Emma Paul Costesec

About me

I’m a PhD student at Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE) under the supervision of Bruno Danis and Valeriano Parravicini, since October 2021.

My PhD project is focused on coral reefs and the changes they face, from the trophic network point of view. I aim to :

  • Study the influence of biogeographic and anthropogenic variables on trophic networks in coral reef ecosystems,
  • Observe the impact of habitat loss on invertebrate communities and their associate food webs in coral reefs,
  • Understand the changes induced by habitat loss on coral reefs trophic network’s architecture using temporal series,
  • And develop prediction models of trophic network’s structure in coral reefs depending on different environmental scenarios.

Projects

  • TROPHIC (TROPhic networks and Habitat loss In Coral reef ecosystems)

Position

PhD student

Expertise

  • Coral reefs
  • Trophic networks
  • Mathematical modelling

I obtained in 2019 a double bachelor degree in Mathematics and Biology from Sorbonne Universités (France). I did the last year as an Erasmus student in Université de Montréal (Montréal, Canada), where I had the opportunity to do a first internship on coral reefs using mathematical modelling.

I then specialised in tropical ecology, with an international master degree from ULB, Biology of Organisms and Ecology, option Tropical Biodiversity, Environments and Plants. This led me to study at ULB, University of Malaysia Terengganu (Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia), Université de Guyane (Kourou, French Guyana) and eventually at EPHE (Perpignan, France) during my master thesis.

My PhD project is supported by a FRIA grant from the F.R.S – FNRS (Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique).

Publications

More…

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