Research unit Ecology and Dynamics of Human-influenced Systems (EDYSAN)

The Unit “Ecology and Dynamics of Human-influenced Systems” (Edysan) includes three labs:

• GEP (Geoecology of Ecosystems and Landscapes),
• AEB (Agroecology, Ecophysiology and Plant Integrative Biology),
• BIPE (BIoecology of Phytophagous and Entomophagous insects).

The research program is devoted to the integrated, multiscalar analysis of the production systems (including agro-ecosystems and forest ecosystems), in the context of global change and its ecological, environmental, and human consequences.

This program lays on a research structuring axis which as been identified as federative, integrative, and interdisciplinary, which is itself supplied by four scientific tasks. The structuring axis takes advantage of the scientific results that have been accumulated an agro-ecosystems and forest ecosystems during the former contracts. It includes a fundamental part, dedicated to integrated approaches from genes to landscapes, as well as an applied issue dealing with the impacts of new production systems.

The 4 tasks are:

• the assessment of the dynamics of human societies – ecosystems interactions, focusing on the impacts of human activities on plant biodiversity under changing environmental conditions;
• the ecophysiology and functional ecology of plant response to disturbance and environmental stress;
• the ecophysiology and evolutionary ecology of host – parasite interactions (plant – phytophagous insect and insect – parasitoid);
• the historical ecology and geo-archaeology of the interactions between man, ecosystems and landscapes (in collaboration with another research unit).