La Nuit Européenne des Chercheurs - "Exploring the plant world" - Chambéry

High-mountain biodiversity, molecules and the "magical" properties of plants, mental health and the environment... For the Chambery version, European Researchers' Night plunges you into the heart of the plant world.

Friday, September 29, between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m, in the form of mini-conferences and experimental presentations, a dozen researchers will take over the Eureka Gallery to share their work and memories of scientific adventures in a captivating and convivial way, on the theme of "Exploring the plant world! Far from the institutional framework of the university and its research laboratories, come and meet the researchers of the USMB! A unique opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with scientists from all disciplines.

ON THE PROGRAM

6pm - Opening of the "Plant Mechanics" exhibition
Throughout the evening, explore the plant world with new eyes, in the company of Galerie Eurêka's scientific mediators. The inauguration will be followed by refreshments from 6:30pm to 6:45pm.

From 6 p.m. - Mini-conferences open to all
Each lecture is presented twice during the evening, and lasts 30 minutes (no advance registration required).

At 5pm and 8pm, in Room 1 - "In the high mountains, plant biodiversity is still poorly understood".
By Sébastien Ibanez, teacher-researcher at the LECA laboratory (Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine)
In the Alps, high mountain ecosystems can be found just a few dozen kilometers from Chambéry. Although they began to be explored as early as the end of the 18th century, they remain little-known. Recently, a team of ecology researchers and botanists fromUniversité Savoie Mont Blanc, the University of Grenoble and the Parc National des Écrins described several new species of androsaces, a group of flowering plants whose high-mountain species form small moss-like cushions.

At 5pm and 7pm, in Room 2 - "Extraction of molecules from apple waste using environmentally-friendly solvents".
By Lauriane Bruna, PhD student in the EDYTEM lab (Environnements, Dynamiques et Territoires de Montagne)
Around 13 million apple culls are produced every year, and the volume is growing all over the world. In many countries, this waste is buried in the ground, causing problems for human health and the environment. Yet this waste still contains many high-value-added molecules, such as phloridzin, known for its anti-oxidant and anti-diabetic effects in particular.

At 5pm and 8pm, in Room 3 - "Plant superpowers: how do plant beings transform their worlds?"
By Baptiste Boggio and Keyan Dumas, researcher at CARRTEL (Centre alpin de recherche sur les réseaux trophiques des écosystèmes limniques) and PhD student at LECA (Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine)
Present all over the planet, plants are the tip of an unsuspected iceberg. By their mere presence and that of a host of accompanying organisms, plants modify ecosystems. We invite you to discover the superpowers of plants through reeds (Phragmites australis), which modify bio-chemical cycles through their presence, and alpine cushion plants, which create rich, living islands in high mountain deserts.

At 5.30pm and 8pm, in Room 2 - "Naturalist scientific practices through a selection of ancient flora and herbariums".
By Emilie Dreyfus, Paris I doctoral student in the Géographie-cités laboratory
In the 16th century, the world of Europeans was profoundly changed by the discovery of new lands. The plant catalog expanded to include previously unknown flora. The new forms of the printed book enabled plants to be accompanied by images, often taken from nature. A new way of doing science was born: richly illustrated floras, public botany courses and herbariums were all examples of these new naturalist practices.

At 5:30pm and 8:30pm, in Room 3 - "Gardening the foreshore of lakes".
By Etienne Dambrine, teacher-researcher at CARRTEL
Dam lakes are tidal, meaning that their water level varies throughout the year according to rainfall and, above all, turbine flow. Between the high and low levels lies the foreshore, often bare and eroded, but not always and/or not completely. What plants can withstand being drowned for a few months, sometimes under ten meters of water, and then endure the drought of skeletal soils? What are their strategies, and what lessons can they teach us?

At 5:30pm and 8:30pm, in Room 1 - "Mental health, a question of environment?"
By Arnaud Carré, teacher-researcher at LIP/PC2S (Laboratoire Inter-universitaire de Psychologie)
Mental health is based on several determinants that can explain what makes it fragile and what protects it. These determinants include personal history, biological characteristics and social and environmental influences. The living environment is therefore potentially very important for mental health. Is nature likely to make us suffer or satisfy us?

At 7pm and 9pm, in Room 1 - "Fighting invasive alien plants by valorizing them!"
By Grégory Chatel, teacher-researcher in the EDYTEM lab
Invasive alien plants are species introduced into ecosystems where they have not evolved naturally, and which spread rapidly, causing significant environmental, economic and social damage. They are considered one of the main threats to biodiversity worldwide. The EDYTEM laboratory is working on the valorization of some of these plants (ragweed, Japanese knotweed, solidago, etc.) in order to use them in different applications and to give an economic value to their waste to encourage campaigns to uproot and combat their spread.

At 7pm and 9pm, in room 3 - "Plants: a factory for producing molecules".
By Christiane Gallet, teacher-researcher at LECA
Within their cells, plants possess the machinery needed to produce thousands of molecules from solar energy, water and CO2. This process, known as photosynthesis, is at the origin of all the compounds that plants, which are by nature immobile, use to combat the often stressful conditions of their environment, as well as to communicate with their many partners. Examples will be developed to illustrate the sophistication of these interactions.

At 7:30 and 9:30 pm, in Room 1 - "Plants make resistance!"
By Geneviève Chiapusio, teacher-researcher at CARRTEL
Plants are capable of thriving in any environment, even when conditions are difficult (pollution.) Why are some able to do so and others not? Come and discover some of their secrets...

At 7:30pm and 9pm, in Room 2 - "Trees, a historical object like any other?"
By Émilie-Anne Pépy, teacher-researcher at the LLSETI laboratory (Langages, Littératures, Sociétés, Etudes Transfrontalières et Internationales)
History... for many people, the word conjures up school memories, more or less painful, of dates to memorize. These mark milestones in human history: conflicts, scientific advances, political and social conquests, and so on. Can't we integrate other categories of living beings into the historical narrative? This is one of the challenges that environmental history is trying to meet today. Trees, too, have a history and are part of history.

At 7:30pm and 9:30pm, in Room 3 - "From soil to plant".
By Nicolas Bonfanti, PhD student at EDYTEM and CARRTEL laboratories
As the interface between the atmosphere, rock, biosphere and hydrosphere, soil is at the heart of the cycle of elements such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. They are the basic link in the nutritional chain: on the one hand, they are the larder of plants, and on the other, they support an extraordinary diversity of organisms capable of supplying them with nutrients (bacteria, fungi, etc.). At a time of global change, soils are at the heart of considerable environmental and societal challenges (carbon storage, water cycle regulation, plant nutrition), and their functions are both vulnerable and threatened.

At 8:30 pm and 9:30 pm, in Room 2 - "Surprising lake vegetation".
By Jean-Christophe Clément, teacher-researcher at CARRTEL and Florent Arthaud, teacher-researcher at the EDYTEM lab
A multitude of unsuspected plant species, sometimes invisible to the naked eye, along or in the middle of the lake, on or under water, are essential for the lake's other living creatures as sources of food, shelter or spawning sites. They also have lesser-known functions such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus fixation, and sometimes even a role in greenhouse gas emissions.

Practical info

- Address: Galerie Eurêka, 150 rue de la République, Carré Curial - Chambéry,
- Contact Galerie Eurêka: 04 79 60 04 25