Alexandru MILCU
Directeur de l'Ecotron & Chargé de recherche (CR CNRS)Short Biography
I am an ecosystem ecologist whose research interest focuses on the consequences of global changes such as biodiversity loss and climate change for the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems.
In my research I often use controlled environment facilities for ecosystem research (ECOTRONs) because they have the capacity to simultaneously control environmental conditions while allowing for ecosystem-level measurements of carbon and water fluxes. My research time is currently shared between the CNRS Ecotron of Montpellier and CEFE.
I also act as an Associate Editor for Scientific Reports.
Selected Publications
Roy, J., Rineau, F., De Boeck, H.J.,… Milcu, A. (2021). Ecotrons: powerful and versatile ecosystem analysers for ecology, agronomy and environmental science. Global Change Biology 27 (7), 1387-1407. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15471
van der Plas, F., Schröder-Georgi, T., Weigelt, A. et al. Plant traits alone are poor predictors of ecosystem properties and long-term ecosystem functioning. Nature Ecology and Evolution 4, 1602–1611 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-020-01316-9
Milcu, A., et al. (2018). Genotypic variability enhances the reproducibility of an ecological study. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2 (2), 279-287, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0434-x
Roy, J., Picon-Cochard, C., Augusti, A., Benot, M.-L., Thierry, L., Darsonville, O., Landais, D., Piel, C., Defossez, M., Devidal, S., Christophe, E., Ravel, O., Fromin, N., Volaire, F., Milcu, A., Bahn, M. & J-F. Soussana. (2016). Elevated CO2 maintains grassland net carbon uptake under a future heat and drought extreme. PNAS (Proceedings Natl. Acad. Sci. United States Am), 113, 6224–6229, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.152452711
Milcu, A., Eugster, W., Bachmann, D., Guderle, M., et al (2016). Plant functional diversity increases grassland productivity-related water vapor fluxes: an Ecotron and modeling approach. Ecology, 97, 2044-2054, https://doi.org/10.1890/15-1110.1
Milcu, A., Roscher, C., Gessler, A., Bachmann, D., et al. (2014). Functional diversity of leaf nitrogen concentrations drives grassland carbon fluxes. Ecology Letters, 17, 435–444, https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12243
Milcu, A., Lukac, M., Subke, J., Manning, et al. (2012). Biotic carbon feedbacks in a materially closed soil – vegetation – atmosphere system. Nature Climate Change, 2(April), 281–284, https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1448
Scherber, C., Eisenhauer, N., Weisser, W. W.,… Milcu A et al. (2010). Bottom-up effects of plant diversity on multitrophic interactions in a biodiversity experiment. Nature, 468, 553–556, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature09492