Abstract: Depiction of the genetic diversity, linkage disequilibrium (LD) and population structure is essential for the efficient organization and exploitation of genetic resources. The objectives of this study were to (i) to evaluate the genetic diversity and to detect the patterns of LD, (ii) to estimate the levels of population structure and (iii) to identify a ‘core collection’ suitable for association genetic studies in sweet cherry. A total of 210 genotypes including modern cultivars and landraces from 16 countries were genotyped using the RosBREED cherry 6 K SNP array v1. Two groups, mainly bred cultivars and landraces, respectively, were first detected using STRUCTURE software and confirmed by Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA). Further analyses identified nine subgroups using STRUCTURE and Discriminant Analysis of Principal Components (DAPC). Several sub-groups correspond to different eco-geographic regions of landraces distribution. Linkage disequilibrium was evaluated showing lower values than in peach, the reference Prunus species. A ‘core collection’ containing 156 accessions was selected using the maximum length sub tree method. The present study constitutes the first population genetics analysis in cultivated sweet cherry using a medium-density SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) marker array. We provided estimations of linkage disequilibrium, genetic structure and the definition of a first INRA’s Sweet Cherry core collection useful for breeding programs, germplasm management and association genetics studies.

Abstract: European mountain landscapes are experiencing massive land-use changes and high rates of natural reforestation since the 1950s. Summer pastures are particularly sensitive to those dynamics since their natural state depends on human activities. A process-based model - SHIELD (Simulating Herd Impact on Encroachment in upLanD) - has been developed to identify the key leverages of pastoral practices to limit the natural reforestation in the Haut-Vicdessos (Pyrenees Mountains, France). Simulations are compared to observed land cover changes to validate the model's structure. Scenarios are simulated to assess various grazing practices on reforestation dynamics: a baseline scenario and three scenarios with contrasted pastoral management: (i) reintroducing herds with no human supervision, (ii) reintroducing herds supervised by a shepherd and (iii) increasing the cattle load without supervision. Results show that supervising the intensity of land units' occupancy can be as efficient as increasing the cattle load to limit the ongoing trends of reforestation. A process-based model was developed to simulate interactions between grazing activities and land cover dynamics.Vegetation successions, cattle activity and tree growth processes are represented through the SHIELD model.The model integrates knowledge from local experts, agricultural practices and remote sensing data.Scenarios are developed to assess various grazing practices on reforestation dynamics.Grazing routines may be more efficient to limit reforestation than grazing intensity. Results highlight the influence of grazing intensity and grazing routines to limit natural reforestation.

Abstract: The project European Gravity Service for Improved Emergency Management (EGSIEM) of the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation of the European Commission has started in January 2015. EGSIEM shall demonstrate that observations of the redistribution of water and ice mass derived from the current GRACE mission, the future GRACE-FO mission, and additional data provide critical and complementary information to more traditional Earth Observation products and open the door for innovative approaches to flood and drought monitoring and forecasting. We give an overview of the current status of the project and present the latest results from the three key objectives that EGSIEM shall address: 1) to establish a scientific combination service to deliver the best gravity products for applications in Earth and environmental science research based on the unified knowledge of the European GRACE community, 2) to establish a near real-time and regional service to reduce the latency and increase the temporal resolution of the mass redistribution products, and 3) to establish a hydrological and early warning service to develop gravity-based indicators for extreme hydrological events and to demonstrate their value for flood and drought forecasting and monitoring services. All of these services are tailored to the various needs of the respective communities.

Abstract: La modelisation prospective permet d'eclairer les reflexions des acteurs locaux en leur proposant un panel de futurs et d'alternatives possibles en matiere de planification et d'amenagement du territoire. Or, le modelisateur est souvent confronte aux limites des outils de simulation existants qui, calibres a partir de donnees passees, sont particulierement non adaptes a la spatialisation de scenarios prospectifs en rupture avec les tendances passees. L'objectif de cet article est de presenter un modele de simulation spatiale (SLEUTH*) dedie a la projection de scenarios contrastes et predefinis d’expansion urbaine. SLEUTH* constitue une version « scenario-dependante » issue de la modification du modele SLEUTH. Ce dernier, dont le fonctionnement est base sur un automate cellulaire, est un modele empirique, dynamique et spatialement explicite. Le choix du modele SLEUTH tient a sa capacite a simuler quatre formes d’expansion urbaine : expansion par diffusion, en continuite de l’urbain existant, le long des routes et par creation de nouveaux centres. Les ameliorations apportees permettent aux utilisateurs : (i) une maitrise de la quantite de changement de maniere exogene au modele et independante des tendances passees ; (ii) une maitrise des formes urbaines en offrant a l’utilisateur la possibilite de specifier les pourcentages contributifs de chacune des formes d'urbanisation adaptees a chaque scenario ; et (iii) l’integration d’un facteur additionnel de localisation des changements, en l’occurrence l’attractivite du territoire ou le prix des loyers. De plus, SLEUTH* est concu pour executer de facon automatique la spatialisation dynamique d'un scenario prospectif decline en sous- periodes presentant des dynamiques spatiales variables au cours du temps.

Abstract: Bien que les politiques amenagistes aient permis d’ameliorer la maitrise globale des fleuves, elles ont egalement genere de nombreuses perturbations et alterations. Aujourd’hui, la restauration des cours d’eau fait l’objet de nouvelles experimentations. Dans le sud-ouest de la France, sur le fleuve Garonne et dans l’estuaire de la Gironde, elles se traduisent notamment par des remises en eau des marais, liees au passage de tempetes (dynamique de depolderisation). Plus en amont, dans la moyenne Garonne toulousaine, les reflexions en cours concernent la reouverture de bras morts ou la creation de zones d’expansion de crues. Nous proposons d’examiner l’emergence de ce nouveau paradigme, dans une perspective pluridisciplinaire, par une evaluation geohistorique, geochimique, ecologique et sociologique.

Abstract: La politique Trame verte et bleue, instituee en 2007 en France par le Grenelle de l’environnement, a pour objectif la preservation de la biodiversite par le maintien des continuites ecologiques, et ce au-dela des zones protegees, dans les espaces de « biodiversite ordinaire ». La Trame verte et bleue doit etre deployee aux differents niveaux territoriaux selon le principe de subsidiarite. Cet article s’interesse a la mise en œuvre de cette politique en zone rurale et aux echelles infraregionales. A travers le cas d’etude de la basse vallee du Salat (Occitanie, France), nous interrogeons l’appropriation de la Trame verte et bleue par les differentes categories d’acteurs, de l’echelle des territoires de projets jusqu’au niveau local, par l’analyse des discours d’acteurs (structures professionnelles, elus locaux, agriculteurs, particuliers, associations locales). Dans un premier temps, cet article montre que les structures territoriales abordent la Trame verte et bleue par le prisme d’enjeux qui ne sont pas necessairement centres sur la preservation de la biodiversite, amenant a des strategies adaptees sur les territoires. A l’echelle locale, on constate que la Trame verte et bleue est mal connue, et souvent mal comprise par les acteurs. Nous mettons egalement en lumiere les differents leviers que mobilisent les structures territoriales en charge de la Trame verte et bleue pour agir localement, sur les espaces publics et prives. Finalement, il apparait que l’entree paysagere choisie par certains operateurs pour mettre en œuvre la TVB permet de mobiliser les acteurs locaux et d’inflechir leurs pratiques.

Abstract: Nous presentons une experience de recherche collaborative en education a l’environnement et au developpement durable (EEDD), dans le cadre d’un Observatoire Hommes-Milieux (OHM). Elle s’appuie sur une ingenierie educative innovante visant a aider les eleves a mieux comprendre leur territoire et a developper chez eux des competences citoyennes pour se projeter vers les futurs possibles de celui-ci. Nous identifions les leviers pour sa transferabilite a d’autres territoires, par le detour d’une reflexion sur les formes de modelisation possibles de l’ingenierie educative mobilisee.

Abstract: Psychiatric pharmaceuticals, such as anxiolytics, sedatives, hypnotics and antidepressors, are among the most prescribed active substances in the world. The occurrence of these compounds in the environment, as well as the adverse effects they can have on non-target organisms, justifies the growing concern about these emerging environmental pollutants. This study aims to analyse the effects of six psychotropic drugs, valproate, cyamemazine, citalopram, sertraline, fluoxetine and oxazepam, on the survival and locomotion of Japanese medaka Oryzias latipes larvae. Newly hatched Japanese medaka were exposed to individual compounds for 72 h, at concentrations ranging from 10 μg L−1 to 10 mg L−1. Lethal concentrations 50 % (LC50) were estimated at 840, 841 and 9,136 μg L−1 for fluoxetine, sertraline and citalopram, respectively, while other compounds did not induce any significant increase in mortality. Analysis of the swimming behaviour of larvae, including total distance moved, mobility and location, provided an estimated lowest observed effect concentration (LOEC) of 10 μg L−1 for citalopram and oxazepam, 12.2 μg L−1 for cyamemazine, 100 μg L−1 for fluoxetine, 1,000 μg L−1 for sertraline and >10,000 μg L−1 for valproate. Realistic environmental mixture of the six psychotropic compounds induced disruption of larval locomotor behaviour at concentrations about 10- to 100-fold greater than environmental concentrations.

Abstract: Background Space-for-time substitution—that is, the assumption that spatial variations of a system can explain and predict the effect of temporal variations—is widely used in ecology. However, it is questionable whether it can validly be used to explain changes in biodiversity over time in response to land-cover changes. Hypothesis Here, we hypothesize that different temporal vs spatial trajectories of landscape composition and configuration may limit space-for-time substitution in landscape ecology. Land-cover conversion changes not just the surface areas given over to particular types of land cover, but also affects isolation, patch size and heterogeneity. This means that a small change in land cover over time may have only minor repercussions on landscape composition but potentially major consequences for landscape configuration. Methods Using land-cover maps of the Paris region for 1982 and 2003, we made a holistic description of the landscape disentangling landscape composition from configuration. After controlling for spatial variations, we analyzed and compared the amplitudes of changes in landscape composition and configuration over time. Results For comparable spatial variations, landscape configuration varied more than twice as much as composition over time. Temporal changes in composition and configuration were not always spatially matched. Significance The fact that landscape composition and configuration do not vary equally in space and time calls into question the use of space-for-time substitution in landscape ecology studies. The instability of landscapes over time appears to be attributable to configurational changes in the main. This may go some way to explaining why the landscape variables that account for changes over time in biodiversity are not the same ones that account for the spatial distribution of biodiversity.

Abstract: In the northwestern Mediterranean area, the first Iron Age is characterized by intense contacts and cultural interactions between populations. Archaeological remains such as ceramic vessels or metal and glass objects are usually good indicators of the nature and the intensity of these exchanges, but can also be used to determine the way in which these populations were living at their time. In contrast, organic substances, despite their importance in a wide variety of activities, are rarely investigated due to their low degree of preservation. The recent discovery of a series of amorphous organic residues with adhesive properties at the site of Cuciurpula provided a unique opportunity to address questions related to the types of natural substances exploited, their provenance, their uses and their informational input to intercultural relationships. Our results, based on GC and GC–MS analysis of organic residues preserved at the site of Cuciurpula, provide strong evidence for the most southern use of birch bark tar in Western Europe, and also for the simultaneous use of this substance with pine resin. Beeswax was also identified in some samples. The combined study of residue composition, aspect and location on ceramic sherds reveals a variety of uses, highlighting a complex technical system.