Riwan Leroux, post-doc fellow, UMR BEEP (Brest, France)

Riwan Leroux is a researcher in aquatic ecology with a post-doc position at the Deep-Sea laboratory (LEP, Brittany). He works with Marjolaine Matabos and Jozée Sarrazin on evaluating the impact of research activities on hydrothermal vent fields. After a PhD in Canada, where he worked in trophic ecology and specialized in big data analysis, he chose the deep sea to unravel the impact of human activities in these remote areas. The PROTECT project, standing for “impact indicators in a deeP-sea maRine prOtecTed arEa and reCommendations for managemenT”, aims at (1) map and evaluate the intensity of scientific activities on the Lucky Strike (LS) vent field over two decades; (2) assess the effects of research activities on LS ecosystems and the cascading impacts from biodiversity to ecosystem services; (3) propose indicators of impacts to be included in management plans and (4) bring citizen science into environmental monitoring to increase research capacity and co-construct management strategies. This project will contribute to several planned projects including SARGADOM (FFEM, PI D Bailly) in support to BBNJ treaty and two projects on the conservation and restoration of deep-sea ecosystems in the context of mining: DEEPREST (Biodiversa, PI J Sarrazin) and the LIFE-DEEPER (PPR, PI MA Cambon).