LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (LIENSs) - UMR 7266

Brownlie Katherine

Thierry Guyot — 2018-06-26T12:01:45Z

(2016-2019) Modelling the drivers of population change in Australia's most numerous seabird, the short-tailed shearwater (Ardenna tenuirostris)

Supervisors :

John Arnould, Deakin University
Jérôme Fort, La Rochelle University
paco Bustamante, La Rochelle University

Funding : Deakin University, Postgraduate Research Scholarship (DUPRS)

Modelling the drivers of population change in Australia's most numerous seabird, the short-tailed shearwater (Ardenna tenuirostris)

Seabirds are top order predators which account for the greatest marine biomass extraction throughout the world and, consequently, play an important role in marine ecosystem dynamics. In addition, as transporters of marine nutrients to their breeding colonies, they act as de facto ecosystem engineers of the terrestrial island habitats where they nest. Seabirds also exhibit distinctive and measurable responses to environmental variability at a range of temporal and spatial scales making them early and effective indicators of the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems. In particular, abundant, highly mobile species such as trans-equatorially migrating procellariiformes, could be especially useful indicators of global environmental change. The observable behaviours and demographic parameters reflect and integrate both the spatial variability experienced during the annual cycle and the temporal variability experienced during their long lives.

Australia's endemic short-tailed shearwater (STSW, Ardenna tenuirostris) is an example of such a species. Its breeding distribution is restricted to south-eastern Australia, currently the fastest warming oceanic region in the world and where currents are predicted to alter due to climate change, potentially resulting in considerable changes to STSW prey populations. Accurate knowledge of the factors affecting the population dynamics of species such as the STSW is urgently required to predict how global change will affect them, the prey populations they depend upon, and the ecosystems they influence. The aim of this project is to improve our understanding of the impacts of global change by establishing links between STSW demographic parameters and environmental variability, using a novel integrated approach. To do so, we will integrate data obtained from standard biological monitoring techniques with that from state-of-the-art animal tracking and remote sensing approaches in a novel modelling framework.

Puffin à bec grêle (Ardenna tenuirostris) sur l'île Kanowna, Australie

katherine.brownlie1*at*univ-lr.fr

Staff directory

Thierry Guyot — 2016-05-23T12:45:16Z

Staff directory

Thierry Guyot — 2016-05-23T12:44:15Z

- Staff Directory

Scientific objectives

Thierry Guyot — 2014-05-28T08:08:23Z

To understand past and present functioning of littoral ecosystems, and how they may evolve, as to provide a better scientific support for its sustainable development, through integrating their physical, biological and societal dimensions
To understand how plant and animals are distributed within coastal ecosystems and how they react to environmental changes
To integrate biotechnological methodologies for adding value to marine biomass, and to molecules for human therapy, to develop new diagnostic tools for environment and methods for risk assessment and remediation

Ecological tracers

Thierry Guyot — 2013-06-06T08:42:00Z

Understanding the structure and functioning of ecosystems requires first to characterize and quantify the main sources of organic matter that support animal communities and food webs, and to identify trophic relationships within organisms. All along their life cycle, organisms integrate some molecules or elements that bring information, by themselves or through the ratios of several of them, about either consumer trophic ressources or the habitats they exploit for feeding. Analyzing tracers in various tissues allows to address the temporal variability of the trophic resources. However, when used alone, these ecological tracers often give data which are difficult to interpret, but several tracers used together brings much more power to decipher consumer resources.
LIENSs have the expertises and analytical facilities for 3 ecological tracers : stable isotopes, fatty acids and trace elements. A workgroup dedicated to the use of ecological tracers has been built to share common issues and enhance their use within the laboratory.
Four topics are addressed within this workgroup :

1. Technical improvement of methods and tools

2. Use of one or several tracers to various animal models

3. Experimental use of tracers to complement in situ studies

4. Food web and tracers

LIttoral, ENvironment and Societies (LIENSs) - UMR 7266

Thierry Guyot — 2013-06-06T08:40:05Z

The LIENSs laboratory is a joint interdisciplinary research unit (UMR 7266) under the joint supervision of La Rochelle University and the CNRS.
LIENSs focuses its research on the functioning of the coastal zone, its evolution over time and particularly in the current context of global change and increasing urbanization of the coasts, and its sustainable use and exploitation.

A common issue: the coastline
Research at LIENSs addresses several fundamental questions

How does the coastal system function on all scales, from the molecular to the global, from a physical, chemical, biological and societal point of view? How do different scales of space and time and different contexts interact?
How is the coastal system evolving in a context of global change and increasing anthropogenic pressure? How do the various components of the system adapt to change? How have coastal societies adapted in the past? How can we predict, anticipate and support these changes?
What are the interactions between coastal societies and territories?
How can we make sustainable use of coastal resources, particularly for health purposes?
The research carried out in our laboratory focuses on the problem of adapting to changes - whether geophysical, chemical, biological, ecological or societal - in a coastal zone, in the broadest sense of the term, which is changing under anthropic pressure in a context of climate change.

Synthetic card of presentation of the laboratory

LIENSs presently comprises 82 researchers/lecturer-researchers, 33 permanent engineers/technicians, 24 post-docs and invited researchers, 10 contracted technical staff and 50 PhD students.

Scientific structure

The research unit LIENSs, established on January 1, 2008, was created by joining 4 laboratories concerned by various disciplinary fields : Humanities and Social Sciences, Environmental Sciences and Engineering Sciences, focusing mainly on one object under study : the littoral zone.

LIENSs presently includes 6 research teams :

– Approach by Geography : Islands, Littoral areas and Environment (AGILE)
– Physical Dynamics of the Littoral zone (DPL)
– Biodiversity and Functioning of Coastal Ecosystems) (BIOFEEL)
– Marine animals responses to environmental variability (AMARE)
– Biotechnologies and Chemistry applied to Bioresources for Health applications (BCBS)
– SpacEs, Societies, TerritoRies of Ancient and New shores (ESTRAN)

Four cross-axes (Coastline changes ; Status indices of littoral ecosystems ; Management and valuation of marine ressources ; Microbial biofilms) allow to develop integrated studies between teams and 2 methodological workgroups, Ecological tracers and GIS) enable lab staff to develop up-to-date methods in these fields.

Resarch activities are supported by 9 analytical facilities managed by teams and 6 common analytical or logistical platforms.

Regulatory authorities : CNRS (INEE, INSU, INSHS) - University of La Rochelle

How to contact us

Thierry Guyot — 2012-01-26T10:52:46Z

Contact us :

Executive secretary :
Marie Chivailles

marie.chivaille@univ-lr.fr
05 46 45 82 74 - Fax : 05 16 49 67 11

Communication service :
Armelle Combaud

armelle.combaud@univ-lr.fr
05 46 45 72 08

Address :

Université de La Rochelle
UFR Sciences
LIENSs UMR7266



Bâtiment ILE 2, rue Olympe de Gouges 17 000 La Rochelle	Bâtiment Marie Curie Avenue Michel Crépeau 17 042 La Rochelle cx1

How to come

Thierry Guyot — 2012-01-26T10:44:28Z

How to come

By plane :

Airport La Rochelle / Ile de Ré
Tél. : 33 5 46 42 30 26
www.larochelle.aeroport.fr

Flights operated by Flybe: www.flybe.com

Southampton - La Rochelle
Birmingham - La Rochelle
Manchester - La Rochelle
Glasgow - La Rochelle

Flights operated by Easyjet: www.easyjet.com

Bristol - La Rochelle
Londres Gatwick - La Rochelle

Flights operated by Ryanair : www.ryanair.com

Londres Stansted - La Rochelle
Cork - La Rochelle
Dublin - La Rochelle
Bruxelles Charleroi - La Rochelle
Oslo - La Rochelle
Porto - La Rochelle

Flights operated by Jet2 : www.Jet2.com

Edimbourg - La Rochelle
Leeds - La Rochelle

By train (TGV) :

Paris (Gare Montparnasse) - La Rochelle : around 3 h of travel

Paris (Charles de Gaulle CDG airport) – La Rochelle (Via Poitiers) : around 4 h of travel

www.voyages-sncf.com
http://www.tgv-europe.com/en/?rfrr=Homepage_footer_United%20Kingdom

By car :

Paris: 467 km
Lyon: 650 km
Marseille: 825 km
Nantes: 146 km
Bordeaux: 180 km
Toulouse: 400 km
Strasbourg: 950 km

Location

Thierry Guyot — 2012-01-26T10:44:22Z

The establishment of the laboratory is now on a single site:

The Littoral and Environment Institute (ILE)

ILE

Thierry Guyot — 2012-01-26T10:44:15Z

adress :

Institut du Littoral et de l'Environnement
2, rue Olympe de Gouges
17 000 La Rochelle

Contact :

Eva Martineau : +33 (O)5 46 45 82 74 ]