Scientific Research

Major Research Orientations at Parc national des Monts-Valin

Having extensive knowledge of the parks to better preserve them is the foundation that justifies the efforts invested in inventories, monitoring programs and scientific research. At Parc national des Monts-Valin, knowledge acquisition mainly focuses on basic biophysical inventories necessary for the protection of the natural environment. The park is one of the youngest in the network. Although a start has been made, there is still much to do. To preserve the park’s ecological integrity, we need to keep making inventories of the plant and animal life in order to know and understand the ecosystems.

Based on needs, and especially on possible collaborations with different research teams, the park documents certain features of its territory. The ten different varieties of blueberries, the bee populations, Bicknell’s Thrush and sugarbush piedmont are projects that have been attracting the most attention in recent years.

Find out more about scientific research in the Québec's National Parks network

Did you know?

Astonishing Variety of Lepidoptera

This group of insects is generally little or poorly known. Few systematic inventories have been done on this group, even though it has so much diversity.

Lépidoptère
Swift moth observed in the summer of 2009 in the Pic de la Hutte sector

In recent years, professional naturalists volunteered to do a systematic inventory of moths on the park’s territory. In the context of this work, a population of rare swift moths was discovered. This is a small salmon-coloured nocturnal moth with a wingspan of about 4 cm. This species is the most northerly of the hespialidae family and also the least known. Although it was captured or observed several times in Québec, little information is available on this moth. A total of about 600 different species of nocturnal moths were identified!

Parc national des Monts-Valin