Mathieu Lévesque - Personal Homepage

Organisational unit: Forest Resources and Management Stand Dynamics and Silviculture Phone: +41 44 7392 543 Fax: +41 44 7392 215 Room: Bi E-Mail: Address: Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL Zürcherstrasse 111 8903 Birmensdorf

Education

Since 02/2010: Ph.D. candidate at WSL; ETH (Forest Ecology Group)

2009: M.Sc. in Agroforestry (with distinction) at Bangor University, Wales, UK

2008: M.Sc. in Tropical Forestry at TU Dresden, Germany

2007: B.Sc. in Forest Sciences at Laval University, Quebec, Canada

2001: Professional certificate in forest operations, école forestière de La Tuque, Canada

Research interests

Impact of climate change on forest ecosystems, Dendroecology, Stable isotopes, Wood anatomy, Tropical dry forest ecology

Research project

Climate change projections predict an increase in the frequency and duration of summer drought for the coming decades in Western Europe. Several native and non-native tree species which have high economical and ecological importance occur in Switzerland and Northern Italy, but it is still unclear if all species can cope with decreasing water availability.


The main aim of my Ph.D. project is to determine the drought vulnerability of the most important native coniferous tree species Norway spruce, Scots pine and European larch in contrast to the non-native Douglas-fir and black pine.

We want to answer the following research questions:

1. How do native and non-native tree species respond to drought?
2. Are non-native species better adapted to drought?

To answer these questions we are using two sampling strategies.

First, we are using a tree-ring network of 12 to 15 sites across a moisture gradient in Switzerland and Northern Italy consisting of 90-120 years old afforestations. At these sites, dendroecolgical procedures are used, i.e., tree cores are taken on 15 co-dominant or dominant trees per species and early-and latewood widths are measured.

Second, for two contrasting sites, i.e., xeric and mesic, we will analyze the stable carbon and oxygen isotopes and some wood anatomical parameters.

Supervisors:

Prof. Dr. Harald Bugmann, ETH

Dr. Peter Brang, WSL

Dr. Andreas Rigling, WSL

Dr. Rolf Siegwolf, PSI

ISI Publications

McLaren, K.P., Lévesque, M., Sharma, C., Wilson, B., McDonald, M.A., 2011. From seedlings to trees: Using ontogenetic models of growth and survivorship to assess long-term (>100 years) dynamics of a neotropical dry forest. Forest Ecology and Management 262, 916-930.

Lévesque, M., McLaren, K.P., McDonald, M.A., 2011. Recovery and dynamics of a primary tropical dry forest in Jamaica, 10 years after human disturbance. Forest Ecology and Management 262, 817-826.

Lévesque, M., McLaren, K.P., McDonald, M.A., 2011. Coppice shoot dynamics in a tropical dry forest after human disturbance. Journal of Tropical Ecology 27, 259-268.