Michaël Aubert

• Full Professor
• Deputy Director, Normandy Doctoral School BISE (Integrative Biology, Health, Environment) - ED nBISE 497 at University of Rouen Normandy

Tree species risk living outside their ecological niche due to climate change. Assisted tree migration is proposed as an adaptive strategy, but its impact on forest biodiversity remains unclear. This study examines soil fungal diversity responses to tree species substitution (that is to say clear-cut of a stand and plantation of a different tree sp...

Estuarine marsh vegetation communities are subjected to steep abiotic gradients, shaping landscape and community composition through erosion and accretion dynamics, hydroperiod and salinity. In the context of climate change, these gradients are prone to change, with potential consequences on vegetation community structure. We investigated plant tra...

Tree species risk living outside their ecological niche due to climate change. Assisted tree migration is proposed as an adaptive strategy, but its impact on forest biodiversity remains unclear. This study examines soil fungal diversity responses to tree species substitution and its underlying mechanisms. Three substitution treatments were tested a...

Salt marshes are a common feature of temperate estuaries and represent the world's most abundant wetland type. They also harbour very productive plant communities and provide numerous ecosystem services. In an anthropized setting, we aimed at describing the effect of tidal restriction on the diversity patterns of vegetation communities, and to link...

In this presentation, the impact of tree specie substitution on soil forest fungi richness were investigated using SEM. Indirect and direct effects of change in tree species and stand rejuvenation were underlined. Forestry practices that favoured fungal richness were also highligted. Those results will soon be published in a scientific article.

In the Seine estuary in northern France, many artificial structures limit the effect of the tide on associated alluvial zones. Consequently, this affects natural environmental filtering mechanisms linked to tidal regimes and water salinity, which directly influences the structure of organism assemblies in adjacent ecosystems. Here, we propose to st...

The substitution of current tree species with those better adapted to future environmental conditions is one of the solutions considered to ensure the sustainability of forest systems. However, the changes induced by substitute species on other compartments of forest ecosystems are poorly understood, particularly their effects on understory flora,...

Redesigning agrosystems to include more ecological regulations can help feed a growing human population, preserve soils for future productivity, limit dependency on synthetic fertilizers, and reduce agriculture contribution to global changes such as eutrophication and warming. However, guidelines for redesigning cropping systems from natural system...

Climate change is characterised by changes in local temperature and precipitation. Hence, present tree species face in a near future the risk of living out of their optimal ecologic range. This would aggravate forest dieback and also impact forest ecosystem services. In order to adapt forests, forest managers are changing they practices, thus impac...

This study evaluated the response of soil microbial functions to the presence and placement of faba beans in crop rotations (rotation without legumes versus rotations with faba beans as the crop previous to wheat, with the faba beans sown three years before the wheat crops) combined with two tillage systems (conventional and reduced tillage). The s...

In temperate forests, climate change is characterised by changes in local temperature and in precipitation intensity and temporality. Hence, present tree populations face in a near future the risk of living out of their optimal ecologic range. This would aggravate forest dieback and also impact forest services such as woody biomass production and e...

It was time to take stock. We modified the humipedon classification key published in 2018 to make it easier and more practical. This morpho-functional taxonomy of the topsoil (humipedon) was only available in English; we also translated it into French and Italian. A standardized morpho-functional classification of humipedons (roughly the top 30–40...

It was time to take stock. We modified the humipedons classification key published in 2018, to make it easier and more practical. This morpho-functional taxonomy of the topsoil (humipedon) was only available in English: we also translated it into French and Italian. A standardized morpho-functional classification of humipedon (roughly the top 30-40...

Achieving sustainability is a worldwide current concern in agriculture that brings important challenges but also opportunities for rethinking agroecosystems. While many studies focused on tillage effects upon soil organisms, few of them have considered this into a temporal framework. In a study conducted in actual field conditions, we evaluated at...

Ponds are lentic waterbodies with a high conservation value for biodiversity that have long been overlooked by management policies. Recent initiatives aimed to promote the conservation of these ecosystems by restoring or creating new ponds throughout Europe. Therefore, studying responses of aquatic invertebrates to local pond characteristics and co...

Soil organic matter (OM) is a complex heterogeneous mixture: resulting from decomposition and organo-mineral interactions, it challenges characterization in terms of composition and biogeochemical stability. From this perspective, the Rock-Eval® method is a rapid and efficient thermal analysis, which combines quantitative and qualitative informatio...

Aim Climate warming reshuffles biological assemblages towards less cold‐adapted but more warm‐adapted species, a process coined thermophilization. However, the velocity at which this process is happening generally lags behind the velocity of climate change, generating a climatic debt the temporal dynamics of which remain misunderstood. Relying on h...

The Asian knotweed species complex gathers some of the world’s most successful plant invaders including the Japanese knotweed (Reynoutria japonica), the giant knotweed (R. sachalinensis) and the hybrid of these two species, the Bohemian knotweed (R. × bohemica). Hybrid species often present higher competitive abilities compared to their parent spec...

At the end of October 2018, a storm of unprecedented strength severely damaged the forests of the eastern sector of the Italian Alps. The affected forest area covers 42,500 ha. The president of one of the damaged regions asked for help from the University of Padua. After eight months of discussion, the authors of this article wrote a consensus text...

At the end of October 2018, a storm of unprecedented strength severely damaged the forests of the eastern sector of the Italian Alps. The affected forest area covers 42,500 ha. The president of one of the damaged regions asked for help from the University of Padua. After eight months of discussion, the authors of this article wrote a consensus text...

Il gruppo SETA (Scienze e tecnologie agrarie) ha inviato una lettera al Parlamento italiano in cui consigliava di non adottare una misura legislativa a favore dell'agricoltura biologica e biodinamica rispetto a quella convenzionale. Un altro gruppo di scienziati ritiene invece che il governo italiano debba favorire l'agricoltura biologica e biodina...

The SETA group (Agricultural Science and Technology) sent a letter to the Italian Parliament advising them not to adopt a legislative measure that favors organic and biodynamic agriculture compared to the conventional one. Another group of scientists thinks instead that the Italian government should favor organic and biodynamic agriculture and expl...

The SETA group (Agricultural Science and Technology) sent a letter to the Italian Parliament advising them not to adopt a legislative measure that favors organic and biodynamic agriculture compared to the conventional one. Another group of scientists thinks instead that the Italian government should favor organic and biodynamic agriculture and expl...

The SETA group (Agricultural Science and Technology) sent a letter to the Italian Parliament advising them not to adopt a legislative measure that favors organic and biodynamic agriculture compared to the conventional one. Another group of scientists thinks instead that the Italian government should favor organic and biodynamic agriculture and expl...

The name TerrHum comes from the abbreviation of the words Terrestrial (not hydromorphic, not submerged soils) and Humipedon (superficial part of a soil, richer in organic matter and composed of organic and organo-mineral soil horizons). This application allows classifying all forest topsoils except submerged ones. The app is built on the indication...

The forests of 473 Italian Alpine municipalities were severely damaged by a strong wind at the end of October 2018. The affected forest area covers 42,500 ha. The president of one of the damaged regions asked for help from the TESAF department of the University of Padua. 26 international scientists (listed: 25; anonymous: 1) responded to the appeal...

Sunlight can accelerate the decomposition process through an ensemble of direct and indirect processes known as photodegradation. Although photodegradation is widely studied in arid environments, there have been few studies in temperate regions. This experiment investigated how exposure to solar radiation, and specifically UV-B, UV-A, and blue ligh...

Core Ideas A common humus classification system improves communication among soil scientists. A cellular phone application can be used for global soil mapping and monitoring purposes. The humus classification can be combined with different soil classification systems. The name TerrHum is an abbreviation of the words “Terrestrial” (not hydromorphic...

Numerous studies predict a short-term important decrease in fossil resources and stress the need to develop alternative renewable energies, thus European countries aim at increasing biomass production for energetic purposes. One such source of bioenergy could be obtained from forest biomass pools by exporting logging residues, yet this practice wou...

Reducing stand density by thinning intensification has been emphasized as an efficient strategy of forest adaptation to climate change as it improves stand resistance to drought. Yet, it is still unclear how it could affect litter carbon (C) cycling processes. Recent evidence indicates that the plasticity of an oak tree species can lead to a declin...

The knowledge of a little number of specific terms is necessary to investigate and describe forest topsoils: diagnostic features lead to the designation of diagnostic organic and organic-mineral horizons. The vertical arrangement of diagnostic horizons defines humus systems each of them subdivided humus forms. Below you find the description of a iO...

Elaborée dans le cadre du programme national de recherche "Biodiversité, gestion forestière et politiques publiques" (BGF), cette synthèse thématique vise principalement les utilisateurs de la recherche (décideurs, gestionnaires...). Elle fait le point sur les principaux résultats de la recherche qui permettent d'éclairer les relations entre la bio...

Présentation de la synthèse "Gestion durable et biodiversité des sols forestiers" lors de la réunion du Groupe Forêt de l'UICN

Knowledge of a little number of specific terms is necessary to investigate and describe humipedons. This “new vocabulary” allows individuating and circumscribing particular diagnostic horizons, which are the fundamental bricks of the humipedon. Few “components” defined by specific terms characterize a specific “humipedon horizon”; few “humipedon ho...

This article is an as simple as possible key of classification of terrestrial (aerobic, not submersed) topsoils (organic and organic-mineral series of soil horizons). Based on the introduction exposed in Humusica 1, article 1, and using vocabulary and definitions listed in article 4, a classification is proposed for better understanding the biologi...

The Special Issue Humusica 1 corresponds to a field guide for the classification of terrestrial humus systems and forms. The present first article of the issue defines vocabulary, objects and concepts necessary for: (a) field investigation, (b) understanding the process of classification, (c) assigning ecological significance to the defined morpho-...

Some soil scientists or biologists (14, one preferring anonymity) answered the three following questions: 1. Why is organic food better (tastes better, is healthier, richer in nutrients, contains less pesticide, etc.) than food produced with hydroponic or intensive farming techniques? 2. In a humipedon, are soil functioning, biodiversity and carbon...

Agricultural practices such as crop rotation affect soil physical, chemical and biological properties. Legumes crop effect has been shown to provide several agro-ecological services as a cereal previous crop. The aim of the present field study was to estimate the middle term effects of introducing faba bean in crop rotation on the structure and fun...

A set of research studies has been performed over a period of 10 years on the silvicultural cycle of an even-aged beech forest in Normandy, France. The striking results about both soil functioning (litter decomposition, N cycling, soil C stock) and soil biota (microorganisms, mesofauna, and macrofauna) are presented with the goal of developing an e...

Within the context of soil biodiversity erosion and of soil recognition as a non-renewable resource i.e., not recoverable within a human lifespan, we mix theoretical backgrounds from community ecology and functional ecology to address links between aboveground diversity and belowground diversity and their functional consequences for soil. We develo...

The importance of plant litter traits and decomposability for nutrient cycling processes and plant community dynamics through plant-litter-soil feedbacks has been largely emphasized. However, the role of biotic interactions as drivers of intraspecific variability in litter traits remains surprisingly little studied. In this study, we used a large-s...

Objectif: Etudier les liens plantes-collemboles via leurs traits fonctionnels le long d’un gradient d'ouverture de la canopée arborée de chêne

Leaf litter chemistry and ectomycorrhizal ( ECM ) fungi are key drivers of the below‐ground nitrogen (N) cycling within forest ecosystems. Their combined effects on litter decomposition and N competition between microbial decomposers and plants are still uncertain. We conducted a glasshouse microcosm experiment with low or high ECM ‐colonized beech...

Manipulating stand composition is an important management tool that foresters can use to affect the nature of forests and ecosystem processes. In mixed stands, interspecific interactions among trees can cause changes in tree performances. Nevertheless, these interactions are context dependent (cf. stress-gradient hypothesis, SGH). We thus investiga...

Plant–soil interactions are increasingly recognized to play a major role in terrestrial ecosystems functioning. However, few studies to date have focused on slow dynamic ecosystems such as forests. As they are vertically stratified by multiple vegetation strata, canopy tree removal by thinning operations could alter forest plant community through t...

Résumé : Dans le contexte actuel de forte érosion de la biodiversité et de préparation de « l’après pétrole », les forêts apparaissent comme des écosystèmes clés fournissant de nombreux services écosystémiques e.g. capacité de stockage de carbone, production de matières premières et d’énergies renouvelables, biodiversité. Pour les prochaines décenn...

Trends in species diversity represent an important challenge to be addressed by forest monitoring in response to environmental changes, of which climate is critical. However assessing such changes faces methodological issues. Useful lessons can be drawn from practical experience. In France, forest ecosystems have been intensively monitored since 19...

Global warming induces new constraints on forest ecosystems and requires forest management adaptation. The reduction in stand density is currently debated as a potential tool to face increasing summer drought risk by improving forest resistance to climate change‐induced tree mortality. However, few studies have yet assessed the impacts of this mana...

a b s t r a c t The role of forest age as a potential driver of intraspecific variation in leaf litter quality, that is a key plant trait determining ecosystem functioning, has largely been neglected. Using a set of fully replicated pure beech (Fagus sylvatica) forest stands differing in age (15, 65, 95 and 130 years), we quantified the forest stan...

Aim of the study: to assess the response of major taxonomic and functional groups of soil biota to the experimental manipulation of forest tree density across a stand age gradient

Aim of the study: to assess the response of four community of soil detritivores fauna to the experimental manipulation of forest tree density

The role of forest age as a potential driver of intraspecific variation in leaf litter quality, that is a key plant trait determining ecosystem functioning, has largely been neglected. Using a set of fully replicated pure beech (Fagus sylvatica) forest stands differing in age (15, 65, 95 and 130 years), we quantified the forest stand age related va...

The effect of canopy composition on soil macro-invertebrate communities in two deciduous temperate forests: a pure beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and a mixed beech-hornbeam (Carpinus betulus L.) stand was investigated. The initial hypothesis was that heterogeneity of trophic resources within the mixed stand might increase diversity and heterogeneity of...

This study aims at describing the mechanisms of earthworm species assemblages in a temperate grassland ageing gradient. Earthworms were sampled by a combination of formaldehyde extraction and hand sorting. Density data were analysed by combining correspondence analysis (CA) and null model analyses of niche overlap patterns and morphological trait d...

Introduction We investigated changes in humus morphology and soil potential net N mineralization pathways along a pure beech even-aged forest chronosequence, composed of four stages (15, 65, 95, and 130years old) on Luvisol. Objectives To quantify the respective contributions of bacteria and fungi to soil N processes, we used acetylene and a fungi...

Although microarthropods dominate forest floor faunas in both diversity and abundance, long-term aspects of forest cycles have been widely neglected in soil ecological research in the past. We studied which modifications occurred within collembolan assemblages during a typical beech forest cycle from the north-western part of France. We selected 16...

The effects of plant diversity on ecosystem functioning have been mainly studied for fast growing systems such as grassland. These studies have stressed the context dependence of aboveground and belowground relationships (e.g. soil fertility, field vegetation or soil biota). Over the last few years, with the growing need for indicators for sustaina...

Changes in soil N mineralization pathways occurring along a full rotation cycle have received little attention to date, while tree uptake forNmaychange during forest ageing. The aimsof this study were (i) to characterize changes in potential net N mineralization and potential net nitrification within organic layers and the topsoil (organo-mineral h...

Environmental data sets are often multidimensional and consequently display complex structure. This article shows the limitations of principal component analysis (PCA) for the study of such three-dimensional (3D) data sets. These limitations can be resolved by the use of the statistical tool STATIS. The inlet (a swallow hole) and the outlet (a spri...

Le présent chapitre actualise la typologie des formes d'humus forestières dans le cadre du Référentiel Pédologique 2008. Les horizons de référence O et A sont définis sur la base de caractères directement observables sur le terrain, avec une liste de qualificatifs permettant de décrire toutes les variantes possibles des formes d'humus forestières p...

This paper addresses the factors that constrain the assembly of earthworm communities in temperate land use systems. An occurrence matrix containing 44 localities and 20 species was build from data sets of different studies carried out in Haute Normandie (France). The whole data set included species lists from the three main landscape units and fro...

Accurate estimates of forest soil organic matter (OM) are now crucial to predictions of global C cycling. This work addresses soil C stocks and dynamics throughout a managed beechwood chronosequence (28–197 years old, Normandy, France). Throughout this rotation, we investigated the variation patterns of (i) C stocks in soil and humic epipedon, (ii)...

251 Enjeux et scénarios pour des peuplements mélangés Restitution del'atelier1. Alors que la pureté des peuplements forestiers longtemps prévalu dans les normes de sylviculture,de nombreux documents d'orientation mentionnent ou préconisent aujourd'hui le mélange d'essences. Les participants à cet atelier 1 ont été interrogés sur les raisons —object...

This study aimed at comparing the composition, the structure and the organisation of corticolous bryophyte assemblages (recorded within a 400 m2 plot) between three silvicultural managements widely conducted in Europe: Even-Aged pure beech Forest (EAF), Coppice With Standards system (CWS) and Selective Cutting systems (SC). The stands used for the...

Un vaste consensus existant sur les concepts de base, l’idée de mutualiser les apports respectifs de chaque classification est née : connaissance approfondie des systèmes « mull » en France, « moder » et « mor » en Allemagne ou Autriche, « amphimull » en Italie et formes engorgées aux Pays Bas. Ce projet s’inscrit en outre dans le programme europée...

This work addresses the driving factors responsible for patterns in the detritivore macrofaunal communities of a managed beechwood chronosequence (28 to 197 years old, Normandy, France). We investigated the variation patterns of density, biomass and diversities of detritivore macrofauna throughout this rotation. Multivariate analyses were carried o...

This work addresses the impact of eight detritivorous species of soil macro-invertebrates (three millipedes, two woodlice and three earthworms) on short-term carbon mineralization and mechanical breakdown of beech leaves. The production rate, size class distribution and OMcontent of invertebrate faeces were also measured. Hierarchical clustering (H...

In this section, the chapters we have assembled detail the actions and effects of several prominent ecosystem engineers. We suggest that, in addition to their general interest, these thotough examples of ecosystem engineers aid greatly in understanding and thinking tangibly about the topics covered in the other portions of this book that deal with...

This work addresses the driving factors responsible for patterns in the detritivore macrofaunal communities of a managed beechwood chronosequence (28 to 197 years old, Normandy, France). We investigated the variation patterns of density, biomass and diversities of detritivore macrofauna throughout this rotation. Multivariate analyses were carried o...

Invertebrates play significant, but largely ignored, roles in the delivery of ecosystem services by soils at plot and landscape scales. They participate actively in the interactions that develop in soil among physical, chemical and biological processes. We show that soils have all the attributes of self-organized systems as proposed by Perry (Trend...

Nous avons étudié l'influence de la composition d'un peuplement sur la variabilité qualitative et l'hétérogénéité spatiale des formes d'humus en comparant un peuplement pur de hêtre et un peuplement mélangé (70 % hêtre - 30 % charme). Les caractéristiques macro-morphologiques des formes d'humus ainsi que la composition spécifique de la litière, l'é...

Forest management consists in anthropogenic disturbances that are able to modulate ecological features, resource availability and successional patterns. Plant communities are thus expected to react differently to contrasted silvicultural systems. We compared plant species composition between stands submitted to a traditional management since many c...

The soil macrofauna of a pure beech (PS) and a mixed beech-hornbeam (MS) stand was recorded using a sample design spatially explicit at stand level. Humic epipedon morphological and chemical properties, relative irradiance, soil bulk density, and the specific composition of the litter in MS were also investigated. The taxonomic diversity is nearly...