[9] Following the foundation of the INRA Antilles-Guyane in 1949, he worked on the control of soil erosion, the characterization and conservation of local plant resources, and the improvement of farming practices in several cropping systems (vanilla, coffee, cassava, forage legumes).

[10] Stehlé realized numerous studies in the Caribbean, Central and South America, and represented the INRA in several FAO sessions as specialist in tropical agriculture.

[12] During his agronomic training Stehlé was greatly influenced by Georges Kuhnholtz-Lordat,[12] who was one of the founder of the Phytogeography in France and developed a robust ecological approach to the study of forest lands.

[14] Lucien Degras, Stehlé's successor in 1964 at the INRA Plant Improvement Station, pointed out that this publication highlights a key issue in Sthele's studies:  the link between botany, ecology and phytosociology.

[13] In his agronomic works of the 1940s and 1950s, Stehlé continued to apply an ecological approach to analyze the relationships between the functioning of species of food interest, their pedoclimatic environment, and the farming practices aimed to prevent soil degradation.