Biogeosciences

Living organisms affect the chemical and physical compositions of the atmosphere, oceans, and solid earth. Similarly, the planet physico-chemical system has a fundamental impact on the organisms, either individually or on the entire ecosystem. The changes that come into play in each of these systems are manifested physically, chemically, and biologically over largescales in terms of both time and space. The studies concerning the way in which these systems interact and interdevelop over time constitute the biogeosciences, the interface between biology and geology, between the living and the mineral (organic and inorganic). Our research group focuses on this interface in the continental zone, in particular through the study of soils and surficial formations (also called the critical zone).

Evolution of Jura Mountain soils. This research involves the study of soils and the potential reaction to climatic changes in a mid-altitude (500-1400m) mountain ...

Carbon cycle and the Jura soils. The aim of this study is twofold : (1) To better understand the organic and inorganic carbon dynamics in the soil by integrating the ...

Biogenic carbonate in soils. This aspect of our research concerns the processes leading to the accumulation of secondary calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) in the soils ...

The bacterial pathway. Calcium oxalate is present in many biological systems and can play a role in some human diseases (e.g. kidney stones). Despite the low ...

Tropical soils and the oxalate-carbonate pathway. In the intertropical zone, the oxalate-carbonate pathway observed underneath certain tropical trees is surprisingly ...

The role of fungi in the oxalate-carbonate pathway. The oxalate-carbonate pathway studied in acid tropical soils necessitates the presence of plants, fungi, and ...

Project CO₂SolStock. The Biogeosciences group is very much implicated in the CO₂SolStock project (European Community FP7 Program) aimed at finding ...

Morphometry and statistical treatments. Form constitutes a holistic parameter from which a lot of information retrieved : growth conditions, speciation, recording of ...

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