Biodiversité des pollinisateurs dans les cannebergières : effets des pratiques culturales, du type de sol et de l'habitat naturel

Les pollinisateurs indigènes sont importants pour la production de canneberges. Ils sont pourtant menacés par les pratiques agricoles qui s’intensifient. Pour établir un plan de conservation efficace, une meilleure connaissance des facteurs intrinsèques aux exploitations est essentielle. L’objectif principal de cette étude était de déterminer la diversité et abondance des abeilles et syrphes retrouvées en cannebergières. Quinze fermes ont été échantillonnées selon la régie de culture, le type de sol et le type d’habitat naturel retrouvé près des cannebergières. Des pièges-bols disposés en transect ainsi que l’utilisation de filet entomologique ont été utilisés pour échantillonner les pollinisateurs. Au total, 135 espèces de pollinisateurs indigènes ont été capturées en 2013 et 2014. Le type de sol ainsi que l’habitat naturel influençaient les communautés de pollinisateurs, alors que la régie de culture ne les affectait pas. L’abeille Melitta americana, spécialiste du pollen de canneberge, a été capturée plus souvent dans les tourbières.

Restoration ecology of coastal lagoons: new methods for the prediction of ecological trajectories and economic valuation

Conservation of the seven lagoons of the Palavas complex (southern France) has been severely impaired by nutrient over-enrichment during at least four decades. The effluents of the Montpellier wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) represented the main nutrient input. To improve the water quality of these lagoons, this WWTP was renovated and upgraded and, since the end of 2005, its effluents have been discharged 11 km offshore into the Mediterranean (total investment €150 M). Possibilities of ecosystem restoration as part of a conservation programme were explored by a focus group of experts. Their tasks were: (i) to evaluate the impact of the reduction of the nutrient input; (ii) if necessary, to design additional measures for an active restoration programme; and (iii) to predict ecosystem trajectories for the different cases. Extension of Magnoliophyta meadows can be taken as a proxy for ecosystem restoration as they favour the increase of several fish (seahorse) and bird (ducks, swans, herons) species, albeit they represent a trade-off for greater flamingos. Additional measures for active ecosystem restoration were only recommended for the most impaired lagoon Méjean, while the least impaired lagoon Ingril is already on a trajectory of spontaneous recovery. A multiple contingent valuation considering four different management options for the Méjean lagoon was used in a pilot study based on face-to-face interviews with 159 respondents. Three levels of ecosystem restoration were expressed in terms of recovery of Magnoliophyta meadows, including their impact on emblematic fish and avifauna. These were combined with different options for access (status quo, increasing access, increasing access with measures to reduce disturbance). The results show a willingness of local populations to pay per year about €25 for the highest level of ecological restoration, while they were only willing to allocate about €5 for additional footpaths and hides.

Evolución del paisaje y aprovechamientos económicos en la falda de la sierra cordobesa (Siglos XIII-XV)

La falda de la sierra cordobesa forma un espacio unitario íntimamente conectado geográfica, emocional y económicamente con la ciudad. En este espacio se sitúan elementos históricos tan importantes como el heredamiento de la Albaida o, sobre todo, la dehesa de Córdoba la Vieja, que recibe este nombre por encontrarse en su interior las ruinas de la antigua ciudad omeya de Madinat al-Zahra. Tradicionalmente se ha presentado este espacio como una amplia dehesa dedicada a la ganadería extensiva. Sin embargo, un estudio más detallado de las fuentes documentales disponibles nos muestra un paisaje diversificado en el que, junto con los pastos para el ganado, abundan olivares, viñas y huertas que fueron fundamentales para el abastecimiento de los mercados de la ciudad de Córdoba durante la Baja Edad Media.

Large-scale prediction of seagrass distribution: the case of Cymodocea nodosa (Mediterranean-Atlantic)

Understanding the factors that affect seagrass meadows encompassing their entire range of distribution is challenging yet important for their conservation. We model the environmental niche of Cymodocea nodosa using a combination of environmental variables and landscape metrics to examine factors defining its distribution and find suitable habitats for the species. The most relevant environmental variables defining the distribution of C. nodosa were sea surface temperature (SST) and salinity. We found suitable habitats at SST from 5.8 ºC to 26.4 ºC and salinity ranging from 17.5 to 39.3. Optimal values of mean winter wave height ranged between 1.2 m and 1.5 m, while waves higher than 2.5 m seemed to limit the presence of the species. The influence of nutrients and pH, despite having weight on the models, was not so clear in terms of ranges that confine the distribution of the species. Landscape metrics able to capture variation in the coastline enhanced significantly the accuracy of the models, despite the limitations caused by the scale of the study. By contrasting predictive approaches, we defined the variables affecting the distributional areas that seem unsuitable for C. nodosa as well as those suitable habitats not occupied by the species. These findings are encouraging for its use in future studies on climate-related marine range shifts and meadow restoration projects of these fragile ecosystems.