Description du projet
Tous les regards braqués sur les écosystèmes insulaires
Le changement climatique induit par l’activité humaine entraîne un réchauffement planétaire et une perte de biodiversité, tirant la sonnette d’alarme pour de nombreuses espèces et de nombreux écosystèmes. Les îles, qui abritent environ 30 % des points chauds de la biodiversité mondiale, sont particulièrement vulnérables aux effets du changement climatique. La grande majorité (80 %) des extinctions signalées concerne des espèces insulaires. Nous ne savons cependant que peu de choses sur ces espèces et la myriade d’interactions qu’elles entretiennent. Le projet IslandLife, financé par l’UE, comblera ce manque de connaissances. En s’intéressant tout particulièrement aux îles relativement non perturbées par rapport à d’autres de taille similaire qui ont été influencées par les activités anthropiques, il mettra en lumière la biodiversité unique des écosystèmes insulaires et évaluera leur vulnérabilité au changement climatique mondial. Ces résultats approfondiront notre compréhension de la biodiversité et des interactions au sein des écosystèmes et, partant, amélioreront les efforts de conservation.
Objectif
Biodiversity is declining globally at an unprecedented rate. Representing ~30% of the biodiversity hotspots, islands are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic activities, indeed 80% of reported extinctions are island species. Yet, unique island biodiversity – which includes not only the species but also the myriad of interactions among them – is still greatly unknown. It is thus urgent to describe it and forecast the consequences of its annihilation so we can mitigate the effect of further losses. Detecting ecological interactions and understanding their complexity is, however, one of the big challenges in the natural sciences. The advent of new theories and analytical tools, such as critical transition theory and complex network analysis, provides hope to reach that goal. As relatively simple systems with well-defined borders, islands have a great potential to advance our comprehension of nature complexity. IslandLife will provide the most comprehensive and quantitatively sophisticated study of multilayer networks to date in any terrestrial ecosystem. We will focus on five archipelagos encompassing four oceans and a wide latitudinal gradient, comparing for the first time the food web structure of ‘pristine’ (little-disturbed) islands (of a few km2) with areas of similar size in nearby disturbed (human-inhabited) islands. The objective is to unveil the unique biodiversity of these ecosystems, understand their complexity, and evaluate their fragility to global change drivers, such as biological invasions. We will combine direct observations during intense fieldwork, automated-video monitoring and deep-learning, cutting-edge molecular techniques, and newly developed coextinction models to predict persistence and resilience of island biota to disturbances. The project will represent a major breakthrough towards understanding the effects of global change on these valuable ecosystems, of great relevance to both theoretical ecologists and applied conservationists.
Champ scientifique
Mots‑clés
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Thème(s)
Régime de financement
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitution d’accueil
28006 Madrid
Espagne