Jean-Manuel Gibeault-Rousseau’s research while affiliated with French National Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE) and other places

The National Wetlands Mapping Project provides a preliminary delineation of wetland ecosys-tems based on the Ramsar definition and the national legal definition (amended 2008 decree). Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence algorithms have enabled the use of precise and high-quality environmental variables and archive data on flora and soils (INPN, IFN, Donesol) for the delineation of areas where wetland ecosystems most likely occur. During the project, independent field data col-lected by territorial services of OFB, PatriNat OFB-MNHN, and the Institut Agro Rennes-Angers were used to retrospectively evaluate the accuracy of the preliminary delineation map. This report describes the approach and methodology used to collect this independent field data. A total of 4,263 surveys were conducted on 756 sites, distributed across various hydro-geomor-phological systems and ecological contexts in mainland France. These data were used to assess the accuracy of the produced wetland maps and the final results show that it even higher than those of the existing similar products at both international and national levels. The report includes a compre-hensive discussion of the limitations of the implemented mapping approach and any associated arti-facts. This report is complemented by cartographic atlases and portfolios in 11 volumes produced for 11 watersheds where independent field data were collected. These volumes can be used to com-pare the results of the field campaign with the preliminary delineation in various ecological contexts. These findings should help to improve our knowledge for wetland conservation.

The interface between wetlands and uplands is characterized by gradients in hydrological, soil and biological components. Consequently, the exact spatial distribution of this transitional area is not well known because it often occurs as a fuzzy moisture gradient. However, ecological assessment and conservation require mapping and characterizing this interface to better understand and model biotic and abiotic interactions between wetlands and uplands. To this end, in 2021 and 2022, we observed soil properties and vegetation types along soil moisture gradients throughout the Atlantic, Continental, Mediterranean and Alpine biogeographic regions of France. The dataset contains 2 236 georeferenced plots (accuracy ± 5 m) distributed along 1 088 transects placed along the slope at 377 sites. Each plot in the database is characterized by 21 fields that describe the vegetation habitat type based on the European Nature Information System (EUNIS) and soil properties (i.e. depth of appearance and thickness of redoximorphic features in the soil profile, moisture). These data are useful for researchers and engineers in a variety of disciplines (e.g. Earth and life sciences) to calibrate and validate models to predict the spatial distribution of habitats or to analyze flows.