"In the Indian Ocean territories, the challenges of sustainable development take on an immediate resonance because the actions of local human populations are coupled with global changes to produce multiple hazards in addition to local natural hazards (seismic, storms, erosion, etc.). These hazards apply to complex systems that are highly sensitive in terms of their resources and their capacity to adapt, and in terms of the recent and rapid social, economic and environmental changes that are taking place. Faced with multiple pressures, these systems can adapt, transform or risk collapse. In this context, the scientific themes addressed by the life sciences team mainly concern the understanding of the functioning of tropical marine ecosystems (mangrove, lagoon, reef, etc.) under different anthropogenic forcings.
This general objective is expressed at different levels of hierarchical organisation, from the ecophysiology of individuals, through the evolution of assemblages and populations to the functioning of ecosystems."
