Missions

Research

CRBE's mission is to advance the theoretical, empirical and technological aspects of biodiversity and environmental sciences, by promoting research that combines concepts from ecology (including population, community and functional ecology), evolutionary biology and environmental sciences.

The CRBE is particularly committed to understanding the historical processes involved in setting up ecosystems, as well as the impact of environmental change on these ecosystems and their associated biodiversity, and to quantifying the eco-evolutionary response of this biodiversity. Since ecosystems and species are involved in the conversion of energy and matter flows on which humanity depends, our objectives include a detailed understanding of biogeochemical processes and the selective pressures these processes impose on species (as well as feedbacks).

Training

Doctoral schools

The CRBE research teams are attached to two Doctoral Schools:

University Research Schools (EUR)

The unit is also attached to the two EURs, Toulouse Graduate School of Earth and Space Science (TESS) and TULIP-GSR "Functional biology and ecology", with high-level Master's courses and support for doctoral students offering training opportunities for the best students, with a strong international dimension.

Masters & postgraduate studies

CRBE's researchers and teacher-researchers teach in the following fields Master BEE, the Master's program offers nine courses designed to prepare students for professional careers in environmental management, ecological transition and academia. The objectives of this Master's degree are to impart general knowledge in ecology, learn the scientific methods of this discipline, and in particular to design and implement a research project or an impact study, exercising a critical sense of the results and knowing how to appreciate the limits of validity and uncertainties associated with models.

The laboratory also welcomes students from Bachelors, Masters1, BTS, BUT, etc., for short internships as part of their curriculum.

Disseminating knowledge

Over the past 5 years, CRBE staff have published more than 1,000 articles in international scientific journals.

Participatory science experiments run by the CRBE play a key role in interfacing with society, involving scientists and citizens in the experimental process.

Here are a few examples:

Value transfer

Moving from knowledge to action requires the production of actionable knowledge. This need is met by compiling large-scale spatial and temporal databases, complemented by monitoring campaigns and in/ex situ experiments, and the subsequent development of diagnostic and forecasting tools, or bioremediation solutions. CRBE has all the skills and recognition needed to meet this challenge, for example in research on the ecological health of aquatic ecosystems, on tools for assessing the genotoxicity/ecotoxicity of emerging contaminants, in hazard management modeling, and in bioinspired technologies.

Almost 1/3 of the laboratory's annual resources come from contracts with industry, environmental agencies, foundations and associations, and local authorities, as part of long-term partnerships. With many of the unit's researchers collaborating in the South, co-constructed conservation ecology projects are also being implemented in South America (Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guyana, Peru), Africa (Benin, Cameroon, Gabon), Asia (Cambodia), and island environments (Mayotte, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea).