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Mathieu Basille
Clément Calenge
Jodie Martin
Bram van Moorter
Vincent Tolon
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Université Laval

Mathieu Basille

I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it.

Jack Handey

Contact information

Chaire de recherche industrielle CRSNG-Université Laval en sylviculture et faune
Département de biologie
Université Laval
1045 Av. de la Médecine, pavillon Alexandre Vachon
Québec, QC G1V 0A6
Canada

Phone: +1-418-656-2131 (# 12 004)
E-mail:

Education

Academic achievements

Other professional activities

Awards and fellowships

Research profile

I began conducting international research in 2003. Since then, I mostly focused on space use of large mammals at multiple scales, and related impact on fitness, with a special interest in predator-prey interactions. In particular, I intensively studied the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx)-roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) system in France and Norway, with the addition of human as a top predator (see also my PhD thesis below), and a multi-predator multi-prey system involving woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou), moose (Alces alces), grey wolves (Canis lupus) and black bears (Ursus americanus) in Québec, Canada (see my current postdoc below).

I give also a strong interest in habitat selection and ecological niche theory. In particular, I rely on a robust and consistent approach of the habitat concept, to connect it eventually to animal performance. There have been recently several studies that investigated the relationship between habitat selection and fitness components, which are opening new opportunities to understand the relationship between demography and space use.

I strongly believe in the principles of open science and open research. To be specific, I do think that science should be open both from an epistemological and an efficiency point of view, which is then a strong basis for collaborations. Practically, this is the main reason why I use intensively free software (from GNU/Linux to R and PostGIS) and try to publish methods and code to enable anyone to reproduce my analyses.

Current postdoc

Woodland caribou
© Daniel Fortin

I am currently leading a post-doc project at Laval University (Québec City, Canada), in the lab of Daniel Fortin. The ultimate goal of this project is to evaluate the viability of woodland caribou populations in Québec, through spatially explicit simulations, taking into account different forest management plans. To achieve this, we will have to synthesize everything that we already know about spatial interactions between caribou, moose, wolf and bear, and to fill the gaps to generate the required parametrization of the system.

This project also involves a MSc student at Laval University, Marie-Claude Labbé, that I am co-supervising with Daniel Fortin. Her aim is to study caribou movement at a fine scale, in relation to predation and forestry. As such, she is part of the post-doc project, and will provide a rigorous basis to evaluate caribou space use.

Professional experiences

Collaborative groups

EURODEER: I am an early member of the EURODEER project (since its creation in 2009). EURODEER is an international group of researchers committed to roe deer monitoring with GPS collars. The project is led by Dr. Francesca Cagnacci (Italy), and is based on an international platform to manage and analyse GPS data. I was also deeply involved in the previous steps of the project in 2007 (identified then as ISAMUD^2), which involved the Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive (France) and the Centre for Alpine Ecology (Italy).

Habitat group: During the course of my PhD thesis, I created and coordinated a "Habitat group" within the Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive. This group met once or twice per month to discuss new and innovative papers or ideas, and to share resources (presentations, meeting reports, etc.). This group was further enhanced by a dedicated website which I administrated. The core of the Habitat group later evolved into the Animal Spatial Ecology group, of which I am still the administrator, which focuses on animals' space use in relation to their environment using relocation data. Notably, the group published a book chapter about the opportunities offered, and the statistical challenges raised, by GPS technology in habitat selection and movement studies in order to gain new insights into the proximal mechanisms and evolutionary causes of animals' space use (see below).

Statistical programming

R logo

I was involved in the programming of functions included in the statistical package adehabitat (now adehabitatHS) for R, led by Clément Calenge. These functions include habitat selection methods centred around the ENFA (Ecological-niche factor analysis) and other utilities for the description of habitat selection. I also developed a series of independant R functions for the study of seasonality, for Step Selection Functions, and for the interaction between R and PostGIS.

Teaching experience and supervision

I was responsible of 376 hours of lectures, seminars and practical works between 2004 and 2009, in two different fields:

I conducted a 1-day training course entitled "An introduction to the study of habitat selection by wildlife" (in French) at University Laval (CFR: Centre for Forest Research) in June 2010. The course used the adehabitat package for R to tackle multivariate analyses based on the concept of ecological niche, at different ecological and spatial scales. An updated and shortened version of this course was later incorporated in Daniel Fortin's class on "Quantitative evaluation of animal behaviour", in March 2012 (2 hours).

I conducted a second 2-days training course entitled "An introduction to the use of PostGIS in spatial ecology" (in French) at the Université du Québec à Rimouski in september 2011. Through a series of practical exercices, the course tackled concepts of relational databases and basic spatial functions of PostGIS, including intersects of points, buffers and steps with raster maps, and how to connect PostGIS to different clients (QGIS, R, pgAdmin).

I mentored and supervised four bachelor-level students for their first professional project in applied statistics (2008). I supervised one student employed for 2 years (2004-2006) at the statistics department of the pharmaceutic lab "Merial", and another student for 1 year at the statistics department of the French register of cancers (2007-2008). Most recently, I co-supervised a bachelor student (Jonathan Rolland in 2009-2010) with Dr. Jean-Michel Gaillard (Université Lyon I, France), and currently supervises a MSc student (Marie-Claude Labbé in 2010-2012) with Dr. Daniel Fortin (Université Laval, Canada). These two projects were tightly connected to my studies, and allowed me to learn about effective mentoring and collaborating with developing and active students in the context of international research. The work of J. Rolland culminated in a publication in a peer-reviewed journal (see below), while the work of M.C. Labbé was presented in November 2012 at the Wildlife Society 18th Annual Conference (Hawaii, USA) and will be submitted for publication in an international journal.

Consulting

Reviewing

I am an active reviewer for the following peer-reviewed journals: Basic and Applied Ecology, the Canadian Journal of Zoology, Écoscience, Oecologia, Oikos, the Journal of Animal Ecology, the Journal of Applied Ecology, Oryx, the Naturaliste Canadien (fr), the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (B.), and Wildlife Biology. I also reviewed a chapter of the Encyclopedia of Inland Waters (Elsevier).

Field experience

Publication list

Peer-reviewed articles

  1. Basille M., Fortin D., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P., Courtois R. Ecologically based definition of seasons clarifies predator-prey interactions. Ecography, in press. [manuscript]
  2. Rolland J., Basille M., Marboutin É. & Gaillard J.-M., 2011. Comparing profile methods and site-occupancy modeling for the study of occurrence of an elusive species. European Journal of Wildlife Research, 57: 1115–1118. [manuscript]
  3. Martin, J., Basille M., Kindberg J., Van Moorter B., Allainé D. & Swenson J.E., 2010. Coping with human disturbance: Spatial and temporal tactics of brown bear. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 88: 875–883. [manuscript]
  4. Gaillard J.-M., Hebblewhite M., Loison A., Fuller M., Powell R., Basille M. & Van Moorter B., 2010. Habitat-Performance Relationships: Finding the right metric at a given spatial scale. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B., 365: 2255–2265. [manuscript]
  5. Melis C., Basille M., Herfindal I., Linnell J.D.C., Odden J., Gaillard J.-M., Høgda K. & Andersen R., 2010. Roe deer population growth and lynx predation along a gradient of environmental productivity and climate in Norway. Ecoscience, 17: 166–174. [manuscript]
  6. Basille M., Herfindal I., Santin-Janin H., Linnell J.D.C., Odden J., Andersen R., Høgda K. A., & Gaillard J.-M., 2009. What shapes Eurasian lynx distribution in human dominated landscapes: selecting prey or avoiding people? Ecography, 32: 683–691. [manuscript]
  7. Saint-Andrieux C., Bonenfant C., Toïgo C., Basille M. & Klein F., 2009. Factors affecting beech bark stripping by red deer (Cervus elaphus) in a mixed forest. Wildlife Biology, 15: 187–196. [manuscript]
  8. Calenge C. & Basille M., 2008. A general framework for the statistical exploration of the ecological niche. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 252: 674–685. [manuscript]
  9. Calenge C., Darmon G., Basille M., Loison A. & Jullien J.-M., 2008. The factorial decomposition of the Mahalanobis distances in niche analysis. Ecology, 89: 555–566. [manuscript]
  10. Basille M., Calenge C., Marboutin É., Andersen R. & Gaillard J.-M., 2008. Assessing habitat selection using multivariate statistics: Some refinements of the Ecological-Niche Factor Analysis. Ecological Modelling, 211: 233–240. [manuscript]

Book chapters

  1. Martin J., Tolon V., Van Moorter B., Basille M. & Calenge C., 2009. On the use of telemetry in habitat selection studies. In Telemetry: Research, Technology and Applications, Editors Barculo D. & Daniels J. Nova Science Publishers Inc. [manuscript]

Popularizing articles & reports

  1. Basille M., Courtois R., Bastille-Rousseau G., Courbin N., Faille G., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P. & Fortin D., 2010. Effets directs et indirects de l'aménagement de la forêt boréale sur le caribou forestier au Québec. Le Naturaliste Canadien, 135 (1): 46–52. [manuscript]
  2. Melis C., Holmern T., Basille M., Herfindal I., Odden J. & Linnell J.D.C., 2009. Fra fjord til fjell: Hvordan påvirker Nordens tiger rådyrbestandene? Hjorteviltet, 2009: 20–22. [manuscript]
  3. Basille M., Calenge C., Marboutin É., Andersen R. & Gaillard J.-M., 2007. Caractérisation de l'habitat à partir de données de présence : le cas du lynx dans les Vosges (in French with English summary: Characterization of habitat from presence data: the case of lynx in the Vosges). ONCFS, Rapport scientifique, 2007: 20–24. [manuscript]
  4. Bunnefeld N., Börger L., Nilsen E. B., Basille M., Hall R., Ezard T.H., Trierweiler C., Minderman J., Mangel M., Gaillard J.-M., Milner-Gulland E.J. & attendees of the Populations Under Pressure symposium, 2007. Coming out of the ivory tower: how to ensure that ecological modelling research remains practical and applied. Bulletin of the British Ecological Society, 38: 64–66. [manuscript]
  5. Marboutin É., Laurent A., Regazzi C., Léger F., Moisson P., Lambrech M., Balestra L., Henri J., Basille M., Touzain L. & Michallet D., 2004. Tests de nouvelles méthodes pour le suivi des populations de lynx en France : le piégeage photographique en coulées et les pièges à poils (in French with English summary: Some insight into the new tools to monitor the French lynx population). ONCFS, Rapport scientifique, 2004: 18–21. [manuscript]

Oral communications

Invited seminars and workshops
  1. Basille M., Aug. 2012. [title not defined yet]. Invited conference for the workshop "Stuck in motion? Reconnecting questions and tools in movement ecology", Trondheim (Norway).
  2. Basille M., Fortin D., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P., & Courtois R., May 2012. Le caribou sous pression : variations spatio-temporelles du comportement face aux perturbations humaines et au risque de prédation (in French). Invited seminar at the Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Évolutive, Lyon (France).
  3. Basille M., Fortin D., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P., & Courtois R., Nov. 2011. From human to caribou: Spatio-temporal variations of forest-dwelling caribou behaviours in a managed landscape. Invited seminar for the CFR postdoc festival, Québec (Canada). [presentation]
  4. Basille M. et al., Nov. 2007. Characterization of the habitat of the lynx in southern Norway - Theory, Methodology & Application. Invited seminar at the Institute of Zoology, London (United Kingdom). [presentation]
  5. Basille M. & Calenge C., Dec. 2004. Les analyses multivariées de la niche écologique (in French). Statistical seminar at the ONCFS, Cléry Saint André (France). [presentation]
International congresses
  1. Basille M., Fortin D., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P., & Courtois R., Jul. 2010. Space use seasonality in a multi-predator and multi-prey system. Society for Conservation Biology: 2010 Congress, Edmonton (Alberta, Canada). [presentation]
  2. Basille M., Fortin D., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P., & Courtois R., May 2010. Space use seasonality in a multi-predator and multi-prey system. Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution: 2010 Congress, Québéc (Québec, Canada). [presentation]
  3. Basille M., Herfindal I., Linnell J.D.C., Andersen R., Høgda K. A., & Gaillard J.-M., Sep. 2007. Eurasian lynx distribution in human dominated landscapes: selecting prey or avoiding people? 5th European Congress of Mammalogy, Sienna (Italy). [presentation]
  4. Basille M., Calenge C., Herfindal I., Linnell J.D.C., Andersen R. & Gaillard J.-M., Jun. 2007. Lynx and people: a possible coexistence? 8th Roe deer meeting, Velenje (Slovenia). [presentation]
Regional and local congresses
  1. Basille M., Fortin D., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P., & Courtois R., Apr. 2011. Fuir ou se cacher quand on est chassé ? Comment le caribou forestier évalue le risque de prédation (in French). 5e colloque annuel du CEF 2011, Québec (Québec, Canada). [presentation]
  2. Basille M., Fortin D., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P., & Courtois R., Mar. 2011. Fuir ou se cacher quand on est chassé ? Comment le caribou forestier évalue le risque de prédation (in French). Colloque 2011 de la Chaire de recherche industrielle CRSNG-Université Laval en sylviculture et faune, Baie-Comeau (Québec, Canada). [intro|presentation]
  3. Basille M., Fortin D., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P., & Courtois R., Nov. 2010. Fuir ou se cacher quand on est chassé ? Comment le caribou forestier évalue le risque de prédation (in French). Colloque « Le caribou forestier : un enjeu de biodiversité et de développement durable », Saguenay (Québec, Canada). [presentation]
  4. Basille M., Apr. 2010. Saisonnalité de l’utilisation de l’espace dans un système complexe prédateurs-proies (in French). Colloque 2010 de la Chaire de recherche industrielle CRSNG-Université Laval en sylviculture et faune, Baie-Comeau (Québec, Canada). [presentation]
  5. Basille M., Calenge C., Herfindal I., Linnell J.D.C., Andersen R. & Gaillard J.-M., Mar. 2007. The Niche of the Lynx in Norway. Symposium "Populations under pressure", London (United Kingdom). [presentation]
  6. Basille M., Linnell J.D.C., Andersen R. & Gaillard J.-M., Oct. 2006. Habitat Selection by the roe deer in Norway. Workshop France–Norway–United Kingdom, Doucy en Bauges (France). [presentation]
  7. Basille M., Marboutin E. & Gaillard J.-M., Jan. 2006. Habitat Selection by the Lynx in the Vosges Massif – A comparative study. Symposium "Fragmentation of habitats and lynx populations in Europe", Fischbach (Germany). [presentation]
  8. Gaillard J.-M., Loison A., & Basille M., Dec. 2004. Understanding population dynamics of ungulates: What do we know and what should we do? Workshop "Ungulates and large predators in Europe", Białowieża (Poland). [presentation]

PhD thesis

Eurasian lynx
© Scandlynx

I completed my PhD degree at the University of Lyon (Lab Biometry and Evolutionary Biology, France), under the supervision of Dr. Jean-Michel Gaillard and Prof. Reidar Andersen, in July 2008. My thesis, entitled "Habitat selection by lynx (Lynx lynx) in a human-dominated landscape—From theory to application", took place in the context of a cotutelle exchange with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim (Norway). The thesis is available here, and the presentation for the defence here.

In this thesis, I have studied the predator-prey system lynx-roe deer in Norway, with the addition of human as a kind of "super-predator", hunting both species. This is a particularly interesting study case since lynx are the main predator of roe deer, and roe deer the main prey of lynx. In addition, human is the main cause of death for lynx (poaching and hunting) and, together with lynx, the main cause of death for roe deer. During my PhD, I tried to investigate how the three species were spatially inter-connected, and especially how roe deer and lynx habitat selection occurred with respect to the other species.

Part of my work was theoretical and methodological, and the other part was the application to the study of interest in Norway. I illustrate it here with two published papers which cover this range. In the first one (Basille et al., Ecological Modelling, 2008) we focused on the ENFA (Ecological-niche factor analysis), a method which aims to describe habitat characteristics based on the ecological-niche model. We tried to improve it in order to make the results easier to interpret. In the second one (Basille et al., Ecography, 2009), we applied the method to the study case of lynx in Norway, where we were able to demonstrate a trade-off in lynx space use at a large scale, between food (roe deer) on the one hand, and safety (distance from human infrastructures—mainly roads) on the other hand.

[last update: 2012/04/26]