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Context

According to the objectives set by the Grenelle de l'Environnement, forest management must harvest more wood while preserving biodiversity, two challenges that are being thwarted by climate change. Moreover, although the forest is growing in France, it is increasingly fragmented by all sorts of infrastructures: this fragmentation is likely to affect the dynamics of biodiversity in time and space.

Challenges

1. Anticipate the consequences on biodiversity of the evolution of forest management, in particular the change of species, the increase in harvested volumes and the shortening of silvicultural cycles.

2. Understand the influence of the present and past landscape on the distribution and dynamics of forest biodiversity, in relation to the Grenelle de l'environnement's green grid.

3. Develop standardised inventory methods, particularly for biodiversity managers and monitoring, and analysis methods adapted to biodiversity data sets.

4. Synthesise and disseminate scientific knowledge on biodiversity-friendly management practices.

Team composition (permanent staff)

Long-term devices

OPTMix
Oak_Pine tree Mixture (study of the sessile oak - Scots pine mixture in temperate lowland forests)

Since 2012, the BIODIV team has been participating in the OPTMix experimental scheme set up by the UR in the Orléans state forest to study the consequences of the composition (sessile oak, Scots pine, mixture), density (number of trees/ha), and the presence of wild ungulates (wild boar, deer, roe deer), on the functioning of the forest (water balance, regeneration, biodiversity, stand growth). Our team is studying more particularly the effects on the diversity of epiphytes (lichens, bryophytes) and soil flora (vascular plants and bryophytes).

RENECOFOR
National Network for Long-Term Monitoring of Forest Ecosystems

Since 1992, the Office National des Forêts has been coordinating the long-term monitoring of forest ecosystems in the RENECOFOR network, which is the French part of a set of permanent forest ecosystem monitoring sites in 34 European countries. The aim is to detect possible long-term changes in the functioning of a wide variety of forest ecosystems and to better understand the reasons for these changes. Since 2008, the impact of climate change and biodiversity have been added to the questions on the impact of air pollution. The EFNO unit is involved in this monitoring by participating in the acquisition of botanical surveys, the improvement of survey protocols (study of operator effects) and the valorisation of data.

Transfer and expertise

Expertise CRREF
Clearcutting and Renewal of Forest Stands
01/03/2021 - 30/04/2022
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Expertise and reflection on forest biodiversity indicators and monitoring
Since 1997…
For several years, the team has been working on improving forest biodiversity monitoring systems and indicators, through dedicated projects (e.g. Passifor2, Scientific Support to the ONB), on the fringes of other projects or by participating in ministerial working groups for sustainable forest management indicators. Scientific support to the National Biodiversity Observatory concerns both forest biodiversity indicators and expertise work - particularly methodological - on the entire ONB. It leads us and will lead us to co-construct new biodiversity indicators with partners.