[Call for proposals FRB-MTE-OFB 2021] Eight projects selected within the call “Impacts on terrestrial biodiversity in the Anthropocene”

As part of the implementation of the national “terrestrial biodiversity monitoring” programme carried out by the French Biodiversity Office (OFB), which aims to measure, identify and monitor the influence of human activities on biodiversity and the best practices to be promoted, the Ministry of Ecological Transition (MTE) and the French Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB) launched a call for research projects on the “Impacts on terrestrial biodiversity in the Anthropocene“. 

Three types of projects are funded by this 2021-call:

SYNTHESIS PROJECTS

• ACOUCENE, led by Jean-Yves BARNAGAUD (EPHE, France) and Solène CROCI (CNRS, France) – Towards a silent spring? Modeling and projecting the impacts of the Anthropocene on soundscapes with birds as an acoustic ecological indicator
• IMPACTS, led by Wilfried THUILLER (CNRS, France) and Franziska SCHRODT (University of Nottingham, United Kingdom) – French biodiversity in the Anthropocene – impacts and drivers of spatial and temporal response
• LANDWORM, led by Daniel CLUZEAU (University of Rennes, France) and Céline PELOSI (INRAE, France) – Impact of Land use and management on earthworm communities
• SPATMAN, led by Isabelle BOULANGEAT (INRAE, France) and Mohamed HILAL (INRAE, France) – What role for the spatial organisation of human societies to modulate their pressures on biodiversity?

These 3-years projects will develop syntheses of ideas and/or concepts, analyses of existing data, and will focus on factors affecting the state, evolution and dynamics of biodiversity.

SYNERGY PROJECTS

• FUNINDIC, led by Cyrille Violle (CEFE-CNRS, France) – Functional rarity as a marker of land use intensification and ecosystem functions in French permanent grasslands: towards new indicators for the monitoring and conservation of the French flora.
• INTERFACE, led by Céline Clauzel (University Paris Diderot, France) – Multi-habitat network modelling for integrated conservation of interface environments.
• LANBIO, led by Cendrine Mony (University of Rennes, France) –  Effect of human-driven landscape modification on biodiversity in bocage landscapes: toward integrative indicators. 

These 1-year projects will provide complementary answers to a question that emerges from research projects that has been finalized or is underway and will help stakeholders with indicators and practices to be promoted or abandoned to preserve biodiversity.

SYSTEMATIC MAP PROJECT 

• SOLAIRE-BP, led by Yorick Reyjol (UMS PatriNat OFB-CNRS-MNHN, France) – Systematic overview of literature about the impacts of renewable energy : photovoltaic and biodiversity.

This 1-year project is a preliminary step to the “systematic review” and will  focus on pressure-impact links related to human practices in order to highlight whether the impacts on biodiversity are well established or suffer from a lack of data or literature.