Transdisciplinary Bioblitz: Rapid biotic and abiotic inventory allows studying environmental changes over 60 years at the Biological Field Station of Paimpont (Brittany, France) and opens new interdisciplinary research opportunities

Abstract

The Biological Field Station of Paimpont (Station Biologique de Paimpont, SBP), owned by the University of Rennes and located in the Brocéliande Forest of Brittany (France), has been hosting student scientific research and field trips during the last 60 years. The study area of the SBP is a landscape mosaic of 17 ha composed of gorse moors, forests, prairies, ponds and creeks. Land use has evolved over time. Historical surveys by students and researchers focused on insects and birds. With this study, we aimed to increase the range of taxa observations, document changes in species composition and landscape and provide a basis for interdisciplinary research perspectives. We gathered historical data, implemented an all-taxon biodiversity inventory (ATBI) in different habitats of the SBP study area, measured abiotic factors in the air, water and soil and performed a photographical landscape observation during the BioBlitz held in July 2017. During the 24 h BioBlitz, organised by the SBP and the EcoBio lab from the University of Rennes and the French National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS), different habitats were individually sampled. Seventy-seven experts, accompanied by 120 citizens and 12 young people participating in the European Volunteer Service, observed, identified and databased 660 species covering 5 kingdoms, 8 phyla, 21 classes, 90 orders and 247 families. In total, there were 1819 occurrences including records identified to higher taxon ranks, thereby adding one more kingdom and four more phyla. Historical data collection resulted in 1176 species and 4270 occurrences databased. We also recorded 13 climatic parameters, 10 soil parameters and 18 water parameters during the BioBlitz. Current habitats were mapped and socio-ecological landscape changes were assessed with a diachronic approach using 32 historical photographs and historical maps. The coupling of historical biodiversity data with new biotic and abiotic data and a photographic comparison of landscape changes allows an integrative understanding of how the SBP changed from agriculturally-used land to a managed natural area within the last 60 years. Hence, this BioBlitz represents an important holistic sampling of biodiversity for studies on trophic webs or on trophic interactions or on very diverse, but connected, habitats. The integration of social, biotic and abiotic data opens innovative research opportunities on the evolution of socio-ecosystems and landscapes.

The use of photos to investigate ecological change

“…Hampton et al, 2013; Marcenò et al, 2021). With the development of smartphone apps for ecology (Rudic et al, 2020), citizen‐science projects that combine this technology with expert knowledge are now characterizing as many species possible during one or multiple day ‘Bioblitzes’ (Nicolai et al, 2020). In a recent study, Gordoa et al (2018) used images from free‐diving underwater fish photography contests as a complementary tool for assessing littoral fish communities.…”

Short-Term Temporal Dynamics of VOC Emissions by Soil Systems in Different Biotopes

“…At the first and third gas sampling times, soil was concurrently sampled (n 3) at 10 cm outside the stainless collar to avoid soil perturbation inside the collar for further gas measurements and stored at −20°C for fingerprint analyses of bacterial communities. Plant species data were extracted from the SBP-BioBlitz2017 dataset (Nicolai et al, 2019) for species richness calculations (for sampling protocols see Nicolai et al, 2020). Hourly atmospheric temperature and rainfall were calculated as the mean of those parameters measured concurrently by the two closest "Météo France" stations (Mauron and Ploermel) from one day prior to the sampling to the end of sampling (Figure 1).…”

“…This study was performed during the BioBlitz at the Biological Field Station of Paimpont in France in July 2017 (Nicolai et al, 2020) when we took advantage of the 24 h mobilization for a spatio-temporal sampling of VOC emitted by soils. Three contrasted biotopes (a meadow, a heathland and a forest) were selected and we hypothesized that due to their differences in soil properties, soil microbial communities, vegetation covers, and thus litter composition, the soil systems from these three biotopes would differ in VOC emission i) in amount and mass composition and ii) in their temporal dynamics.…”

Análisis multicriterio geoambiental del paisaje de abanico de Ibagué, Colombia, mediante la determinación de geosistemas, geofacies y geotopos

“…Esta prospección corresponde a una adaptación de las jornadas científicas denominadas "BioBlitz", que permite a científicos y ambientalistas de diversas disciplinas levantar simultáneamente diversas parcelas durante un día, según los intereses ecológicos del caso (Pollock et al, 2015;Ballard et al, 2017;Parker et al, 2018;Postles y Bartlett, 2018;Cantonwine et al, 2019;Nicolai et al, 2020). Su versatilidad y bajos costos permiten realizar una prospección amplia de la biodiversidad de un lugar (Zhou et al, 2011;Hsu, Hutchison y Wheeler, 2018).…”