Claire Guenat
Nationality: french-swiss
EPFL ENAC IIE PERL
GR B2 407 (Bâtiment GR)
Station 2
CH-1015 Lausanne
+41 21 693 47 38
Office:
GR B2 387
EPFL › ENAC › IIE › PERL
Website: https://perl.epfl.ch
Current work
Dr Claire Guenat is scientific collaborator at the EPFL laboratory of Ecological Systems (ECOS)
(http:www.ecos.efl.ch) a joint venture with the Research institute WSL (http://www.wsl.ch). Claire Guenat works in soil sciences and she has been developing research on floodplain and related issues since 1994. Her fundamental research focus on alluvial soils genesis with a special emphasis on both the structure formation and organic matter dynamics. Such researches were conducted within the framework of Ph.D. thesis mainly, supported by national or international grants as benefits of national and international collaborations. The main recent projects are 1) CCES‐Record project as co‐PI (CCES project RECORD, www.swissexperiment.
ch/index.php/Record:Home); 2) FNS “Flood Strubio “Role of organic matter and soil biota on firts steps of soil
structuring‐ The case of alluvial soils from alpine to plain levels” as co‐applicant . In addition, Claire Guenat has quite an expertise on soil management within the framework of public mandates, such as Gesorbe “Gestion intégrée de la Plaine de l’Orbe” and “Rhone River 3 rd correction”.
Claire Guenat wrote a book chapter on the genesis, diversity and functioning of soils related to the river (Guenat et al., 2003). Other specific research topics concern the spatial variability of floodplain soils (Bureau et al, 1994; Mendonça et al, 1997 a and b; Bureau et al., 1994, Bureau et al., 1995) and, in this context she developed a 3D soil cartography methodology (Mendonça et al., 1998; Mendonça et al., 2000, Cosandey et al., 2003). Claire Guenat studied the genesis of the alluvial soils as well and demonstrated the qualitative importance of mineral deposits especially in the first stages of the soil formation and the soil biota, i.e. earthworms and enchytreids (Guenat et al. 1998; Guenat et al., 1999; Bullinger and al., 2007). Her fields of interest also focus on soil structure formation, in particular on the relationships between the structure type and earthworms (Salomé et al., 2011) and the structure and hydrodynamic soil properties. Those researches are based on the use of methods such as micromorphology coupled with hydrodynamic measurements, conducted on crusted soils (Hallaire et al. 1997; Degoumois et al. 1998) and alluvial soils (Guenat et al., 1998 and 1999). Her research on organic matter started in 1995 (Fierz, 1995) and mainly concerns the chemical characterisation of organic matter in different soils, from initial to climatic stages of evolution (Morier et al; 2010). She then focused on spatial and temporal dynamics of several processes, namely biological denitrification (Cosandey et al., 2002; Cosandey et al., 2003b; Maitre et al., 2005), litter decomposition and log decay (Hefting et al., 2005; Bütler et al., 2007) as well as organic matter storage in different soil pools (Morier et al., 2008 a and b; Samaritani et al.2011). She started to use bio-indicators (i.e. earthworms) to study the functioning of ecosystems (Bullinger et al, 2012).
Mission
Teaching :
- SSIE bachelor (Environmental Engineering laboratory; Samples and analysis methods)and SSIE master (Management and restoration of the ecosystems).
- interdisciplinary teaching (Training works and renaturation of rivers and alluvial plains; sites rehabilitation)
- student projects (SIE, ENAC and master)
Research :
- supervising of pHD projects
- publication of research results.
Administration :
- commities (Parc jurassien vaudois, Rive sud du lac, ROSOL,...)
Short CV – Dr. Claire Guenat
General information
Name : Guenat Claire
Date and place of birth : 7th April 1956‐ France
Nationalities : French /Swiss
Address: Chemin du Mottier 6 - 1052 Le Mont sur Lausanne
Phone : 021 693 47 38
E‐ mail : claire.guenat@epfl.ch
Internet‐homepage : http : //ecos.epfl.ch
Position : Scientific collaborator, activity rate : 60%
University degrees
- Master degree in Soil Science, University Nancy, France (1980)
- Ph.D. in Soil Science, EPFL (1987)
Teaching activities
Bachelor, Master and Postgrade courses for students at EPFL and universities at Lausanne, Neuchâtel end Geneva. Main topics: soil science, management and restoration of terrestrial ecosystems.
Research experience
- Pedological research mainly in temperate and semi‐arid areas resulting in scientific publications. My research activities focus on the following topics: i) soil science, ii) functioning and restoration of natural and disturbed ecosystems, iii) soil organic matter processes.
- Reviewer for several international journals (i.e. Biochemistry, Journal of Environmental Quality, Journal of African Earth Sciences, Landscape and Urban Science, Etude et Gestion des sols).
- Scientific management of different projects and responsibility for the training of students: 2 EPFL‐PhD co‐directed, 4 PhD supervised, more than 30 masters supervised.
- PhD examining board at EPFL (7) , UNIL (1), Grenoble (F) (1)
- Participation in the organisation of national and international scientific events (ISSS, AFES, SSP,...)
- Networks :
o Swiss universities: Neuchâtel, Lausanne, Geneva, HES Lullier.
o Swiss research institutes: WSL, PSI, HES.
o Foreign universities: France (Besançon, Rennes, Aix en Provence, Dijon), Germany (München), Senegal (CSE, Dakar), Burkina Faso (Université Ouagadougou).
Research projects (since 2006)
- Co‐Pi CCES Record CCES project, http://www.cces.ethz.ch/projects/nature/Record
- Co‐Leader of the project FLOOD’STRUBIO (2007‐2011) granted by the SNF (N° 3100A0‐116825): Role of organic matter and soil biota on forts steps of soil structuring. The case of alluvial soils from alpine to plain levels.
Administrative and management experience (2004‐2009)
- Director ad interim of the IATE‐Pedology laboratory, 01.01.2005 ‐ 1.10.2005.
- Member of the Executive Board of the ENAC Faculty of EPFL, 2002 ‐ 2005
National committees
- Member of the scientific committee « Commission scientifique Parc Jurassien Vaudois».
- Member of Swiss society of soil science « Société Suisse de Pédologie »
- Member of the scientific committee « Commission scientifique de la Rive sud du lac de Neuchâtel».
Communication skills
- Continuing education courses for large public audiences
- Languages: French, English.
Scientific publications
Recent publications are listed below, all publications are available on the WEB site:
- http://ecos.epfl.ch/
- http://people.epfl.ch/105325
Selected publications
Impact of flood deposits on earthworm communities in alder forests from a subalpine floodplain (Kandersteg, Switzerland)
Bullinger-Weber G., Guenat C., Salomé C. , Gobat J-M, Le Bayon R-C
Published in European Journal of Soil Science, 59, 467-475.2012 in
Carbon storage and soil organic matter stabilisation in near-natural, restored and embanked Swiss floodplains.
G. Bullinger-Weber, R.-C. Le Bayon, A. Thébault, R. Schlaepfer and C. Guenat.
Published in Geoderma, vol. 228-229, p. 122-131, 2014. in