What are your major research interests?
My research interests deal with interactions between microorganisms and minerals, and their role in biogeochemical cycles in terrestrial environments. Early in my career, I specialized in carbonates, which led me to work on the calcium and carbon cycles in soils and surficial sediments. Although marine carbonates have been the subject of in-depth investigations for decades, the role of interactions between life and terrestrial carbonates remains poorly understood and is still a major challenge. This topic obviously implicates the important problem of the identification and quantification of terrestrial carbon sinks. In order to have a better understanding of carbon sequestration, I concentrate on biomineralization processes involved in plant, fungi, and bacteria interactions in soils, as well as in microbial mats from freshwater palustrine environments.
In addition, I am very interested in the development of models and statistics applied to biogeosciences. For the last five years, my group has been working on terrestrial stromatolite growth models. We are also developing statistical tools (such as specific regressions, multivariate statistics, morphometrics, stochastic models, spectral analysis etc.) tailored to treat biogeoscientific data.
Can you tell us a bit about the Masters in Biogeosciences program you are helping organize at the University of Neuchâtel?
The Masters in Biogeosciences was conceived in 2003 by three professors in the fields of Microbial Ecology, Soil Science and Botany, and Geodynamics and Geochemistry of the Biosphere, who wanted to design training in response to the growing need for an interdisciplinary approach to complex problems in natural and man-disturbed terrestrial environments. This proposal was received with enthusiasm in Switzerland, which is very concerned with the ramifications of global change, sustainable resources, and improving the quality of the environment for human beings. Although environmental engineers can effectively solve local problems, we attempt to train biogeoscientists to investigate the evolution and disturbance of the geobiosphere on a more fundamental level using multiscalar approaches, from the bacterial to the global scale.
In the first year, students learn the basics of biogeosciences, both theoretical and methodological. The theoretical content focuses on: the concept of the geobiosphere at various scales, microbial energetics, microbial ecology, geomicrobiology, soil biology and mineralogy, plant-soil relationships, surficial geology, biogeochemistry (see www.unine.ch/biogeosciences). Courses are also offered to learn appropriate methods (e.g. soil profile description, vegetation mapping, GIS, statistics) and lab techniques (e.g. molecular tools, electronic microscopy, analytical chemistry). Field work is a major part of the training, allowing the students to apply their theoretical knowledge and lab techniques. This year, the students sampled extreme thermophiles in geothermal and carbonate hydrothermal environments in Tuscany (Italy). Back in the lab, they were able to study their samples using PCR, DGGE, FISH, scanning microscopes (SEM, TEM, ESEM, cryoscan) as well as various analytical instruments (ICP-MS, AAS, chromatography, XRD). The program is specifically designed so that theory and applications are perfectly complementary.
Due to demand, most courses will be offered in English in 2006. In addition, because the Masters is specialized (i.e. there is no B.Sc. in biogeosciences), entrance is by competition. It is open to B.Sc. students in chemistry, Earth sciences, and biology. It will soon be subject to a federal quality control.
What advice would you give to students interested in biogeoscience?
Come to Neuchâtel! Our Masters is unique in all of Europe!
Biogeoscience is an exciting emerging field, which, as a branch of natural sciences, can only grow in importance in the future. Its interdisciplinary nature gives students a different perspective on today’s environmental challenges. I would suggest interested students to get a good background in microbiology, general chemistry, statistics, and surficial geology.
How do you have time to eat?
I believe that the complementary knowledge of my soil scientist and microbiologist colleagues creates a synergy that allows us to save time because we work as a very efficient team. Even so, we still have 12 hour workdays !
What do you do when you aren’t teaching and doing research?
I complain that I don’t have any free time.
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