Bois de Jalavez on mountain bike

5 points of interest

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  Flora

  Lichens' growth

  The lichen is composed of two types of bodies (a fungus and an alga) that each play a role. The fungus provides support, protection, minerals and moisture reserves. The algae, through photosynthesis, supplies in organic nutrients. This way, the lichen thrives by drawing minerals trapped in rainwater or by directly dissolving the substrate on which it is located. Its growth is very slow, it grows a few millimetres per year and therefore most of the specimens which care visible to the naked eye are centuries old!

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  Panorama

  Ceillac

  The village of Ceillac, its cultivated lands and mowing meadows. At the back, the view opens up on the Massifs des Ecrins and particularly on the Têtes de Vautisse mountain.

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  Flora

  The development of fungi

  Neither animal nor vegetable, fungi belong to a separate biological kingdom. To reproduce, the fruiting body (visible part consisting of a saucer-like outgrowth with a foot, commonly known as mushroom) disseminates spores. The spores will germinate and form a microscopic filament, the mycelium. The meeting of the two mycelia will cause melting and the appearance of a mycelium said to be secondary. This will drastically multiply and under a certain humidity, temperature and substrate, a hyphae will form which will create a new fruiting body, which in turn will produce spores.

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  Water and rivers

  Cascade de la Pisse

  Measuring 280m high, the Cascade de la Pisse is the largest waterfall of Queyras. If in summer its wet air cools the atmosphere, in winter, also known as"the shapes of chaos", it is the joy of climbers who come to indulge in ice climbing and confront the many forms and types of ice offered by the site.

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  Fauna

  Volucella pellucens

  This hoverfly of the Syrphidae family measures between 15 and 16mm. It lives in woodlands and near the edges of ponds. The hormones it produces deceive wasps and allow the female to lay eggs inside wasp nests. When the eggs hatch, the larva develops as an ectoparasite of the wasp larva. It then feeds on the dead wasps that have fallen into the bottom of the nest. After a period of hibernation, the larva completes its metamorphosis and flies off in search of food and a sexual partner.