The mountain environment, a driver for adaptation to climate change

International audienceThe mountain environment is perceived today by vine-growers as a strong structural constraint. Yet in the current context of climate change, in which we turn to genetics, irrigation or innovation in cultural practices to maintain production quality, could the mountain environment emerge as a solution for adapting to climate change in vine-growing? Here we explore the role of cooperative policies that may be deployed on the territorial scale, using an agent-based model. Our model was based on the viticulture of the Banyuls-Collioures AOC area, which is characterized by small-scale vine-growers and marked by widespread involvement in cooperative systems. The simulation results showed an important role of cooperative policies not only to conserve narrow production window and required vine quality, but also in respect of the emblematic landscape structure. These results should foster vine-growers to strengthen their cooperatives and adequately use these organizations to mitigate future climate change impacts

Modélisation sur le temps long des facteurs de qualité du vin: Une approche épistémologique de la géographie viticole

International audienceThis work began as an intellectual game, in order to discuss the notion of wine quality in terms of terroir and territory spatial structure. Vine and wine quality has long been questioned by scientists. Each discipline approaching it with his own tools. One of Frenchs geographers who mark the discipline history was Roger Dion (1896-1981) whit an historical approach of spatial vineyard structuration. In this work we have revisited the seminal paper of Roger Dion (1952) on viticole geography whit a new kind of tools. Indeed to assess this fundamental study, we have used distributed computational modelling based on Agents based Model (ABM). This paper is the opportunity to discuss the origin of the wine quality, and how it evolves over time by considering various factor formalized by R.Dion and other resulting from the modelling approach.Ce travail a débuté comme un jeu intellectuel qui avait pour but de réfléchir sur la notion de qualité des vins du point de vue du terroir et des structures spatiales du territoire. La qualité de la vigne et du vin sont des notions qui sont Dupuis longtemps questionner par le monde scientifique. Chaque discipline les abordant avec ses propres outils. Un géographe français à profondément marquer l'histoire de la discipline à ce sujet est Roger DION (1896-1981) avec une approche résolument sociale et historique de la construction spatiale des vignobles. Dans ce travail nous nous proposons de revisiter l'un des articles fondateurs de Roger Dion (1952) sur la géographie viticole avec de nouveaux outils : le calcul distribué et la modélisation multi-agents (SMA). Ce papier est une opportunité de rediscuter des origines de la qualité du vin, de son développement, de son évolution à travers le temps, en considérant un certain nombre de facteurs formaliser à partir de R. Dion

Importance of solitarious desert locust population dynamics: lessons from historical survey data in Algeria

The desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal) (Orthoptera: Acrididae), is a major pest and well known in its gregarious phase. However, it is not well understood during recession periods, when the solitarious phase populations are discrete. Nonetheless, these populations are at the origin of the invasions when ecological conditions become favourable. This lack of knowledge of the solitarious phase individuals impedes effective preventive management of this pest. Archive data collected in Algeria from 1980 to 2011 were used to analyse solitarious population dynamics across the Algerian Sahara where some outbreak areas are located that play a major role in the invasion process. The results confirm previous empirical observations on solitarious population dynamics. First, a clear difference could be documented between the northern and southern Saharan regions of Algeria concerning the locust dynamics and the impact of environmental conditions. The importance of runoff was clear to create suitable habitats over a long period and to very distant places from rainy areas. Second, a link, on an annual basis, between green vegetation and presence of solitarious locusts was found. Third, statistical relationships between various locations demonstrated a clear regional dynamics. Our study confirmed the importance of migrations of solitarious populations among Algerian regions and more generally within the recession area of this species. The operational implications of these findings are multiple. First, they confirm the need of a flexible and scalable preventive system during the year, from 1 year to another and with a clear distinction between the northern and southern Saharan areas of Algeria. Second, they also confirm the necessity for the inclusion of wadis and soil moisture estimations from remote sensing in geographic information systems for preventive management. And third, they clearly illustrate the importance to target solitarious locusts for more efficient preventive survey operations