LTSER Zone Atelier Brest Iroise - France

The LTSER Zone Atelier Brest Iroise, created in 2012, is located in Brittany, NW-France. It aims at understanding the functioning and the long-term dynamics of the social-ecological system located along the land-ocean continuum. It combines work along different gradients and at different interfaces: between Earth compartments (sediment-water-atmosphere, land-ocean), tools (observation, experimentation, modeling), disciplines (especially between natural and human and social sciences) and between science and society. About half of the area (3000 km2) is terrestrial, including the watersheds of the Elorn (280 km2, 285,000 inhabitants mostly in the Brest area) and the Aulne (1820 km2, 70,000 inhabitants) rivers which are characterized by intensive agricultural practices. The Bay of Brest is a semi-enclosed coastal Bay, with an area of 180 km2. Part of this Bay and of the Aulne estuary is a Natura 2000 site, operated by the “Parc Naturel Regional d’Armorique” (PNRA). The marine part (3550 km2) of this land-ocean continuum is the Iroise Sea, comprising beaches, the continental shelf, the Sein Island and the Molène-Ouessant archipelago. This area corresponds to the limits of the first marine natural protected area created in France in 2007 (the “Parc Naturel Marin d’Iroise”, PNMI). This area presents exceptional natural and human heritage, including a rich marine biodiversity, human traditions and emblematic activities (e.g. great Scallop fishing).