Lecture "Journey to the heart of the lakes and mud in search of the origins of Alpine farmers"

Since when have shepherds and their flocks roamed the mountains, environments that may seem so harsh to us in our daily lives? Have they always wandered through these alpine grassland landscapes known as “alpine pastures,” which may seem unchanging to you? How have these Alpine farmers adapted and exploited or managed their environment?

These questions have motivated my research for over 20 years. To answer them, I study sediments—the silt that settles at the bottom of lakes over time. These deposits are veritable natural archives that tell the story of the environment and climate, but also of humans and their activities, particularly agriculture and pastoralism. DNA analysis, the identity card of living organisms, is a valuable tool for tracing the evolution of these human activities. To find out more, come and listen to the lecture!

Charline Giguet-Covex is a CNRS research fellow at the EDYTEM (Environnement DYnamique et TErritoire de Montagne) laboratory at the University of Savoie Mont Blanc.

After completing a thesis on lake sediments in the Northern Alps (Le Bourget, Anterne), Charline became a specialist in DNA recording in lake sediments. She is particularly interested in the ability of this DNA signal to reveal the functioning of mountain agro-ecosystems.