the “space-for-time” approach assumes environmental uniformity and equal ecological potential across sit...

Considering kin selection in the study of interacting conspecific plants broadens our vision of plant behaviour and brings arguments to explain plant-plant positive interactions. These interactions are the subject of abundant research in community ecology and the role of relatedness in interactions between individuals has become a hot topic. Indeed...

Poplars establish on alluvial bars within sand and gravel-bed rivers. Alluvial bars also provide particularly suitable habitats for the proliferation of ants. We hypothesized that ants, by modifying substrate structure and resource availability in fluvial habitats, positively influence poplar growth during its establishment stage. We conducted a pr...

Microorganisms play a role in the construction or modulation of various types of landforms. They are especially notable for forming microbially induced sedimentary structures (MISS). Such microbial structures have been considered to be among the most likely biosignatures that might be encountered on the martian surface. Twenty-nine algorithms have...

Glacier forefields have long provided ecologists with a model to study patterns of plant succession following glacier retreat. While plant survey-based approaches applied along chronosequences provide invaluable information on plant communities, the “space-for-time” approach assumes environmental uniformity and equal ecological potential across sit...

Eco-evolutionary dynamics, or eco-evolution for short, are thought to involve rapid demography (ecology) and equally rapid phenotypic changes (evolution) leading to novel, emergent system behaviours. This focus on contemporary dynamics is likely due to accumulating evidence for rapid evolution, from classical laboratory microcosms and natural popul...

Riparian areas are important ecosystems that need to be restored and protected in the Anthropocene era. In Quebec, Canada, conservation laws and management strate- gies focus on ecological services provided by riparian communities, such as erosion and flood control, carbon sequestration, and pollutants filtration. However, there is a need to incorp...

Riparian zones are the paragon of transitional ecosystems, providing critical habitat and ecosystem services that are especially threatened by global change. Following consultation with experts, 10 key challenges were identified to be addressed for riparian vegetation science and management improvement: (1) Create a distinct scientific community by...

Riparian ecosystems are highly dependent on feedbacks between vegetation dynamics and hydrogeomorphic components. Physical constraints on vegetation support a mosaic of heterogeneous habitats that support high biological diversity and provide many ecosystem services. Most European rivers have undergone anthropogenic alterations such as channelizati...

The Black poplar is a pioneer tree species occurring along many river courses across Europe. Seedlings establish at very high density and experience various stresses (e.g., hydric, mechanical). In a previous study conducted in 2017 on the same population we described the fine-scale genetic structure (FSGS) of three age cohorts (5, 10 and > 20 years...

Black poplar (Populus nigra L.) is a pioneer tree species in European rivers that colonises alluvial banks in very high densities. Indirect positive interactions (i.e. facilitation) between young black poplars are already documented. However, the nature of direct interactions between young individuals remains unknown. The conceptual framework of ki...

Engineer organisms not only adapt to pre-existing environmental conditions but also co-construct their physical environment. By doing so, they can subsequently change selection pressures for themselves and other species, as well as change community and ecosystem structures and functions. Focusing on one representative example, i.e., fossorial mamma...

Recently, deglaciated landscapes are ideal natural arenas to investigate ecological succession processes. However, ground data acquisition remains complicated as glacier forefields are often difficult to access and fieldwork possibilities remain limited. Remote sensing offers an opportunity to bypass this issue and increase spatial and temporal cov...

Context and problematic Populus nigra L. (Salicaceae) seedlings grow in high densities in stressful environment. Individual plants interact mostly with their direct neighbors. Spatial genetic structure (SGS) indicates the presence of related individuals close to each other. Thus, SGS pattern can influence what type of biotic interaction (positive o...

Better understanding the fate of the atmospheric carbon (C) captured by plant photosynthesis is essential to improve natural C flux modelling. Soils are considered as the major terrestrial bioreactor and repository of plant C, whereas channel networks of floodplain rivers collect and transport, throughout the aquatic continuum, a significant part o...

Better understanding the fate of the atmospheric carbon (C) captured by plant photosynthesis is essential to improve natural C flux modelling. Soils are considered as the major terrestrial bioreactor and repository of plant C, whereas channel networks of floodplain rivers collect and transport, throughout the aquatic continuum, a significant part o...

Spatial genetic structure (SGS) studies contribute to our understanding of gene flow and species dispersal. Only a few studies have linked the spatio-temporal pattern of SGS and intra-specific interactions. Black poplar (Populus nigra L.) is a threatened pioneer riparian tree species along many rivers across Europe. We studied its SGS in cohorts of...

The Milo River in Guinea is one of the tributaries of Upper Niger. Its basin has a semi-arid climate with alternating dry and wet seasons in a biogeographic context of savannah. The West African monsoon brings rain between June and September with a long dry period affecting river levels and vegetation. The rainfall and flow of the Milo River have d...

The correct citation for the reference Martínez-Fernández et al. (2017b) is: Martínez-Fernández, V., González, E., López-Almansa, J.C., González, S.M., García de Jalón, D., 2017. Dismantling artificial levees and channel revetments promotes channel widening and regeneration of riparian vegetation over long river segments. Ecol. Eng. 108, 132–142. T...

Within rivers, riparian trees such as poplars or willows respond to the flood regime, but they also control hydrogeomorphological processes and fluvial landform dynamics. It is now recognized that feedbacks between riparian trees and hydrogeomorphological processes occur during their life, leading to the emergence of biogeomorphological units such...

Feedback between hydrogeomorphological processes and riparian plants drive landscape dynamics and vegetation succession in river corridors. We describe the consequences of biogeomorphological feedback on the formation and dynamics of vegetated fluvial landforms based on observations from the channelised Isère River in France. The channel was latera...

Geological evidence shows that life on Earth evolved in line with major concomitant changes in Earth surface processes and landforms. Biogeomorphological characteristics, especially those involving microorganisms, are potentially important facets of biosignatures on Mars and are generating increasing interest in astrobiology. Using Earth as an anal...

Plant communities and dynamics can be characterized according to species composition or plant traits. Here, we used species composition and plant traits to compare their effectiveness in discriminating the biogeomorphological (involving reciprocal feedbacks between physical and biological processes) and ecological (mainly biologically driven) phase...

Las actividades humanas en las llanuras de inundación interfieren negativamente en la regeneración de especies de la familia Salicaceae — álamos/chopos (Populus spp.) y sauces (Salix spp.), que desempeñan un papel clave en los ecosistemas riparios del hemisferio norte. La restauración ecológica inicialmente abordó este problema desde una perspectiv...

Keywords : Water cycle ; stable isotope, isotopic elevation (altitude) effect; groundwater , river water, Indian monsoon ; Western Ghats Abstract : Forest ecosystems play a major role in controlling moisture dynamics over the continents, particularly in the humid tropics. The montane forest ecosystems in South India host a characteristic warm t...

We studied its SGS in cohorts of varying ages at a fine-scale (i.e. at distances including the zone of influence between individuals) to better understand local patterns of dispersal and intra-specific interactions during early life-stages. We genotyped 349 P. nigra individuals in three gravel bars along a 1.6 km reach of the Allier River in the Ré...

Biogeomorphic ecosystems (e.g. rivers, salt marshes, mangroves and coastal dunes) are shaped by feedbacks between geomorphology and engineer plants that occur at various spatiotemporal scales. The classical bivariate and multivariate statistical methods currently used in biogeomorphology do not permit to clearly identify reciprocal causality betwee...

We studied its SGS in cohorts of varying ages at a fine-scale (i.e. at distances including the zone of influence between individuals) to better understand local patterns of dispersal and intra-specific interactions during early life-stages. We genotyped 349 P. nigra individuals in three gravel bars along a 1.6 km reach of the Allier River in the Ré...

Plants influence geomorphology. Research on salt marshes suggests that feedbacks between geomorphic processes and life-history traits of plants produce species-specific signatures in the organization of biogeomorphic landscapes.

Human activities on floodplains have severely disrupted the regeneration of foundation riparian shrub and tree species of the Salicaceae family (Populus and Salix spp.) throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Restoration ecologists initially tackled this problem from a terrestrial perspective that emphasized planting. More recently, floodplain restorat...

We studied its SGS in cohorts of varying ages at a fine-scale (i.e. at distances including the zone of influence between individuals) to better understand local patterns of dispersal and intra-specific interactions during early life-stages. We genotyped 349 P. nigra individuals in three gravel bars along a 1.6 km reach of the Allier River in the Ré...

Within riparian corridors, Salicaceae trees and shrubs affect hydrogeomorphic processes and lead to the formation of wooded fluvial landforms. These trees form dense stands and enhance plant anchorage, as grouped plants are less prone to be uprooted than free-standing individuals. This also enhances their role as ecosystem engineers through the tra...

The role of mangroves in the blue carbon stock is critical and requires special focus. Mangroves are carbon-rich forests that are not in steady-state equilibrium at the decadal time scale. Over the last decades, the structure and zonation of mangroves have been largely disturbed by coastal changes and land use conversions. The amount of time since...

Pioneer riparian trees such as Populus nigra L. which establish on alluvial bars within dynamic riparian corridors strongly inluence luvial geomorphology by trapping sediments and constructing landforms during loods. he engineering effects (changes in the physical state of the habitat by organisms) of P. nigra on alluvial bars depend on its biomass...

Ecology and geomorphology recognize the dynamic aspects of resistance and resilience. However, formal resilience theory in ecology has tended to deemphasize the geomorphic habitat template. Conversely, landscape sensitivity and state-and-transition models in geomorphology downweight mechanisms of biotic adaptation operative in fluctuating, spatiall...

Many riparian ecosystems in European temperate regions have lost their inherent, highly dynamic character due to human-induced impacts such as river channelization and flow regulation. The lower course of the Allier River (France) is one of the last remaining free meandering river segments, and thus, constitutes an opportunity to investigate ripari...

Within riparian corridors, biotic-abiotic feedback mechanisms occur between woody vegetation strongly influenced by hydrogeomorphic constraints (e.g., sediment transport and deposition, shear stress, hydrological variability), fluvial landforms, and morphodynamics, which in turn are modulated by the established vegetation. During field investigatio...

Climate change and river regulation are negatively impacting riparian vegetation. To evaluate these impacts, process-based models are preferred over data-driven approaches. However, they require extensive knowledge about ecohydrological processes. To facilitate the implementation of such process-based models, the key drivers of riparian woodland su...

Biogeoscience is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field that aims to bring together biological and geophysical processes. This book builds an enhanced understanding of ecosystems by focusing on the integrative connections between ecological processes and the geosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. Each chapter provides studies by researchers who...

Over the last twenty years, significant technical advances turned photogrammetry into a relevant tool for the integrated analysis of biogeomorphic cross-scale interactions within vegetated fluvial corridors, which will largely contribute to the development and improvement of self-sustainable river restoration efforts. Here, we propose a cost-effect...

Plant diversity resilience on stressful river gravel bars depends on the amount of deposited seeds by water flow, i.e. by hydrochory. Pioneer riparian trees that establish on exposed gravel bars enhance fine sediment retention during high flows within their stands and on their lee side, forming obstacle marks. Fine sediment retention can in return...

Populations of the riparian pioneer species Populus nigra L. which establish on alluvial bars within river channels modulate sediment dynamics and fluvial landforms. Dense cohorts of P. nigra have colonized gravel point bars along the channelized River Garonne, France, during the last 20 years and have enhanced the vertical, lateral and longitudina...

Past fluvial biogeomorphic succession dynamics, i.e. reciprocal interactions and adjustments between vegetation growth and fluvial landform construction, were monitored and reconstructed using stereophotogrammetry. The four-dimensional spatio-temporal stereophotogrammetric analyses were based on the use of archival analogue and digital aerial photo...

Pioneer riparian trees which establish in river active tracts on gravel bars enhance fine sediment retention during high flows within their stands and in their lee side, forming obstacle marks. Fine sediment retention can be accompanied by deposition of seeds transported by water dispersal, i.e. by hydrochory. We tested the hypothesis that pioneer...

Riparian ecosystems are highly dynamic and are subject to hydrogeomorphological processes. In Europe, the lower Allier River (France) is one of the last remaining meandering rivers with laterally dynamic sections. For this study, we developed an original method to analyse the vegetation assemblages and succession processes. The analysis includes bo...

Little Ice Age lateral moraines represent one of the most important sediment storages and dynamic areas in glacier forelands. Following glacier retreat, simultaneous paraglacial adjustment and vegetation succession affect the moraine slopes. Geomorphic processes (e.g., debris flows, interrill erosion, gullying, solifluction) disturb and limit veget...

Within fluvial systems interactions between water, sediment and vegetation play an important role in fluvial landscape dynamics. Hydrogeomorphic processes affect vegetation dynamics by destruction or offering freshly deposited sediment for its installation. In turn, vegetation modulates sediment dynamics and water flow. We addressed two main questi...

This study presents the results of methodological tests in aerial photogrammetry with the objective of a diachronic survey of riparian vegetation in three dimensions, i.e. its spatial distribution and height. The study is undertaken at two complementary scales. The first one corresponds to a 10 km reach of the Allier river floodplain. At this scale...

Structure and composition of coastal forested wetlands are mainly controlled by local topography and soil salinity. Hydrology plays a major role in relation with tides, seaward, and freshwater inputs, landward. We report here the results of a two-year study undertaken in a coastal plain of the Guadeloupe archipelago (FWI). As elsewhere in the Carib...

Biogeomorphology investigates interactions between geomorphological processes and plants. A proposed new conceptual framework of "biogeomorphic windows" describes the conditions under which these interactions can occur. It relates species trait-based resilience (recovery time) and disturbance resistance to the magnitude and frequency of different g...

We propose a conceptual model of vegetation–hydrogeomorphology interactions and feedbacks within river corridors (i.e. river channels and their floodplains) that builds on previous similar hydrogeomorphologically centred models by incorporating hydrogeomorphological constraints on river corridor vegetation from region to reach scales; defining five...

Riparian ecosystems are highly dynamic ecosystems subjected to hydrogeomorphological processes. Their geomorphological, sedimentological and hydrological heterogeneity makes them one of the richest ecosystems in terms of species diversity. In addition, riparian zones also provide numerous ecosystem functions and services to society. In the European...

Based on the hypothesis of an eco-evolutionary feedback between woody riparian species and fluvial geomorphology, a semi-controlled ex situ experiment has been planned to quantify key response functional traits (morphological and biomechanical) of Populus nigra L. cuttings to simulated hydrogeomorphological constraints, as well as to dissociate the...

This study presents the results of methodological tests in aerial photogrammetry with the objective of a diachronic survey of riparian vegetation in three dimensions, i.e. its spatial distribution and height. The study is undertaken at two complementary scales.

In proglacial areas, lateral moraines represent one of the most important sediment storages and dynamic areas. Glacier retreat since the Little Ice Age is accelerated by climate change and believed to control simultaneous paraglacial adjustment and vegetation succession on lateral moraine slopes. Biogeomorphic research suggests strong feedbacks bet...

River ecological functioning can be conceptualized according to a four-dimensional framework, based on the responses of aquatic and riparian communities to hydrogeomorphic constraints along the longitudinal, transverse, vertical and temporal dimensions of rivers. Contemporary riparian vegetation responds to river dynamics at ecological timescales,...

Le projet CONSILPOP visait à expliquer le rôle joué par la végétation riveraine, en particulier le peuplier noir (Populus nigra L.), dans la construction des formes fluviales des cours d’eau. Il a été entrepris sur deux cours d’eau présentant des contrastes en termes de structure et de dynamique, l’Allier et la Garonne. L’Allier possède encore une...

The mechanisms controlling soil succession in floodplains remain much less studied than in uplands due to the complexity that flooddriven erosion and sedimentation bring into soil development processes. The amount of organic matter and C generally grows with soil ageing and is controlled by multiple and interacting allogenic and autogenic factors,...