Site d’etude en ecologie globale (CNRS, INEE, 2017-2021)

EBLab co-constructed the proposal with ApoliMer to design a platform for the study of socio-ecological systems at St Pierre and Miquelon. This platform is to host innovative and interdisciplinary research, teaching, and observation projects within the archipelago.

A new CNRS site for global ecology studies:  SEEG-ASPM, Site d'Etude en Ecologie Globale - Archipelago de Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon (2017-2021)

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SEEG - ASPM

The French National Research Center ("CNRS") leads an important structural program on the identification and definition of new sites of global interest for ecological research. These are called "SEEG" or "Site d'Etude en Ecologie Globale", and constitute a preparatory step towards membership in the international LTER network.

Creation of a new interdisciplinary "Seeg" for Saint-pierre et miquelon

EBLab conceived and coordinates the research program for the newest "SEEG" at the CNRS about the socio-ecological systems in the archipelago of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. The "SEEG-ASPM" considers the present state of ecosystems and environments from the point-of-view of the resources which they contain and explores how past economic activities have impacted current conditions, in order to predict the outcomes of future decisions.  The program develops a new theme uniting historical ecology with anthropological studies to identify processes driving the current resource status, as well as a second theme ("Governance") that aims to understand how decision-makers use the notion of sustainability to manage environmental resources in an international arena.  Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon is a uniquely important site for these studies, because of its unusual ecological and social systems, the result of several centuries of exploitation of marine resources in the region. 

There are four research challenges addressed by this SEEG:

1. assessing the connections with other ecosystems, to determine if local exploited populations act as sources (hence overspilling individuals to other areas) or as sinks (hence depending on external inputs to persist); 

2. assessing if an ecological equilibrium can be reached, by respecting sustainable, related sets of socio-economic activities;

3. monitoring the environmental conditions and assessing how these modify ecological and genetic fitness of populations;

4. developing an explicit basis for predictive interdisciplinary studies of socio-ecological processes using expertise from social and natural sciences at both short and long time scales.

The program includes a detailed plan for research, observation, teaching and outreach initiatives all concerned with providing concrete answers to the complex questions that local governments will require answers for in the coming years.

The program was validated in 2018 (copy of document is available here [FR only]).

Additional details about the SEEG are given on this page.