All life forms are adapted to a set of physical, chemical and biological parameters that definestheir environment. These can vary in time and organisms have adapted over evolutionary timescalesto handle these fluctuations. However, physical, chemical, and biological constraints may impactthe ecosystem during episodic events or because of emerging changes, as a result of natural factorsor as a consequence of human activities. Such environmental stressors will strongly impactthe species and at a larger organizational scale the communities constituting the ecosystem.
The general objective of this research axis is to study how key functional species respondto environmental stressors. The response will be evaluated at different organizational scalesfrom the organism to the community. We are particularly interested in constrains originatingfrom human activities such as climate change and pollution but are also motivated in lookingat episodic events, such as storms, impacting the coastal ecosystem.
