Is the grass greener in Normandy? Normandy’s meadows – history and biodiversity

Developed concurrent to the networks of hedgerows, essentially during the 19th century, meadows became a haven for fauna and flora that once flourished only in more natural ecosystems and wastelands. And they offered a major contribution to the region’s biodiversity, whilst doing many of what we can refer to as ecosystemic favours. Today, they are declining, both in terms of quantity and quality. So, what levers do we have to preserve them?

Sylvain Diquélou is director of the Conservatoire botanique national de Normandie (Normandy national botanic conservatory) since November 2023. He was previously lecturer-researcher in ecology at the University of Caen – Normandy from 1999 to 2023, specialising in the management of natural environments and research in the structure of plant communities in meadows (modulation via management practice), the usefulness of meadows and the chemical properties of species, considered as their identity card and indicating their ecology. Also in charge of the EcoCaen Master’s Degree focusing on the management of natural environments, from 2004 to 2023, and the Platin’ analysis platform from 2018 to 2023 (among other responsibilities), he presented a doctoral thesis in biology (University of Rennes 1, 1997) and has an accreditation to supervise research (HDR).