At the frontier between applied and fundamental research, my work focuses on floodplain restoration and, more precisely, on ecosystems functioning and biodiversity patterns in the context of above- and below-ground interactions.

After a project on plant communities patterns along an altitudinal gradient, I integrated the RECORD project which aims at acquiring a mechanistic understanding of the river, river corridor and aquifers systems both at the hydrological and ecological levels. My current research focuses on the impact of river restoration on soil fauna communities, their interactions and their relations to ecosystem functioning.

Education

2009 - 2013

PhD (Above- and below-ground aspects of floodplain restoration: from biodiversity to ecosystem functions), Laboratory of Soil     Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.

2007 - 2009

M.Sc. in Biology University of Lausanne, Switzerland ("Relationships among aboveground and belowground communities and ecosystem functioning along the perturbation gradient of a restored floodplain")

Publication record

Fournier Bertrand, Malysheva E, Mazei Y, Moretti M, Mitchell EAD. 2011. Toward the use of testate amoeba functional traits as indicator of floodplain restoration success, European Journal of Soil Biology. (In press)

Emanuela Samaritani, Shrestha J, Fournier B, Frossard E, Gillet F,  Guenat C, Niklaus P, Tockner K, Mitchell EAD, Luster J. 2011. Heterogeneity of soil carbon pools and fluxes in a channelized and a restored floodplain section (Thur River, Switzerland). Hydrology and Earth System Sciences.

Fournier Bertrand, Bullinger-Weber G, Mitchell EAD, Guenat C. 2011. La morphologie du sol: un outil pour l’évaluation de projets de revitalisation de zones alluviales? Concept general. Bulletin de la Société Suisse de Pédologie 31: 17-21.

Pellissier Loïc, Wassef J, Julia Bilat J, Brazzola G, Buri P, Colliard C, Fournier B, Hausser J, Yannic G, Perrin N. 2011. Adaptive colour polymorphism of Acrida ungarica H. (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in a spatially heterogeneous environment. Acta Oecologica 37: 93-98.

Fournier Bertrand, Pellissier L, Guisan A,  Vittoz P. Morphologie et reproduction des plantes le long de gradients altitudinaux. 2010. Bull. Murithienne 127: 45-52 (In French)

Pellissier Loïc, Fournier B, Guisan A, Vittoz P. (2010) Plant traits co-vary with altitude in grasslands and forests in the European Alps. Plant Ecology 211:2, 351-365.