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Frédéric Pallu — naturalist & engineer of the Corps des Mines

Ingénieur général des Mines (Senior Engineer, French Corps des Mines) • Scientific ecology, biodiversity, AI & geomatics

Observe Understand Map Share Act

This site documents a personal and professional approach at the intersection of urban ecology, naturalist data, geomatics and decision support.

Observe → Understand → Map → Share → Act

A senior engineer of the French Corps des Mines (Ingénieur général des Mines), field naturalist and geomatician, I produce and publish data on the biodiversity of urban and peri-urban environments in the Pays de la Loire region. These data feed into institutional policies, NGO programmes and technical advocacy files. This site is their public documentation.

This site brings together work belonging to four distinct registers — 🏛️ institutional 🤝 associative ⚖️ advocacy 🔭 naturalist — whose interplay informs the reading of each section.

→ Understand the four registers of action

Read according to your profile

VAE assessor / academic

Background, degrees, recommendation letters, peer-reviewed scientific output.

DDRS auditor / institutional

Campus biodiversity policy, indicators, CGE label, partnership agreements.

Public partner / elected official

Development files, documented technical advocacy, enforceable cartographic data.

Naturalist / NGO

Field observations, protocols, regional atlases, participatory science.

Curious about data, AI, maps

Technical architecture, QGIS piloting in natural language, iNaturalist → GBIF → SINP data flows.

The site's main areas

Personal background & positioning

An atypical trajectory between the Corps des Mines, digital engineering and scientific ecology. Degrees, evidence, registers of action.

Naturalist observations and iNaturalist

More than 8,000 records published. From the field to the SINP, via iNaturalist and GBIF.

Pays de la Loire — data, connectivity, species

Contribution to the regional bumblebee atlas, green and blue infrastructure, wetlands, biodiversity hotspots.

Champ de Manœuvre — sensitive site, documented advocacy

Critical avoid-reduce-offset (ERC) file, protected amphibians, heritage trees, HD LiDAR elevation.

Key results

Key results — biodiversity on the IMT Atlantique campuses

  • 6 academic years of structured biodiversity work (2020-2021 → 2025-2026)
  • 3 campuses covered: Brest, Nantes, Rennes (38.75 hectares in total)
  • 140,974 m² under differentiated management out of 387,512 m² of IMT land (36% under ecological management)
  • 437 species documented on the campuses (PROPAGE, POPreptiles, STERF+COJ protocols; GRETIA inventories)
  • 8 agreements signed with LPO, Bretagne Vivante, GRETIA, Nantes Métropole, ONIRIS, Fédération des Amis de l'Erdre
  • Associated SDGs: SDG 4 · SDG 13 · SDG 14 · SDG 15 · SDG 17

→ Timeline of actions · → Indicators

A method common to all projects

Whatever the register — institutional, associative, advocacy or personal practice — the workflow is the same:

Field Observations Open data Spatial analysis Mapping Public documentation Decision support

→ See the technical demonstration of this chain

Areas of expertise

The work documented on this site spans seven complementary fields of scientific and applied ecology. These fields rely on cross-cutting tools — geomatics and, more recently, agentic AI — to produce, organise and share data and knowledge on biodiversity. Here, AI is a tool in the service of this work, not an end in itself.

Conservation ecology

Assessment of ecological issues, protected species, habitats, ecological connectivity, the avoid-reduce-offset (ERC) sequence, prioritisation of actions.

Urban and territorial ecology

Campuses, development zones (ZAC), peri-urban environments, headwater catchments, green and blue infrastructure, the effects of land development on living systems.

Community ecology and naturalist surveys

Multi-taxon monitoring, observed species, iNaturalist projects: bumblebees, amphibians, reptiles, birds, pollinators.

Participatory science and naturalist data

Production, structuring, publication and reuse of open data; distinguishing opportunistic observation, protocols and collaborative projects.

Ecological geomatics and spatial ecology

Mapping, GIS, connectivity, buffer zones, friction, dashboards — QGIS, Python, R, PostGIS.

Light ecological management and engineering

Differentiated mowing, ponds, hedgerows, campus management, indicators and monitoring of management responses.

Science–public action interface, mediation and training

Turning ecological knowledge into decision-support materials; technical advocacy; mediation between local authorities, NGOs and government services; training and network facilitation (TES programme, participatory science).