Seminar "Alluvial biodiversity in the Loire 2021 catchment area: functioning, dynamics and monitoring".

21 – 22 October 2021

University of Tours, 2 Lions campus, MSH Val de Loire, Tours

Seminar Objectives :

This seminar is intended for members of the scientific community working on the biodiversity of aquatic and alluvial environments in the Loire catchment area, as well as for managers of these environments, in order to:

1. To review research work carried out on the biodiversity and functioning of the Loire hydrosystem and its alluvial environments since the seminar "Loire Biodiversity" organised by the Zone Atelier Loire and the Federation of Nature Conservation Centres (FCEN) in June 2018.
2. Progress towards regular and coordinated monitoring of alluvial habitats and their biodiversity

The seminar will pay particular attention to observations made during monitoring activities and interactions between the biotic and abiotic compartments across a wide range of spatio-temporal scales. The event is part of the activities of the Loire Biodiversity Observation Network (OBLA) of the Loire Atelier Zone (ZAL) in partnership with the FCEN. It will promote knowledge sharing on the functioning of alluvial environments and their biodiversity throughout the Loire basin.

Event organisation :

The seminar will open on the afternoon of Thursday, 21 October with a field trip to the "Rives de Beaugency" site, a site managed by the CEN Centre and a testing ground for a biodiversity monitoring protocol for alluvial habitats within the framework of the Zone Atelier Loire (BPO Loire project). The site is characterised by the presence of a particularly wide range of alluvial environments (meadows, softwoods and hardwoods forests, old oxbow lakes with varying degrees of connectivity). Various management and restoration experiments (grasslands, oxbow lakes) are carried out there. 

The 22nd of October will be dedicated to scientific communications and researcher-manager workshops:  

• The communications sessions will successively concern (i) The restitution of the BPO Loire project results(testing a 3-year monitoring protocol) and other scientific monitoring results, (ii) research and management feedback on the operation of alluvial environments and organism-environment interactionsand (iii) the Structures and dynamics of populations and communities. 
• The workshops will focus on reflections regarding the analysis of biodiversity and Loire habitat data, knowledge sharing, and dissemination. These reflections will encompass data from both research projects and data collected by alluvial habitat managers. 

Programme :

Thursday 21st October: Field trip (afternoon) "Rives de Beaugency". Carpooling will be organised.

Friday 22 October:

Communication sessions

• Session I: Floodplain Monitoring Experiences  
• Session II: Functioning of alluvial ecosystems (organism-environment interactions, indicators of functioning and quality)
• Session III Structure and dynamics of populations and communities

Workshops:

• Workshop A: How to process and value tracking data? Approaches, tools and challenges
• Workshop B: How to structure knowledge on the biodiversity of the Loire region? Ideas for a resource centre.

The registration details will be communicated to you very shortly.