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Overview

The Mediterranean regions hosts more than 20% of the world's plant diversity, and it is in the Mediterranean Basin that the agriculture born and where some civilizations among the most important developed. Forest fires have always impacted and shaped the environment and the vegetation composition. Later, humans have also played a decisive role in the history of Mediterranean landscapes, particularly through agriculture. Past, present and future global changes also affect regions, and a good understanding of the relationships between climate, fire, vegetation, and humans is essential to understand current events and to anticipate future changes. In the Mediterranean Basin, Corsica is one of the best preserved ecosystems in terms of habitat and species richness. It is also the French region the most affected by forest fires. Due to its geographical isolation, its landscape diversity, its long history with humans and its longer history with fire, Corsica is a key site to study the dynamics between the climate, fire, vegetation, and humans in the Mediterranean region. In Corsica, as worldwide, in recent years have been marked by population growth, pastoral decline and global warming, increasing the risk of fire in terms of ignitions and propagation. In this context, the aim of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of the dynamics of vegetation, fire, climate and humans in Corsica and more broadly in the Mediterranean basin during the Holocene. From this vast objective, three research questions emerge: i) Since when has the important biodiversity of Corsica been in place, and what are its factors of change? ii) What have been the influences of climate and human activities on fire regimes in Corsica during the Holocene? And iii) What are the changes in terms of climate and fires expected for the coming decades (2020-2100) and their possible consequences?

Main collaborators

• Boris Vannière (Besançon, FR)

• Christelle Hély (Montpellier, FR)

• Isabelle Jouffroy-Bapicot (Besançon, FR)

• Thomas Curt (Aix Marseille, FR)

• Daniele Colombaroli (London, EN)

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Publications

• Lestienne M, Vannière B, Curt T, Jouffroy-Bapicot I, Hély C (2022). Climate-driven Mediterranean fire hazard assessments for 2020–2100 on the light of past millennial variability. Climatic Change 170(14). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03258-y

• Lestienne M, Hély C, Jouffroy-Bapicot I, Curt T, Vannière B (2022). Future fire predictions in light of millennial fire regime variability in Corsica, France. Past Global Changes Magazine 30(1): 36. https://doi.org/10.22498/pages.30.1.46

• Lestienne M, Hély C, Curt T, Jouffroy-Bapicot I, Vannière B (2020). Combining the Monthly Drought Code and Paleoecological data to assess the Holocene climate impact on Mediterranean fire regimes. Fire 3(2),8. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire3020008

• Lestienne M, Jouffroy-Bapicot I, Sabatier P, Debret M, Albertini PJ, Colombaroli D, Didier J, Hély C, Vannière B (2020). Fires and human activities as key factors of the high diversity of Corsican vegetation. The Holocene 30, 244-257. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683619883025

• Lestienne M, C. Aleman J and Colombaroli D (2017). How Paleofire Research Can Better Inform Ecosystem Management. Earth & Space Science News (EOS) 99(8): 12. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018EO096613

Communications

• Lestienne M, Vannière B, Curt T, Jouffroy-Bapicot I, Hély C. Climate-driven Mediterranean fire hazard assessments for 2020–2100 on the light of past millennial variability. PAGES 6th Open Science meeting. Agadir, MA.

• Lestienne M, Vannière B, Curt T, Jouffroy-Bapicot I, Hély C. Climate-driven Mediterranean fire hazard assessments for 2020–2100 on the light of past millennial variability. EGU Galileo Conferences, Bad Belzig, DE.

• Lestienne M, Vannière B, Curt T, Jouffroy-Bapicot I, Hély C. Climate-driven Mediterranean fire hazard assessments for 2020–2100 on the light of past millennial variability. IPN-DiverseK ECR virtual Workshop,

• Lestienne M, Hély C, Curt T, Jouffroy-Bapicot I, Vannière B. Combining the Monthly Drought Code and Paleoecological data to assess the Holocene climate impact on Mediterranean fire regimes. The Mediterranean Palynological Societies Symposium. Bordeaux, FR.

• Lestienne M, Hély C, Vannière B. Fires and human activities as key factors of the high diversity of Corsican vegetation, GPWG “Diverse knowledge systems for fire policy and biodiversity conservation”, Egham, UK.

• Lestienne M, Jouffroy-Bapicot I, Sabatier P, Debret M, Albertini PJ, Colombaroli D, Didier J, Hély C, Vannière B. Fires and human activities as key factors of the high diversity of Corsican vegetation, SFE International Conference of Ecological Sciences, Rennes, FR.

• Lestienne M, Hély C, Vannière B. Quantification and modelisation of Holocene fires regimes in Mediterranean ecosystems, MISTRAL Paleomex, Montpellier, FR.

• Lestienne M, Hély C, Vannière B. Quantification and modelisation of Holocene fires regimes in Mediterranean ecosystems, GPWG “Paleofire knowledge for current and future ecosystem management”, Montréal, CA.

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