MSc Gregoire T. Freschet

f: +31 20 598 7123

Foreword

Hello, I am a French PhD candidate in the Systems Ecology Department at VU University Amsterdam, under supervision of Hans Cornelissen and Rien Aerts (May 2007 - 2011). My research interests focus on ecosystem dynamics, with emphasis on ecological processes in aboveground and belowground parts of plants and in soils, including organic matter dynamics, nutrient cycling and associated plant-mediated feedbacks. Another aspect of my research concerns the physiological adaptations of plants to different environmental conditions such as climate, soil or herbivory.
Before starting this PhD, I completed an MSc in environmental sciences at both the University and the National Agronomical School of Montpellier in France and a 6-month research job in the forest research and management centre of Solsona, Spain. My previous studies concerned the African continent. I studied there the influence of agro-ecological practices over carbon sequestration and agricultural sustainability; as well as the influence of agricultural practices on soil organic matter status and soil ecosystem services.

Dr Hans Cornelissen
Prof Dr Rien Aerts 

My research project

My PhD position is funded by the EST-Marie-Curie Actions through the financing of the whole MULTI-ARC project, involving three research groups from Sheffield (England), Abisko (Sweden) and ours in Amsterdam.
The aim of my project is to link ecosystem features and plant traits of terrestrial, riparian and freshwater environments to the decomposition pattern of leaf, root and woody components in a sub-arctic area (Abisko, Sweden).

The project rests on three main considerations:

First, leaf litter decomposition has been widely shown to be predictable from easily measurable leaf traits; but little has been done to extend these relationships to other litter components, such as coarse wood, roots and stems. Moreover, the relative contribution of the different parts of vegetation biomass to the detrital pool has rarely been identified in a sub-artic environment. This project intends then to compare explicitly the decomposition rates of different plant parts and, in relation with their relative biomass, to derive a picture of their relative contribution to carbon cycling.

Second, explicit comparison of plants breakdown from contrasting aquatic and terrestrial environments is also somewhat lacking in literature. Our aim is thus to explore the differences and similitudes in plant traits controlling litter breakdown across the different organs of those contrasting plants.

Finally, the breakdown of leaf litter is usually considered fastest in streams, intermediate in lakes and slowest in wetlands, but very little has been done, to date, to explicitly compare the breakdown of litter in environments ranging from dry terrestrial to aquatic. Our goal is thus to assess the validity of these assumptions as well as test for major differences in breakdown processes within four contrasting environments.
 
 

Abisko Research Station
MULTI-ARC project
Publications systems ecology 

Publications

Published articles

Freschet G.T., Cornelissen J.H.C., van Logtestijn R.S.P. & Aerts R. (2010). Evidence of the ‘plant economics spectrum’ in a subarctic flora. Journal of Ecology, 98, 362-373.

Freschet G.T., Cornelissen J.H.C., van Logtestijn R.S.P. & Aerts R. (2010). Substantial nutrient resorption from leaves, stems and roots in a sub-arctic flora: what is the link with other resource economics traits? New Phytologist, 186, 879-889.

Liu G., Freschet G.T., Pan X., Cornelissen J.H.C., Li Y. & Dong M. (2010) Coordinated variation in leaf and root traits across multiple spatial scales in Chinese semi-arid and arid ecosystems. New Phytologist, 188, 543–553.

Freschet G.T., Barthès B.G., Brunet D., Hien E., Masse D. (2010) The use of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) for predicting soil fertility and historical management. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, in press

Freschet G.T., Masse D., Hien E., Sall S., Chotte J.-L. (2008). Long-term evolution of organic matter from manuring practice in a tropical cultivated soil and its consequences on soil ecosystem services. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 123, 175-184.

Barthès B.G., Brunet D., Hien E., Enjalric F., Conche S., Freschet G.T., d'Annunzio R., Toucet-Louri J. (2008). Determining the distributions of soil carbon and nitrogen in particle size fractions using near-infrared reflectance spectrum of bulk soil samples. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 40, 1533-1537.

Submitted articles

Freschet G.T., Aerts R., Cornelissen J.H.C. Integrated plant economic strategies drive coordinated leaf, stem and root decomposability. Submitted to Ecology Letters.

Freschet G.T., Dias A.T.C., Ackerly D.D., Aerts R., van Bodegom P.M., Cornwell W.K., Dong M., Kurokawa H., Liu G., Onipchenko V.G., Ordoñez J.C., Peltzer D.A., Richardson S.J., Shidakov I.I., Soudzilovskaia N.A., Tao J. & Cornelissen J.H.C. Trait convergence dominates over divergence in shaping the functional diversity of species assemblages from global to community scale. Submitted to Global Ecology & Biogeography.

Lü X.-T., Freschet G.T., Flynn D., Han X.-G. Intra-specific plasticity in leaf and stem nutrient resorption reinforces plant-soil nutrient feedbacks and micro-scale heterogeneity in grassland ecosystems. Submitted to Ecology.

Manlay R.J., Freschet G.T., Abbadie L., Barbier B., Feller C., Leroy M., Serpantié G., Chotte J.-L. Carbon sequestration and sustainable farming in West African savannas: synergy or antagonism? Submitted to Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment.

In preparation

Freschet G.T., Weedon J.T., Aerts R., van Hal J.R, Cornelissen J.H.C. Short-term species comparison for long-term wood decomposability: a new method combining the best from chronosequences and common-garden experiments.

Freschet G.T., Aerts R., Cornelissen J.H.C. Co-dominating role of substrate quality and environmental conditions in driving decomposition rates of contrasting plants across aquatic and terrestrial environments.

Freschet G.T., Aerts R., Cornelissen J.H.C. Interactions between ecosystem properties and plant economics, biomass and decomposability in three contrasting aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

Congresses

Freschet G.T., Manlay R.J., Abbadie L., Barbier B., Feller C., Leroy M., Serpantié G., Chotte J.-L. Carbon sequestration and sustainable farming in West African savannas: synergy or antagonism? Invited communication to the Oral symposia 4.0B. In: 18th World Congress of Soil Science, Philadelphia, USA, 2006 July 9-15.

Freschet G.T., Cornelissen J.H.C., van Logtestijn R.S.P. & Aerts R. Evidence of the ‘plant economics spectrum’ in a subarctic flora. NetherlandsAnnual Ecology Meeting(NAEM) 2010, Wageningen, The Netherlands, February 10-11.

Freschet G.T., Cornelissen J.H.C., van Logtestijn R.S.P. & Aerts R. Substantial nutrient resorption from leaves, stems and roots in a sub-arctic flora: what is the link with other resource economics traits? Colloque Ecologie 2010, Montpellier, September 2-4.

Miscellaneous activities

Convener of the conference session: ‘Global change and biodiversity’ (Parallel 4d) for the NetherlandsAnnual Ecology Meeting(NAEM) 2010, Wageningen, The Netherlands, February 10-11.

Guest researcher grant (2-months) for international exchange in the Department of Botany, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia, Czech Republic. October-November 2010.