期刊名称：Science et changements planétaires / Sécheresse
印刷版ISSN：1147-7806
电子版ISSN：1777-5922
出版年度：2011
卷号：22
期号：2
页码：75-85
DOI：10.1684/sec.2011.0299
出版社：John Libbey Eurotext
摘要：Figures See all figures Authors Thierry Dutoit , Elise Buisson , Sylvain Fadda , Frédéric Henry , Clémentine Coiffait-Gombault , Renaud Jaunatre Université d’Avignon IUT Institut méditerranéen d’écologie et de paléoécologie, UMR CNRS/IRD IMEP, Site Agroparc BP 61207 84911 Avignon cedex 09 France Key words: biodiversity, ecosystme, fauna and flora, France, land use, paleoecology, restoration, steppe, the Mediterranean DOI : 10.1684/sec.2011.0299 Page(s) : 75-85 Published in: 2011 The Crau plain in the department of the Bouches-du-Rhône between the cities of Arles, Salon-de-Provence and Fos-sur-Mer in southeastern France is the unique Mediterranean steppe of Western Europe. On a landscape covered by short herbaceous vegetation ( Coussouls de Crau), this ecosystem accomodates an exceptional biodiversity for vegetation (presence of a unique plant association) and fauna (presence of numerous endemic species). Resulting from particular climatic and soil conditions, but also from the multi-secular practice of itinerant sheep grazing, this original ecosystem is also considered as an outpost of North African semi-arid steppes in the northern part of the Mediterranean Basin. Nevertheless, its area has been reduced by more than 80% since the 16th century due to military, industrial and intensive agricultural land use. Between 2000 and 2010, important research programs were led to (i) identify the impacts of land-use changes (intensification of agricultural practices) on biodiversity, (ii) identify the original and reference ecosystems, (iii) set up operations of ecological restoration. Our results show that despite the progress made in ecological rehabilitation, the existing knowledge and techniques in ecological engineering are still inadequate to restore the integrity of the destroyed ecosystems. However, results are encouraging and some of them seem to be useful for the restoration of vast semi-arid steppes in North Africa.
关键词：biodiversity; ecosystme; fauna and flora; France; land use; paleoecology; restoration; steppe; the Mediterranean
