This site is strictly prohibited to the public. Only a few researchers can go there. Their goal? Observing how nature evolves without human action.
At the heart of Lauvitel's pristine nature reserve with brut nature.
At the heart of Lauvitel's pristine nature reserve with brut nature.
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TravelTranscript
00:00Hello, today we are at the heart of the National Park of Écrins
00:04and I'm taking you to discover a particular site
00:08since it has been strictly forbidden to the public since 1995.
00:11It is the Lovitel Integral Reserve.
00:24The goal is to observe how nature evolves without human action,
00:29without agriculture, without pastoralism, without tourism, without silviculture,
00:34no human activity, except for a few researchers who come to observe how it works.
00:48We have just made an inventory of the mushrooms of the group of Ascomy 7,
00:52which is a fairly large group, to situate a little bit for people who do not know,
00:57it is the group that contains in particular truffles, blackberries, alveoli,
01:02so these are genres that we will not specifically look for today,
01:05we will probably be interested in other groups.
01:08We hope to be able to improve the knowledge of the fungus in the Lovitel Integral Reserve.
01:14We arrive at the lake, so this is the area that remains open to the public,
01:29where there are a lot of people, you see it is not even 8 o'clock,
01:33there are still two tents, there are probably one or two people who have bivouacked tonight.
01:37So the reserve is right in front,
01:40basically it is limited by these large arches that we see on the left,
01:44all the arches in the background, which are around 3,000, between 2,500 and 3,000 meters high,
01:48and then the right arch, and then on the northern part, it is quite simply the lake that makes the limit.
01:54We have 10, 15 people who will come in every year, right at the bottom of the reserve,
02:00a maximum of 10, 15 people in the year,
02:03while right next to it, on the beach that is there, we will have almost 400 people per day on average in the summer.
02:10It works !
02:20We discover the reserve.
02:23The old forest part is therefore the whole left part,
02:27where we have trees that are at least 150 years old, for some probably much more.
02:32The idea is really to disturb as little as possible, to modify as little as possible things,
02:38even with our studies.
02:40So if the study is too impactful, it is not authorized.
02:56We enter here, and therefore for everything that is inventory, from here you can have fun.
03:09When we enter the reserve, we quickly realize that there is no human activity,
03:15because there is a multitude of branches, of wood, in between, intermingled.
03:18There is no path, there is no access, we have to sneak in the middle of the blocks, of the trees.
03:23As there is no silvicultural activity, there is a lot of dead wood,
03:27there is about 2 to 3 times more dead wood than in a forest, another classic similar forest, but which is exploited.
03:34So all this is intermingled with each other, which makes it very difficult to move.
03:38Areas in France like this, there are very few.
03:42In the whole reserve, there are only 2 or 3.
03:44In the mountain area, it is the only one.
03:46Are these asco?
03:47Oh yeah !
03:48Yeah ?
03:49You see ?
03:50And yes, often when we think fauna, we think chamois, we think bouquetin, eagle, the easy things to see.
03:54So of course they have their importance, but most of the biodiversity is not there.
03:59Most of the biodiversity is hidden, and often all these small species,
04:03for example mushrooms, will allow the decomposition of dead wood, the formation of the soil,
04:08which will then serve as a habitat for a multitude of other species, including insects.
04:12Insects are 80% of the fauna.
04:14Our role in the reserve will be to try to invent everything, to really know the whole,
04:19otherwise we have a vision that ultimately, if we only know a few species, that is very partial of the site.
04:24This is an Escomi 7.
04:26A good example of a mushroom that we are looking for in these environments.
04:30And we put some box for a microscopic study.
04:36The morning was rather fruitful.
04:38I think we have about 30, 40 species.
04:42So for a first try, it's pretty good.
04:46Let's go.
04:48We will come back, I don't know when, but as soon as it rains, with the mushrooms growing.
05:17Goodbye, thank you for everything.
05:19See you soon.
05:21And good determination now.
05:24We smoke as soon as we arrive.
05:29Here we will find the classic marmotte, we will find the royal eagle,
05:33we will find the chamois, the bouquetin, which are the great classics of the Alps.
05:36Recently, we found the bearded jipette, we didn't see it anymore.
05:40Then, little by little, the numbers are increasing gradually.
05:44We discovered, for example, about 500 species of butterflies.
05:48About 100 species of spiders.
05:50We must be at about 300 species of mushrooms.
05:53About 150 species of lichen.
05:56We will find about 50 species of birds.
05:59So a multitude of varieties.
06:02In total, we are about 2,400 species described.
06:06There are few sites where we know so many species, but there are a few others.
06:10We estimate that we still have about 5,000 to 6,000, so about 4,000 to discover.
06:25We are right in front of the reserve, right in the axis.
06:28And we have a complete weather station.
06:31To understand the evolution of all these environments just behind,
06:34we also need to know the local weather.
06:37So we have the speed and direction of the wind.
06:40A temperature sensor.
06:42We have a probe that measures the height of the snow.
06:51In 20 years, we have already observed
06:54almost 1.8 degrees of warming of the Lovitel basin.
06:59So it remains to be weighed.
07:02There are a number of local effects that can intervene.
07:05There is a tension between a local measurement
07:08which does not necessarily have a global significance.
07:11By putting a lot of measuring instruments everywhere across the planet
07:17and by exchanging data, by comparing them,
07:20that's how we can build solid models.
07:23We are going to pick up the photo trap, which is right there.
07:28The trap is right at the edge of the reserve.
07:34So if someone comes in, he is detected.
07:44There is a small box in which there is a box.
07:49This box will trigger photos and videos.
07:54With the photo trap, for example, human intrusions,
07:57we only had two in 10 years.
08:00So it's very, very weak.
08:02On the other hand, we have a lot of chamois, chevrolet, wild boar,
08:06birds, various and varied.
08:08And then this year, we had a wolf.
08:10It's the first time we've had it in the photo trap.
08:12We had already had traces.
08:14In the photo trap, it's the first time.
08:16It's the first time we've had a wolf.
08:18It's the first time we've had a wolf.
08:20It's the first time we've had traces.
08:22In the photo trap, it's the first time.
08:24Fanny or Régis, from Jérôme, are you receiving me?
08:27Did you get into the reserve?
08:29Is everything going as you want?
08:31And here is Régis and Fanny arriving.
08:35Not too bad?
08:36Fanny, what do you think of our country?
08:38It's cool.
08:39Are you okay?
08:40Yeah, I'm fine.
08:41So here we went to get the samples,
08:45and here we have the traps in a vertebrae,
08:47with the little insects, spiders,
08:51the coleopters.
08:53Here we see a beautiful spider, a little bit fluorescent.
08:56So we have traps a little bit scattered
08:58throughout the reserve.
09:00We note the GPS coordinates, the date,
09:03which will allow us to place the different species
09:09that will be determined by the specialists.
09:12We have found two new species for France of spiders,
09:18a new lycan, a lycan that has not yet been described.
09:23We have also found a mushroom that has not yet been described,
09:27so maybe new species for science.
09:29Two other mushrooms, new for France.
09:31In the next episode
09:41Having this time, this important duration,
09:44and then meeting all the research teams,
09:47we will be able to try to understand
09:49if we have an increase of such or such a species,
09:53is it related to a change of habitat,
09:55is it related to a meteorological change?
09:58We are lucky to be able to correlate things with each other.
10:01It helps us better understand the effects of global warming.
10:05It can help us, why not,
10:08sometimes have even industrial applications.
10:10This morning we were following mycologists.
10:12Mycologists know that a lot of mushrooms
10:15can be used in pharmacology, etc.
10:18So there is a multitude of possible implications behind,
10:21not only environmental, but in general,
10:24to better understand the planet
10:26and use it in a multitude of diverse and varied services.
10:30Day 2
10:55It's 5.30am
10:57and we are going to pick up traps on a summit,
11:00about 1,500m higher than us.
11:03Traps that have normally captured a few insects
11:06so that we can continue the inventory of the insects of the river.
11:14And then what I remember above all
11:16is the moments of exchange and meeting with researchers
11:18where we work for 15-18 hours a day,
11:21we crawl here and there,
11:23we are cooked, we sleep under a rock somewhere,
11:26but the guys have such a passion, such a desire,
11:29that we don't pay attention to fatigue,
11:32we keep working and we go from discovery to discovery.
11:36That's what I love every time,
11:38to see people who are going to stay
11:40an hour crawling on the ground
11:42trying to find a very special little mushroom
11:45or such a trap or such a very, very special thing.
11:49That fascinates me all the time.
11:56NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology