TOUR DU VALAT
A research centre for the conservation of Mediterranean wetlands
Programs
Global change and species dynamics
Select a project :
Mediterranean wetlands are hotspots of biodiversity in the world. Unpredictability and disturbance events are factors that contributed to evolutionarily shape Mediterranean ecosystems and communities. Their species and habitats are subject to climatic unpredictability (summer drought and winter severity) and unpredictable disturbances generated by management practices (water level variation, grazing, cutting, and burning).
Global changes, including climatic warming, sea level rise and direct anthropic impacts, will probably induce important modifications of the Mediterranean wetlands during the following decades. Animal and plant populations already face several difficult challenges: decrease of the surface area of wetlands, changes in their functioning, pollutions, exploitations, competition or predation by invasive species. The conservation of these populations relies on a better understanding of demographic processes and their interactions with natural and anthropogenic factors and the implementation of management measures.
The main scientific issue in this programme is the understanding of the responses of populations to environmental variability, including anthropogenic constraints such as exploitation, and the limits to these responses.
The choice of species targeted in the programme is based on their key role in the functioning and conservation strategy of Mediterranean wetlands. Threatened species and exploited species are historically the main focus of the Tour du Valat. Parasite species are a major emergent challenge.