I am greatly interested in extreme environments and this led me to a masters research project in the abyssal plains
of the Equatorial Pacific Ocean. I completed my masters degree in environmental sciences at Université du Québec
à Montréal under the supervision of Dr. Kim Juniper and co-supervision of Dr. Jozée Sarrazin (Ifremer, France).
My work focussed on the analysis of the spatial distribution of ferromanganese nodule fauna in relation to
environmental factors. Ferromanganese nodules are widespread spherical mineral deposits in the deep sea.
Economically viable nodule mining will likely be large in scale and have a considerable impact on the nodule
fauna which is mainly composed of agglutinated foraminifers. I am now starting a doctoral project within
Dr Warwick Vincent’s group in another extreme environment: the Canadian High Arctic, and more precisely
Quttinirpaaq National Park at the northern limit of North America (lat. 83N). It is especially pressing to
monitor changes in the diverse ecosystems of this region given their high sensitivity to global warming.
The focus of my research is on the lakes and fiords of the region: their food web structure, fluorinated
organic contaminant contents, the definition of how climate controls the structure and functioning of
northern lake ecosystems, how future change will impact lake and reservoir systems in general and the
identification of the best indicators of climate change for long term monitoring.
