​The ecologist Sandra Lavorel, awardee of the 2020 Margalef Ecology Prize

Dr. Sandra Lavorel has been the recipient of the 16th edition of the Ramon Margalef Award (2020), which recognizes scientists who have distinguished themselves exceptionally in the field of Ecology. Dr. Lavorel’s candidature for this prestigious award was proposed by the SIBECOL, AEET, AIL, SEEE and SPECO associations. The proposal adduced her important contribution linking community ecology and landscape ecology and the jury highlighted that her figure "represents one of the best combinations between the biological sciences and the social sciences."
 
Dr. Sandra Lavorel is a Research Professor at the Laboratoire d'Écologie Alpine (Grenoble, France). She obtained a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in 1991 and has pioneered trait-based approaches in functional ecology, first in plants and then across trophic levels, being co-founder of the world's first and largest database of plant functional plant traits worldwide (TRY - Plant Trait Database). She has focused her research on linking global change impacts on biodiversity to changes in ecosystem functioning. She has been at the forefront of the development of new conceptual and methodological tools to address questions ranging from disturbance responses to biodiversity effects on ecosystem functioning. Importantly, she has contributed to the development and implementation of the concept of ‘ecosystem services’, which is now applied to any kind of ecosystem. Dr. Lavorel is strongly committed to the transfer of ecological knowledge to policy and management decision makers, by contributing to national and international panels dedicated to biodiversity and ecosystem assessments, such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment and the International Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).

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