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The LTER site Jurassian Arc (ZAAJ stands for Zone atelier Arc jurassien, in French) is designed to promote long-term interdisciplinary research into the environment and ecosystems in relation to society issues. It federates a network of research partnerships about the dynamics of mountain socio-ecological systems.

For further information, go to the ZAAJ website at the bottom of this page.

Profile :

The Jurassian Arc experimental site is located in Franche-Comté and Rhône-Alpes. It is composed of 25 observatory sites covering the whole jurassian arc. Benefiting of more than 25 years of experience on the issue, the ZAAJ was accredited by the CNRS Ecology and Environment Institute (INEE) in 2013 and belongs now to the national experimental site network, which is part of the the national LTER network. The ZAAJ brings together six research units in association with three research support schemes. The ZAAJ is composed of 5 social environments : grasslands and comté, forests, peatlands and wetlands, urban areas and karst and rivers. Among those social environments, many research themes are in relation with RECOTOX : grassland agrosystems and vole (transfer and impact of rodenticides on wildlife, transfer of pesticides through the grassland-cow-milk chain), Loue River (transfer of pesticides, other toxicants and nutrients in the catchment and impacts on aquatic ecosystems), caves and cavities (exposure of populations of chiroptera), field crop systems (transfer and sub-lethal effects on populations of small mammals, effect of landscape on transfers) and fungicides and public health (toxicologic study of fungicide resistance).

RECOTOX sites characteristics :

The Jurassian Arc experimental site is typical of low mountain region in continental climate. Leached brown soils are predominant and the landscape is composed of forests and permanent grasslands. Agricultural production is mainly composed of dairy farming.

Contribution to RECOTOX dynamics :

The Jurassian Arc experimental site aims to :

• Understand the impact of human activites, environmental stress responses, and their implications in terms of ecosystems health, social economic issues and biodiversity conservation,
• Assess the vulnerability of ecosystems and population at risk,
• Provide predictive and management tools to help maintain ecosystem services and protect population and ecosystems health.

Moreover the ZAAJ benefits from a precise knowledge of agro-ecosystem functionning (population dynamics, predator-prey relationship, pesticide use…) and of reputed scientific expertise in wild fauna ecotoxicology (especially birds and terrestrial mammals) and landscape ecotoxicology.

Contact : Michaël COEURDASSIER, michael.coeurdassier@univ-fcomte.fr

Website :

• Presentation : https://zaaj.univ-fcomte.fr/
• Data : http://dataosu.obs-besancon.fr/
• Metadata : coming soon

Hosting organization : INRA / Bordeaux Sciences Agro / ACTA – UMR ISPA