Discovery and science

In this project, scientists from the Alpine Center for Research on Trophic Networks in Limnic Ecosystems (CARRTEL), the Alpine Ecology Laboratory (LECA), the Mountain Environments, Dynamics and Territories Laboratory (Edytem), the Institute of Earth Sciences (ISTerre) and the Institute of Environmental Geosciences (IGE), supported by The jardin du Lautaret, are testing the hypothesis that certain nutrients essential to plants (such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus), released naturally by the weathering of rocks, could play a key roleThese nutrients could locally promote soil formation and accelerate vegetation growth, particularly in specific areas where snow melts late, which can be considered "havens" of greenery.
 

• An initial field campaign took place in September 2025. Soil and rock samples were collected along different snow cover gradients (from little snow to heavy snow). This campaign benefited from the assistance of Master's students during their first week back at Lautaret. The samples were then sent to several laboratories in France and abroad, where analyses are still ongoing.
• At the same time, laboratory experiments were set up to reproduce rock weathering and measure how quickly rocks release nutrients under different environmental conditions.
• In the coming months, work will focus primarily on soil experiments to better understand which nutrients limit vegetation growth and how soil microorganisms mobilize these resources. 
• The project will also study the impact of rock weathering on the quantity and form of nutrients transported by water throughout the Lautaret-Roche Noire site watershed, using chemical and isotopic analyses of water samples collected regularly by the Lautaret Garden team.