Loïc FranconUniversity of Geneva | UNIGE · Institute of Environmental Sciences
Loïc Francon
Ph.D.
About
9
Publications
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87
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Citations since 2017
Introduction
I study the influence of climate change on subalpine and alpine shrub growth in European high mountains. My research combines dendroecology, remote sensing, and ecophysiology (dendrometry) of alpine plants in order to better understand the dynamics and functioning of alpine ecosystems, from cell formation to landscape evolution.
I am also working on dendrometer measurements on peat bog trees in order to unravel the interactive factors that limit growth.
Publications
Publications (9)
Introduction
Mean xylem vessel or tracheid area have been demonstrated to represent powerful proxies to better understand the response of woody plants to changing climatic conditions. Yet, to date, this approach has rarely been applied to shrubs.
Methods
Here, we developed a multidecadal, annually-resolved chronology of vessel sizes for Rhododendr...
Mountain ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate change, which in part causes encroachment of woody plants at the treeline ecotone, with repercussions on treeline advance and ecosystem carbon balance. Yet, studies investigating the long-term trends in radial growth as well as year-to-year response of several tree and shrub species to clima...
In the European Alps, air temperature has increased almost twice as much as the global average over the last century and, as a corollary, snow cover duration has decreased substantially. In the Arctic, dendroecological studies have evidenced that shrub growth is highly sensitive to temperature – this phenomenon has often been linked to shrub expans...
Les écosystèmes alpins, comme la toundra arctique, subissent un réchauffement accentué par rapport au reste du globe. En Arctique, une approche dendroécologique basée sur l’analyse des relations entre la croissance annuelle radiale et le climat a permis de mettre en évidence les paramètres climatiques qui contrôlent l’expansion des arbustes nains (...
Premise:
Mountain ecosystems are particularly sensitive to climate change. However, only a very small number of studies exist so far using annually resolved records of alpine plant growth spanning the past century. Here we aimed to identify the effects of heat waves and drought, driven by global warming, on annual radial growth of Rhododendron fer...
In this study, electronic micro-dendrometers were used to monitor the variations in stem diameter of 11 Rhododendron ferrugineum (Rf) individuals located at 1800,
2100 and 2500m asl in the Taillefer Massif (French Alps) and at 1700m asl at Vicdessos (French Pyrenees). In addition, ground-level temperature was recorded for each individual.
The resul...
Projects
Projects (3)
https://pamir-project.ch/research/cryospheric-hazards/
Reconstruction of Holocene hydro-climatic fluctuations based on multi-proxy peatland records
To explore the dendroecological potential of a dominant shrub species in the subalpine and alpine levels of temperate mountains.
To identify the (micro)climatic parameters limiting its radial growth, in contrasting geographical and topographical situations.
To highlight the effects of climate change on radial growth.
To propose alternatives to the methods traditionally used in dendrochronology in order to better take into account the specificities of shrubs.
