Why is monitoring the impact of the measures in wet environments necessary?

Monitoring allows to assess the direct or indirect impact of the conservation measures, the work on creating or rehabilitating puddles, the creation of a toad tunnel and the fight against the Louisiana crayfish for targeted habitats and species of community importance in wet environments:

  • The great crested newt
  • The Western Spadefoot toad
  • The Mediterranean temporary puddles, which form a habitat of community importance (H3170*) and are part of the habitat of the amphibian species mentioned above.

What monitoring measures are we going to carry out on humid environment habitats and species?

Mediterranean temporary puddles

  • The allocation and structure of habitat H3170* shall be monitored between June and August 2026 in 15 rehabilitated puddled and 5 created puddles. It shall be conducted in compliance with the protocol carried out during state zero.
  • This monitoring shall equally be carried out between April and June 2026 for the aquatic vegetation with Characeae (habitat H3140).

Great crested newt

  • The monitoring of the state of conservation of the puddles rehabilitated and created as a habitat for the newt shall be done following several criteria: the immersion period, the water quality, the shade, the presence of fish and Louisiana crayfish, the ecological continuity and the number of nearby puddles, the quality go the adjacent terrestrial environment, etc.
  • The great crested newt reproduction monitoring within the rehabilitated and created puddles shall consist in counting the number of eggs or larvae.
  • The monitoring of the (lack of) colonisation by the Louisiana crayfish of the puddles equipped with selective barriers shall be carried out visually and using landing nets.

Western Spadefoot toad

  • The use of toad tunnels by the amphibians shall be monitored using photographic traps. This photographic monitoring shall be rounded off by visual controls during the sampling evenings. This protocol shall match the out carried out during the preparatory study.
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Turquoise Infrastructure

The turquoise infrastructure holds natural areas connecting earth and water. These ecological corridors are vital to some amphibian, insect, bird or mammal species whose life cycle depends on both aquatic and humid environments (blue infrastructure) and terrestrial environments (green infrastructure).

The state of conservation of the turquoise infrastructure shall be assessed using a mapping study. This study shall consist in modelling the natural environment’s penetrability to the movement of a species, according to its dispersal ability in every kind of environment.

The project throughout time

  1. Step 01 - Fall 2024

    Monitoring of the use of toad tunnels

  2. Step 02 - Spring and Summer 2025

    Monitoring of the great crested newt

  3. Step 03 - Fall 2025

    Monitoring of the turquoise infrastructure

  4. Step 04 - Fall 2024

    Monitoring of the use of toad tunnels

  5. Step 05 - Spring 2026

    Monitoring the Mediterranean temporary puddles