SER Summer School - RESTORATION ECOLOGY 2020

CANCELLED

We are sorry to announce the cancellation of the summerschhol  mainly due to the lack of visibility on the rules that will concern international travel in August. Indeed, today, and nothing says that this will be no longer the case in August, participation to scientific events is not one of the valid reasons for the arrival in France of foreign people, including european citizens.

Monitoring restoration success of coastal ecosystems

Brittany, July 2020

General Information

In early summer 2020, a 6-days summer school program on “Monitoring restoration success of coastal ecosystems” will be organized by the University of Brest in western France, under the auspices of the Society of Ecological Restoration Europe (SER-Europe), Eurosite and REVER (French restoration network).

This course is intended for PhD students who work in restoration ecology and related fields, as well as a larger public, such as practionners, restorationists, site-managers, employees of governmental agencies or policy makers.

The program includes lectures by specialists to provide a theoretical background, field work and excursions to train practical research skills and learn about specific restoration projects, as well as short presentations of research projects by participants themselves.

Thus, this summer school will provide participants with a general overview on restoration ecology as well as detailed information on projects, techniques and skills. It will also give a framework for discussions between participants and specialists.

Thematic Framework

Western France includes a large panel of Natura 2000 ecosystems, notably on the coast and the coastal hinterland linked watersheds: coastal heathlands and grasslands, saltmarshes, sand dunes, wet grasslands, etc.. Many of them have been submitted to various human pressures, linked to land planning, urbanization and tourism. Since the mid-1980’s many restoration projects have been or are still implemented:

-        On highly frequented coastal capes, restoration consists mainly in public containment that allows ecosystem spontaneous recovery; it is sometimes associated with active retoration methods.

-        The restoration of diked saltmarshes among which some have been reconnected to the sea

Thanks to several universities and research institutes in the region, notably in Rennes and Brest, some of these restoration projects have been or are included within the framework of research programs and in higher education programs.

 Due to the great numbers of restoration projects and to the diversity of contexts, the quality of the evaluation of restoration success and of monitoring are a major concern.

The summer school will be focused on the topics of the evaluation of restoration including:

-        the diversity of point of views: do different stakeholders have the same vision of a restoration project?

-        the adaptation of ecological monitoring to situations.

These points will be considered both from the theoretical and the practical point of view and the program  will include conferences, discussion with local managers and stakeholders, and field trips with on-site visits and hands-on monitoring.