Humans strove for generations to create a world without large predators. By doing so they changed the rule of the evolutionary game played for over 400 million years. Can this be without consequences on ecological networks and on the fabric of life? This presentation addresses this question via the lessons from a long-term study centered on islands.
Emeritus research director at the CNRS, attached to the Center for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology (CEFE) in Montpellier. My areas of interest are community ecology and landscape ecology, both in their fundamental aspects (trophic cascades, biodiversity dynamics) and in relation to conservation science (agriculture and biodiversity, consequences of changes in land use, species introductions and modification of faunas). In recent years, I have also been involved in work at the interface between ecology and social science (respecting the limits of the biosphere, economic growth and biodiversity).
