Sandra Lavorel | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1965 Lyon, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Alma mater | Institut national agronomique Paris Grignon University of Montpellier |
| Occupation(s) | Ecologist, research director |
Sandra Lavorel (born 1965 in Lyon) is a French ecologist specializing in functional ecology. She is a research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) where she works at the Alpine Ecology Laboratory in Grenoble, France.[1] She has been a member of the French Academy of sciences since 2013[2] In 2020, she was honoured to be an international member of the National Academy of Sciences.[3][4][5][6] In 2023, she was the recipient of the CNRS Gold Medal.[7]
Lavorel graduated as an agricultural engineer from the Institut national agronomique Paris Grignon. She then earned a doctorate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Montpellier in 1991 with a thesis on the mechanisms of coexistence of species in the Mediterranean scrub ecosystem. Her postdoctoral fellowship at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia where she continued to investigate the mechanisms of species coexistence. In 1994 she returned to France and started working at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), where she is director of research at the Laboratory of Alpine Ecology (LECA) in Grenoble, France. The LECA is a joint research unit in which researchers from the CNRS, the University of Grenoble Alpes and the Savoy Mont Blanc University can all collaborate.
Lavorel's research is centered around the changes in landscapes and the ways that ecosystems function in response to global changes (climate, land use and biological invasions). The author or coauthor of more than 110 publications, she has recently begun to focus on modeling the numerous benefits that humans derive from ecosystems and their services. Her work has resulted in the development of concepts and methodologies relating to the characteristics of plants which constitute a response to one or more environmental factors – the “functional traits” of plants – and how those traits affect the functioning of the ecosystem.[5][6]
Lavorel's work has resulted in a research framework for the study of the dynamics of biodiversity and its functional implications. It has also provided a useful guide for other biological models, such as for researchers involved in biodiversity planning and management policies who have found the landscape evolution scenarios that her research has helped to develop.[5][8]
