I am a PhD student in RECOVER – EMR, the unit research in Mediterranean ecosystems and risks of the national institute of research in science and technology for environment and agriculture (IRSTEA). My doctoral research is to be defended in June 2018 and is funded by half scholarship from the PACA region. My interests bear on landscape ecology and particularly on land use / land cover change and its effect on vascular plants. In partnership with researchers at the Mediterranean Institute of marine and terrestrial Biodiversity and Ecology (IMBE – AMU/CNRS/IRD) and managers of the Luberon regional nature park (PNRL), my current research focuses on forest cover change since 1860 in the PNRL and its drivers, and the relationship between forest temporal continuity and the spatial distribution of vascular plants and their life-history traits, and forest soil characteristics. My background is in life science and ecology (Bachelor) and ecological management (Master).

Effect of land use history on spatial distribution of plant species:

Historical ecology
Landscape ecology
Vascular plants
Life-history traits
Soil characteristics
Mediterranean forest

Mail to Juliet ABADIE: juliet.abadie@irstea.fr / juliet.abadie@imbe.fr

Experience

2014 - today : PhD Student in Forest historical ecology (2014-2018 thesis supported by the PACA Region & IRSTEA), IRSTEA-EMR (Mediterranean Ecosystems and Risks) & IMBE, ED251 (Environment Sciences), France

IRSTEA – RECOVER research unit

Teaching activities

Teaching mission: 64h from October to December 2016
Licence 2: Practical work in plant biology, histology and physiology
Licence 1: Computer science (C2i)

Education

2012 : Master degree in Biodiversity and Ecology (Ecological expertise and management of biodiversity), UPMC (University of Paris 6) & MNHN (National Museum of Natural History), France

2010 : Bachelor degree in Life Science and Ecology from the University of Rennes 1, France

Doctoral dissertation project:

Forest ecological networks and floristic biodiversity: role of landscape connectivity and history

After centuries of deforestation in Europe, forest cover is increasing on the French national territory since the nineteenth century, most of all in the Mediterranean region. Thus, we define too types of forest according to their temporal continuity: ancient forests, which have been forested since several centuries (at least 150 years in France), and recent forests, developed on former differing land use during the last 150 years. Ancient and recent forests are characterised by differing soil physical-chemical properties and understory vegetation. Indeed, several forest specialist plant species have limited dispersal capacities and ecological legacies of past land use is strongly marked in forest habitats, thus leading to a limited colonisation of recent forests by those species. The effect of temporal continuity on forest plant species and soils have been thoroughly studied in temperate regions but very poorly in the Mediterranean area.

To answer these questions, the main objectives of this PhD thesis are to analyse the drivers of forest cover change and the effect of temporal continuity and past land uses on forest soils and vegetation in the Mediterranean region.

A first part consists in studying biophysical and socioeconomic drivers of land use (forest, pasture, arable land) and forest recovery spatial distribution and their change since 1860, from the comparison of an ancient land use maps of 1860, 1958 and 2010.

Based upon this first part, the second one aims at clarifying the ecological differences between forests of differing temporal continuity (ancient, recent or very recent forests) and past land uses (forest, pasture or crop): how are they distributed according to biophysical conditions (slope, substrate type, etc.) ; what are the effects of past land uses on soil physico-chemical properties and understory vegetation (species and their life-history traits or ecological preferences)? Is the Etat-Major map the best tool to evaluate the effects of past land use on current forests in a Mediterranean forests, characterised by a traditional agro-sylvo-pastoral system?

This work relies mainly on the territory of the Natural Regional Park of Luberon (PNRL) and especially on the use of past and present land use maps (this thesis would never have been possible without the digitization of the Map of Etat-Major in 2011 by the PNRL team), floristic and pedological data collected in the field in 2015 and gathered from existing databases (SILENE for plant species and BASECO, Baseflor, Pignatti and the French Mediterranean flora for plant traits).

Supervisor: Dr Thierry Tatoni, IMBE
Co-supervisor: Dr Laurent Bergès, IRSTEA

Thesis funded by the PACA Region and IRSTEA

IRSTEA - RECOVER

Juliet Abadie

Abadie, J., Dupouey, J.L., Avon, C., Gachet, S., Salvaudon, A., Tatoni, T. & Bergès, L. (in prep) Mediterranean forest plant species respond to past land use and time since abandonment: A case study in the Regional Natural Park of Luberon (southern France)

Abadie, J., Avon, C., Dupouey, J.L., Lopez, J.M., Tatoni, T. & Bergès, L. (2018) Past land use effect on forest understory vegetation and soils in the Mediterranean region: should we use historical maps or in situ land use remnants? Forest Ecology and Management, 427, 17-25

Abadie, J., Dupouey, J.L., Avon, C., Rochel, X., Salvaudon, A., Tatoni, T. & Bergès, L. (in press) Déterminants du changement du couvert forestier depuis 1860 dans le parc naturel régional du Luberon et implications pour la répartition des forêts actuelles. Revue Forestière Française, 4-5

Rochel, X., Abadie, J., Avon, C., Bergès, L., Chauchard, S., Defever, S., Grel, A., Jeanmonod, J., Leroy, N. & Dupouey, J.L. (in press) Quelles sources cartographiques pour la définition des forêts anciennes en France ? Revue Forestière Française, 4-5

Thomas, M., Bec, R., Abadie, J., Avon, C., Bergès, L. & Dupouey, J.L. (in press) Changements à long terme des paysages forestiers dans cinq parcs nationaux métropolitains et le futur parc national de Champagne-Bourgogne. Revue Forestière Française, 4-5

Mony, C., Abadie, J., Gil-Tena, A., Burel, F. & Ernoult, A. (2018) Effects of connectivity on animal‐dispersed forest plant communities in agriculture‐dominated landscapes. Journal of Vegetation Science, 29 (2), 167-178

Abadie, J., Dupouey, J.L., Avon, C., Rochel, X., Tatoni, T. & Bergès, L. (2018) Forest recovery since 1860 in a Mediterranean region: drivers and implications for land use and land cover spatial distribution. Landscape Ecology, 33 (2), 289-305

Gil-Tena, A., Nabucet, J., Mony, C., Abadie, J., Saura, S., Butet, A., Burel, F. & Ernoult, A. (2014) Woodland bird response to landscape connectivity in an agriculture-dominated landscape: a functional community approach. Community Ecology, 15 (2), 256-268

2017

Abadie, J., Bergès, L., Avon, C., Gachet, S., Tatoni, T. « Are there ancient forest species in the Mediterranean area? ». Poster. International Conference Into the Woods, 18-20 avril 2017, Padova (Italie).

Abadie, J., Avon, C., Dupouey, J.L., Tatoni, T., Bergès, L. « Past land use effect on forest understory vegetation in the Mediterranean region: should we use ancient maps or in situ land use remnants? » International Conference Into the Woods, 18-20 avril 2017, Padova (Italie).

2016

Abadie, J., Bergès, L., Avon, C., Gachet, S., Tatoni, T. « Effects of past land use on Mediterranean forest understory vegetation ». Poster. Colloque SFE, 24-28 octobre 2016, Marseille.

Abadie, J., Avon, C., Bergès, L., Chauchard, S., Dupouey, J.L., Rochel, X., Salvaudon, A., Tatoni, T. « Évolution du couvert forestier du Luberon depuis 1860 : rôle des facteurs naturels et humains ». Colloque international Géohistoire de l’environnement et des paysages, 12-14 octobre 2016, Toulouse.

Abadie, J. « Effet de l’occupation passée du sol sur la flore des forêts méditerranéennes ». Journée des Doctorants de l’IMBE, 30 juin 2016, Faculté Saint-Jérôme, Marseille.

Abadie, J., Bergès, L., Avon, C., Salvaudon, A., Dupouey, J.L. & Tatoni, T. « Évolution du couvert forestier depuis 1860 : rôles des facteurs naturels et humains. » Poster. Congrès de l’Ecole Doctorale Sciences de l’Environnement, 27-28 avril 2016, Marseille.