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Mélanie Saulnier

Research Officer – Dendrochronology, Pedo‑anthracology, Forest Ecology/Dynamics

Contact details

Address: Maison de la Recherche, Jean Jaurès University 5, Allées A. Machado – 31058 TOULOUSE Cedex 1
Office: C 227B
Phone: 06 84 05 44 78
Email: melanie.saulnier@univ-tlse2.fr
Personal Website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Melanie-Saulnier

Taught academic discipline(s)

Teaching since my PhD, I work mainly in faculties of science (biology and ecology) and geography. I attach great importance to balancing my teaching and research activities, which is why I am currently a member of a thesis committee and regularly supervise interns.

Teaching :

Bachelor’s level:

Plant Biology: 40 HETD
Diversity of the Living World: 36 HETD
Environmental Law: 35 HETD
Introduction to Mediterranean Flora: 32 HETD
Soil Science: 15 HETD

Master’s level:

Geographic Information System: 45 HETD
SEOLANE Field School: 39 HETD
Soil Analysis Methods: 17 HETD
Forest Ecology: 11 HETD
Methods in Plant Ecology: 11 HETD
Palaeoenvironment and Evolutionary Biogeography: 9 HETD

Thesis committee :

Adrien Favillier. Thesis entitled “Impact of climate warming on avalanche activity in the Massif Central and the Alps” and supervised by Jean‑Luc Peiry and Christophe Corona. CNRS laboratory UMR 6042 GeoLab in Clermont‑Ferrand.

Intern supervision :

2021: Co‑supervision of the Master 1 internship of Lison Chassaing, focusing on technical practices and the environment at the end of the Iron Age in the Toulouse area: morphotechnical and dendrochronological analysis of the lining of well 65 in Vieille‑Toulouse (Haute‑Garonne). UMR 5602 GEODE.
2020 : Co‑supervision of the Master 1 internship of Ugo Bisson. The internship focused on a literature review of European occurrences of yew (Taxus baccata L.) during the Holocene. UMR 5602 GEODE.
2019 : Supervision of the doctoral internship of Léonel Fouédjeu‑Foumou (3rd year of PhD) at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague (CULS). The objective was to train the student in the use of dendrochronology and to assist him in building the reference beech chronology for his study area.
2016 - 2017 : Co‑supervision of a Master 2 GEP student, Nicolas Parizeau, for whom I contributed to training in dendrochronology and supervised the dendrochronological analysis of charcoal; and of a Master 2 GEP student, Adèle Destanne de Bernis, for whom I acted as the reference person for aspects related to the use of pedo‑anthracology.
2014 - 2015 : Supervision of 2 students and co‑supervision of 2 other Master 1 students. The proposed topic focused on the study of a high‑altitude forest colonisation front. One pair studied the environmental history using pedo‑anthracology, and the other characterised current dynamics using dendrochronology.
2011 : Supervision of a 3rd‑year professional bachelor’s student (3‑month internship in dendrochronology). Participation in the supervision of a 5th‑year engineering student’s internship.
2010 : Supervision of a 2nd‑year bachelor’s student (introductory internship in pedo‑anthracology) and a 3rd‑year bachelor’s student (internship in pedo‑anthracology).
2008 : Participation in the supervision of 4 Master 1 students during their research internship at the Mediterranean Institute of Ecology and Palaeoecology (renamed IMBE since 2012) for the processing of dendrochronological data.

Research topics

Ecologist, pedo‑anthracologist and dendrochronologist, I specialise in the study of the history and dynamics of mountain forests (Alps, Pyrenees) at very high spatio‑temporal resolution. My research relies on a multidisciplinary diachronic approach to characterise Forest/Human/Environment interrelations and their long‑term evolution.

The forest is placed within a socio‑ecosystem context in which identifying the natural and anthropogenic processes that have shaped current environments will make it possible to establish models of evolution in response to global change and thus contribute to the implementation of integrated and sustainable forest management.

Main study areas : Alps, Pyrenees, Mediterranean region, Carpathians

Disciplines and analytical methods:

Palaeoecology and forest ecology
Pedo‑anthracology, dendrochronology
Dendro‑anthracological experimentation
Key theme : role of humans and climate in past and present dynamics of forest ecosystems; dynamics and reconstruction of disturbances (fires, insects, extreme climatic events); modelling of radial growth of forest species; regeneration and reproduction of forest species.

Main research projects:

ANR BENDYS 2020–2022 (dir. V. PY‑Saragaglia): Leader of Task 2 and Sub‑task 2.1. This project focuses on the last European (“subnatural”) old‑growth fir and beech forests and proposes a long‑term and global study for improved understanding, conservation and management of these forests.
Outstanding output project 2018–2019 no. 43110/1322/3218 (Leader): Between higher disturbances both severity and intensity and an increase in the growth rate of trees: What consequences for the total surface of canopy gaps, at the landscape scale, in the spruce (Picea abies) old‑growth forests of the Carpathian arc under global change?
EVA 4.0 (post‑doctoral researcher): Creation of a new research centre on forest, silviculture and wood‑industry issues related to global change and the fourth industrial revolution. Supervisor: Czech University of Life Sciences of Prague – Department of Forestry.
OASIC – FORETEXIL 2017–2018 (Co‑leader): The subnatural forests of Maramureș (Eastern Carpathians) facing intensive exploitation: emergency plan for a global study with a view to implementing integrated and sustainable management. Supervisor: V. Py‑Saragaglia (CR1, CNRS).
TAXUS APE GEODE 2017 (Co‑leader): Holocene history of a relict woody species of the Pyrenees: Taxus baccata L. Supervisors: V. Py‑Saragaglia (CR1, CNRS) and M. Saulnier (post‑doc, CNRS).
Labex DRIIHM – SCHRUBS (Co‑leader): Use of radial growth of low woody plants to reconstruct supra‑forest vegetation dynamics in the Haut Vicdessos. Supervisor: C. Corona (CR1, CNRS).
Labex DRIIHM – FODYNA (associate member): Past forests, dynamics and recolonisation processes through the study of historical mining and metallurgical activities in the Haut‑Vicdessos. Supervisor: V. Py‑Saragaglia (CR1, CNRS).
Gévoclé 2012–2015, PACA Region (Associate researcher): assessing the importance of the regeneration niche of flora in the PACA region and its evolution regarding species vulnerability – modelling realised and potential niches of species of the genus Silene. Supervisor: Arne Saatkamp (Lecturer, Aix‑Marseille University).
ANR ESCARSEL 2007–2010 (Associate researcher): Secular Climate Evolution in circum‑Atlantic regions and Response of Eco‑Lacustrine Systems. Supervisor: J. Guiot (DR1, CNRS).
ECCOREV Archipel‑Écrins 2010–2011 (Associate researcher): “Archaeology, anthropogenic impact and palaeoecology in the Écrins massif”.
PhénoClim 2004–2014 (Leader 2012): Phenology and Climate, European funding (FEDER) – Project leader for 4 months.

Publications extraites de HAL affiliées à Geode : Géographie de l'environnement

Additional information

ORCID profile : https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3495-1360

Scientific responsibilities :

Reviewer for peer‑reviewed scientific journals:

Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
Journal of Forest Sciences
Science of the Total Environment
British Archaeological Report
Ecologia Mediterranea

Session chairing:

I was invited to chair one of the two sessions on dendroclimatology at the international Eurodendro conference held in Tartu (Estonia) from 6 to 10 September 2017.

Collective responsibilities :

2020 : Co‑coordination of the ANR‑BENDYS project. Co‑leader of Task 2, task coordination, supervision of a collective paper.
2017 : 2017: Member of the organising committee of the third International Workshop of Pedo‑anthracology “The memory of the soils and of the wood charcoals”, held in Limoges on 2–3 November 2017.
2012 : Organisation of the 1st round table of the Centre de Recherche sur les Écosystèmes d’Altitude (CREA) in Chamonix on 14–15 June 2012, entitled “Les rendez‑vous du CREA: Climate change and biodiversity”.
2010 : Member of the organising committee of the first International Workshop of Pedo‑anthracology “La pédoanthracologie au cœur des disciplines environnementales” (First Workshop of Pedoanthracology: pedoanthracology and environmental studies), held in Aix‑en‑Provence on 14–16 June 2010.

Administrative responsibilities :

2020 : Co‑coordination of the ANR‑BENDYS project. Co‑leader of Task 2, organisation of meetings, budget planning, and coordination of partnerships with the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague.
2014 : Co‑coordination of the AFORES‑MED project. Organisation of meetings, financial reporting, and preparation of meeting minutes.
2012 : Coordination of the Phénoclim programme: grant applications, administrative management, management and coordination of the web interface of the participatory science network, management of large datasets, writing of monthly and quarterly articles.