A l'UM la science [S04-ep11] : Exotic curists in Juvignac
This week on A l'UM la science, Andrea Reyes Camargo and Ilhan Ben Halima, a student in the master's program biology ecosystem evolution, tell us about guppy and cherry shrimp found in the thermal baths of Juvignac. The report takes you to the platform for quarantine insects. A program broadcast every Wednesday on Divergence FM 93.9.
It's a well-known stroll for Montpellier residents. The park of the Juvignac thermal baths, just a few kilometers from the center of the metropolis, stretches between the banks of the Mosson river on one side and the Juvignac golf course on the other. In the 19th century, a spa was built around the benefits of the Fontcaude spring water, which gushes out at a temperature of between 21 and 25°. In 1812, the Montpellier medical society confirmed its virtues for people suffering from skin diseases, sciatica and rheumatism. On June 30, 1846, a ministerial decree designated the Fontcaude spring as an acidic thermal spring, i.e. one containing carbonic acid. The spa opened the following year, but after only ten years of operation, the owner turned to another liquid: wine.
It wasn't until March 1999 that a new decree from the Ministry of Employment and Solidarity authorized the town of Juvignac to make Fontcaude water available to its residents. In 2009, a new balneotherapy complex was created in place of the existing thermal baths. Unfortunately, the establishment was unable to withstand the health crisis of 2020 and closed its doors again in 2021. But the waters of the Juvignac thermal baths continue to attract interest, particularly from students at the Universities of Montpellier and Toulouse, who have been looking at a body of water in the park. And they found two tourists from faraway lands who seem to appreciate Fontcaude's temperature to the point where they've probably settled there for good. Their names: poecilia reticulata and neocaridina davidi. The two creatures may be a delight to the eye, but not to the local ecosystem.
Andrea Reyes Camargo and Ilhan Ben Halima, both students in the Biology and Ecosystem Evolution Masters program, have just published the article " Evidence of an established population of poecilia reticulata and neocaridina davidi in metropolitan France " in the journal Cybium.
In the second half of the program, we're still on the subject of bugs, but this time on land, we invite you to visit PIQ, the quarantine insect platform on the Triolet campus, with Magali Eychenne from the Diversity, Genomes and Microorganism-Insect Interactions laboratory.
At UM la science you've got the program, here we go!
Coproduction: Divergence FM / Université de Montpellier
Animation: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview : Lucie Lecherbonnier / Aline Périault
Reporting and editing: Lucie Lecherbonnier / Aline Périault
Production : Alice Rollet
Listen to the program "A l'UM la science" on Divergence FM 93.9
