Antoine Dolez in Land & works 2021/1, no. 38, pp. 71-94.
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Summary
This article looks at how climate change is changing French forestry research. Historically structured around two communities - silviculture and ecology - forestry research is now, under the aegis of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), moving towards the development of models that anticipate the dynamics of forests in future climates. This modelling imperative is being driven by new players - statisticians and modellers - whose complex models are playing a central role in the organisation and funding of research, and are overturning the areas of expertise of forestry research communities. In order to preserve their jurisdiction, the silvicultural and ecological communities are criticising the scientific relevance of these models for shedding light on the evolution of forests up to the year 2100. They are therefore seeking to impose a different research agenda: a return to the field, to experimentation and to old data. 
This article shows how the status of modelling and the nature of modelling practices can become a decisive demarcation issue between competing research communities.