Marc Peaucelle • Research Scientist
Tel: +33(0)557122374 • Email: marc.peaucelle@inrae.fr
I received my PhD from University Pierre and Marie Curie in 2016 (UPMC, now Sorbone University) under the supervision of Nicolas Viovy and Philippe Ciais (LSCE, France). I then moved to CREAF (Barcelona, Spain) for a first postdoctoral position under the supervision of Josep Peñuelas on the IMBALANCE-P ERC project. In 2019, I joined Ghent University and the CAVELAB team supervised by Hans Verbeeck before starting my Marie-Curie project “LEAF-2-TBM” in 2020. I finally started a permanent position as research scientist at INRAE in December 2021.
My research focuses on global forests, their dynamics and response to environmental changes and extreme climatic events, and on how it impacts the water, CO2 and energy balance at the Earth’s surface.
Research Activities & Expertise
Research Activities ♦ My work focuses on forest macroecology at the global scale, from boreal to tropical forests. I try to understand forest dynamics and how biotic and abiotic drivers control forest response to global change. As such, I developed a broad research interest and expertise spanning a range of topics (vegetation dynamics, biogeochemistry, ecophysiology, carbon and water cycling, functional diversity, atmosphere-land interactions).
Tools ♦ I try to develop an integrative approach by using and combining a multitude of methodologies and knowledges from various disciplines (statistical and process-based modelling, model-data fusion, remote sensing, field observations: ecophysiology | inventory | biogeochemical sampling, experiments). I have a strong expertise with terrestrial biosphere models (TBM), especially the ORCHIDEE model.
Current Research Themes and Projects
Forest phenology ♦ I am currently developping new approaches to study and simulate leaf phenology that account for micrometeorology and tree physiology. Especially, I try to study phenology at multiple spatial and temporal scales, from the leaf to the ecosystem level through remote sensing, and how it links with forest activity (e.g. photosynthesis). Read my last perspective: “Should we account for bud temperature in phenology studies?“
Response and acclimation of forests to global change ♦ I aim to improve the representation of forest diversity and acclimation in vegetation models through the use of functional traits. With my PhD student Quan Pan (2021-2025) in collaboration with Ghent University, we are currently testing how trait networks could be used to describe communities assembly and to intodruce trait variability in TBMs. In parallel, I am also developing new approaches to simulate processes acclimation based on optimality approaches. Read the last results of our project: “Trait-network reveals the adaptation strategy of plants”
Tropical rainforests ♦ I am interested in better understanding and representing the role of tropical forests on biogeochemical cycles and their resilience to global change. I actively contributed to the equipment of the new CongoFlux tower (i.e. installation of a PhenoCam, IR thermal sensors…) and to fieldwork in the Yangambi reserve in DR. Congo. I am starting a new project (TSARA initiative, 2022-2024) which consists in 1) the training of local technicians and students for the monitoring of leaf phenology and 2) the installation of an in-situ leaf warming experiment in collaboration with Ghent University and Western Sydney University (Prof. Kristine Crous). In parallel, I am involved in intercomparison model exercises aiming at quantifying the uncertainty of TBMs in simulating the response and dynamics of tropical forests. Read our last results here: “Low sensitivity of three TBMs to soil texture over the South American tropics”
