About one-third of all terrestrial ecosystems have been converted to croplands or rangelands, and this proportion will likely continue to grow as a result of the predicted three- to six-fold increase in GDP by 2050 (see Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, 2005). Thus, a future challenge for the next decades will be to ensure that this growing pressure on human-dominated ecosystems does not impair their ability to produce the goods and services on which we all ultimately depend.

My current research interests (PhD project) lie in the links between agricultural intensification, plant biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, and resilience in grazing systems. I am focusing my research on New Zealand High Country tussock grasslands, which have a legacy of extensive pastoralism. My PhD is done under the supervision of David A. Norton and Jason M. Tylianakis (University of Canterbury), as well as David Scott (AgResearch, now retired).

I am also currently exploring the impacts of land use intensification on the spatial and temporal variability of tropical parasitoid-host food webs (with Jason M. Tylianakis), as well as on different components of plant functional diversity (with members of the ARC-NZ Network for Vegetation Function, Working Group 31). I am also working on the development of functional diversity indices (with Pierre Legendre) and on the spatial analysis of phylogeographic genetic data at multiple scales (with Simon Joly).

Previously, I have been involved in research studies dealing with ecological restoration of abandoned agricultural land through hardwood afforestation. My MSc thesis was conducted under the supervision of André Bouchard and Alain Cogliastro at Université de Montréal, Québec, Canada.

I have also worked on more basic issues such as the processes linked to the origin and maintenance of beta diversity in plant communities, in collaboration with Pierre Legendre.