Polar benthic systems & global change

2019-01-01

From 2014 to 2017, I was a Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) postdoctoral fellow at the Laboratory of Oceanology (University of Liège, Belgium) under Gilles Lepoint. In the framework of the vERSO (2013-2018) and RECTO (2015-2020) inter-institutional projects, I took part in a collaborative effort to understand how stressors linked with global climate change (temperature, pH, sea ice cover) can influence benthic communities in the Southern Ocean.

Since then, polar biology has become a strong component of my research. I’m notably interested on how changes in sea ice cover can drive food web structure and energy flows in benthic communities. I also study trophic plasticity in key Antarctic and Sub-antarctic consumers (sea stars, sea urchins, amphipods , seabirds and Notothenioid fishes) and how it can help animals to cope with environmental changes. More recently, I also had the opportunity to get involved on projects focusing on Arctic ecosystem changes.

Some of the Antarctic invertebrates I study: the pycnogonid Ammothea carolinensis and the sea star Odontaster validus.

Publications

Yunda-Guarin G., Michel L. N., Nozais C., Archambault P (2022). Interspecific differences in feeding selectivity shape isotopic niche structure of three ophiuroids in the Arctic Ocean. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 683: 81-95.

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Moreau C.*, Le Bourg B.*, Balazy P., Danis B., Eléaume M., Jossart Q., Kuklinski P., Lepoint G., Saucède T., Michel L. N (2022). Trophic markers and biometric measurements in Southern Ocean sea stars (1985–2017). Ecology, 103 (3): e3611. *Shared first authorship.

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Steiner N. S., Bowman J., Campbell K., Chierici M., Eronen-Rasimus E., Falardeau M., Flores H., Fransson A., Herr H., Insley S. J., Kauko H. M., Lannuzel D., Loseto L., Lynnes A., Majewski A., Meiners K. M., Miller L. A., Michel L. N., Moreau S., Nacke M., Nomura D., Tedesco L., van Franeker J. A., van Leeuwe M. A., Wongpan P (2021). Climate change impacts on sea-ice ecosystems and associated ecosystem services. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 9 (1): 00007.

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Le Bourg B., Kuklinski P., Balazy P., Lepoint G., Michel L. N (2021). Interactive effects of body size and environmental gradient on the trophic ecology of sea stars in an Antarctic fjord. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 674: 189-202.

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Padilha J. A., Carvalho G. O., Espejo W., Souza J. S., Pizzochero A. C., Cunha L. S. T., Costa E. S., Pessôa A. R. L., Almeida A. P., Torres J. P. M., Lepoint G., Michel L. N., Das K., Dorneles P. R (2021). Factors that influence trace element levels in blood and feathers of Pygoscelis penguins from South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Environmental Pollution, 284: 117209.

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Yunda-Guarin G., Brown T. A., Michel L. N., Saint-Béat B., Amiraux R., Nozais C., Archambault P (2020). Reliance of deep-sea benthic macrofauna on ice-derived organic matter highlighted by multiple trophic markers during spring in Baffin Bay, Canadian Arctic. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 8 (1): 047.

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Michel L. N.*, Nyssen F. L.*, Dauby P., Verheye M (2020). Can mandible morphology help predict feeding habits in Antarctic amphipods?. Antarctic Science, 32 (6): 496-507. *Shared first authorship.

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Dehnhard N., Achurch H., Clarke J., Michel L. N., Southwell C., Sumner M. D., Eens M., Emmerson L (2020). High inter‐ and intraspecific niche overlap among three sympatrically breeding, closely related seabird species: Generalist foraging as an adaptation to a highly variable environment?. Journal of Animal Ecology, 89 (1): 104-119.

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Włodarska‐Kowalczuk M., Mazurkiewicz M., Górska B., Michel L. N., Jankowska E., Zaborska A (2019). Organic carbon origin, benthic faunal consumption, and burial in sediments of northern Atlantic and Arctic fjords (60–81°N). Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 124 (12): 3737-3751.

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Michel L. N., Danis B., Dubois P., Eleaume M., Fournier J., Gallut C., Jane P., Lepoint G (2019). Increased sea ice cover alters food web structure in East Antarctica. Scientific Reports, 9: 8062.

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Włodarska‐Kowalczuk M., Aune M., Michel L. N., Zaborska A., Legeżyńska J (2019). Is the trophic diversity of marine benthic consumers decoupled from taxonomic and functional trait diversity? Isotopic niches of Arctic communities. Limnology and Oceanography, 65 (5): 2140-2151.

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Saucède T., Guillaumot C., Michel L. N., Fabri-Ruiz S., Bazin A., Cabessut M., García-Berro A., Mateos A., Mathieu O., De Ridder C., Dubois P., Danis B., David B., Díaz A., Lepoint G., Motreuil S., Poulin E., Féral J.-P (2019). Modeling species response to climate change in Sub-Antarctic islands: Echinoids as a case study for the Kerguelen Plateau. In: Welsford, D., J. Dell and G. Duhamel (Eds). The Kerguelen Plateau: marine ecosystem and fisheries. Proceedings of the Second Symposium: 95-116.

PDF Source Document DOI

Pinzone M., Acquarone M., Huyghebaert L., Sturaro N., Michel L. N., Siebert U., Das K (2017). Carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopic fractionation in captive juvenile hooded seal (Cystophora cristata): Application for diet analysis. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 31 (20): 1720-1728.

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Michel L. N., David B., Dubois P., Lepoint G., De Ridder C (2016). Trophic plasticity of Antarctic echinoids under contrasted environmental conditions. Polar Biology, 39: 913-923.

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