• Since 2016, the “Climate sentinels” study has focused on the effects of climate change on local species in New Aquitaine.

  • The data collected by naturalists show a general impoverishment of living things and the very probable disappearance of certain species, which are not very able to move.

  • The Cistude association which coordinates the study defends the implementation of protective measures such as the installation of climatic refuge zones.

    It also warns of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit damage to biodiversity.

“At the time (six years ago), we talked a lot about the polar bear on its ice cube, but what about biodiversity in the region?

There was a lack of data and knowledge,” recalls Christophe Coïc, director of Cistude Nature.

With around sixty other structures (research laboratories, associations, conservatories, etc.) the association has launched, with the support of several local authorities, a program to monitor regional flora and fauna, confronted with climate change. 

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At present, we are moving towards a scenario which foresees an increase of +4°C by 2100. In New Aquitaine, it is a climate close to that of Andalusia which is feared from 2050, which will sound the death knell for many species.

"We want to understand what is happening by observing species that have no ability to escape, for them it is adaptation or extinction," says Fanny Mallard, coordinator of the Climate Sentinels program.

The study's scientific council is chaired by climatologist Hervé le Treut.

To collect the data, 251 monitoring sites were installed in the region, coupled with 182 weather stations on the various sites.

The program is still ongoing but there is an urgent need to communicate the results, which are very alarming, before its end, considers Cistude.

If certain Mediterranean species will move up in the region, modifying the landscapes, others will not be able to move.

Alarming findings

The population of the pennywort, an orange and black butterfly typical of the region, will halve even under the most optimistic scenario.

“This species is already used to high temperatures but beyond 35 degrees, it will suffer”, explains Fanny Mallard.

If there are areas of favorable carryover, the possibility that they will be colonized by this species is a little low.

For another butterfly, the Azuré des mouillères, which lives in the humid Landes promised to dry up, the possibilities of survival also appear very limited because this species moves very little.

In the mountains, certain species, such as the Apollo butterfly, have a "biological cycle linked to the number of days of snow", specifies the coordinator.

A particularity that signals the probable disappearance of the species in the region.

Plain species will be able to move at altitude.

The wall lizard, the one most commonly encountered, has already moved on average more than 28 meters per year in altitude since 2011. The study, whose data will have to be consolidated in the coming years, makes the hypothesis that the installation of an ongoing population, at higher altitudes, is set to intensify.

The Alpine marmot settled in the Pyrenees has also been monitored, which shows a continuous drop in the number of marmottons and a more marked drop at high altitude.

How to act?

The first imperative is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit the extent of global warming, which has become inevitable.

Protective measures can also be deployed.

For example, the Iberian tree frogs, which also suffer the effects of hotter and drier springs, have the particularity of being able to limit their dehydration by pressing against the vegetation.

"Thus, maintaining a diversity of microhabitats on a small spatial scale is essential to safeguarding the species in a few climatic refuges", points out Fanny Mallard.

In the same way on the dunes, subject to coastal erosion which nibbles habitat for the ocellated lizard for example, it is possible to "recreate parts of the dunes, in conjunction with the national forest office, to find its habitat,” she adds.

The richest environments, in terms of species, diversity etc.

could serve as refuge areas, as part of a regional conservation strategy.

“We have to save what we have left, we are there”, regrets Christophe Coïc.

Global warming does not leave enough time for species to adapt, so it is up to humans to promote these refuge areas as much as possible to limit the damage caused by their actions on living things.

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  • Planet

  • Bordeaux

  • Global warming

  • Biodiversity

  • Animals

  • Aquitaine