DIVERSE at the CEF Annual Conference in Rimouski

Earlier this month, members of the DIVERSE team had the pleasure of attending the Centre d’étude de la forêt (CEF) Annual Conference, held in beautiful Rimouski, Québec. This yearly gathering brings together researchers, students, and forest professionals from across the province and beyond, offering a dynamic space to share knowledge, explore new ideas.

Our team was well-represented at the event, with several members presenting on their current research—both within and beyond the scope of the DIVERSE project. It was a valuable opportunity to showcase ongoing work.

Early career professors Morgane Urli and Olivier Villemaire-Côté got to present their research programs as part of the plenary sessions.

Morgane Urli is a plant functional ecology researcher who studies how global change and forest management shape tree growth, forest dynamics, and species distributions. She is also studying the effects of climate change, and more particularly drought, on water circulation in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. Her work bridges scales—from local interactions between trees and their environment to global patterns of species distributions—using a multidisciplinary approach that covers ecophysiology, community ecology, and biogeography to understand forests in a changing world.

Olivier Villemaire-Côté is a silviculturist and forest ecologist with a strong interest in regeneration dynamics and natural disturbances. His work focuses on the complex conditions created by interacting disturbances across spatial and temporal scales—particularly small-scale processes like herbivory (by deer, hare, or moose), windthrow, and regeneration challenges—while exploring how silviculture can be used as a powerful tool for forest adaptation and resilience in the face of global change.

Post doctoral fellow Zoé Ribeyre presented her work on the impact of summer droughts on maple sugar production. The research team set up a rain exclusion experiment in Kenauk (Outaouais, Quebec) to investigate whether repeated droughts affect the volume and sugar content of maple sap, as well as root sugar reserves. Their findings show that drought-stressed trees produced sap with a lower sugar concentration (0.25 Brix lower), suggesting that increasing summer droughts could impact maple syrup production.

Last, but not least, DIVERSE Master’s student Étienne Morrissette, presented a poster on his research proposal. He intends to work on the impact of natural and human-induced disturbances on the taxonomic and functional diversity of Québec’s forests since 1970.

Beyond the formal presentations, the conference also offered time for networking, reconnecting with colleagues, and engaging in thoughtful discussions about the future of forest research and management. We are especially grateful for the chance to exchange ideas with peers working on related challenges and to learn from the wide array of projects showcased throughout the event.

Thank you to CEF for organizing such a vibrant and welcoming conference, and to all who came to our talks and posters. We look forward to building on these conversations as the DIVERSE project continues to evolve.