Hatching is underway!
The Conservatoire d’espaces naturels Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, the Parc Animalier de la Barben, and the Citadelle de Besançon are pleased to announce the birth of Primo, a beautiful baby Crau Plain Grasshopper measuring ...
In February, the LIFE SOS Crau Grasshopper project team is being strengthened with the addition of a trainee for a period of six months. Martin Meyer, a student on a Master’s degree in Life Sciences – Plants, Environment and Ecological Engineering at the University of Strasbourg, will study the vegetation of certain coussouls, the habitat of the Crau Plain Grasshopper.
The objectives of the training course, supervised by the Conservatoire d’espaces naturels de Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (Catherine Godefroid, Axel Wolff and Lisbeth Zechner) and the IMBE (Thierry Dutoit), are to characterise the vegetation in the Crau according to the season and different gradients of grazing on sites where the Crau Plain Grasshopper is still present, where it has disappeared and where reintroduction is envisaged.
The data collected will be cross-referenced with data from agro-pastoral surveys, an inventory of insectivorous birds in colonies – which could be significant predators – and monitoring of Crau Plain Grasshopper populations. All of this will help us to better understand the reasons that have contributed to its decline and to choose the right sites for the first reintroduction tests. Optimal vegetation and habitat management will be important for the successful reintroduction and the preservation of the species.
The data collected by Martin will also be used in a study of the evolution of the Crau Plain Grasshopper’s habitat since the 1980s via satellite images.
Welcome to Martin, to whom we wish an interesting and enriching internship!
Martin Meyer, jeune recrue du projet LIFE SOS Criquet de Crau
The Conservatoire d’espaces naturels Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, the Parc Animalier de la Barben, and the Citadelle de Besançon are pleased to announce the birth of Primo, a beautiful baby Crau Plain Grasshopper measuring ...
Become a partner of the LIFE SOS Crau grasshopper Festival to be held on 13 October at the Domaine départemental des Aulnes!
Launched in 2021, the LIFE SOS Crau Plain Grasshopper project has reached the half-way stage at the start of 2024. On 27 and 28 February, the LIFE project team was visited by Gustavo Becerra Jurado from CINEA (the European executive agency ...
As part of the Life Crau grasshopper educational project, the Conservatoire d’espaces naturels Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and the Parc animalier de La Barben are offering teachers two days of free activities aimed at ...