How monitoring networks contribute to the understanding and to the management of soil and forest ecosystems?

Faced with the uncertainties linked to environmental change, the monitoring networks are an essential source of data in order to anticipate changes in ecosystems. In France, three national networks are concerned with the change in the soil and/or forest in relation to the soil. Initially designed to monitor the effect of atmospheric pollution on the health of forests, the systematic network for the monitoring of forest damage (RSSDF) and the RENECOFOR network correspond to the two extensive and intensive components of pan-European forest monitoring (ICP Forests). Created more recently, the RMQS specifically monitors soil quality by extending the grid for forest monitoring to other land uses (crops, meadows, natural or urban environments). Pioneering and recent initiatives regarding the speed of change of soils and forests, these networks have nonetheless already generated a large number of original results and have shown their potential to meet expectations that are becoming increasingly diversified