Regional importance of mining site for plant biodiversity

PhD project of Nils Ambec

Directors: Direction: Nicole Fenton (UQAT-IRF) et Yves Bergeron (UQAT-IRF)
Collaborator:

In a context of anthropization, that is, the transformation of landscapes under human action, and climate change, understanding the ecosystems around us is crucial. This understanding includes knowledge of biodiversity and the mechanisms that explain it. These mechanisms include the concept of habitat (or ecological niche), the history of the landscape (glaciation, fires), dispersal and colonization. The forest plains and peatlands of Abitibi-Témiscamingue are well studied systems, but the emphasis has never been on the surrounding rare environments. Rare habitats can support nearly half of a region’s biodiversity, and their isolation is sometimes such that they are ecologically comparable to islands. The theory of island biogeography could therefore be applied to rare and isolated environments. These are models of choice for the study of dispersion and biodiversity at the regional level. In Abitibi-Témiscamingue, they are represented by hills and former mining sites, through the elevation and the presence of a bedrock for one, and geochemistry and the opening of the middle for the other. The objective of the thesis is to quantify and explain the specific biodiversity contribution of these rare environments at the regional level.