2023-03-27 to 2026-03-26
Approx. 1,6 mil. EUR
Agathe Leriche
-
Mediterranean Institute of Marine and Terrestrial Biodiversity and Ecology, Aix Marseille University, Marseille, France
-
Centre of Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World – Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
-
Research and Collections, Natural History Museum Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark
-
LPO PACA sector, French League for the Protection of Birds PACA, Hyères, France
-
International Association for Mediterranean Forests, Marseille, France
-
Department of Biological Applications & Technology-Biodiversity Conservation Lab, University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece
-
Department for the Earth, Environment and Life Sciences, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
-
Department of Ecology, University of Alicante, San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain
-
Department Environmental Geography – Institute for Environmental Studies, VU Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Assessing current and future biodiversity patterns, and their underlying drivers is of crucial importance to develop relevant conservation programs, and to promote sustainable development and human well-being. While biodiversity conservation research and actions have mostly focused on taxonomic diversity, considering the diversity of organismal traits (functional) and evolutionary lineages (phylogenetic) offers promise for effective conservation and the maintenance of resilient ecosystems. The still fragmented knowledge about multifaceted biodiversity greatly limits our ability to anticipate current and future conservation needs. This is particularly true in the Euro-Mediterranean biome which offers a unique diversity of habitats, particularly threatened, and should experience drastic biodiversity changes by 2100 owing to its sensitivity to land use (due to ongoing increased population) and climate changes.
INTEGRADIV aims to achieve a better knowledge of forest ecosystems within the Mediterranean biome in Europe and to propose effective protection actions, which presents an extremely important societal challenge in the face of global change in this area. The main objective of INTEGRADIV is to develop an integrative approach to provide guidelines on how taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic facets of biodiversity should be encapsulated in realistic conservation plans.
INTEGRADIV will rely on the assessment of ecosystem integrity (its degree of preservation) and vulnerability to global changes, notably based on an innovative quantification of trait-based and phylogenetic attributes distributions. The project will benefit from both existing and newly collected data to develop an innovative framework of biodiversity assessment considering multiple spatial scales (regional and euro-Mediterranean) and taxonomic groups. Considering the diversity of trees, butterflies and birds in the Euro-Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot, the key questions INTEGRADIV will address are: 1) Where are the high-value biodiversity areas? 2) What is the level of ecological integrity of the Euro-Mediterranean forests? 3) How were the spatial patterns of biodiversity shaped, and what is their vulnerability to climate and land-use changes?
Using these questions as a guideline, INTEGRADIV will provide an implementable prioritization tool for guiding effective future conservation strategies, that will integrate all facets of biodiversity with responsible use of public money. To ensure that the project aligns with stakeholder needs, it will from the onset of the project engage in a joint learning process at the science practice-policy interface. INTEGRADIV results will be delivered to the stakeholder community through policy briefs, outreach publication and workshops all along the project.