Marie Finocchiaro

Interests

 My research focuses on the responses of plant populations and communities to global changes. I am particularly interested in the links between landscape heterogeneity, microclimates, and the distribution of plants in space and time. My work emphasizes the importance of considering microclimatic scales to assess the vulnerability and persistence of plant populations.

Present    Postdoc at the Institute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences (from October 1^rst 2024 – until December 2025). This position aims to explore the temporal dynamics of microclimates in temperate forests, leveraging historical datasets and long-term continuous measurements of microclimates and vegetation. By combining these data with mechanistic modeling of microclimates, the project seeks to understand how forest plant communities respond to micro- and macroclimatic variations in the context of global warming.

2020-2024        PhD in Environmental Sciences, specializing in Ecology, at Aix-Marseille University (France), Mediterranean Institute of Biodiversity and Ecology (Marseille).Title: Microclimates and Plant Persistence in the Face of Global Warming: Understanding the Functioning of Microrefugia in the Mediterranean Region. This dissertation explores the role of microrefugia in the persistence of plant species under current climate change in the Mediterranean region of southeastern France. Its findings shed light on their microclimatic and floristic characteristics and their potential for plant conservation in the face of climate change. By combining modeling, microclimatic analyses, and field observations, it highlights the importance of microclimatic scales in understanding the vulnerability of plant communities to ongoing warming.

Publications

Finocchiaro, M., Médail, F., Saatkamp, A., Diadema, K., Pavon, D., & Meineri, E. (2023). Bridging the gap between microclimate and microrefugia: a bottom-up approach reveals strong climatic and biological offsets. Global Change Biology, 29(4), 1024–1036. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16526

Saatkamp, A., Argagnon, O., Noble, V., Finocchiaro, M., & Meineri, E. (2023). Climate change impacts on Mediterranean vegetation are amplified at low altitudes. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 32(7), 1113–1126. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13682

Finocchiaro, M., Médail, F., Saatkamp, A., Diadema, K., Pavon, D., Brousset, L., & Meineri, E. (2024). Microrefugia and microclimate: unraveling decoupling potential and resistance to heatwaves. Science of The Total Environment, 924:171696. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171696