Concordia University
Postdoctoral fellow candidate
Supervisor: Jean-Philippe Lessard
Geneviève Lajoie
Maxim Larrivée, Insectarium de Montréal
Start: 2023-07-01

Project

Arthropods as indicators of climate changes in the province of Québec
Climate change is one of the most important drivers of environmental modifications and is expected to impact biodiversity and community structure with important consequences on ecosystem functioning. Considering the resources required for long-term monitoring of whole ecosystems, the development of methods for the identification of reliable bioindicators would be a major advance. Arthropods are well-suited as bioindicators of climatic changes because temperature has a direct impact on their survival and development. Using data collected by the "Réseau de suivi de la biodiversité au Québec" (suivi-BQ) across the province of Québec between 2016-2022, we propose to develop approaches based on multivariate statistics and functional traits of arthropods to monitor the impact of climate changes. Several arthropod taxa (butterflies, dragonflies/damselflies, ground beetles, harvestmen, myriapodes and spiders) representing different trophic levels will be used and tested as potential reliable indicators of climate changes. In a second analysis, the composition of functional traits in spider assemblages will be related to geographic variation in climate to identify adaptive traits, which could be used to monitor change in ecosystem function amid climate change This project will represent the basis for the future orientations of the arthropod section of the suivi-BQ aimed at detecting effects of climate changes on ecosystem health and functioning.

Keywords

entomologie, changements climatiques, Traits fonctionnels

Publications

1- Première mention de la famille Eurypauropodidae (Myriapoda : Pauropoda) au Canada
Brousseau, Pierre-Marc
2023 Le Naturaliste canadien

2- Traits of litter‐dwelling forest arthropod predators and detritivores covary spatially with traits of their resources
Brousseau, Pierre‐Marc, Dominique Gravel, I. Tanya Handa
2019 Ecology

3- First record on the biology of Sarcophaga (Bulbostyla) (Diptera, Sarcophagidae)
Brousseau, Pierre-Marc, Marjolaine Giroux, I. Tanya Handa
2020 ZooKeys

4- On the development of a predictive functional trait approach for studying terrestrial arthropods
Brousseau, Pierre‐Marc, Dominique Gravel, Ira Tanya Handa,
2018 Journal of Animal Ecology

5- Short-term effects of reduced white-tailed deer density on insect communities in a strongly overbrowsed boreal forest ecosystem
Brousseau, Pierre-Marc, Christian Hébert, Conrad Cloutier, Steeve D. Côté
2012 Biodiversity and Conservation

6- Selected Beetle Assemblages Captured in Pitfall Traps Baited with Deer Dung or Meat in Balsam Fir and Sugar Maple Forests of Central Quebec
Brousseau, Pierre-Marc, Conrad Cloutier, Christian Hébert
2010 Environmental Entomology

7- Species indicators of ecosystem recovery after reducing large herbivore density: Comparing taxa and testing species combinations
Bachand, Marianne, Stéphanie Pellerin, Steeve D. Côté, Marco Moretti, Miquel De Cáceres, Pierre-Marc Brousseau, Conrad Cloutier, Christian Hébert, Étienne Cardinal, Jean-Louis Martin, Monique Poulin
2014 Ecological Indicators

8- Invasive knotweed modifies predator–prey interactions in the soil food web
Brousseau, Pierre-Marc, Matthieu Chauvat, Tania De Almeida, Estelle Forey
2021 Biological Invasions

9- Trait matching and phylogeny as predictors of predator–prey interactions involving ground beetles
Brousseau, Pierre‐Marc, Dominique Gravel, I. Tanya Handa,
2017 Functional Ecology

10- First Record In Canada ofOnthophilus pluricostatusLeConte (Coleoptera: Histeridae) and a New Mention for the Rare SpeciesLordithon niger(Gravenhorst) (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae)
Brousseau, Pierre-Marc, Dominique Gravel, I. Tanya Handa
2014 The Coleopterists Bulletin