From 19 to 22 September, RIVOC [1] organised the 2023 edition of the Biodiversity and Vectors Summer School at the Tour du Valat, which brought together 18 participants from 5 countries (France, Burkina Faso,Ivory Coast, Spain and Tunisia).
[2]After an opening address by Marion Vittecoq [3], who presented the Tour du Valat and its activities, emphasising the importance of the link between biodiversity and vectors, the summer school began with a lecture by Simon Blanchet [4] (CNRS, deputy director of the theoretical and experimental ecology station at Moulis [5]) on “The links between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: a genomic perspective“.
A total of 5 lectures were given:
- Overview of biodiversity within vector-plant relationships (M. Uzest et N. Sauvion, INRAE)
- What are the links between climate change and vertebrate vectorial diseases? From the simple to the complex (D. Fontenille, IRD)
- Ticks and their microbiota (T. Pollet, INRAE)
- Medical and applied malacology: understanding the diversity of snails – trematode interactions and their associated riks (A. Vazquez et O. Rey, Université de Perpignan)
- Culicidae in the Camargue, study and capture methods (J.-B. Ferré, EID Méditerranée)
Field visits were organised, with the setting of various traps to catch mosquitoes and the collection of molluscs in a small pond near the Tour du Valat. Practical work was then carried out to enable participants to familiarise themselves with the identification of vertebrate and plant arthropods (insects and ticks).
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After several intense days, the participants left very satisfied. The organisers are already planning a 4th edition in 2024.