Quantitative tools applied to stable isotope analyses and plant-herbivore interactions

The PhD candidate Marie-Andrée Giroux presents this application for a 12-month research visit in Norway through the Leiv Eiriksson mobility program. The candidate and her supervisors, Prof. Steeve Côté and Prof. Ass. Jean-Pierre Tremblay from Laval Univer sity (LU; home institution, Québec, Canada), are seeking to pursue a fruitful collaboration with Prof. Nigel Yoccoz and its team from the University of Tromsø (UoT; host institution, Tromsø, Norway). These two teams share common research interests, partic ularly the study of plant-herbivore interactions, the key role of herbivores in northern ecosystems, as well as the use of stable isotopes analyses as a tool to better understand consumer-resources interactions in ecological systems. These common interest s are embedded in the candidate's PhD project, which aims to determine how the use of food resources that exhibit various responses to browsing influences the life-history traits of a large herbivore living at high density. The planned visit will contribu te to merge the strengths of both teams by focusing on the four following targets: 1- to develop a tool allowing the inclusion of isotopic diet estimates within robust statistical analyses, 2- to use this tool to analyse the influence of different food re sources on the life-history traits of herbivores, 3- to communicate these results through the preparation of publications and the participation in the 2010 annual meeting of the British Ecological Society, and 4- to include the perspectives and the knowle dge of both teams with respect to plant-herbivore interactions in the overall thesis of the PhD candidate. If the current funding application is successful, this collaboration will end up in 1- the communication of research results involving both teams (p ublications and conference talk), 2- a better understanding of the ecology of plant-herbivore interactions in northern ecosystems, and 3- the strengthening of collaborations between Norway and Canada in ecology.