Research
Fungal ecology from molecules to communities,
from diversity patterns to ecological functioning,
from natural to managed ecosystems
My research covers multiple dimensions of fungal ecology that can be grouped under the following four main topics: integrative taxonomy and evolution, community ecology and soil sciences, natural ecosystems and forest management, and conservation and diversity mapping. My work tends to understand fungal ecological patterns within both natural and managed forest ecosystems using molecular and community-level approaches, either through macroscopic (i.e. macrofungi) or microscopic (i.e. microfungi) prisms of fungal diversity. I have a special focus on overlooked fungal groups in understudied habitats, with a main perspective on fungal conservation. Especially, I devote a great amount of time to the study of Laboulbeniomycetes. To learn more about my work, see my webpage, ResearchGate, Twitter or Centre for Forest Research accounts. If your research interests intersect with those abovementioned topics and you'd like to forge new collaborations, feel free to contact me via email!
Theme 1: FUNGAL DIVERSITY AND TAXONOMY
I am firmly convinced that one cannot study the ecology and evolution of living systems without being able to name or evaluate the biological diversity found therein. This fundamental understanding of diversity is essential to implement effective and realistic protection and conservation plans. Indeed, as the famous saying goes, “How can you protect if you don’t even know what’s there and what it’s about?”. The basements of my research work are therefore the study and understanding of fungal diversity, including all their peculiarities compared to other living beings. In this set, I am particularly interested in fungal taxonomy, that is, the circumscription of species considering their morphological, physiological, ecological,..., and molecular characteristics. After elucidating how one fungal species is different from another, I emphasize their phylogenetic relationships to highlight evolutionary trajectories within the studied groups. The integration of these different techniques, which combine both descriptive and analytical aspects, allows us to have an idea of which organisms are present in ecosystems, as well as the establishment processes of this diversity across time and space. This part of my work is mainly focused on overlooked fungal groups in understudied ecosystems/habitats, as well as on more methodological or theoretical reflections on fungal diversity, taxonomy, and nomenclature.
This research axe is fundamental and intersects with the objectives of the other ones. Thus, I mainly conduct this research in collaboration with all the other institutes I mentioned below. This axe also constitutes part of my independent research work.
Theme 2: FUNGAL COMMUNITIES IN NATURAL AND MANAGED FORESTS
The next step in my work is to investigate mechanisms and environmental factors (biotic and abiotic) that influence various fungal community metrics, including diversity, composition, absence/presence and group relative abundance. These investigations provide a qualitative and quantitative idea of why certain species and communities are present at a certain place and time. To achieve these ends, I notably take advantage of new high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies, such as the metabarcoding of environmental DNA (eDNA), and field surveys, or ideally both. This part of my work is mainly focused on the vegetative dimension of soil fungal communities in natural and management forest ecosystems, with a special interest in the vertical partitioning of fungal groups across horizons and inter-guild interactions. Occasionally, I emphasize the sexual dimension of this fungal diversity by focusing on macrofungal ecological patterns. Finally, I also have a special interest in fungal assemblages ecosystems representing high knowledge and conservation stakes, such as mature to old-growth boreal forests.
I mainly conduct this research axe, especially as part of my master's and doctoral thesis and other projects, at the Forest Research Institute (FRI) located at the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscmaingue (UQAT), in collaboration with the Centre for Forest Research (CFR), the International Research Network (IRN) on Cold Forests, the NSERC-UQAT-UQAM Industrial Research Chair in Sustainable Forest Management, and the Lake Duparquet Teaching and Research Forest Station (FERLD).
Conservation and forest management perspective
The most recent and plausible estimates of the global number of fungal species range from 2.2 to 3.8 million, while only 146,000 species of fungi are currently described. Based on these estimates, we would therefore know about 6-10% of the estimated fungal diversity. In addition, 625 species of fungi have been evaluated via the IUCN criteria, at present. If we assume that there are indeed 2.2 million species of fungi, only 0.03% have received an evaluation according to the criteria of the IUCN Red Lists. This figure is ridiculously small compared to plants and animals, and is alarming given the functional and structural importance of fungi in most terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.
By combining knowledge about the very nature of fungal diversity (i.e. What is it? Where does it come from?) and how it responds to its environment, we can hope to achieve reasonable knowledge and conservation objectives. The main perspective of my research is to accumulate fundamental knowledge on fungal diversity and communities towards better consideration in conservation and forest management programs. This perspective is articulated around multiple dimensions, scales and environmental contexts, namely from species to community levels, from the visible (i.e. sexual parts, macrofungi) to the invisible components (i.e. vegetative parts, microfungi), and from morphological to molecular approaches. The challenges of biological conservation go well beyond the mere conservation of individual species. The real emphasis of conservation lies in the protection and sustainable maintenance of interaction networks in which species are involved. Due to their omnipresence in all ecosystems and the fundamental roles they play, fungi are an entry point, still not enough explored, for habitat and ecosystem conservation.
The conservation of living beings' diversity has become one of the most important objectives of sustainable and ecosystem-based forest management. Thanks to new techniques for detecting organismal DNA in the environment, we are rediscovering forest territories in a new light. Forests are the scene of numerous and diverse interactions between organisms that cannot be perceived with the naked eye. The essential functioning of forests takes place in the invisible and is governed by microbes, especially fungi. Fungi are everywhere and play fundamental roles within terrestrial ecosystems. This observation raises the question of their integration, still unfinished, into conservation and forest management plans. Indeed, fungi are at the heart of the challenges and criteria of sustainable forest management and represent a potential still little explored to maintain the integrity of forests in space and time. These organisms are a choice entry point to conserve and protect forest biological diversity, since protecting fungi and related habitats would induce the conservation of the entire ecosystem. Ignoring fungi in conservation and forest management policies amounts to ignoring the organisms that are at the very origin of the ecosystems we pretend to protect. It would be justified, in this case, to question the truly “sustainable” nature of such management.
Theme 3: LABOULBENIOLOGY
For several years, my curiosity has been piqued by a group of fungi that perfectly straddles my interest and research areas: the Laboulbeniales (Laboulbeniomycetes). These are obligatory ectoparasitic fungi of arthropods, whether for their dispersal or as epibionts. They do not resemble the image we have of fungi, even microscopic ones. They are not filamentous and are rather formed of a set of cells structured in three dimensions forming what is called a thallus. Because of their obligatory association with arthropods and their minute aspect, they often go unnoticed by those who study fungi, but also by those who study insects. The first species of this group was described two centuries ago and more than half of these currently known species were described by a single person, Roland Thaxter. We know 2,459 species (spread over 145 genera) of Laboulbeniales, while we estimate a total number of species more than 15 times greater than what we already know. This host-parasite system is a textbook case of a group of unknown fungi where everything remains to be done. This association is also an interaction model of choice for studying issues of taxonomy, community ecology, and biological conservation.
This special research axe represents most of my independent research works that I'm conducting as part of the TeamLaboul, led by Dr. Danny Haelewaters.
Laboulbeniales are Thallophytes that botanists leave aside, for lack of knowing how to procure them, and that entomologists ignore…
François Picard (1879-1939), in the introduction to Hannelore Dainat’s thesis (1973).
Translated from the original french text: "Les laboulbeniales sont des Thallophytes que les botanistes laissent de côté, faute de savoir s’en procurer, et que les entomologistes ignorent...".
Theme 4: MYCOLOGY, HUMANS, AND LITERATURE
Aside from previous main research axes, I investigate the links uniting mycology, humans, and literature. In particular, I'm interested in the usage humans make of fungi, whether for identification purposes or appreciation of their multiple characteristics perceptible by our senses or of human interest (e.g., gustatory, therapeutic, medicinal, etc.). A leaning of this axis is focused on creating bridges between forest ecology and literature. I'm developing this research aspect as part of a cross-sectoral and transdisciplinary research unit “Rewriting the Boreal Forest” (translation from the original french unit title "Réécrire la forêt boréale"). This is a close collaboration between the FRI of UQAT and the Department of Literary Studies of the Faculty of Arts at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). The main objective is to develop the literary potential of forest ecology research and scientific writings, and to deconstruct current barriers between natural and literary sciences. These last two represent different but complementary prisms of the same reality that we intend to describe and understand.
Theme 5: FUNGAL SCIENCE POPULARIZATION
Main research partners
