More than half of the mountain forests of France and Corsica assessed as part of the red list of ecosystems of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are threatened by climate change, according to a published study THURSDAY.
Among the 19 forest ecosystems evaluated in mountain and sub-alpine environments (at altitudes between 600 and 2,400 m depending on the slopes) of the different mountain ranges of France (Alps, Jura, Massif central, Pyrenees, Vosges) and Corsica , 10 appear as threatened, i.e. critically endangered (CR), endangered (EN) or vulnerable (VU), and 6 near threatened, the level just below in terms of risk of collapse.
Two others are “minor concern” and another cannot be evaluated due to lack of sufficient data.
The red list of ecosystems, established in 2014, is the equivalent for natural terrestrial, aquatic and marine habitats of the red list of threatened species for wildlife, which is used to measure the collapse of biodiversity. Its evaluation criteria depend on a framework common to all continental European countries.
In detail, the subalpine cembray (Stone pine forests) and larch (larch forests) as well as the subalpine beech, fir and beech-fir forests are classified as endangered, while 5 mixed forests, a mixture of common beech, white firs, or common spruces, a forest of firs and spruces and 2 mountain pine groves are classified “vulnerable”.
-In any case, “the context of climate change is a determining factor in the results of this assessment”indicates the study.
In mountainous or pre-mountainous environments, temperature increases tend to be more marked than in the plains, leading in particular to a “increased water deficit”. Thus in the French Alps and Pyrenees, the temperature increased by +2°C during the 20th century, compared to +1.4°C in the rest of France, according to Météo-France.
These ecosystems, which host a wide diversity of animal, plant or fungal species sometimes specific to these environments which serve as their ultimate refuges, are also subject to other pressures of anthropogenic origin (pollution, overexploitation, invasive exotic species …).
Et “Despite an abundance of research on forests, it remains difficult to predict the future trajectories of the mountain forests of France and Corsica given the cocktail of pressures they are subject to”estimates the IUCN, the OFB and the MNHN in a joint press release.
