The CRBE studies the influence of environmental changes and their interactions on the living earth, and the feedback of socio-ecological systems on these changes.

Research into biodiversity and ecosystem functioning combines concepts from ecology, evolutionary biology and environmental science, and focuses on 4 main objectives:

• Document the diversity of life on earth and the environmental conditions in which living organisms structure and maintain themselves;
• Understand the mechanisms by which disturbances affect living organisms, biogeochemical cycles, and biodiversity-function relationships within ecosystems;
• Identify the role of biological interactions and evolutionary processes on the ability of species to adapt to environmental change;
• Propose environmental management tools that integrate ecology, environmental change and human-environment interactions.