Thomas Galewski

Department: Mediterranean Wetlands Observatory

Contact: e-mail | +33 (0)4 90 97 29 78

Joined our team: April 2008

Profile: Research Gate

Research interests and expertise

I am attempting to assess the conservation status of the biodiversity associated with Mediterranean wetlands.

Using different means – Red Lists, censuses, expert opinions, and specialised literature– I try to chart the changes that have occurred over time in communities of species. The various anthropogenic pressures, such as habitat loss, climate disorders, as well as hunting leave a signature on the communities. On the contrary, designating protected areas or forbidding the harvesting of plants and animals are supposed to have a positive impact on these same communities. Measuring changes makes it possible to prioritise the threats that have a negative impact on biodiversity, and to evaluate whether the conservation actions undertaken are effective.

Since my research targets decision-makers in the first place, the results of my studies are generally presented in the form of indicators such as the Living Planet Index, Red List Index, Community Temperature Index, and Ecosystem Resilience Index.

My evaluation work concerns all wetland-dependent species regardless of their taxonomic group; however, birds are group on which I focus the most, in particular, because it is the group whose biology and demographic trends are best known.

See Thomas Galewski’s CV

Current and past projects conducted at the Tour du Valat

Education

• Post-doctoral fellowships at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens (London) and Imperial College, (London)
• PhD Molecular Phylogeny, Institut des sciences de l’évolution, Montpellier
• MSc Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, University of Montpellier and Montpellier SupAgro

Supervision of students

• Élie Gaget (2015-2018), PhD Ecology, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris
• Marianne Bernard (2015), Master 2 Ecology, Biodiversity, and Evolution, University of Paris 6
• Thibaud Gravez (2015), Master 2 Biology, Health, and Ecology, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris
• Hugo Touzé (2013), Master 2 Ecological Engineering and Biodiversity Management, University of Montpellier
• Camille Treilhes (2012), Master 2 Ecology, Biodiversity, and Evolution, University of Paris 6
• Nastassja Korichi (2011), Master 2 Ecology, Biodiversity, and Evolution, University of Paris 6
• Karsten Schmale (2010), Master 2 Biology, Health, and Ecology, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris

Publications

Find below the most recent publications of Thomas Galewski, or see the full list on the Tour du Valat’s documentary web portal:

• Assessing the effectiveness of the Ramsar Convention in preserving wintering waterbirds in the Mediterranean
  de Elie Gaget, I. Le Viol, D. Pavón-Jordán, V. Cazalis, C. Kerbiriou, Frédéric Jiguet, Nadège Popoff, Laura Dami, Jean-Yves Mondain-monval, Pierre Defos du Rau, et al. In Biological Conservation, 243 (March, 2020), 108485 En ligne : www.sciencedirect.com[...] Although biological conservation is based on international agreements, its effectiveness depends ... read more
• Antagonistic effect of natural habitat conversion on community adjustment to climate warming in nonbreeding waterbirds
  de Elie Gaget, Thomas Galewski, Frédéric Jiguet, Anis Guelmami, Christian Perennou, Coralie Beltrame, Isabelle Le Viol In Conservation Biology, Online (December, 2019) En ligne : conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com[...] While the impacts of climate and land use changes on biodiversity have been widely documented, their joint effects remain poorly understood. We ... read more
• Estimating biodiversity changes in the Camargue wetlands: An expert knowledge approach
  de Sara Fraixedas, Thomas Galewski, Sofia Ribeiro-Lopes, Jonathan Loh, Jacques Blondel, Hugo Fontes, Patrick Grillas, Philippe Lambret, Delphine Nicolas, Anthony Olivier, et al. In PLOS ONE, 14:10 (24 oct. 2019), e0224235 En ligne : journals.plos.org[...] Mediterranean wetlands are critical strongholds for biodiversity and the provision of ecosystem functions ... read more
• L’état des zones humides dans le monde et en Méditerranée
  de Christian Perennou, Laurent Chazee, Thomas Galewski, Ilse Geijzendorffer, Anis Guelmami In Zones Humides Infos, 97-98 (Eté 2019), 20-21 ... read more
• Développement d’un indice en Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
  de Thomas Galewski In Courrier de la Nature (Le), NS (Juillet 2019), 51-53 ... read more
• A More Effective Ramsar Convention for the Conservation of Mediterranean Wetlands
  de Ilse R. Geijzendorffer, Coralie Beltrame, Laurent Chazee, Elie Gaget, Thomas Galewski, Anis Guelmami, Christian Perennou, Nadège Popoff, Carlos A. Guerra, Roxanne Leberger, et al. In Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 7 (February, 2019) En ligne : www.frontiersin.org[...] The Ramsar Convention is the multilateral agreement aimed at protecting ... read more
• Context-dependent conservation of the cavity-nesting European Roller
  de Tom Finch, Claire Branston, Harriet Clewlow, Jamie Dunning, Aldina M. A. Franco, Edmunds Račinskis, Timothée Schwartz, Simon J. Butler In Ibis, 161(3) (July 2018), 1-17 En ligne : onlinelibrary.wiley.com[...] To maximize the effectiveness of conservation interventions, it is crucial to have an understanding of how intraspecific variation ... read more
• Waterbird communities adjust to climate warming according to conservation policy and species protection status
  de Elie Gaget, Thomas Galewski, Frédéric Jiguet, Isabelle Le Viol In Biological Conservation, 227 (November, 2018), 205-212 En ligne : www.sciencedirect.com[...] Climate change is one of the strongest biodiversity threats. Worse still, the impact of multiple anthropic stressors on species dynamics could complicate adaptation to temperature increase. International ... read more
• Long-term trends in the abundance of Mediterranean wetland vertebrates: From global recovery to localized declines
  de Thomas Galewski, Ben Collen, Louise McRae, Jonathan Loh, Patrick Grillas, Michel Gauthier-Clerc, Vincent Devictor In Biological Conservation, 144:5 (MAY 2011), 1392-1399 Biodiversity loss is unevenly distributed in space and time. Species have reached critically low population sizes in some areas, and remain abundant in others. Similarly, some ... read more
• When Common Birds Became Rare: Historical Records Shed Light on Long-Term Responses of Bird Communities to Global Change in the Largest Wetland of France
  de Thomas Galewski, Vincent Devictor In PLOS ONE, 11 (Nov. 2016), 1-18 En ligne : journals.plos.org[...] Many species have suffered large population declines due to the anthropogenic influence on ecosystems. Understanding historical population trends is essential for informing best efforts to preserve species. We propose a new method ... read more