Lundi 13 octobre 2008 à 11h, Javier Martínez López (Ecology and Hydrology Department. University of Murcia (Spain)) présentera à la Tour du Valat un séminaire intitulé : « Plant Based Ecological Indicators of Semi Arid Wetlands ».
En voici une présentation synthétique en anglais, langue dans laquelle le séminaire sera présenté :
An ongoing PhD Thesis will be presented, which is framed in a project aiming to develop an ecological integrity index for wetland management and conservation in semi arid Mediterranean areas, including the selection of pressure and state indicators at catchment and wetland scale, which reflect the status, condition, and trends of wetland ecosystems. For this purpose GIS methods will be used, together with field sampling of biotic and abiotic parameters. We aim to test the relationships between pressure of anthropogenic activities at catchment scale and ecological status of wetlands based on vegetation, physicochemical and hydrogeomorphological parameters. Particularly, the effects on the wetlands of agricultural land uses (mainly irrigated land areas) at the catchment scale will be studied.
The plant communities addressed are salt steppes, salt marshes and reed beds. Reed bed communities will be tested as an indicator of eutrophication and salinity sinking processes. Habitat fragmentation and aridification processes will also be studied.