Skills and Fields of Expertise

To carry out our research we call upon different disciplines, all represented in our research unit:

• Landscape ecology, community ecology, conservation ecology and restoration ecology
• Biological and agronomic sciences for transdisciplinary action-research
• Agricultural sciences, namely systemic agronomy and zootechnics at the level of the technical system (crop, livestock, field margin), from the farm to the landscape
• Geomatics and computer science applied to landscape modelling.

Our research and the combination of these disciplines have allowed us to develop a dual expertise. One part concerns landscapes through skills in:

• Landscape modelling (representation, simulation, analysis) in space and time, taking into account stakeholder practices and simultaneously considering semi-natural, cultivated and urban landscape features
• Analysis of interactions with biodiversity and ecological functions.

The second area of expertise focuses on participatory research on cultivated biodiversity in organic agriculture, an area in which we have significant research experience, with and for farm and food chain stakeholders involved in on-farm seed development.