Presentation
The general objective of this project is to reconstruct the environmental impact of historical forest fires on erosion dynamics and contaminant transfer downstream of burned areas, and to assess the consequences of these environmental disturbances on biological communities. This reconstruction will be based on sedimentary archives collected in reservoirs located downstream of burned areas, in order to analyse the inertia, magnitude and resilience of ecosystems in the face of these environmental disturbances. Project funded by the CNRS (EC2CO)
Thesis of Romain Ducruet (October 2023 – October 2026)
In March and October 2024, two field missions collected sediment archives (13 cores) and soil samples (about 120 samples) in Haute-Corse (Codole and Alesani reservoirs) and Var (Massif de l’Esterel, Étangs des Péguières – see map below, and Massif des Maures, Lac de l’Escarcets).
Main results expected:
- Reconstruction of erosion dynamics before, during, and after a historical fire
- Reconstruction of contaminant diversity in a post-fire context
- Reconstruction of changes in biological communities in a post-fire context as an indicator of changes in terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity