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Ph.D., Agrocampus Ouest, UMR BAGAP Name : Clément GROS Phone:                                                   • Email: clement.gros@agrocampus-ouest.fr Address: AGROCAMPUS OUEST, Département Écologie,               2 rue André Le Nôtre, 49045 Angers Cedex 01, France Expertise: Ecology, botanic, entomology Keywords: Landscape ecology, community ecology, urban green space management, plants/pollinators interactions

Research

Ph.D. Thesis : Biodiversity of urban and rural grasslands – Effects of green space management and landscape on plants and butterflies communities

Supervision : Stéphanie Aviron (UMR BAGAP), Hervé Daniel (UMR BAGAP) et Adeline Bulot (UMR BAGAP)

Context :

The dynamics of urbanization are strongly linked to the issues of biodiversity conservation and it questions the new land management practices of these territories.

Among the many natural environments in urban areas, herbaceous areas represent large proportion but remain little studied with regard to the issues they may represent for ordinary or local biodiversity.

At local scale, many questions remain concerning the effects of the management methods of these spaces on the specific and functional diversity of the flora or fauna communities they host. At larger spatial scales, the heterogeneity of the landscape is recognized as a key factor of biodiversity, but remains little studied in urban and peri-urban contexts for this type of environment. The now remaining question is to evaluate and prioritize the effects of management methods and of landscape heterogeneity, along an urban rural gradient, on plants and butterflies. These two taxonomic groups are emblematic in terms of conservation and are also indicators of the support and pollination services expected in urban and peri-urban areas.

Objectives:

The objective of the thesis will be to analyze the processes involved in the structuring of floristic and entomological communities, and in the interactions between plants and insects, by evaluating the share of local factors (management of herbaceous spaces such as the dates of mowing) and landscape factors (heterogeneity of herbaceous area along a urban rural gradient).