Océane Bartholomée

About my research

With the observed global decline of pollinator populations, it becomes essential to better understand their ecology in order to conserve them, particularly in landscapes disturbed by from anthropic activities. In this context, “A new framework for predicting insect pollinator habitat requirements” is a project within the interdisciplinary project INVISMO (INsect VISion and MOvement) funded by the Swedish Research Council. INVISMO aims to understand the factors of pollinators’ visual environment determining the range of habitats where they are able to forage successfully. A particular focus is done on two major pollinator groups: bumblebees and butterflies. This wide project goes from field observations to arena experiments, including detailed studies of functional traits of pollinators’ visual system, their genetic basis and macroecological modelling. The final goal is the development of predictive models that investigate the morphological characteristics that best predict habitat use in pollinators. 

I am part of the sub-project dedicated to the field observations aiming to determine the realised foraging niches of bumblebee and butterfly species. More particularly, a focus will be done on the effects of light daily variations on diurnal pollinators’ activity, i.e. on the consequences of light changes on their foraging behaviour and on the light conditions limiting their foraging niche. The project will consider both direct impacts of decrease in light intensity on pollinator behaviour and indirect impacts mediated by changes in the flowering plant communities. The field work will be performed in agricultural mosaic landscapes located in central Skåne. We will collect both data on plant-pollinator interactions but also behavioural observations of bumblebee and butterfly individuals. These data will be combined with detailed climatic variables and description of the pollinator’s visual environment in order to identify the factors determining pollinator foraging behaviour and niche. In fine, the information on pollinator’s foraging niche will be related to their visual functional traits.

About me

I have a background in ecology and biology of organisms (BSc) and evolutionary biology (MSc) from Montpellier University and Uppsala University. I had the opportunity of doing internships in diverse fields, from human evolutionary biology to landscape ecology on termite mounds distribution to behavioural studies of the Swedish Arctic fox. These experiences shaped my actual main work interest of combining field studies and with landscape analyses. During my PhD, done in the Laboratory of Alpine Ecology (Grenoble, France), I focused on ecology, and more particularly in ecosystem services. I developed easy and fast field method to estimate the global climate regulation through the estimation of carbon stocks and the service of pollination. Working with pollinators was a real revelation which guided me towards my current research topic.