{"id":46282,"date":"2025-06-12T13:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T11:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/?p=46282"},"modified":"2025-06-24T10:49:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T08:49:35","slug":"a-crowdfunding-campaign-to-support-a-dragonfly-the-dark-spreadwing-lestes-macrostigma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/actualites-en\/a-crowdfunding-campaign-to-support-a-dragonfly-the-dark-spreadwing-lestes-macrostigma\/","title":{"rendered":"A crowdfunding campaign to support a Dragonfly: the Dark Spreadwing (Lestes macrostigma)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A project led by Tour du Valat, aiming to restore a temporary brackish pond in the Camargue\u2014a key habitat for the survival of the rare and threatened Lestes macrostigma<\/em>\u2014has been selected by the new crowdfunding platform \u201cFlamingo.eco.\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Flamingo,<\/strong> <\/a>a new crowdfunding platform dedicated to the conservation and restoration of wetlands, has just launched! This initiative seeks to raise awareness of these ecosystems while giving the public a chance to support concrete, high-impact environmental projects. The first project chosen by the platform is led by Philippe Lambret<\/strong>, project leader for dragonfly conservation at Tour du Valat<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Get involved in the conservation of Lestes macrostigma<\/em> by joining Flamingo\u2019s upcoming crowdfunding campaign<\/h3>\n

In the Camargue, the dragonfly Lestes macrostigma<\/em> is now considered vulnerable. This heritage species relies on a very specific habitat: temporary brackish ponds<\/strong>. These dynamic wetlands, which naturally dry up in summer, are often mistakenly seen as degraded or lacking ecological value. As a result, many have been destroyed, along with the unique biodiversity they support.<\/p>\n

To help preserve Lestes macrostigma<\/em>, Tour du Valat is leading a restoration project for a temporary brackish pond at the Mas Neuf site, north of the Vaccar\u00e8s lagoon. The goal is to recreate the ecological conditions needed for the species to reproduce<\/strong>, by restoring both its habitat<\/strong> and the plant<\/strong> it uses to lay its eggs: the sea club-rush (Bolboschoenus maritimus<\/em>).<\/p>\n

What specific actions will your support enable?<\/h3>\n

Act 1 \u2013 Rebuilding the Plant Habitat (2026\u20132027)<\/strong><\/p>\n

In spring 2026, sea club-rush bulbs will be transplanted into the target pond. Scientific monitoring will track the plant\u2019s establishment, growth, and spread.<\/p>\n

Act 2 \u2013 Reintroduction of Lestes macrostigma<\/em> (2027\u20132029)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once the vegetation is well established, stems containing L. macrostigma<\/em> eggs will be introduced into the pond. Monitoring will focus on larval emergence, adult egg-laying behavior, and the initiation of a natural reproduction cycle to assess the success of the reintroduction.<\/p>\n

Act 3 \u2013 Transfer and expansion (starting in 2029)<\/strong><\/p>\n

If successful, the method will be replicated at other sites across the Provence-Alpes-C\u00f4te d\u2019Azur and Occitanie regions. The goal is also to evaluate whether this restoration protocol can be applied on a broader scale.<\/p>\n

Act 4 \u2013 Knowledge Sharing and dissemination (2030)<\/strong><\/p>\n

All results will be compiled into a technical guide for conservation management<\/strong>, co-written with partners of the Plan National d\u2019Actions en faveur des libellules<\/span><\/b><\/a>. This reference document is intended to assist other managers of natural areas in similar efforts to restore and reintroduce dragonfly populations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udc49 Want to be part of the adventure?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Support the Flamingo crowdfunding campaign and help Tour du Valat bring this ecological restoration project to life!<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udce9 Sign up now<\/strong> to be notified when the campaign launches:
https:\/\/flamingo.eco\/pre-inscription\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Restoration project led by: <\/strong><\/h4>\n

Philippe Lambret<\/a>, Project Leader Odonata Conservation at Tour du Valat<\/p>\n

Hugo Font\u00e8s<\/a>, Research Engineer in Plant Ecology at Tour du Valat<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A project led by Tour du Valat, aiming to restore a temporary brackish pond in the Camargue\u2014a key habitat for the survival of the rare and threatened Lestes macrostigma\u2014has been selected by the new crowdfunding platform \u201cFlamingo.eco.\u201d Flamingo, a new crowdfunding platform dedicated to the conservation and restoration of wetlands, has just launched! This initiative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":332,"featured_media":14799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[384],"tags":[29,271],"class_list":["post-46282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualites-en","tag-camargue-en","tag-zones-humides-en","country-camargue-en","country-mediterranean"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/332"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46282"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46289,"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46282\/revisions\/46289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tourduvalat.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}