Welcome (Dr Paul Caplat)

Welcome

Landscape and community ecology, from theory to practice

One could summarize my research in terms of "interactions": how individuals interact, making complex population dynamics arise, how local mechanisms interact to produce large-scale patterns, how large-scale patterns affect individuals, and how human societies interact with their environment...In practice, I have dealt mostly with woody plant dynamics: forest species migration under climate change, how mechanisms like re-sprouting or seed masting affect community dynamics, forest expansion with changes in grazing practices…

My favourite tool to approach these questions is individual-based modeling, which allows to simulate different situations with great flexibility. Combined with adequate statistical analasys or GIS utilities, it gives a good insight into ecological phenomena in space and time, for theoretical or applied studies.

Current research projects:

Understanding the mechanisms that allow invasive trees to invade, with a focus on long distance dispersal and demography (with Yvonne Buckley, UQ, and Ran Nathan, HUJ, Israel) - see "the Black Pine Project" link on the left

How can we enhance native biodiversity and carbon storage in NZ mountains? (with Duane Peltzer, Landcare Research, NZ)

Restoration of native trees using community assembly rules (with Nick Ledgard, SCION, NZ, and Madhur Anand, UoGuelph, Canada)

Expansion of forest on the Brazilian campos (with Lucas Silva and Madhur Anand, UoGuelph, Canada/Brazil)

Past research projects:

Implication of temporal cycles for population dynamics and invasions

Tree species coexistence: relating spatial patterns and species life-traits

Response of the boreal forest to climate change (with Madhur Anand, Env. Biol. and Chris Bauch, Maths and Stats, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada)

Open habitat bird response to grassland fragmentation (with Jocelyn Fonderflick, SupAgro Florac, France)

Importance of farming practices for biodiversity conservation (with Pascal Marty and Jacques Lepart, CEFE-CNRS)

Publications:

Caplat P., Anand M. (2009) Effects of disturbance frequency, species traits and resprouting on directional succession in an individual-based model of forest dynamics. Journal of Ecology 97(5): 1028-1036
Caplat P, Fonderflick J. (2009) Bird response to grassland fragmentation in a Mediterranean upland: patch area interacts with species biology. Biodiversity and ConservationDOI10.1007/s10531-009-9620-8
Caplat P., Anand M., Bauch C. (2009) Modelling invasibility in endogenously oscillating tree populations: timing of invasion matters. Biological InvasionsDOI 10.1007/s10530-009-9444-1
Caplat P., Anand M., Bauch C. (2008) Interactions between climate change, competition, dispersal and disturbances in a tree migration model. Theoretical Ecology. 1: 209-220
Caplat P., Anand M., Bauch C. (2008) Symmetric competition causes population oscillations in an individual-based model of forest dynamics. Ecological Modelling. 211: 491-500
Caplat P., Lepart J., Marty P. (2006). Landscape patterns and agriculture: modelling the long-term effects of human practices on Pinus sylvestris spatial dynamics (Causse Mejean, France). Landscape Ecology 21: 657-670.
Marty P., Lepart J., Caplat P. (2006). Géographie et écologie des paysages : quelles relations ? Bulletin de l'Association des Géographes Français 3: 355-367.
Fonderflick, Lovaty, Caplat, Thévenot, Prodon (in revision). Changes in avifauna following changes on breeding system on a mid-altitude steppe-like area in southern France (Agriculture and Environment)
Fonderflick, Caplat, Marty, Lepart (in revision) Biodiversity and landscape dynamics under different scenarios of agricultural changes: a case study in a Mediterranean upland (Biological Conservation)

Caplat P. 2006. Importance de l'agriculture dans la dynamique spatio-temporelle du paysage. L'exemple du Causse Méjean. Thèse de Doctorat en Biologie des Populations et Ecologie. Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Montpellier, Montpellier, 328p. Available here