The general objectif of my PhD is to investigate the impact of terrestrial animals on nutrient cycling through the egestions/excretions pathway, using chemical analysis, data anayslsis and dynamic modeling.
Specifically, I want to test:
• What are the traits impacting egestion/excretion C, N, P content and ratios in terrestrial animals ?
• Can we identify functional groups of recycling and estimate associated ecosystem-level nutrient fluxes ?
• How does egestion/excretion C, N, P content and ratios vary within a single species ? What is the effect of food availability ?
• What could be the effect of population or community perturbations on these fluxes ?