Laurent Seuront
Ecosystem Services Working Group Leader
Areas of expertise:
Biological Oceanography
Behavioural Ecology
Microscale patterns and processes
Nonlinear dynamics
Biophysical couplings
Countries of work experience:
France, Japan, Australia
Experience and qualifications:
Laurent has more than 10 years of experience in Biological Oceanography in France, Japan and Australia. His research has focused on the biology and ecology of planktonic organisms, and involved extensive seagoing coastal work in France, Japan and Australia; and offshore work in the Southern Ocean, the North West Pacific and the Mediterranean Sea. He is particularly interested in how processes occurring at the scale of individual organisms (i.e. viral infection, cell lysis, nutrient uptake, predation, mating) and the related individual variability is transferred through the food fed, and ultimately affect ecosystem structure and function, and biogeochemical cycles.
Laurent has published more than 80 scientific papers, co–edited a book, sole–authored a monograph on the relevance of fractals and multifractals in ecology and aquatic sciences, gave more than 40 invited seminars throughout the world (including at prestigious places such as Cambridge University and MIT), organised 6 special sessions at international conferences, supervised 5 postdocs, 10 PhD students, 10 Honours students and 7 Masters students. For 2007, he received the Bronze Medal by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) as an acknowledgment of the quality of his early carrier research.
After graduating from the University Pierre and Marie Curie in Paris, Laurent completed his PhD in 1999 on the role of biophysical coupling on plankton distributions, and his DSc in 2005 on a systemic approach of microscale patterns and processes in marine ecology. His work is highly trans–disciplinary and involves constant interactions between field and laboratory works, numerical analysis and modelling. He might be thought as an unconventional Biological Oceanographer through his use of concepts and tools derived from the field of nonlinear dynamical systems to assess the properties of the marine environment. In addition, he recently demonstrated that the nonlinear properties of zooplankton swimming behaviour can be conveniently used as a quasi real–time toxicity test for water contamination.
Professional appointments:
2008–present: Senior Lecturer (Biological Oceanography), Flinders University
2008–present: Sub–Program Leader (Oceanography), SARDI Aquatic Sciences
2007–2008: Adjunct Associate Professor, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
2004–present: CNRS Senior Research Scientist, France
2004–2007: Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
2003–2004: Adjunct Lecturer, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
2001–2004: CNRS Research Scientist, France
1999–2000: JSPS Research Fellow, Tokyo University of Fisheries, Japan
1996–1999: Lecturer in Biostatistics, University of Sciences and Technologies of Lille, France
1995–1996: Research Assistant, University of Sciences and Technologies of Lille, France
Selected recent publications:
Seuront L (2008) Fractals and Multifractals in Ecology and Aquatic Science. Rethinking ecological Complexity. Taylor & Francis (publication date: June 2008).
Patten N, Mitchell JG, Middelboe M, Eyre B, Seuront L, Harrison PL & Glud RN. Bacterial and viral dynamics during a mass coral spawning period of the Great Barrier Reef. Aquatic Microbial Ecology, in press.
Schapira M, Vincent D, Gentilhomme V & Seuront L. Temporal patterns of phytoplankton assemblages, size spectra and diversity during the wane of a Phaeocystis globosa spring bloom in hydrologically contrasted coastal waters. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, in press.
Leterme S, Pingree RD, Skogen MD, Seuront L, Reid PC & Attrill MJ (2008) Decadal fluctuations in North Atlantic water inflow in the North Sea between 1985–2003: impacts on temperature and phytoplankton populations. Oceanologia, in press.
Seuront L & Vincent D. Impact of a Phaeocystis globosa spring bloom on Temora longicornis feeding and swimming behaviours. Marine Ecology Progress Series, in press.
Schmitt FG & Seuront L (2008) Intermittent turbulence and copepod dynamics: increase of encounter rates through preferential concentration. Journal of Marine Systems, 70, 263–272.
Seuront L & Mitchell JG (2008) Towards a seascape typology. I. Zipf versus Pareto laws. Journal of Marine Systems, 69, 310–327.
Mitchell JG & Seuront L (2008) Towards a seascape typology. II. Zipf of one–dimensional patterns. Journal of Marine Systems, 69, 328–338.
Seuront L, & Leterme S (2007) Increased zooplankton behavioural stress in response to short–term exposure to hydrocarbon contamination. The Open Oceanography Journal, 1, 1–7.
Seuront L, Duponchel AC & Chapperon C. Heavy–tailed distributions in the intermittent motion behaviour of the intertidal gastropod Littorina littorea. Physica A, 385, 573–582.
Seuront L, Lacheze C, Doubell MJ, Seymour JR, Van Dongen V, Newton K, Alderkamp AC & Mitchell. The influence of Phaeocystis globosa on microscale spatial patterns of chlorophyll a and bulk–phase seawater viscosity. Biogeochemistry, 83, 173–188.
Contact:
Dr. Laurent Seuront
SARDI Aquatic Sciences
Tel: 08 8207 5329
Fax: 08 8207 5481
Email: seuront.laurent@saugov.sa.gov.au