Prof. Dr. Alexandre Buttler

ECOS Laboratory - Ecological Systems, Joint professorship between WSL and EPFL in Lausanne

See pages:

• ECOS Laboratory
• WSL Lausanne 
• Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

• Joint Professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne – EPFL, Lausanne, and at the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Switzerland • Director of the Laboratory of Ecological Systems (ECOS) • Head of the WSL Site Lausanne • Professor at the University of Franche-Comté, Besançon , France • Former delegate professor at CNRS, France • Former member of the WSL directorate • Invited professor at University Adam Mickiewicz, Poznan

• Essentials of ecology and biodiversity (SIE, Bachelor 3) • Numerical ecology (SIE, Master 1) • Ecosystem restoration and management (SIE, Master 1) • Participation to ENAC courses for architects and civil engineers • Directing and supporting undergraduate, graduate students and PhD students in ecology

• Wetland ecology • Pasture woodland ecology • Invasion ecology • Ecological resilience • Ecological diversity • Biogeochemical cycles (carbon and nitrogen) • Influence of CO₂ and N enrichement on bog ecosystems • Impact of climate change on ecosystems • Impact of land-use change on ecosystems • Above-belowground interactions • Management and restoration

The research of the laboratory ECOS is centred on the organization, functioning and dynamics of terrestrial plant, animal and microbial communities in relation to ecosystem processes. We study spatial and temporal dynamics of natural ecosystems, impact of management and direct and indirect human impacts (e.g. climate change, land-use change, invasion by alien species, atmospheric depositions, etc.), and ecological resilience and restoration. One of our strength is the functional link between above and belowground communities in the production of critical ecosystem services and as indicators of a changing environment. We combine descriptive field studies, manipulative experiments in the field and in the lab, and ecological modelling (correlative and predictive). Model ecosystems are natural and semi-natural man-used sensitive and altered terrestrial ecosystems (peatlands, sylvopastoral and grasslands systems, floodplains).