04/07/2017

Arthur ESCALAS

Date of birth: 21st of February 1986 (31 years old)

Nationality: French

Professional address

Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle
UMR 7245 CNRS-MNHN: Communication Molecules and Adaptation of Microorganisms
Team CCE: Cyanobacteria, Cyanotoxins and Environment
12 Rue Buffon
75231 PARIS, FRANCE

Phone: 06 25 14 49 93

Email:

Professional experience

  • 2017-presentPost doctoral researcher at the French National Museum of Natural History
  • 2015-2017 Post doctoral researcher at the Institute for Environmental Genomics

University of Oklahoma

  • 2015-presentQualified CNU section 67: Population Biology and Ecology
  • 2013-2015Freelance researcher
  • 2011-presentChairman and treasurer of Plume! National network for science communication (plume.info)
  • 2013- presentFounder, member and editor of the project ShakePeers, a tool for collaborative and open-source science communication (shakepeers.org)

Education

  • 2010-2013PhD in Ecosystem sciences (Montpellier II Univ.)

Title: “Functional diversity of fish gut bacterial communities: estimation, ecosystemic insurance and application”

Supervisors: David Mouillot (Montpellier II Univ.) and Marc Troussellier (CNRS)

  • 2009-2010Master degree in Ecosystem sciences (Montpellier II Univ.)

Thesis: “Diet and terrestrial carbon sources dependencies of Sparus aurata juveniles during lagoon growth phase”

Supervisors: Audrey Darnaude (CNRS) and Guy Vidy (IRD)

  • 2008-2009Master degree in Aquatic resources in Mediterranean and tropical environments (Montpellier II Univ.)

Thesis: “Epibiotic bacterial community of Sphaeroma serratum within the Thau lagoon and relation with the life cycle”

Supervisors: Audrey Caro and Mireille Charmantier (Montpellier II Univ.)

  • 2006-2008Licence in Organisms, Populations and Ecosystems Biology (BOPE, Toulouse III Univ.)
  • 2005-2006Universitary degree in Psychology (Toulouse II Univ.)

Scientific activities

  • Articles in preparation

Escalas A, Shi S, Nuccio E, Pett-Ridge J, Zhou J, Firestone M. Dimensions of biodiversity and functional redundancy in bacterial and fungal rhizosphere communities during plant growth.

  • Articles submitted

Escalas A, Hale L, Voordeckers JW, Yang Y, Firestone MK, Alvarez-Cohen L, Zhou J. Microbial Functional Diversity and Ecosystem Functioning: From Concepts to Applications. Under review in Molecular Ecology.

  • Articles Published on ISI journals

9. Escalas A, Troussellier M, Yuan T, Mouchet MA, Bouvier C, Flores-Hernandez D, Ramos-Miranda J, Bouvier T, Zhou J, Mouillot D. Functional diversity and redundancy across fish gut, sediment, and water bacterial communities. Environ. Microb. IF = 5.935.

8.Troussellier M, Escalas A, Bouvier T, Mouillot D. Sustaining rare marine microorganisms : macroorganisms as repositories and dispersal agents of microbial diversity (2017).Frontiers in Microbiology. IF = 4.165.

7.Navarrete A, Estevao M, Escalas A, Lemos L, Lavres J, Quaggio JA, Zhou J, Tsai S. Zinc concentration affects the functional groups of microbial communities in sugarcane-cultivated soil (2016). Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment. IF = 3.564.

6. Escalas A, Ferraton F, Paillon C, Vidy G, Carcaillet F, Salen-Picard C, Le Loc’h F, Richard P, Darnaude A M. Variations in diet and organic matter sources modulate the size and condition of seabream (Sparus aurata L.) juveniles within their lagoon nursery sites (2015). Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science. IF = 2.253.

5. Caro A, Chereau G, Briant, N, Roques C, Freydier R, Delpoux S, Escalas A, Elbaz-Poulichet F. Contrasted responses of Ruditapes decussatus (filter and deposit feeding) and Loripes lacteus (symbiotic) exposed to polymetallic contamination (Port-Camargue, France) (2015). Science of the Total Environment. IF = 3.163.

4. Elisabeth N H, Caro A, Cesaire T, Mansot J-L, Escalas A, Sylvestre M-N, Jean-Louis P, Gros O. Comparative modifications in bacterial gill-endosymbiotic populations of the two bivalves Codakia orbiculata and Lucina pensylvanica during bacterial loss and reacquisition (2014). FEMS Microbiol. Ecol.IF = 3.875.

3. Escalas A, Bouvier T, Mouchet M A, Leprieur F, Bouvier C, Troussellier M, et al. (2013). A unifying quantitative framework for exploring the multiple facets of microbial biodiversity across diverse scales. Environ. Microbiol. 15:2642–2657. IF = 6.24.

2. Caro A, Escalas A, Bouvier C., Grousset E, Lautredou-Audouy N, Roques C, Charmantier M, Gros O (2012). Epibiotic bacterial community of Sphaeroma serratum (Crustacea, Isopoda): relationship with molt status. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 457:11–27. IF = 2.55.

1. Mouchet MA, Bouvier C, Bouvier T, Troussellier M, Escalas A, Mouillot D. (2011). Genetic difference but functional similarity among fish gut bacterial communities through molecular and biochemical fingerprints. FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 79:568–580. IF = 3.875.

Science communication

  • 2013 – Present Co-founder, administrator and editor of the online platform ShakePeers, a tool for collaborative and open-source science communication (shakepeers.org)

ShakePeers is a new project co-created by the organizations Plume! and Animafac. ShakePeers aims at producing and broadcasting the best popularized scientific content possible by benefiting from two concepts: collective intelligence and creative commons licenses. The online platform is a free, open-access and collectively defined tool, which can be used by everyone to create, deposit and improve texts of popularization science (i.e. contributions). The content browses all disciplines, is written in a collaborative manner and is free in terms of style and format (e.g. articles, essays, script for podcasts or exposures). Once submitted on the online platform, the contribution is read, discussed, corrected and enriched by the whole community (students, PhD students, researchers, science mediators, amateurs, etc) through a peer-review like procedure. When the contribution meets the editorial criteria, both in substance and in form, it is published under an open license to allow the widest possible distribution. The project is supported and funded for the second consecutive year by the French Ministry of National Education, Research and Higher Education. The objectives of ShakePeers match the ones of the Science with and for Society section of the European Commision H2020 Work Program, such as the development of innovative, forward-looking science education methods or the use of open-access educational resources. In addition, this structure has been recently mentioned in a report on the French national strategy for higher education commissioned by the French government and entitled Fostering a learning society. Since November 2015, the ShakePeers organization started the training of PhD students from multiple disciplines to the use of the online platform and the production of open-source scientific popularization papers.

  • 2010–Present Treasurer and chairman of Plume! Network for science communication (plume.info)

Plume!is an organizationthat advocates forafree and open-accessto (scientific) knowledge, based on the factthat the latter isthe common propertyof mankind.Plume!involvesPhD students,researchers,educators, scientificmediators, journalists, designers and science enthusiastsfrom all backgrounds at the national scale. Plume!is defined asa conceptual and practical workshop,in whichwe initiate, encourageandexperimentnew forms ofscience communication. Plume! also militates for the academic recognition of science popularization and for a better commitment of scientists toward society and general audience. Plume! activities within the field of science communication include the redaction of popularization papers, edition of a journal (17 regular and 8 special issues), organization of events and exposure (during Scientilivre and Novela festival in France or the European Researchers' Night), and development of new science communication concepts (e.g. speed-searching, impro-science, drawed-science). Through its activities, this organization dispensed and validated several training opportunities to PhD students. Plume! was in charge of the French website of the European Researchers’ Night in 2012 and 2013, had received the National prize of student initiative in 2007 from the Animafac organization ( the National prize of Scientific and Technical Culture in 2009 from the Centre National des Oeuvres Universitaires et Scolaires (CNOUS) and benefited from media coverage in several newspaper. The activities realized by Plume! since 2006 match with the scope of several objectives listed in the section 16 or the European Commission H2020 Work Program, entitled Science with and for Society, such as increasing the access to scientific results or promoting formal and informal science education.

  • Involvement (coordination and participation) in science communication projects

Univercités (2011, 2012, France): Meetings between researcher and public school (143 students involved, 10 days in total through 4 universities). Edition of two summary booklets presenting the content of the meetings.

European Researchers' Night (2011, 2012, 2013, France): Organization of events involving researchers and general public (Speed-searching), realization of the French website of the European Researchers' Night.

Scientilivre (2011, 2012, 2013, Toulouse, France): Organization of drawed-science workshop involving young researchers, artists and general public. Redaction of a novel on the theme of chemistry.

Novela festival (2011, 2012, 2013, Toulouse, France): Realization and animation of two exposures (“Monde vivant, monde rusé” and “Sociétés animales: survivre seul ou en groupe”). Organization of several events and conferences in the frame of this festival.

Conference presentation

  • Escalas A, Bates C, Wu L, Herman D, Wang Y, Hale L, Myoung-Hwan C, Saha M, Craven K, Pett-Ridge J, Firestone M and Zhou J. Monitoring fluxes of atmospherically-reactive gases (CO2, CH4 and N2O) during the conversion of grasslands into a biofuel crop (Panicum virgatum) (2017). 2017 USDA‐DOE Genomic Science Meeting for Bioenergy program, Washington DC, USA.
  • Wang Y, Nuccio E, Escalas A, Bates C, Barbour, Hale L, Ding N, Estera K, Baker N, Ceja-Navarro J, Arellano A, Brodie E, Northern T, Scheible W, Pett-Ridge J, Saha M, Zhou J, Firestone M and Craven K. Plant-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions mediate switchgrass sustainability: following rhizosphere microbial communities during switchgrass establishment (2017). 2017 USDA‐DOE Genomic Science Meeting for Bioenergy program, Washington DC, USA.
  • NguyenN, Brodie E, Craven K, Escalas A, He Z, Ceja Navarro J, Nuccio E, Pett-Ridge J, Zhou J, Firestone M. (2016). An overview of the switchgrass associated microbes belowground, with mutualistic fungi and soil mesofauna as potential models for sustainable cultivation. 11th annual DOE Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California, USA.
  • EscalasA (2015). Science communication: challenges and practices. 11th meeting Ecology and Behaviour, Toulouse, France.
  • EscalasA (2015). Science communication: challenges and practices. Annual day of SIBAGHE doctoral school, Toulouse, France.
  • Escalas A, Charmantier M, Bouvier C., Grousset E, Roques C, Caro A. (2009). Inter-individual variations in the epibiotic bacterial communities of Sphaeroma serratum (Isopod, Crustacean of the Thau lagoon) in relation with the molting and life cycle. 4thEuropean Conference on Coastal Lagoon, Montpellier, France.
  • Escalas A, Ferraton F, Vidy G, Carcaillet F, Le Loc’h F, Darnaude A M. (2010). Diversity in diet and carbon source during lagoon life in the juveniles of the Mediterranean gilthead seabream Sparus aurata. Intra-specific diversity in aquatic animals, organized by the Society of Experimental Biology, Sète, France.

Research projects involvement

  • 2015-currentEstablishment to senescence: plant-microbe and microbe-microbe interactions mediate switchgrass sustainability

Funded by the American Department Of Energy (DOE); PI: Mary K. Firestone (University of California, Berkeley)

  • 2010-2013BIODIVNEK - Long-term effects of environmental changes on the nekton biodiversity and the functioning of tropical estuary

Funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR); PI: David Mouillot (Montpellier Univ.); 280 000€

  • 2013Effect of nutrient excretion by fishes on diversity and functioning of planktonic microorganisms *

Funded by the ECOSYM laboratory; PI: Sebastien Villeger (CNRS)

  • 2011Functional consequence of gut microbiome modification in fish aquaculture*

Funded by the ECOSYM laboratory; PI: David McKenzie (CNRS)

  • 2010-2012LAGUNEX - Carbon export by lagoonal fish at the sea-continent interface

Funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR); PI: Audrey Darnaude (CNRS); 150 000€

* Projects I contributed to write

Specialized skills

  • Practical
  • Molecular biology: DNA extraction, PCR, DGGE, DNA microarrays, amplicon sequencing
  • Measurement of trace gases fluxes using Cavity Ring Down Spectrometer (Picarro)
  • Data analysis: inferential and multivariate statistics, biodiversity indexes, stable isotope mixing models,
  • R programming: analyze of large datasets, creation of routine and ad hoc functions
  • Microscopy techniques: electronic and epifluorescence microscopy
  • Stable isotope analysis
  • Experimental design, fish rearing techniques and field sampling (aquatic and soil)
  • Office softwares: Microsoft and Linux
  • Theoretical
  • Ecosystem functioning
  • Community ecology
  • Functional ecology
  • Microbial ecology
  • Micro-macro organisms interactions
  • Biology and ecology of organisms
  • Ecophysiology
  • Ecosystemic approach of aquatic exploited resource

Specialized courses

  • Sep. 2012Intervention of researcher in front of young public – 20h

Selected among 100 European PhD students to participate to Science and you conference

  • Jun. 2012Risk prevention and civil aid – 12h

Hygiene and safety; first aid actions

  • Mar. 2012Statistics for genomics – 12h

Inferential statistics for the analysis of genomic datasets

Practical application using R

  • Nov. 2010Bacterial biodiversity and ocean biochemistry – 80h

Method for studying bacterioplankton diversity and structure-function relationship

Ecology and physiology of bacterioplankton

Bacterial biodiversity and biogeochemical cycles

Languages

French: mother tongue

English: fluent

Spanish: good understanding

Collaborators

  • Montpellier University, France

Audrey Caro

David Mouillot

Fabien Le Prieur

  • CNRS Montpellier, France

Thierry Bouvier

Marc Troussellier

Sebastien Villéger

  • Oklahoma University, USA

Jizhong Zhou

Daliang Ning

Colin Bates

Lauren Hale

  • MNHN, France

Maud Mouchet

  • Campeche University, Mexico

Domingo Flores-Hernandez

Julia Ramos-Miranda

  • Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture CENA, Brazil

Accacio Navarrete

  • Samuel Robert Noble Foundation

Kelly Craven

Yuan Wang

ChiMyoung-Hwan

  • University of California at Berkeley

Mary Firestone

Don Herman