Launch of the First Episode of the AgroParisTech Podcast Series Parlons Sciences!
March 15 2024AgroParisTech has launched a new podcast series: Parlons Sciences! [Let’s talk science] The aim is to sit down with AgroParisTech researchers who are committed to creating a better tomorrow. Every episode, they offer listeners behind-the-scenes insights into their latest research publications, all of which share are freely available in open access on the HAL-AgroParisTech Scientific Portal.
For the first episode of the series, we headed to the northern forests of Sweden—home to reindeer, lichen, and its indigenous people, the Sámi—to talk to eco-anthropologist Samuel Roturier and ecologist Thierry Spataro about the role of fire in this picturesque environment.
A Walk in the Northern Forests: Reindeer, Lichen, and Fire
In this podcast episode, entitled “A Walk in the Northern Forests: Reindeer, Lichen, and Fire” (in French: “Rencontre en forêt boréale : des rennes, du lichen et du feu”) two AgroParisTech faculty members with complementary skillsets go beyond the traditional postcard images that usually spring to mind to offer a glimpse into the northern forests of Sweden—a complex and fragile ecosystem with a plethora of issues at stake: economic, political, social, and (perhaps unsurprisingly) environmental. One final, albeit rather unexpected aspect—fire—offers surprising insight. For while fire has long played a key part in the management of Scandinavian forests, its role has come to be contested by different stakeholders, including livestock farmers, the lumber industry, and government. This leads to a fascinating question: how can fire, which is traditionally associated with destruction, influence the biodiversity and balance of this forest ecosystem?
Without further ado, we invite you to take a sonic journey over to Samuel Roturier’s lab to learn more in this first episode of the podcast dedicated to their work. Enjoy!
The article written by Samuel Roturier and Thierry Spataro (and their coauthors, Juliette Picard and Sarah Cogos) was published in the academic journal Ambio in 2022, and is freely available in open access on the HAL-AgroParisTech Scientific Portal: “Influence of Prescribed Burning on Reindeer Winter Pastures at Landscape Scale in Northern Sweden: A Modelling Approach.”
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