Pathfinder projects

Pastoralism is subject of diverse societal expectations that combines the production of food and the control of ecological dynamics contributing to the sustainability of social-ecological systems in Mediterranean regions. However, pastoralism currently undergoes considerable pressure, raising the question of its future forms and relationships with other activities in the region, particularly in the context of territorial restructuring (shift towards a residential and tourist economy, forest expansion, climate change, etc.).

Groundwater systems are critical ecosystems comprising both some of the rarest habitats on the planet and aquatic invertebrates specifically adapted to these environments, named stygobitic fauna. This fauna interacts more or less with surface ecosystems depending hydrogeological conditions. While they are certainly impacted by the effects of human activities and the global change like surface ecosystems, taxonomic and ecological knowledge of the environments and their fauna is extremely dispersed in France and around the world. They are not part of any management or conservation plan.

Numerous empirical studies have documented the link between landscape structure and biodiversity, providing concrete guidelines for the ecological intensification of agricultural landscapes. However, they are based on ecological processes that are still poorly understood, and which shape the response of organisms to the multiplication of anthropogenic ecotones. Among these processes, the movement of organisms (foraging, dispersal, spill-over) and their habitat preferences play a central role. Quantifying these processes would enable us to better predict the effects of landscape and ecological infrastructures (hedges, grass strips).

The FARMSOUND project aims at (1) federating a scientific network for monitoring rural acoustic landscapes in France and their acoustic biodiversity; (2) jointly analyzing the factors determining their acoustic diversity and the composition of acoustic bird communities; (3) proposing socio-ecological indicators of the cultural value of soundscapes and their acoustic diversity. FARMSOUND will test the hypothesis of positive responses of acoustic biodiversity to the level of landscape naturalness and diversity of agricultural management intensity, and in particular to the current and historical amount and configuration of permanent grasslands and the proportion of organically farmed plots at the landscape scale.

Dendromicrohabitats (DMHs) are morphological singularities on trees that have multiple functional roles in the life cycle of many species: shelter, feeding, reproduction... However, few studies have examined the links between DMHs and the communities they host. Project VERTYGE focuses on these functions within mountain epiphytic DMHs (ivy, bryophyte, lichen) distributed along an altitudinal gradient and along the vertical position in the tree.

For several decades, changes in European agriculture, including both intensification and abandonment depending on the geographical context, have been partly responsible for a significant change in biodiversity, with bird populations particularly affected. The bird species most affected are those dependent on agricultural environments, with an overall loss of 48% in European numbers over the last 30 years. However few studies have quantified the decline or maintenance of this biodiversity in agricultural environments, depending on changes in cropping systems and the landscape context (the composition and configuration of the landscape).

The erosion of biodiversity is no longer in doubt, with intensive agriculture highlighted as the primary factor in this decline. The preservation/restoration of biodiversity is a central issue for many stakeholders (naturalist associations, public authorities, agricultural players, etc.). Beyond the desire to act, a major question arises: how can we achieve ambitious biodiversity objectives when the issue of biodiversity conservation is not shared? What approaches, tools and knowledge do we need to develop to enable biodiversity to become an issue for all stakeholders in the agricultural supply chain, in the same way as food/feed production?

Public environmental policies are taking the form of increasingly diverse and sophisticated contractualisation tools, most of which have a direct or indirect impact on land ownership rights, which need to be documented empirically, with particular emphasis on practices that have an impact on farming. The empirical research carried out on these forms of contractualisation all point to both the flexibility of these legal practices and the fact that their long-term survival depends on specific land management and a solid diagnosis of the specifications.

Sheep grazing is a nature-based solution for maintaining natural heritage habitats. The banks of the Loire River are grazed to keep the landscape open. The DispersaL project will study the effects of this practice on the spatial and temporal dynamics of flora along the grazed banks of the Loire. In particular, it will study how herds transport seeds along their grazing routes.

The shift toward sustainable and resilient farming systems, combining biodiversity conservation and enhanced ecosystem services, is crucial. To achieve the transition toward such multifunctional systems, there is a need to identify at which spatial scales (field, farm, landscape) agroecological management practices should be implemented by farmers to optimise socioeconomic and environmental performances of cropping systems. We also need to identify the conditions which enhance or impede the changes in practices by farmers, in relationships with decisions and available resources of farmers at farm level, and well as with external drivers (market, sectors, public policies).