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Mathieu Basille
Clément Calenge
Jodie Martin
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Université Laval

Mathieu Basille

I've always said that the best wolf habitat resides in the human heart. You have to leave a little space for them to live.

Ed Bangs

Contact information

Chaire de recherche industrielle CRSNG-Université Laval en sylviculture et faune
Département de biologie
Université Laval
1045 Av. de la Médecine, pavillon Alexandre Vachon
Québec, QC G1V 0A6
Canada

Phone: +1-418-656-2131 (# 12 004)
E-mail:

Education

Research profile

Woodland caribou
© Daniel Fortin

I am currently leading a post-doc project at Laval University (Québec City, Canada), in the lab of Daniel Fortin. The ultimate goal of this project is to evaluate the viability of woodland caribou populations in Québec, through spatially explicit simulations, taking into account different forest management plans. To achieve this, we will have to synthesize everything that we already know about spatial interactions between caribou, moose, wolf and bear, and to fill the gaps to generate the required parametrization of the system.

This project also involves a MSc student at Laval University, Marie-Claude Labbé, that I am co-supervising with Daniel Fortin. Her aim is to study caribou movement at a fine scale, in relation to predation and forestry. As such, she is part of the post-doc project, and will provide a rigorous basis to evaluate caribou space use.

More generally, my work is focused on habitat ecology of large mammals, with a special interest in predator-prey interactions (see also my PhD thesis below). I gave also a strong interest in habitat selection and ecological niche theory. In particular, I am trying to define a robust and consistent approach of the habitat concept, to connect it eventually to animal performance. There have been recently different studies that looked at the relations between habitat selection and fitness components, which are opening new opportunities to understand the relationship between demography and space use.

Professional experiences

Statistical programming

Involvement in the programming of functions included in the statistical package adehabitat for R, led by Clément Calenge. Development of habitat selection methods centred around the ENFA (Ecological-Niche Factor Analysis).

Teaching experience and supervision

Statistics and data analysis (360h, 2004-2009): functions, derivative calculus, random variable, probability laws, descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing, mean comparisons, frequency comparisons, one-way and two-ways ANOVA.
Habitat selection (16h, 2008-2009): habitat selection theory, descriptive analyzes, R and adehabitat.

I supervised four bachelor students for their first professional project in applied statistics (2008). I supervised one student employed for 2 years (2004-2006) at the statistics department of the pharmaceutic lab "Merial", and another student for 1 year at the statistics department of the French register of cancers (2007-2008).

R logo

I conducted a 1-day training course entitled "An introduction to the study of habitat selection by wildlife" (in French) at University Laval (CFR: Centre for Forest Research) in June 2010. The course tackled multivariate analyzes based on the concept of ecological niche, at different ecological and spatial scales, using mainly the adehabitat package for R.

Consulting

Reviewing

I have been referee for Basic and Applied Ecology, the Canadian Journal of Zoology, Écoscience, Oecologia, Oikos, the Journal of Animal Ecology, the Journal of Applied Ecology, Oryx, the Naturaliste Canadien (fr), the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (B.), Wildlife Biology, as well as for the Encyclopedia of Inland Waters (Elsevier).

Field experience

Publication list

Peer-reviewed articles

  1. Basille M., Fortin D., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P., Courtois R. Ecologically based definition of seasons clarifies predator-prey interactions. Ecography. [manuscript]
  2. Rolland J., Basille M., Marboutin É. & Gaillard J.-M., 2011. Comparing profile methods and site-occupancy modeling for the study of occurrence of an elusive species. European Journal of Wildlife Research, 57: 1115–1118. [manuscript]
  3. Martin, J., Basille M., Kindberg J., Van Moorter B., Allainé D. & Swenson J.E., 2010. Coping with human disturbance: Spatial and temporal tactics of brown bear. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 88: 875–883. [manuscript]
  4. Gaillard J.-M., Hebblewhite M., Loison A., Fuller M., Powell R., Basille M. & Van Moorter B., 2010. Habitat-Performance Relationships: Finding the right metric at a given spatial scale. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B., 365: 2255–2265. [manuscript]
  5. Melis C., Basille M., Herfindal I., Linnell J.D.C., Odden J., Gaillard J.-M., Høgda K. & Andersen R., 2010. Roe deer population growth and lynx predation along a gradient of environmental productivity and climate in Norway. Ecoscience, 17: 166–174. [manuscript]
  6. Basille M., Herfindal I., Santin-Janin H., Linnell J.D.C., Odden J., Andersen R., Høgda K. A., & Gaillard J.-M., 2009. What shapes Eurasian lynx distribution in human dominated landscapes: selecting prey or avoiding people? Ecography, 32: 683–691. [manuscript]
  7. Saint-Andrieux C., Bonenfant C., Toïgo C., Basille M. & Klein F., 2009. Factors affecting beech bark stripping by red deer (Cervus elaphus) in a mixed forest. Wildlife Biology, 15: 187–196. [manuscript]
  8. Calenge C. & Basille M., 2008. A general framework for the statistical exploration of the ecological niche. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 252: 674–685. [manuscript]
  9. Calenge C., Darmon G., Basille M., Loison A. & Jullien J.-M., 2008. The factorial decomposition of the Mahalanobis distances in niche analysis. Ecology, 89: 555–566. [manuscript]
  10. Basille M., Calenge C., Marboutin É., Andersen R. & Gaillard J.-M., 2008. Assessing habitat selection using multivariate statistics: Some refinements of the Ecological-Niche Factor Analysis. Ecological Modelling, 211: 233–240. [manuscript]

Book chapters

  1. Martin J., Tolon V., Van Moorter B., Basille M. & Calenge C., 2009. On the use of telemetry in habitat selection studies. In Telemetry: Research, Technology and Applications, Editors Barculo D. & Daniels J. Nova Science Publishers Inc. [manuscript]

Popularizing articles & reports

  1. Basille M., Courtois R., Bastille-Rousseau G., Courbin N., Faille G., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P. & Fortin D., 2010. Effets directs et indirects de l'aménagement de la forêt boréale sur le caribou forestier au Québec. Le Naturaliste Canadien, 135 (1): 46–52. [manuscript]
  2. Melis C., Holmern T., Basille M., Herfindal I., Odden J. & Linnell J.D.C., 2009. Fra fjord til fjell: Hvordan påvirker Nordens tiger rådyrbestandene? Hjorteviltet, 2009: 20–22. [manuscript]
  3. Basille M., Calenge C., Marboutin É., Andersen R. & Gaillard J.-M., 2007. Caractérisation de l'habitat à partir de données de présence : le cas du lynx dans les Vosges (in French with English summary: Characterization of habitat from presence data: the case of lynx in the Vosges). ONCFS, Rapport scientifique, 2007: 20–24. [manuscript]
  4. Bunnefeld N., Börger L., Nilsen E. B., Basille M., Hall R., Ezard T.H., Trierweiler C., Minderman J., Mangel M., Gaillard J.-M., Milner-Gulland E.J. & attendees of the Populations Under Pressure symposium, 2007. Coming out of the ivory tower: how to ensure that ecological modelling research remains practical and applied. Bulletin of the British Ecological Society, 38: 64–66. [manuscript]
  5. Marboutin É., Laurent A., Regazzi C., Léger F., Moisson P., Lambrech M., Balestra L., Henri J., Basille M., Touzain L. & Michallet D., 2004. Tests de nouvelles méthodes pour le suivi des populations de lynx en France : le piégeage photographique en coulées et les pièges à poils (in French with English summary: Some insight into the new tools to monitor the French lynx population). ONCFS, Rapport scientifique, 2004: 18–21. [manuscript]

Oral communications

International congresses
  1. Basille M., Fortin D., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P., & Courtois R., Jul. 2010. Space use seasonality in a multi-predator and multi-prey system. Society for Conservation Biology: 2010 Congress, Edmonton (Alberta, Canada). [presentation]
  2. Basille M., Fortin D., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P., & Courtois R., May 2010. Space use seasonality in a multi-predator and multi-prey system. Canadian Society for Ecology and Evolution: 2010 Congress, Québéc (Québec, Canada). [presentation]
  3. Basille M., Herfindal I., Linnell J.D.C., Andersen R., Høgda K. A., & Gaillard J.-M., Sep. 2007. Eurasian lynx distribution in human dominated landscapes: selecting prey or avoiding people? 5th European Congress of Mammalogy, Sienna (Italy). [presentation]
  4. Basille M., Calenge C., Herfindal I., Linnell J.D.C., Andersen R. & Gaillard J.-M., Jun. 2007. Lynx and people: a possible coexistence? 8th Roe deer meeting, Velenje (Slovenia). [presentation]
Regional and local congresses
  1. Basille M., Fortin D., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P., & Courtois R., Apr. 2011. Fuir ou se cacher quand on est chassé ? Comment le caribou forestier évalue le risque de prédation. 5e colloque annuel du CEF 2011, Québec (Québec, Canada). [presentation]
  2. Basille M., Fortin D., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P., & Courtois R., Mar. 2011. Fuir ou se cacher quand on est chassé ? Comment le caribou forestier évalue le risque de prédation. Colloque 2011 de la Chaire de recherche industrielle CRSNG-Université Laval en sylviculture et faune, Baie-Comeau (Québec, Canada). [intro|presentation]
  3. Basille M., Fortin D., Dussault C., Ouellet J.-P., & Courtois R., Nov. 2010. Fuir ou se cacher quand on est chassé ? Comment le caribou forestier évalue le risque de prédation. Colloque « Le caribou forestier : un enjeu de biodiversité et de développement durable », Saguenay (Québec, Canada). [presentation]
  4. Basille M., Apr. 2010. Saisonnalité de l’utilisation de l’espace dans un système complexe prédateurs-proies. Colloque 2010 de la Chaire de recherche industrielle CRSNG-Université Laval en sylviculture et faune, Baie-Comeau (Québec, Canada). [presentation]
  5. Basille M. et al., Nov. 2007. Characterization of the habitat of the lynx in southern Norway - Theory, Methodology & Application. Seminary at the Institute of Zoology, London (United Kingdom). [presentation]
  6. Basille M., Calenge C., Herfindal I., Linnell J.D.C., Andersen R. & Gaillard J.-M., Mar. 2007. The Niche of the Lynx in Norway. Symposium "Populations under pressure", London (United Kingdom). [presentation]
  7. Basille M., Linnell J.D.C., Andersen R. & Gaillard J.-M., Oct. 2006. Habitat Selection by the roe deer in Norway. Workshop France–Norway–United Kingdom, Doucy en Bauges (France). [presentation]
  8. Basille M., Marboutin E. & Gaillard J.-M., Jan. 2006. Habitat Selection by the Lynx in the Vosges Massif – A comparative study. Symposium "Fragmentation of habitats and lynx populations in Europe", Fischbach (Germany). [presentation]
  9. Basille M. & Calenge C., Dec. 2004. Multi-variate analyses of the ecological niche. Statistical seminary at the ONCFS, Cléry Saint André (France). [presentation]
  10. Gaillard J.-M., Loison A., & Basille M., Dec. 2004. Understanding population dynamics of ungulates: What do we know and what should we do? Workshop "Ungulates and large predators in Europe", Białowieża (Poland). [presentation]

PhD thesis

Eurasian lynx
© Scandlynx

I completed my PhD degree at the University of Lyon (Lab Biometry and Evolutionary Biology, France), under the supervision of Dr. Jean-Michel Gaillard and Prof. Reidar Andersen, in July 2008. My thesis, entitled "Habitat selection by lynx (Lynx lynx) in a human-dominated landscape—From theory to application", took place in the context of a cotutelle exchange with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim (Norway). The thesis is available here, and the presentation for the defence here.

In this thesis, I have studied the predator-prey system lynx-roe deer in Norway, with the addition of human as a kind of "super-predator", hunting both species. This is a particularly interesting study case since lynx are the main predator of roe deer, and roe deer the main prey of lynx. In addition, human is the main cause of death for lynx (poaching and hunting) and, together with lynx, the main cause of death for roe deer. During my PhD, I tried to investigate how the three species were spatially inter-connected, and especially how roe deer and lynx habitat selection occurred with respect to the other species.

Part of my work was theoretical and methodological, and the other part was the application to the study of interest in Norway. I illustrate it here with two published papers which cover this range. In the first one (Basille et al., Ecological Modelling, 2008) we focused on the ENFA (Ecological-niche factor analysis), a method which aims to describe habitat characteristics based on the ecological-niche model. We tried to improve it in order to make the results easier to interpret. In the second one (Basille et al., Ecography, 2009), we applied the method to the study case of lynx in Norway, where we were able to demonstrate a trade-off in lynx space use at a large scale, between food (roe deer) on the one hand, and safety (distance from human infrastructures—mainly roads) on the other hand.

[last update: 2011/12/22]