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Stephan Hättenschwiler
Forestry engineer - researcher
Environment and sustainable development
(EDD)
"I
always loved nature, I always felt at
home in the woods",says Stephan
Hättenschwiler.
As a little boy, growing up in German-speaking
Switzerland, the future winner of the
Montpellier CEFE (Center for functional
and evolutive ecology) bronze medal
used to watch animals and collect plants.
"I always new I'd study biology."
Now that he's 40, his motivation is
still going strong, because he's become
a world specialist on the impact of
global changes and modifications in
biological diversity on the way ecosystems
function. |
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In fact, he had trouble choosing which field
of biology to concentrate on. "I was
interested in all areas of biology!"
» He's still fascinated with marine
biology ecosystems, which nearly became
his specialty. But after studying general
biology at Basel University (Switzerland),
he met Christian Körner, who was to
become his thesis director. "He is
such a fascinating man! He had done a lot
of work on the consequences of the increase
of CO2 in the atmosphere in the Alpine system,
above the tree line."
The young man then studied plant growth
and productivity using model ecosystems
that he developed, and tried to get across
a message that the scientific community
was not yet ready to accept:
"CO2 doesn't just stimulate plant growth.
There is competition between plants for
other resources, and interaction with other
trophic levels. This affects the structure
and function of natural systems." From
then on, the phenomenon was recognized!
Carrying on with his bold new ideas he had
no qualms about using a crane to get at
the tree canopy during his first post-doc,
with the same thesis director. "This
was the first time any had ever studied
forests from this perspective!"
Then he went to Stanford (USA) for a second
post-doc, this time to study Hawaiian forests.
He has good memories of a "very dynamic,
very stimulating" research group. This
environment helped him to design models
for measuring plant-soil interactions, and
particularly nutrient flow.
Back in Switzerland, Stephan Hättenschwiler
obtained a university teaching post and
began to study the role of biodiversity
on decomposition. It was Jacques Roy, a
researcher with CEFE, who encouraged him
to join CNRS in 2003 so that they could
work together. At the time, France seemed
to be a fairly closed country, but now Stephan
is delighted to have taken the plunge! His
three children speak French like natives,
but he still feels he has problems expressing
himself. No-one else agrees with him, though.
Today, the ecologist is taking his family
out for a walk – in the forest, of
course.
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