Biological invasions: How can scientists respond to scientific denialism and social unawareness?

Franck Courchamp is a senior scientist at CNRS. He works on biological invasions, on the Allee effects, on the overexploitation of rare species, on the effects of climate change on biodiversity, and on charismatic species in conservation. He is also a member of the Invasive Species Specialist Group of the IUCN and a Lead Author for the IPBES Asian-Pacific regional assessment and for the Invasive Alien Species assessment.

Frédérique Viard is a senior scientist at CNRS. She has a particular scientific expertise in the field of biological invasions, focusing on understanding the role of human-mediated dispersal in shaping population and community diversity, and examining the underlying eco-evolutionary processes. She is also a member of national and international expert groups working on non-indigenous species (e.g., national group for MSFD) and has been a Lead Author for the IPBES ECA regional assessment.

Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) within IPBES assessments and beyond: contributions to local and global well-being

Yildiz Aumeeruddy-Thomas is an ethnoecologist and Director of Research at CNRS. Her work has focused on Nature-Culture interactions over the past 30 years, especially on ways human societies weave their lives to tangible and intangible elements of nature across historical times to form hybrid living and place-based communities. She has developed field-based anthropological research in Indonesia, Nepal and in the Mediterranean region, especially in Morocco, Sicily and France focusing on ILK, agrobiodiversity and landscape dynamics. She collaborates with a large spectrum of disciplines including, ecology, archeology, geography, chemical ecology, genetics, linguistics and agronomy. Her major aims are to instill new and innovative ideas that incorporate biocultural diversity in research approaches and to contribute to science-policy dialogues. She is responsible of the Biocultural Interactions Team at the Center for Functional  and Evolutionary Ecology in Montpellier and is a Lead Author of the IPBES Global Assessment. Her work has been recognized by the International Society of Ethnobiology in 1992 (Best young researcher’s paper, ISE Congress in Mexico) and by the CNRS with the Bronze Medal in 2007 for her contribution to interdisciplinarity.

As a professor at the Natural History Museum in Paris, Dr Margareta Tengberg, is involved in research and teaching activities as well as the curating of the Museum’s wood collection. She is a specialist in the palaeoethnobotany of the Middle East, that is the interaction between past populations and the plant world, studied by the analysis of botanical remains from archaeological sites. Themes of particular interest for her research are the beginnings and spread of agriculture, the adaptation of agrosystems to arid conditions and the impact of human activities on the biosphere. She has participated in more than 50 archaeo- and ethnobotanical field projects in various countries of the Middle East and Central Asia. 

Blue forests and green oceans -- comparing the emerging properties across biomes

Jerome Chave is Senior Scientist at CNRS, deputy head of the Laboratory EDB, in Toulouse, and coordinator of laboratory of excellence Centre for the study of Biodiversity in Amazonia. Dr Chave is an ecologist working on tropical forest biodiversity and forest coupling with climate change, with a focus on plant form and function. 

Joachim Claudet specializes in marine protected area evaluations and linked coastal social-ecological research at the land-sea interface, using place-based case studies to inform management or meta-analyzes to impact policy. He is interested in research that helps implement appropriate monitoring designs and management plans, develop indicators and decision-making tools.

CESAB (CEntre for Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity) symposium: Future and prospects for large scale biodiversity analysis

Nicolas Mouquet, Directeur de Recherche (CNRS), is primarily a theoretical community ecologist, with some complementary experience in experimental evolution and biogeography. One of his main contribution has been to develop among the first metacommutity and metaecosystem models. He is currently working on ecological rarity, and the aesthetics of biodiversity. Since 2019 he is the scientific director of the CESAB in Montpellier.

Claire Salomon, graduated in contract law, supports the development of research since the beginning of her career, first à IRD then at FRB. She participated in the creation of CESAB in Aix before developing new projects. She is also in charge of the strategic development of “seas and oceans” issues at FRB. Since 2019 she is the executive director of the CESAB in Montpellier.

Biological invasions: How can scientists respond to scientific denialism and social unawareness?

James Russell is an Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, Strategic Advisor to Predator Free New Zealand, Scientific Advisor to Zero Invasive Predators, Associate Editor of the journal Biological Invasions and member of the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group. James works throughout the world on remote islands to provide conservation solutions by applying a combination of scientific methods. He received the 2012 New Zealand Prime Minister’s Emerging Scientist Prize and 2018 Society for Conservation Biology Oceania Section distinguished service award.

Christoph Kueffer is Professor of Urban Ecology at HSR Rapperswil and senior lecturer at ETH Zurich. He studied Environmental Sciences at ETH Zurich, and completed his PhD in plant ecology at the same university. Christoph’s research on biological invasions focuses on novel ecosystems on oceanic islands, climate change as a driver of mountain invasions, the social dimensions and human perception of alien species, and transdisciplinary partnerships with stakeholders and actors including from horticulture and landscape architecture.

Virginie Maris is a researcher in environmental philosophy at the Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CNRS) in Montpellier. Her work lies at the intersection between epistemological and ethical issues regarding biodiversity conservation. She has written scientific papers in various subjects linked to biodiversity conservation (predictive ecology, Anthropocene, ecosystem services, biodiversity values, invasion biology...). 

Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) within IPBES assessments and beyond: contributions to local and global well-being

Eduardo S. Brondizio is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University Bloomington, where he also directs the Center for the Analysis of Social Ecological Landscapes (CASEL). Brondízio has been working in the Amazon for the past three decades, where he maintains a field-based research program focusing on the interactions between rural populations and landscape change, particularly household economy and demography, ethnoecological knowledge and land use decisions, institutional arrangements, smallfarmer cultural identity, and global market chains. For the past 10 years, this work has expanded to the study of rural-urban networks, urban poverty and vulnerability to climate change, and the impact of expanding inter-urban networks and agricultural areas on the governance of indigenous and conservation areas. Brondizio has participated on numerous regional and global assessments and is currently the co-chair of the IPBES Global Assessment of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Among other 200 publications, are The Amazonian Caboclo and the Açaí palm: Forest Farmers in the Global Market. New York: New York Botanical Garden Press. (2008 and 201&) and Human-Environment Interactions: Current and Future Directions. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer Scientific Publishers. 17 chs.,434 pp. (edited with E. Moran).

Zsolt Molnár, botanist, ethnoecologist, head of the „Traditional Ecological Knowledge” Research Group at the MTA Centre for Ecological Research in Hungary. His main research focus is traditional, indigenous and local ecological knowledge of herders and farmers in Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Mongolia and Iran. One of his key research methods is knowledge co-production with local people in order to avoid and decrease conflicts with conservation and foster traditional land management. The following are two of his main publications Molnár, Zs., Kis, J., Vadász, Cs., Papp, L., Sándor, I., Béres S., Sinka G., Varga, A. (2016): Common and conflicting objectives and practices of herders and nature conservation managers: the need for the ’conservation herder. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability 2(4) Paper e01215. 16 p. and a bilingual book: Babai D., Molnár Á., Molnár Zs. (2014): Traditional ecological knowledge and land use in Gyimes (Eastern Carpathians) Budapest-Vácrátót, MTA BTK - MTA ÖK, 173 p.

Anne Brunel holds a master of engineering in agronomy from AgroParisTech and a master of research in European governance from Institute of Political Sciences of Grenoble. She specialized in ecological sciences, and studied the interface between sciences and public polices of environment and agriculture at the European Union (common agricultural policy) and the international (climate-smart agriculture) levels. As part of the FAO Indigenous Peoples Team, she is responsible of the Indigenous Food Systems initiative, which includes research and field activities and the coordination of the High-Level Expert Seminar on Indigenous Food Systems held in FAO in November 2018.

Nuria Sanz, Director and Representative of UNESCO in Mexico, has worked in various positions within multilateral organizations, such as the European Commission, the Council of Europe and especially the United Nations Educational,Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In 2002, she was appointed Chief of the Latin America and the Caribbean Unit of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre in Paris, where she coordinated the nomination of the Andean Highway System for inscription on the World Heritage List, a project that was subsequently elected by the Summit of Heads of States of Latin America and the Caribbean as an example of excellence for cultural integration of indigenous peoples. Having edited more than twenty publications on World Heritage, since 2013 Nuria has served as Head and Representative of the UNESCO Office in Mexico, where she has promoted the work of UNESCO in Mexico at the Federal, State and Municipal level, within the Organization´s mandate in: Education, Science, Culture and Communication and Freedom of Expression. Since its inception in 2006, Nuria Sanz has been responsible for the development and implementation of the World Heritage Thematic Programme ‘Human Evolution: Adaptations,Dispersals and Social Developments’ (HEADS).

Amy Styring is currently a Humboldt Research Fellow in the African Archaeology group at the University of Frankfurt and will take up the post of Associate Professor of Archaeological Science at the University of Oxford in September 2019. As an archaeological chemist, Amy is interested in advancing scientific methods that reveal a direct and detailed picture of everyday life in the past, particularly in relation to food production and consumption practices and associated landscape change.

Doyle McKey is an ecologist with over 45 years’ experience in tropical regions of the world. He is currently a member of the Biocultural Interactions team at the Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology of the CNRS in Montpellier. His research on biotic and biocultural interactions in ecosystems is broad in its thematic scope. He has made ground-breaking contributions in a wide range of fields, including the evolution of plant chemical defences and ant-plant protection mutualisms, plant evolution under domestication, the biocultural ecology of seasonally flooded savannas, and the historical ecology of Amazonia. His interdisciplinary approach has led him to collaborate with phytochemists, geneticists, geographers, agronomists, pedologists, ethnobiologists, archaeologists and anthropologists, and he has published in top-tier journals in all these fields. His work has been recognized by several awards, including the Grand Prix Recherche (the highest honor conferred by France’s national professional organization for ecologists), recognition as Distinguished Ethnobotanist by the Royal Botanic Garden (Kew, UK) and a Cozzarelli Prize awarded by the US National Academy of Sciences for an outstanding paper published in PNAS.

Blue forests and green oceans -- comparing the emerging properties across biomes

Yadvinder Malhi, FRS, is Professor of Ecosystem Science at the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford. He is Programme Leader of the Ecosystems Group at the Environmental Change Institute. Professor Malhi is an ecosystem scientist who explores the functioning of the biosphere and its interactions with global change, including climate change, with a particular focus on tropical ecosystems.  His group encompasses a broad spectrum of research on the biosphere ranging from the natural sciences through to social sciences, policy and governance.

 Nathalie Niquil is a modeler of ecological and social-ecological networks. She is DR (senior scientist) CNRS since 2012, after 13 years at the University of La Rochelle. She works in Caen in the unit BOREA (Biology of Aquatic Organisms and Ecosystems, MNHN, CNRS, IRD, UA, University of Caen Normandy, Sorbonne University), were she is leader of the team EcoFunc (Functional ecology of coastal food webs and social-ecological systems). Her work focuses, for example, on the modeling and characterization of microbial food webs’ functioning or on the development of ecosystem health indicators for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. She was during 5 years leader of the OSPAR Food webs expert group on this issue. She is also interested in cumulative impacts on marine ecosystems and the development of numerical methods to model their effects on the functioning of the ecosystem and to quantify the associated uncertainty.

Maria J. Santos is Assistant Professor of Earth System Science at University of Zurich. Dr Santos' research aims at understanding the co-evolution of social-ecological systems. She examines the impact of land use decisions on biodiversity, resource provisioning and ecosystem services. She combines natural and social sciences and their methods, with a focus on remote sensing technology. She is involved in the University Research Priority Program (URPP) on Global Change and Biodiversity.

Didier Gascuel is a Professor in fisheries ecology at Agrocampus Ouest (Rennes, France). He leads a Master in Fisheries and aquatic sciences and has a particular expertise in the ecosystem approach to fisheries management. He is the French PI of the international program Nereus on the Future Ocean. His current research focuses on the development of trophic level-based ecosystem models, applied to the analysis of the marine ecosystems impacts of fishing and climate change. 

CESAB (CEntre for Synthesis and Analysis of Biodiversity) symposium: Future and prospects for large scale biodiversity analysis

Michel Kulbicki started to work on the biology-ecology of fish in the mid 1970’s. Since 1984 his main focus has been reef fish ecology. He started to look at these fish in New Caledonia, then little by little extended his interest to the South Pacific then on a global scale. He initiated a global data base on reef fish which is now widely used in macro-ecology. His present interest is to model the relationships between diversity, abundance, biomass and production from local to global scales.

Sabrina Gaba is a Researcher at INRA (Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, France). Her areas of interest include ecology of farmland systems, ecosystem functions/services and socio-ecosystems. Sabrina is currently working according to transdisciplinary principles to develop and implement agroecological approaches relying on Nature based solutions for agriculture. Since 2014, she has been involved in the gouvernance of the LTSER Zone Atelier Plaine & Val de Sèvre of which she became co-PI in 2017. She is chair of the “Ecology & Agriculture” group of the French Ecological and Evolutionary Society (Sféé). She is member of the Scientific Council of the Foundation pour la Recherche sur la Biodiversité (FRB).

Rodolphe Rougerie is assistant professor and curator for Lepidoptera at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN) in Paris. His research is directed toward documenting and understanding the outstanding diversity of terrestrial invertebrates on Earth, with a main focus on Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). He uses approches in molecular systematics, biogeography, macroecology and has a special interest for two emblematic families of moths: Saturniidae (Wild Silkmoths) and Sphingidae (Hawkmoths). Rodolphe is a scientific coordinator for the molecular biology platform at MNHN and is also the coordinator for France’s participation to the BIOSCAN project of the international Barcode of Life consortium, to be launched in June 2019.  

Yan Ropert-Coudert has a PhD from the National Institute of Polar Research, Japan (2001), where he was a scientist until 2007, before being recruited at the CNRS in Strasbourg (2008-15) and at the Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé since 2015. He is the director of a polar program supported by the French Polar Institute and the chief officer of the Life Science Group, the Expert Group on Birds and Marine Mammals at the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. He is also vice-president of the Comité National Français pour la Recherche en Antarctique et Arctique and the expert of the French delegation at the Antarctic Treaty System.