The program, which will end on November 10, has a land component and a maritime component. The explorations will take place in Saintes, Marie-Galante and Désirade.
A scientific exploration project to inventory the still little-known biodiversity of several islands of Guadeloupe was officially presented on Wednesday in the Saintes archipelago, where field operations have just begun. Until November 10, around a hundred local, national and international scientists will take turns as part of the “Planet Revisited” program.
Professional divers will bring up moss, algae, molluscs or crustaceans from several dozen sites. They will be studied in a laboratory installed on site. The objective of the mission: to take photos of the identified animals, obtain their DNA sequence and their characterization, in addition to referencing them, summarizes Olivier Gros, researcher in marine ecology at the University of the Antilles and member of the expedition. The program is supported by the Regional Biodiversity Agency of the Islands of Guadeloupe (ARB-IG), the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) and the French Biodiversity Office.
“The best biodiversity that we protect is the one we know”, Sylvie Gustave Dit Duflo, vice-president of the region and president of the ARB-IG, declared to the press.
After Les Saintes, explorations will continue at Marie-Galante and La Désirade.
A land component is also added to the research carried out at sea.
We imagine that faunas have been isolated over geological time and that this is undoubtedly one of the axes for having endemic species.
Laure Corbari, coordinator of the marine aspect of the expedition.
In 2012 and 2015, the Karubenthos missions made it possible to inventory marine species off the coast of Grande-Terre and Basse-Terre, the two main islands of Guadeloupe. While they represent only 0.08% of all land areas, the overseas territories concentrate 80% of French biodiversity.
