Solène Lemichez's Personal Page

Scientist (phd candidate) at INRAE UMR BAGAP Phone: +33 2 23 48 52 86 • Email: solene.lemichez@inrae.fr Address: INRAE Centre Bretagne-Normandie, UMR 0980 BAGAP, Domaine de le Motte, 35650 Le Rheu, France Fields of expertise: agroecology, socio-anthropology, molecular ecology Keywords: cultivated biodiversity, participatory research, transdisciplinarity

Research

Current Research Topics

My thesis focuses on mass selection in viticulture from the perspective of its implementation, using a three-stage multidisciplinary approach combining socio-anthropology (contextualisation), molecular ecology (analysis) and sociology of science (reflexivity).

We contextualise the renewed interest in this practice within the framework of the wine industry crisis, marked by uprooting campaigns and a questioning of the productivist model. However, some vineyards are choosing to replant. We show that mass selection is neither a return to a pre-agricultural modernisation practice nor a disruptive innovation, but rather a situated socio-technical system that articulates issues of sustainability, plant heritage, biodiversity, wine quality and uncertainty management. By analysing the justifications associated with this practice, we highlight the reconfigurations of relationships with living organisms, knowledge and health frameworks that it entails.

Analysis of bacterial and fungal communities shows signs of low overall heritability, but their recurrence in contrasting conditions highlights their ecological relevance. By integrating environmental variability, this in situ approach limits adaptive bias in the interpretation of plant-microorganism interactions. We show that mass selection is not based solely on systematic microbial transmission, but rather on a continuum of interactions guided by the environment and practices.

Finally, we propose a reflexive approach to the ways in which microorganisms are brought together in molecular ecology. We propose to objectify the different stages of academic results production, from plant sampling to metabarcoding data analysis, in order to discuss the relationships with non-humans maintained during this process and their articulation with field practices.

Selected publications

Lemichez, S., Foyer, J., & Chable, V. (2025). Supporting mass selection with the microbiota: participatory and transdisciplinary research with Bordeaux vineyards. In Scientific Conference on Breeding to meet environmental and societal challenges (p. 92).

 Pignier, N., Alarcon, M., & Lemichez, S. (2024). Résilience alimentaire des territoires : Apports de l’interdisciplinarité dans l’étude des fermes paysannes. Les journées de l'interdisciplinarité.

 Chable, V., Lemichez, S., Hohmann, P., Mendes-Moreira, P., Cardoso, H., Klaedtke, S., ... & Nuijten, E. (2021). Report on the holobiont as promising selection target to improve resilience and product quality.

 Lemichez, S., & Chable, V. (2021). Drivers of endospheric root microbiota assembly of on-farm selected tomato in agroforestry. Breeding and seed sector innovations for organic food systems, 86.

 Lemichez, S. (2020). Comprendre les performances et l’adaptation de deux variétés-populations de tomate (S. lycopersicum) dans un système agroforestier via l’étude du microbiome racinaire dans le cadre d'une recherche participative (Doctoral dissertation, INRAE, Agrocampus Ouest).