Baptiste Bovay
PhD student
baptiste.bovay@unine.ch
D205
+41 32 718 22 68
Research interests
I have a broad range of research interests going from botany to evolution and this is especially useful when studying ecology. Indeed, my primary aim as a PhD student is to understand how climate change will affect, challenge and even create novel relationships between species.
As you may have noticed, this world is currently changing more and more rapidly (in 2024, the global temperature increase was 1.55°C higher compared to the pre-industrial era). This rapid change thus challenges species persistence in many ecosystems. This is especially true for Alpine ecosystems, which are known to be complex and very sensitive.
Main topics
- Climate change in alpine ecosystems
- Plant-insect interaction
- Tri-trophic interaction
- Botany and entomology
- Soil biology
- Metabolomic
Thesis
Understanding the impact of climate change on ecosystems is crucial to have the ability to design conservation plans and management strategies which are realistic and effective. Specifically, ecosystems will be largely challenged these coming decades by rising temperatures driving many species to change their distribution. This is especially visible along elevation gradients where species migrate rapidly toward higher elevations to track their optimal climatic conditions. However, different functional group of species migrates at different rates. Typically, insects migrate faster than plants. These asynchronous range shifts are predicted to create many different interactions which could threaten the persistence of some species.
During my PhD, I am conducting several experiments aiming to understand the effect of warmer temperatures and species migration on alpine ecosystems. Using various experimental designs, I am trying to elucidate the following points:
- i) How insects react to novel alpine host plants.
ii) The effects of the migration, or the absence of migration, of different trophic level (herbivores and predators) on alpine communities’ dynamics.
iii) The impact of novel plant-herbivore interactions on alpine soils.
Teaching activities
- Alpine excursion (6 ECTS), Master of Science in Biology, University of Neuchâtel
- Apprentissage par problèmes APP (9 ECTS), Bachelor of Science in Biology, University of Neuchâtel
- Introduction pratique (3 ECTS), Bachelor of Science in Biology, University of Neuchâtel
- Master thesis supervision (60 ECTS), Master of Science in Biology, University of Neuchâtel
- Supervision of interns
Publications
Bovay, B., Jolidon, E., Descombes, P., Defossez, E., & Rasmann, S. (2025). Climate‐induced upslope shift of orthopteran herbivores imposes greater herbivory through trait complementarity. Functional Ecology, 00:1–12. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.70049
Bovay, B., Descombes, P., Chittaro, Y., Glauser, G., Nomoto, H., & Rasmann, S. (2024). Adapting to change: Exploring the consequences of climate‐induced host plant shifts in two specialist Lepidoptera species. Ecology and evolution, 14(6), e11596. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.11596
Mulhauser, B., & Bovay, B. (2023). Insulating against the effects of frost on soils : an original experiment on the roof of the “Soil House” of the Botanical Garden of Neuchâtel. Bulletin de la Société Neuchâteloise des Sciences Naturelles, 143, 5-16. https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-1055124
