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:

• Increased microclimatic variation in artificial nests does not create ecological traps for a secondary cavity breeder, the European roller
  de Timothée Schwartz, Arnaud Genouville, Aurélien Besnard In Ecology and Evolution, 10(24) (December, 2020), 13649-13663 En ligne : onlinelibrary.wiley.com[...] Artificial devices are increasingly used in conservation measures to mitigate the disappearance of natural habitats. However, few studies have demonstrated their benefits for the target species, and they may ... read more
• Les dispositifs artificiels au service de la restauration et de la compensation écologique : de l’évaluation du risque de piège écologique aux recommandations de bonnes pratiques (2020)
  de Timothée Schwartz Paris : Université Paris sciences et lettres, 2020, 308 En ligne : www.theses.fr[...] Les activités humaines sont à l'origine des changements environnementaux actuels et de la crise d'extinction d'espèces qui en découle. Pour y faire face, de nombreuses politiques publiques de protection de la nature ont été mises en ... read more
• Geographic variation in body size among French populations of the European pond turtle
  de Fabien Mignet, Jean-Yves Barnagaud, Laurent Barthe, Albert Bertolero, Valerie Bosc, Florine Escot, Romain Fleuriau, Laurent Joubert, André Joyeux, Damien Lerat, et al. In Amphibia-Reptilia, Online (October, 2020), 1-11 En ligne : brill.com[...] The processes underlying macroecological gradients in body size are widely debated, in part because their ... read more
• Past and future climate-driven shifts in the distribution of a warm-adapted bird species, the European Roller Coracias garrulus
  de Orsolya Kiss, Ines Catry, Jesus M. Aviles, Sanja Barisic, Tatiana Kuzmenko, Svilen Cheshmedzhiev, Ana Teresa Marques, Angelo Meschini, Timothée Schwartz, Béla Tokody, et al. In Bird Study, Online (July, 2020), 1-17 En ligne : www.tandfonline.com[...] We used MaxEnt for species distribution modelling based on the reconstructed distribution ... read more
• Solution locale contre menace globale ?
  de Elie Gaget, Thomas Galewski In Espaces naturels, 71 (Juillet-Septembre 2020), 46-47 ... read more
• Les oiseaux d’eau en Méditerranée. Mesurer leur réponse au changement climatique
  de Elie Gaget, Thomas Galewski In Courrier de la Nature (Le), 323 (Juillet-Août 2020), 34-39 ... read more
• Mediterranean wetland conservation in the context of climate and land cover change
  de Roxanne Leberger, Ilse R. Geijzendorffer, Elie Gaget, Anis Gwelmami, Thomas Galewski, Henrique M. Pereira, Carlos A. Guerra In Regional Environmental Change, 20(2) (6/2020), 67 En ligne : link.springer.com[...] Wetlands are known to support diverse and unique species assemblages. Globally, but particularly in the Mediterranean basin, they are ... read more
• 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