His primary areas of study are Ecology, Black spruce, Subarctic climate, Taiga and Tree line. His work on Holocene expands to the thematically related Ecology. His research in Black spruce intersects with topics in Snow, Boreal and Transect. His work deals with themes such as Gene flow, Climate change and Krummholz, which intersect with Subarctic climate. Serge Payette focuses mostly in the field of Krummholz, narrowing it down to matters related to Physical geography and, in some cases, Bay, Permafrost, Dendrochronology, Reforestation and Peat. Serge Payette interconnects Genetic diversity, Macrofossil, Fire ecology, Forest ecology and Logging in the investigation of issues within Taiga.