Loïc N Michel

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Verified

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• PhD
• Assistant Professor at University of Liège

Gut content examination and trophic markers (fatty acids, stables isotopes of C and N) were combined to delineate the diet of the dominant species of amphipods from Mediterranean Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows and to highlight trophic diversity among this community. Our results indicate that, although all dominant species heavily relied on mac...

In recent years, sea ice cover along coasts of East Antarctica has tended to increase. To understand ecological implications of these environmental changes, we studied benthic food web structure on the coasts of Adélie Land during an event of unusually high sea ice cover (i.e. two successive austral summers without seasonal breakup). We used integr...

Productivity and environmental stress are major drivers of multiple biodiversity facets and faunal community structure. Little is known on their interacting effects on early community assembly processes in the deep sea (>200 m), the largest environment on Earth. However, at hydrothermal vents productivity correlates, at least partially, with enviro...

Determining the lipid content and fatty acid (FA) composition of aquatic organisms has been of major interest in trophic ecology, aquaculture, and nutrition for over half a century. Although protocols for lipid analysis are well-described, their application to aquatic sciences often requires modifications to adapt to field conditions and to sample...

Antarctic sea stars can occupy different trophic niches and display different trophic levels, but, while the impacts of their body size and environmental features on their trophic niches are potentially important, they are presently understudied. Here we assessed the trophic ecology in relation to the size and habitat of sea stars in a fjord on Kin...

This study investigates essential (Mg, Ca, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Se, Ni) and non-essential (Li, Be, Cr, Rb, Sr, Cs, Cd, Sn, Ba, and Pb) element concentrations and stable isotope (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) compositions in feathers of Brown Boobies (Sula leucogaster) from three distinct Atlantic islands: the Archipelagos of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (SPSP), Abrol...

Given the cryptic and elusive nature of prey consumption, quantifying its contribution to the diet of free-ranging primates using behavioral methods is challenging. In this context, the use of carbon and nitrogen-stable isotopes represents a promising alternative approach. Here, we used stable isotope analysis to estimate the proportion of arthropo...

Living benthic foraminifera, known as environmental bio-indicators of both natural and anthropogenic conditions in marine environments, were investigated in the coastal environment of Roscoff Aber Bay (Brittany, France). Eight sampling sites subject to natural variations (freshwater inputs, tides) and/or anthropogenic impacts (pollution, eutrophica...

Navigating the Future VI is a flagship foresight EMB Position Paper that explores the role of the Ocean in the wider Earth system and promotes collaboration between disciplines to tackle global issues. This document aims to influence and guide international, European and national research funding programmes, policy development and inspire the scien...

Fatty acid (FA) composition is a useful information for investigating trophic ecology of marine organisms and how they interact within food webs. In Antarctica, the diversity and availability of food sources depends on the ice cycle and disturbances. Benthic organisms receive variable quantities of sinking sea ice algae or phytoplankton. Benthic pr...

Climate change and resource exploitation in the Southern Ocean are important Anthropogenic pressure on Antarctic food webs. Understanding the eco-functional roles of Antarctic communities is essential for ecosystem management and conservation. Amphipods are among the most dominant and ecologically important benthic taxa in the Southern Ocean. The a...

We present the first open-access, island-wide isotopic database (IsoMad) for modern biologically relevant materials collected on Madagascar within the past 150 years from both terrestrial and nearshore marine environments. Isotopic research on the island has increasingly helped with biological studies of endemic organisms, including evaluating fora...

This study investigates the essential (Mg, Ca, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Se, Ni) and non-essential (Li, Be, Cr, Rb, Sr, Cs, Cd, Sn, Ba, and Pb) element concentrations and stable isotope (δ 13 C, δ 15 N, δ 34 S) compositions in the feathers of Brown Boobies (Sula leucogaster) from three distinct Brazilian islands: the Archipelagos of Saint Peter and Saint Pau...

The benthic compartment of the Southern Ocean is highly constrained by sea ice spatio-temporal dynamics. Along the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), sea ice dynamic is changing in response to climate change. This results in a longer ice-free period, an increase of light availability, and changes in primary producers supporting benthic organisms. Over...

Mangroves develop under environmental conditions and anthropogenic pressures whose impact on benthic meiofauna remains poorly understood. It is unclear how meiofauna communities are structured according to local sedimentary conditions. This study was designed to characterize the community structure of meiofauna and nematodes (dominant taxa) and the...

The recently discovered deep-sea Capelinhos hydrothermal edifice, ~ 1.5 km of the main Lucky Strike (LS) vent field (northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge), contrasts with the other LS edifices in having poorly-altered end-member hydrothermal fluids with low pH and chlorine, and high metal concentrations. Capelinhos unique chemistry and location offer the op...

Rimicaris exoculata shrimps from hydrothermal vent ecosystems are known to host dense epibiotic communities inside their enlarged heads and digestive systems. Conversely, other shrimps from the family, described as opportunistic feeders have received less attention. We examined the nutrition and bacterial communities colonising ‘head’ chambers and...

Sea ice is one of the most critical environmental drivers shaping primary production and fluxes of organic inputs to benthic communities in the Arctic Ocean. Fluctuations in organic inputs influence ecological relationships, trophic cascades, and energy fluxes. However, changes in sea-ice concentration (SIC) induced by global warming could lead to...

We used high-resolution imagery within a Geographic Information System (GIS), free gas and porewater analyses and animal bulk stable isotope measurements to characterize the biotic and abiotic aspects of the newly discovered Vestbrona Carbonate Field (VCF) seep site on the Norwegian shelf (63°28′N, 6° 31′E, ∿270 m water depth). Free gas was mainly...

We used ancient DNA (aDNA) extraction methods to sequence museum voucher samples of Oligobrachia webbi, a frenulate siboglinid polychaete described from a northern Norwegian fjord over fifty years ago. Our sequencing results indicate a genetic match with the cryptic seep species, Oligobrachia haakonmosbiensis (99% pairwise identity for 574 bp mtCOI...

Rimicaris exoculata shrimps from hydrothermal vent ecosystems are known to host dense epibiotic communities inside their enlarged heads and digestive systems. Conversely, other shrimps from the family, described as opportunistic feeders have received less attention. We examined the nutrition and bacterial communities colonizing "head" chambers and...

Kelp forests dominated by Macrocystis pyrifera are widely distributed in coastal waters from boreal, temperate and subantarctic regions. This widespread distribution may result in regional differences in food web structure and functioning. In temperate northern regions, where most studies on kelp forest benthic food webs have been conducted, kelp g...

To date, two main vent faunal assemblages have been described on active sulfide edifices along the northern Mid-Atlantic Ridge (nMAR): one dominated by bathymodiolin mussels in low temperature areas and the other dominated by alvinocaridid shrimp in warmer habitats. In this study, we describe the ecology of new types of assemblage, dominated by gas...

Here we report the discovery of a high-temperature hydrothermal vent field on the Woodlark Ridge, using ship-borne multibeam echosounding and Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) exploration. La Scala Vent Field comprises two main active areas and several inactive zones dominated by variably altered basaltic rocks, indicating that an active and stable h...

Sea stars (Echinodermata: Asteroidea) are a key component of Southern Ocean benthos, with 16% of the known sea star species living there. In temperate marine environments, sea stars commonly play an important role in food webs, acting as keystone species. However, trophic ecology and functional role of Southern Ocean sea stars are still poorly know...

Deep-sea elasmobranchs are commonly reported as bycatch of deep-sea fisheries and their subsequent loss has been highlighted as a long-running concern to the ecosystem ecological functioning. To understand the possible consequences of their removal, information on basic ecological traits, such as diet and foraging strategies, is needed. Such aspect...

A rigorous synthesis of the sea-ice ecosystem and linked ecosystem services highlights that the sea-ice ecosystem supports all 4 ecosystem service categories, that sea-ice ecosystems meet the criteria for ecologically or biologically significant marine areas, that global emissions driving climate change are directly linked to the demise of sea-ice...

The increasing demand for metals is pushing forward the progress of deep‐sea mining industry. The abyss between the Clarion and Clipperton Fracture Zones (CCFZ), a region holding a higher concentration of minerals than land deposits, is the most targeted area for the exploration of polymetallic nodules worldwide, which may likely disturb the seaflo...

Native fauna of the tropical volcanic part of Guadeloupe is amphidromous: juveniles born in rivers but that grow in the sea need to migrate upstream to colonise their adult habitat in rivers. This migration is affected by any human-made obstacles placed in their way. Moreover, on volcanic tropical islands, streams are the main source of water catch...

The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is one of the most rapidly changing regions in the world, in great part due to anthropogenic climate change. Steep environmental gradients in water temperature, sea ice cover and glacier melting influence are observed, but much is left to document about significance of those shifts for biological communities and e...

Contaminant levels are lower in Antarctica than elsewhere in the world because of its low anthropogenic activities. However, the northern region of the Antarctic Peninsula, is close to South America and experiences the greatest anthropogenic pressure in Antarctica. Here, we investigated, in two Antarctic Peninsula islands, intra and interspecific f...

Accumulation of exported macrophytodetritus (AEM) represent unique habitats formed by the dead material originating from macrophyte ecosystems (e.g., seagrass, kelp, other seaweeds). AEM can be found everywhere, from the littoral zone to the deepest canyons, and from high to low latitudes. Seagrass AEMs are among the most common detrital accumulati...

ABSTRACT: Understanding the mechanisms that support feeding interactions and species cooccurrence in regions subject to rapid environmental changes is becoming increasingly important to predict future trends in population dynamics. However, there is still little information available on the trophic ecology for many benthic species to help us better...

Benthic organisms depend primarily on seasonal pulses of organic matter from primary producers. In the Arctic, declines in sea ice due to warming climate could lead to changes in this food supply with as yet unknown effects on benthic trophic dynamics. Benthic consumer diets and food web structure were studied in a seasonally ice-covered region of...

DeepIso is a collaborative effort to produce a global compilation of stable isotope ratios and elemental contents in organisms from deep-sea ecosystems. In doing so, it aims to provide the deep-sea community with an open data analysis tool that can be used in the context of future ecological research, and to help deep-sea researchers to use stable...

In Antarctica, amphipods form a highly diverse group, occupy many different ecological niches and hold an important place in food webs. Here, we aimed to test whether differences in Antarctic amphipod feeding habits were reflected in their mandible morphology, and if mouthpart specialization could be used to describe amphipod trophic ecology. To do...

Among hydrothermal vent species, Rimicaris exoculata is one of the most emblematic, hosting abundant and diverse ectosymbioses that provide most of its nutrition. Rimicaris exoculata co-occurs in dense aggregates with the much less abundant Rimicaris chacei in many Mid-Atlantic Ridge vent fields. This second shrimp also houses ectosymbiotic microor...

Fjords have been recently recognized as hot spots of organic carbon (Corg) sequestration in marine sediments. This study aims to identify regional and local drivers of variability of Corg burial in north Atlantic and Arctic fjords. We provide a comparative quantification of Corg, δ¹³C, photosynthetic pigments content, benthic biomass, consumption,...

Rationale: Stable isotope analysis is used to investigate the trophic ecology of organisms and, in order to use samples from archived collections, and it is important to know whether preservation methods alter the results. This study investigates the long-term effects of four preservation methods on sea stars isotopic composition and isotopic nich...

Ecological niche theory predicts sympatric species to show segregation in their spatio‐temporal habitat utilization or diet as a strategy to avoid competition. Similarly, within species individuals may specialize on specific dietary resources or foraging habitats. Such individual specialization seems to occur particularly in environments with predi...

Background Nematodes are an important component of deep-sea hydrothermal vent communities, but only few nematode species are able to cope to the harsh conditions of the most active vent sites. The genus Oncholaimus is known to tolerate extreme geothermal conditions and high sulphide concentrations in shallow water hydrothermal vents, but it was onl...

In the Kerguelen Islands, the multiple effects of climate change are expected to impact coastal marine habitats. Species distribution models (SDM) can represent a convenient tool to predict the biogeographic response of species to climate change but biotic interactions are not considered in these models. Nevertheless, new species interactions can e...

The whitemouth croaker (Micropogonias furnieri) is one of the most commercially important species along the Atlantic coast of South America. Moreover, some of its biological traits (long life span, inshore feeding, high trophic position) make this species a suitable sentinel of coastal pollution. Here, we investigated contamination by multiple lega...

It is predicted that a diverse array of functional traits in species‐rich assemblages can lead to strong resource partitioning among coexisting species and moderate a wider spectrum of resource use. We compared two benthic communities in an Arctic fjord: a species‐rich community (in an outer basin) and an impoverished community (in a glacially impa...

• In large rivers, fish ontogenic development success is mainly influenced by resource availability and by the possibility of species to adapt their diet (i.e. trophic niche). Humans have drastically modified freshwater habitats, notably for navigation purposes. Such modifications may reduce food availability for young of the year (YOY) fish and, c...

Seagrass meadows ecosystem engineering effects are correlated to their density (which is in turn linked to seasonal cycles) and often cannot be perceived below a given threshold level of engineer density. The density and biomass of seagrass meadows (Z. marina) together with associated macrophytes undergo substantial seasonal changes, with clear dec...

Benthic copepods dominate meiofaunal communities from marine phytodetritus, both in terms of numerical abundance and species diversity. Nevertheless, ecological factors driving copepod coexistence and population dynamics are still largely unknown. Here, we aimed to explore feeding habits of four copepod species commonly found in Mediterranean seagr...

Understanding the forces that influence the dynamics of communities is a key challenge to undertake in changing environments. Despite recent advances in coral reef community ecology, a more comprehensive knowledge about processes (niche‐related traits and phylogenies) driving the composition of reef fish community is needed. Here, we conducted a qu...

The whitemouth croaker, Micropogonias furnieri, is a long-lived fish of high commercial importance in the western Atlantic Ocean. Here, we used stable isotope ratios of carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen and isotopic niche metrics (SIBER) to study feeding habits and track habitat use by whitemouth croakers in Guanabara Bay, an estuary in Rio de Janeiro s...

Rationale: Intrinsic biogeochemical markers, such as stable isotope ratios of carbon, nitrogen and sulphur are increasingly used to trace the trophic ecology of marine top predators. However, insufficient knowledge of fractionation processes in tissues continues to hamper the use of these markers. Methods: We performed a controlled feeding exper...

Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures are standardized artificial largely used in shallow, tropical marine locations to assess the cryptofauna (Knowlton et al. 2010, Plaisance et al. 2011, Knowlton et al. 2015). These multilayer type I PVC structures offer a succession of closed and open layers for the small and very small fauna and flora to coloni...

Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration alters the chemistry of the oceans towards more acidic conditions. Polar oceans are particularly affected due to their low temperature, low carbonate content and mixing patterns, for instance upwellings. Tolerance to ocean acidification (OA) in metazoans is first linked to acid–base regulation cap...

Antarctica currently undergoes strong and contrasted impacts linked to climate change. While the West Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming regions in the world, resulting in sea ice cover decrease, the sea ice cover of East Antarctica unexpectedly tends to increase. Here, we studied shallow (0-20 m) benthic food web structure on t...

Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration alters the chemistry of the oceans towards more acidic conditions. Polar oceans are particularly affected due to their low temperature, low carbonate content and mixing patterns, for instance upwellings. Echinodermata were hypothesized to be at risk due to their high-magnesium calcite skeleton. H...

The fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) is the most abundant and widespread mysticete species in the Mediterranean Sea, found mostly in deep, offshore waters of the western and central portion of the region. In the Mediterranean, this species is known to feed mainly on krill, in contrast to its Atlantic counterpart, which displays a more diversified...

Despite their importance in coral reef ecosystem function and trophodynamics, the trophic ecology of nocturnal fishes (e.g. Apogonidae, Holocentridae, Pempheridae) is by far less studied than diurnal ones. The Apogonidae (cardinalfishes) include mostly carnivorous species and evidence of trophic niche partitioning among sympatric cardinalfishes is...

Pollution and damages produced by boats anchoring over Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows are assumed to modify the structure and dynamic of the habitat through fragmentation. In fact, heterogeneity of physical structure plays a major role in their ecological functioning. Two sites were studied in this case study: anthropogenic altered seagrass me...

Rationale: Stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen are valuable tools for field ecologists to use to analyse animal diets. However, the application of these tools requires knowledge of the tissue enrichment factor (TEF) and half-life (HL). We experimentally compared TEF and HL in 2 freshwater fish larvae. We hypothesised that chub had a bette...

Feeding ecology of adults and juvenile harbour porpoises in German Baltic waters during nursing period

Structural boundaries in ecosystems play an important role both in the context of seascape architecture and ecological processes. The Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile is considered an ecosystem engineer species, forming habitats of great ecological value and providing many ecosystem services. However so far, only few studies ha...

Passive acoustic recording (PAR) systems are non-invasive and allow researchers to collect data on large spatial and temporal scales. Since fish sounds are species-specific and repetitive, PAR can provide a large amount of data about spatio-temporal variation in fish distribution and behaviors. Ophidion rochei is a sand-dwelling species from Medite...

Seagrass meadows are highly productive habitats that can act as ‘blue carbon sinks’ in coastal ecosystems by facilitating sedimentation and trapping particles. However, the magnitude and occurrence of these effects may be species and density-dependent. The present study is the first estimation of seagrass sediment carbon sink in the temperate Zoste...

In the Mediterranean, Neptune grass Posidonia oceanica, produces a huge quantity of detrital biomass. These macrophytodetritus may accumulate in shallow waters, forming litter accumulations colonised by abundant, yet understudied, animal communities. These accumulations are especially foraged by juvenile and adult fishes. Here, we aim to synthesize...

Background The Neptune grass, Posidonia oceanica (L.) Delile, 1813, is the most widespread seagrass of the Mediterranean Sea. This foundation species forms large meadows that, through habitat and trophic services, act as biodiversity hotspots. In Neptune grass meadows, amphipod crustaceans are one of the dominant groups of vagile invertebrates, for...

The seagrass Posidonia oceanica L. Delile, commonly known as Neptune grass, is an endemic species of the Mediterranean Sea. It hosts a distinctive and diverse epiphytic community, dominated by various macroal-gal and animal organisms. Mediterranean bryozoans have been extensively studied but quantitative data assessing temporal and spatial variabil...

The by-the-wind sailor Velella velella (Linnaeus, 1758) and its predator, the violet snail Janthina globosa (Swainson, 1822) are both floating neustonic organisms. Despite their global oceanic distribution and widespread blooms of V. velella in recent years, many gaps remain in our understanding about prey/predator interactions between these two ta...

Echinoids are common members of Antarctic zoobenthos, and different groups can show important trophic diversity. As part of the ANT-XXIX/3 cruise of RV Polarstern, trophic plasticity of sea urchins was studied in three neighbouring regions (Drake Passage, Bransfield Strait and Weddell Sea) featuring several depth-related habitats offering different...

Most of the foliar primary production of Posidonia oceanica, a major Mediterranean seagrass, sheds in autumn and is exported from the meadow to adjacent areas to form ”Exported Macrophytodetritus Accumulations”, EMAs. These EMAs are a habitat, shelter and feeding place for an abundant and diverse community of macrofauna. Being very dynamic places a...

Many damselfishes (Pomacentridae) are herbivorous or omnivorous with an important contribution from different kinds of algae in their diet. They display different levels of territoriality and farming behavior, from almost non territorial to monoculture farmers. In addition, a few species inhabit seagrass meadows but, presently, none can be consider...

One of the major ecological research questions is understanding how biodiversity influences ecosystem functioning. Unravelling interspecific feeding preferences of organisms with overlapping trophic niches will give part of the answer. Subsequently, the present study displays the trophic diversity of a benthic copepod community in a North-Western C...

Comme dans toutes les mers, les écosystèmes côtiers des régions subantarctiques concentrent une importante biodiversité et sont confrontés à des changements environnementaux dont les effets sont encore mal cernés (évolution des températures, modification des courants marins, glissements saisonniers, migration d’espèces…). En particulier, les écosys...

The Marine and Oceanographic Research Station STARESO in the Calvi Bay, Corsica (France), is a unique tool in a preserved natural site that includes all the characteristic ecosystems of the Mediterranean littoral. The station, established in 1970, has archived environmental data for decades. The STARECAPMED project, multidisciplinary, articulates i...

Mediterranean Posidonia oceanica meadows shelter an important biomass and biodiversity of amphipod crustaceans that graze on epiphytes. However, their actual significance for ecosystem functional processes is hard to estimate, due to the lack of adequate data. Here, a field microcosm-based inclusion experiment was used to test if three of the domin...

Effective ecosystem-based management requires understanding ecosystem responses to multiple human threats, rather than focusing on single threats. To understand ecosystem responses to anthropogenic threats holistically, it is necessary to know how threats affect different components within ecosystems and ultimately alter ecosystem functioning. We u...

Neuston includes animals and plants inhabiting the surface layer of the water column. The neustonic area is an accumulation zone for bacteria, organic molecules but also terrestrial debris. The surface layer is also the air/water exchange region. Therefore, neustonic organisms are directly exposed to several constraints such as wind stress and turb...

In Corsica (NW Mediterranean), most of the fishing activity is composed of small-scale artisanal fisheries, and takes place on the western coast. The common spiny lobster (Palinurus elephas) is the main target of Corsican netters. However, its populations have been declining since the 1950's, questioning the sustainability of this activity. We ther...

The small-scale fishing fleet of Corsica (France, NW Mediterranean) is mostly composed of small artisanal boats. The common spiny lobster, Palinurus elephas, is the most valuable of all caught species. As a result, it is the main target of most fishermen during the 7-months fishing season. Populations of this species seem to decrease since the 1950...

ABSTRACT: Elucidating predator-prey relationships is an important part of understanding and assessing the structure and function of ecosystems. Sharks are believed to play a significant role in marine ecosystems, although their specific trophic ecology is largely unexplored. Stable isotopes of nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) are a widely applied...

High stranding frequency of porpoises, Phocoena phocoena, along the Dutch coast since 2006 has led to increased interest in the ecology of porpoises in the North Sea. Stranded porpoises were collected along the Dutch coast (2006–2008) and their diet was assessed through stomach content and stable isotope analysis (δ13C and δ15N) of porpoise muscle...