The first step of the scientific program HEIMa begins the next week. The aim of this study is the mapping of subtidal seabed habitats of the archipelago of chausey. The oceanographic ship « Haliotis » 10.3 m (IFREMER) will be used to map the seafloor with a multibeam sonar. This program is led by Axel Ehrhold, Nicolas Desroy (IFREMER) and Jérôme Fournier (CNRS).
I take part from 8 till 15 May in the oceanographic campaign BENTHOCLIM with colleagues from IFREMER, IUEM and the Biological Stations of Dinard, Roscoff and Wimereux. We will sample benthos and sediment along a transect West-East from Brest and Roscoff to Jersey and Saint-Malo. The objective of this project is to know if the climate change also affects benthic assemblages. We will have the possibility of knowing if species appeared or disappeared from this sector of the Channel.
The oceanographic vessel is the « Côtes de la Manche » (INSU/CNRS), 24.90 m. BENTHOCLIM is led by Eric Thiébaut (UPMC) and Nicolas Desroy (IFREMER).
I participated from 9 till 15 April in a field mission for the European ECOSal Program in the salterns of Batz-sur-Mer. ECOSal consists of a multidisciplinary research on the functioning of salterns in Europe with a focus on the associated biodiversity. The objective of this mission is to capture Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica namnetum) to ring them and equip them with VHF Tags. In this way, it is possible to measure the surface and the shape of territories. These informations will serve as a base for a research in landscape ecology.
The team was composed by J. Fournier, L. Godet, M.-C. Eybert (Team Leader) (CNRS) and A. Johnsen (Natural History Museum, Univ. of Oslo, Norway)
We conducted a field mission on to the Sabellaria alveolata reef of Champeaux in the western part of the Mont-Saint-Michel bay to sample some individuals of worms. I will analyse these samples with Pascal-Jean Lopez (CNRS) to try to list the bacterial communities associated with reefs, tubes and worms.
On the field, I was accompagnied by A. Cazoulat (MNHN) and A. Barraud (IFREMER).
We continued the mapping and the measure of the densities of Lanice conchilega in the bay of the Mont-Saint-Michel. This research began in 2005 and is a part of programs of observation of the biodiversity of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle. The method of quadrats is used to estimate the density of individuals. We noticed a strong decrease of the colonized surfaces and the densities. Two missions, in January and February, were realized. The second one was realized for the PhD Thesis of Bart de Smet, who sampled hyperbenthos and epibenthos with beam trawl and hyperbenthic sledge.
The team was composed by J. Fournier (Team Leader) (CNRS), C. Boinet, A. Cazoulat, J. Guillaudeau (MNHN) and Bart de Smet (Ghent Univ., Belgium).
