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09/01/12 Extension majeure des zones naturelles protégées en Europe Natura 2000, le réseau de zones protégées de l'Union européenne, vient d'être sensiblement élargi. Près de 18 800 km² ont été ajoutés, dont une superficie importante de zones marines couvrant 17 000 km², ce qui renforcera la protection de nombreuses espèces marines menacées. Le réseau porte désormais sur près de 18 % du territoire terrestre de l'Union européenne, et plus de 145 000 km² de ses mers et océans.				09/01/12 Les rizières de Camargue pourraient utiliser des canards pour une recette 100% bio Les canards, friands de jeunes pousses de mauvaises herbes, pourraient être une solution alternative à la lutte chimique dans les rizières de Camargue ! La panisse (Echinochloa crus galli) et le triangle (Cypéracées) sont deux bêtes noires des riziculteurs camarguais. Ces mauvaises herbes infestent les rizières, rendant très difficile la culture de riz bio deux années successives : elles peuvent faire chuter jusqu'à 80% les rendements. Jean-Claude Mouret, chercheur à l'UMR Innovation de Montpellier précise : « pour être rentable, une production de riz biologique doit atteindre un rendement minimum qui se situe, compte tenu du prix actuel, autour de 4 tonnes/ha soit 8 t/ha sur deux années consécutives. Mais cet objectif est difficile à atteindre la deuxième année du fait d'une trop forte infestation par les adventices... ».
05/01/12 Les salines du Midi, havre en péril des oiseaux migrateurs Près de Sète, sur les 140 hectares des anciennes salines de Villeroy (Hérault) désormais propriété du Conservatoire du littoral, un îlot fait de coquillages mêlés de sable et de sel vient d'être aménagé pour les oiseaux. A une centaine de mètres des berges, il devrait accueillir au printemps une colonie de sternes migratrices. Sa "capacité d'hébergement" est estimée à 1 200 couples. Cette nouvelle île aux oiseaux a coûté 30 000 euros à Thau Agglomération, qui regroupe huit communes du sud de l'étang de Thau. Quatre autres îlots sont ici en projet mais d'autres pourraient voir le jour aussi sur d'autres salines en Camargue, sur l'étang de l'Or (près de Montpellier) ou dans les lagunes audoises, notamment près de Port-la-Nouvelle.
20/12/11 La biodiversité, une manne d'emplois d'avenir ? «Recrute un(e) ingénieur d'études en biodiversité, au sein du groupe Impacts sur l'environnement, vous serez en charge des études concernant la biodiversité des projets», «Recherche pour la Direction des espaces verts, un chef de service maintenance. Vous contribuez à une meilleure prise en compte des aspects environnementaux: préservation de la biodiversité, diminution des phytosanitaires, protection de la ressource en eau». Dans le privé ou le public, la biodiversité s’invite dans les offres d’emploi. Quel que soit le secteur d’activité ou le niveau d’études, la prise en compte croissante des impacts de l’activité humaine sur l’environnement pourrait donner naissance à de nouveaux métiers ou changer la manière de pratiquer des métiers traditionnels.					20/12/11 Melting Glaciers Reveal Future Alpine World In a hundred years trees may be growing where there are now glaciers. The warm climate of the last few years has caused dramatic melting of glaciers in the Swedish mountains. Remains of trees that have been hidden for thousands of years have been uncovered. They indicate that 13,000 years ago there were trees where there are now glaciers. The climate may have been as much as 3.5 degrees warmer than now. In other words, this can happen again, according to Lisa Öberg, a doctoral candidate at Mid Sweden University in a new study
20/12/11 Data On Biodiversity at Risk of Being Lost A new German-based project is setting out to rescue biodiversity data at risk of being lost, because they are not integrated in institutional databases, are kept in outdated digital storage systems, or are not properly documented.				20/12/11 Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) was established by governments in 2001 to encourage free and open access to biodiversity data, via the Internet. Through a global network of 57 countries and 47 organizations, GBIF promotes and facilitates the mobilization, access, discovery and use of information about the occurrence of organisms over time and across the planet.
19/12/11 Landscape Architecture Survey: Is Plant Knowledge Passé? Authors of a recent study examined an ongoing debate in the discipline of landscape architecture: exactly how much plant knowledge is required for professionals in the field? Robert Brzuszek, Richard Harkess, and Eric Stortz evaluated the attitudes and perceptions of practicing landscape architects in the southeastern United States with regards to the importance of horticultural knowledge. The survey results were published in HortTechnology.					19/12/11 140 New Species Described by California Academy of Sciences in 2011 In 2011, researchers at the California Academy of Sciences added 140 new relatives to our family tree. The new species include 72 arthropods, 31 sea slugs, 13 fishes, 11 plants, nine sponges, three corals, and one reptile. They were described by more than a dozen Academy scientists along with several dozen international collaborators.
16/12/11 Global Forests Are Overlooked as Water Suppliers, Study Shows The forests of the world supply a significant amount of moisture that creates rain. A new study published in Global Change Biology reveals how this important contribution of forests to the hydrologic cycle is often overlooked in water resource policy			15/12/11 Tree Species Maps for European Forests European Forest Institute (EFI) in cooperation with Alterra / Wageningen University and Research Centre has released a set of 1x1 km tree species maps showing the distribution of 20 tree species over Europe. Basic dendrometric data were gathered for 260,000 national forest inventory plot locations from 17 countries to compile these maps. Forest plot data collected in a European-wide network (ICP Level I) have been used to extend the available data for the remaining European countries.
12/12/11 Biodiversité : la communauté scientifique américaine prépare les négociations en vue de la création de l'IPBES L'US National Committee for DIVERSITAS (USNC DIVERSITAS), structure de l'Académie des Sciences animant le réseau DIVERSITAS aux Etats-Unis, a organisé le mardi 29 novembre 2011 une conférence publique sur la Plate-forme Scientifique Intergouvernementale sur la Biodiversité et les Services Ecosystémiques (IPBES) [1], avec le concours de la Mission Scientifique de l'Ambassade de France. Cette conférence était précédée d'une réunion des membres de l'USNC DIVERSITAS, à laquelle des représentants de l'ambassade de France étaient conviés
12/12/11 Déclin alarmant de la biodiversité européenne Selon de nouvelles recherches publiées fin novembre 2011, le patrimoine naturel européen montre un déclin alarmant. La Liste rouge européenne, qui fait partie de la Liste rouge de l'UICN des espèces menacées, a évalué une part importante de la faune et de la flore indigènes d'Europe et découvert qu'une grande proportion des mollusques, des poissons d'eau douce et des plantes vasculaires se classent désormais dans une des catégories menacées.						12/12/11 More Shrubbery in a Warming World Scientists have used satellite data from NASA-built Landsat missions to confirm that more than 20 years of warming temperatures in northern Quebec, Canada, have resulted in an increase in the amount and extent of shrubs and grasses.
08/12/11 A New Visualization Method Makes Research More Organized and Efficient NSF - The Action Science Explorer (ASE) helps reveal emerging trends and controversies and encourages collaborations within the research community The National Science Foundation- (NSF) funded Action Science Explorer (ASE) allows users to simultaneously search through thousands of academic papers, using a visualization method that determines how papers are connected, for instance, by topic, date, authors, etc. The goal is to use these connections to identify emerging scientific trends and advances.
07/12/11 Climate Changes Faster Than Species Can Adapt, Rattlesnake Study Finds The ranges of species will have to change dramatically as a result of climate change between now and 2100 because the climate will change more than 100 times faster than the rate at which species can adapt, according to a newly published study by Indiana University researchers. Article PLoS ONE
07/12/11 : Emission pathways consistent with a 2ºC global temperature limit In recent years, international climate policy has increasingly focused on limiting temperature rise, as opposed to achieving greenhouse-gas-concentration-related objectives. The agreements reached at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Cancun in 2010 recognize that countries should take urgent action to limit the increase in global average temperature to less than 2?°C relative to pre-industrial levels1. If this is to be achieved, policymakers need robust information about the amounts of future greenhouse-gas emissions that are consistent with such temperature limits.					06/12/11 : Vers un désastre climatique ? par Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie La réunion du Groupe d'experts intergouvernemental sur l'évolution du climat (GIEC) à Durban (Afrique du Sud) soulève un intérêt considérable. Je me borne à parler ici au nom de l'homme de la rue, dès lors qu'il dispose d'un minimum de culture écologique ; l'homme en question connaît bien les éléments essentiels du problème du "réchauffement" qui figurent dans la plupart des revues de vulgarisation scientifique et tout simplement dans la presse. Et ...Les événements météorologiques extrêmes se sont succédé en 2011
29/11/11 : Document du Ministère de l'environnement sur l'accroissement de l'effet de serre
En marge de Durban 2011 ... 29/11/11 Etudes contradictoires sur le climat futur Comment le climat va t-il réagir à l'injection massive de gaz à effet de serre dans l'atmosphère ? Le débat scientifique se poursuit sur cette question. En termes scientifiques, il s'agit de sa "sensibilité" à cette perturbation introduite par l'homme dans la machinerie climatique. Des études contradictoires montrent que le débat scientifique se poursuit sur cette question.
28/11/11 Small Forest With Big Impact: Fragmented Rainforests Maintain Their Ecological Functionality The value of a rainforest is not only measured by its biological diversity but also by its ecological functionality. Scientists have now presented the results of a comprehensive study in Kenya carried out over the course of nine years within the framework of the BIOTA East Africa project, which was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. A team of authors lead by Dr. Matthias Schleuning (Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, BiK-F) writes in the open-access journal PLoS One that rainforests that are subject to use by the human population and are divided into forest fragments can maintain their ecological functionality.
Mise en ligne du site internet du Centre de ressources national Trame verte et bleue				L'avenir de l'humanité passe par la restauration de l'humus des sols Ecosystèmes vitaux et rares soumis aux pressions humaines, les sols font l'objet d'usages concurrentiels. Leur gestion est un enjeu de société majeur, leur préservation est indispensable aux équilibres écologiques et à la biodiversité.
23/11/11 Is sustainability science really a science? LOS ALAMOS, New Mexico, November 22, 2011—The idea that one can create a field of science out of thin air, just because of societal and policy need, is a bold concept. But for the emerging field of sustainability science, sorting among theoretical and applied scientific disciplines, making sense of potentially divergent theory, practice and policy, the gamble has paid off.
23/11/11 Study of flower petals shows evolution at the cellular level A new study of flower petals shows evolution in action, and contradicts more that 60 years of scientific thought. The findings are reported by a scientist from UC Santa Barbara and a research team from Harvard University in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B this week.
23/11/11 A new model for understanding biodiversity Researchers develop a unified theory of ecosystem change by combining spatial modelling and food web analysis Animals like foxes and raccoons are highly adaptable. They move around and eat everything from insects to eggs. They and other “generalist feeders” like them may also be crucial to sustaining biological diversity, according to a new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).					18/11/11 Terrestrial Biodiversity Recovered Faster After Permo-Triassic Extinction Than Previously Believed While the cause of the mass extinction that occurred between the Permian and Triassic periods is still uncertain, two University of Rhode Island researchers collected data that show that terrestrial biodiversity recovered much faster than previously thought, potentially contradicting several theories for the cause of the extinction
17/11/11 Octobre chaud en France Des températures exceptionnellement chaudes en ce début novembre en France et en Europe de l'Ouest. L'image ci-contre du 12 novembre montre le vaste anticyclone qui éloigne les nuages du ciel au dessus de la région. Mais si novembre commence sous des auspices favorables aux balades en forêt, c'est la suite d'un mois d'octobre très chaud. Températures du mois d’octobre en France métropolitaine
16/11/11 Trees Adapt to Poor Levels of Sunlight to Effectively Process Carbon, Study Shows In Europe, forests appear evergreen even in the cloudiest conditions, while the lush interiors of Asian jungles are typically overshadowed by a dense canopy. The ability of trees to adapt to light conditions, and even increase their intake of carbon for photosynthesis in poor light, has been explored by Czech researchers and published in the British Ecological Society's Functional Ecology.
10/11/11 Do Plants Perform Best With Family or Strangers? Researchers Consider Social Interactions In the fight for survival, plants are capable of complex social behaviours and may exhibit altruism towards family members, but aggressively compete with strangers. A growing body of work suggests plants recognize and respond to the presence and identity of their neighbours.				09/11/11 Les suivis naturalistes de l’archipel de Zembra mettent en avant les premiers effets sur le puffin de Méditerranée. Dans le cadre du suivi régulier del’avifaune marine de l’archipel de Zembraet Zembretta mis en place par l’Agence de Protection et d’Aménagement du Littoral et l’Initiative PIM, trois missions se sont déroulées depuis le début de l’année 2011. Coordonnées par Awatef Abiadh (chercheur en mammologie de l’Université de Tunis) et Ridha Ouni (naturaliste), ces trois missions ont permis de procéder au contrôle des boites antiréinfestation mises en place en octobre 2009 suite à l’opération d’éradication du rat noir sur Zembretta et de réaliser des suivis et prospections sur les populations de Goéland leucophée, Goéland d’Audouin et Puffin yelkouan de l’archipel. - « D’îles en îles », n°13, nov. 2012
Holm oaks will gain ground in northern forests due to climate change Holm oaks and other forests in lowland areas of Mediterranean mountains could expand by up to 350% due to global warming. In contrast, those forest formations that are more adapted to cold and humid conditions, such as beech and Sylvester pines, could shrink by up to 99%. Both scenarios could be quite possible in the 21st century according to a model created to study the effects of climate change on the forests of the Sistema Central and the Sistema Ibérico (Spain).
09/11/11 Conservation Scientists 'Unanimous' in Expectations of Serious Loss of Biological Diversity The number of species recognized as endangered is ever increasing and a new study by a University of York academic, published in Conservation Biology, reveals the unanimity among conservation scientists of expectations of a major loss of biological diversity. The survey also shows a growing acceptance of controversial strategies such as 'triage' -- a decision to prioritise resources and not to intervene to save some highly threatened species.					08/11/11 Conservationists call for increased focus on coastal ecosystems The world's coastal marine ecosystems are being overlooked, both in terms of their ecological importance and their potential as a rallying point for conservation. Writing in Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems Project Seahorse Director Dr. Amanda Vincent argues that increased protections are needed for the first 10 metres of depth of the world's oceans, where the richest diversity of marine habitats and animal life can be found and where most ocean-related human activity takes place.
Initiatives d'excellence : IDEX 5 projets sélectionnés pour la deuxième vague de l'appel à projets dont l'AMU (Aix-Marseille Université)
07/11/11 Unraveling the causes of the Ice Age megafauna extinctions Was it humans or climate change that caused the extinctions of the iconic Ice Age mammals (megafauna) such as the woolly rhinoceros and woolly mammoth? For decades, scientists have been debating the reasons behind these enigmatic Ice Age mass extinctions, which caused the loss of a third of the large mammal species in Eurasia and two thirds of the species in North America.
07/11/11 Climate change causing massive movement of tree species across the West CORVALLIS, Ore. A huge "migration" of trees has begun across much of the West due to global warming, insect attack, diseases and fire, and many tree species are projected to decline or die out in regions where they have been present for centuries, while others move in and replace them. In an enormous display of survival of the fittest, the forests of the future are taking a new shape.
07/11/11 Biodiversity Can Promote Survival On a Warming Planet, Mathematical Model Shows Whether a species can evolve to survive climate change may depend on the biodiversity of its ecological community, according to a new mathematical model that simulates the effect of climate change on plants and pollinators. The findings, published in the early online edition of Evolutionary Applications, are important because some species that have survived large climatic change in the past might not be able to survive current and ongoing climate change.					04/11/11 Prédire l'adaptation des plantes au changement climatique Dans le cadre du changement climatique, un des défis de la biologie évolutive consiste à identifier les bases génétiques de l'adaptation des espèces, afin de déterminer leur capacité à répondre aux modifications de leur milieu. Récemment publiée dans Science, une étude franco-américaine à laquelle ont participé plusieurs chercheurs du Laboratoire Génétique et Evolution des Populations Végétales (CNRS/Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille-1) a démontré que, chez la plante Arabidopsis thaliana, des variations génétiques étaient directement liées à certains paramètres climatiques
02/11/11 Tropical Rainforests Original Generators of Biodiversity The tropical rainforests (TRFs) harbour a multitude of living resources. Where, when and how did this wealth of biodiversity appear? To find answers to these fundamental questions, IRD biologists and their research partners1 have realized the first evolutionary history of a family of plants characteristic of this ecosystem: palms2 (Arecaceae or Palmae). Using a molecular dating method, based on DNA sequences, they traced this history back to the middle of the Cretaceous3, the final epoch of the dinosaurs. The palms were found to start diversifying in Laurasia -the ancient supercontinental landmass in the Northern Hemisphere- around 100 million years B.P., not at the Equator only 65 million years ago as previously assumed.
02/11/11 Human-Caused Climate Change Major Factor in More Frequent Mediterranean Droughts Wintertime droughts are increasingly common in the Mediterranean region, and human-caused climate change is partly responsible, according to a new analysis by NOAA scientists and colleagues at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES). In the last 20 years, 10 of the driest 12 winters have taken place in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.
26/10/11 L'Islande, un refuge pour les arbres français La France envisage de planter ses arbres en Islande pour conserver l'ADN d'espèces menacées par le réchauffement climatique, selon le département forestier de l'île, qui se trouve à la limite du cercle polaire. Avec la hausse des températures sur la planète, le climat islandais - plus froid mais pas glaciaire, en raison de la présence du Gulf Stream -, pourrait préserver des espèces de France lorsque leur habitat deviendra trop chaud.					24/10/11 A Protein Shows Plants the Oxygen Concentration of Their Surroundings Plants need water to grow, but every hobby gardener knows that you shouldn’t carry this to excess either. During waterlogging or flooding, plants can’t take up enough oxygen that they urgently need for their cellular respiration and energy production. Plants respond to this state of hypoxia with the activation of certain genes that help them cope with the stress. Until now it was unclear how plants are sensing the oxygen concentration. Recent experiments show that under hypoxia a protein that can activate genes, a so-called transcription factor, is released from the cell membrane to accumulate in the nucleus and trigger the expression of stress response genes.
24/10/11 Cooling the Warming Debate: Major New Analysis Confirms That Global Warming Is Real Global warming is real, according to a major study released Oct. 20. Despite issues raised by climate change skeptics, the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature study finds reliable evidence of a rise in the average world land temperature of approximately 1°C since the mid-1950s. Analyzing temperature data from 15 sources, in some cases going as far back as 1800, the Berkeley Earth study directly addressed scientific concerns raised by skeptics, including the urban heat island effect, poor station quality, and the risk of data selection bias.						24/10/11 Progress Towards Developing Plants That Accommodate Climate Change The ability to promote agricultural and conservation successes in the face of rapid environmental change will partly hinge on scientists' understanding of how plants adapt to local climate. To improve scientists' understanding of this phenomenon, a study in the Oct. 7, 2011 issue of Science helps define the genetic bases of plant adaptations to local climate.
24/10/11 Changes in plant community composition lag behind climate warming in lowland forests Climate change is driving latitudinal and altitudinal shifts in species distribution worldwide1, 2, leading to novel species assemblages3, 4. Lags between these biotic responses and contemporary climate changes have been reported for plants and animals5. Theoretically, the magnitude of these lags should be greatest in lowland areas, where the velocity of climate change is expected to be much greater than that in highland areas6. We compared temperature trends to temperatures reconstructed from plant assemblages (observed in 76,634 surveys) over a 44-year period in France (1965–2008). Here we report that forest plant communities had responded to 0.54?°C of the effective increase of 1.07?°C in highland areas (500–2,600?m above sea level), while they had responded to only 0.02?°C of the 1.11?°C warming trend in lowland areas.							20/10/11 Study reveals for first time true diversity of life in soils across the globe, new species discovered Microscopic animals that live in soils are as diverse in the tropical forests of Costa Rica as they are in the arid grasslands of Kenya or the tundra and boreal forests of Alaska and Sweden, according to a groundbreaking study appearing today in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences.
20/10/11 'Albedo Effect' in Forests Can Cause Added Warming, Bonus Cooling Wildfire, insect outbreaks and hurricanes destroy huge amounts of forest every year and increase the amount of carbon dioxide entering the atmosphere, but scientists are now learning more about another force that can significantly affect their climate impact. Researchers conclude in a new study that the albedo effect, which controls the amount of energy reflected back into space, is important in the climatic significance of several types of major forest disturbances.
20/10/11 Trames vertes et bleues : des directives nationales d'ici à la fin de l'année Le comité national "trame verte et bleue" a été installé mardi 18 octobre par la ministre de l'Écologie Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet. Son objectif : créer des corridors pour assurer la "continuité écologique" entre les espaces naturels.			19/10/11 Un berceau de la vie primitive sur Terre ? Un berceau possible de la vie sur Terre vient d'être identifié par une équipe internationale menée par des chercheurs du Laboratoire de géologie de Lyon : Terre, planètes et environnement (CNRS/Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1/ENS de Lyon). Il s'agit des volcans de boue d'Isua, au sud-ouest du Groenland. Ces volcans ont libéré, il y a presque quatre milliards d'années, des éléments chimiques indispensables à la formation des premières biomolécules, dans des conditions propices à la vie. C'est la première fois qu'un tel environnement, réunissant tous les éléments nécessaires pour l'éclosion de la vie, est identifié par des scientifiques da ns des terrains vieux de 3,8 milliards d'années.
17/10/11 Climate change downsizing fauna, flora: study Plants are seen in Paris in 2010. Climate change is reducing the body size of many animal and plant species, including some which supply vital nutrition for more than a billion people already living near hunger's threshold, according to a study released. From micro-organisms to top predators, nearly 45 percent of species for which data was reviewed grew smaller over multiple generations due to climate change, researchers found.
13/10/11 Researchers participate in network science to challenge long-held ecological theory For decades, ecologists have toiled to nail down general principles explaining why some habitats have so many more plant and animal species than others. Much of this debate is focused on the idea that the number of species is determined by the productivity of the habitat. Some would argue: Shouldn't a patch of prairie contain a different number of species than an arid steppe or an alpine tundra?				12/10/11 Ancient Climate Change Has Left a Strong Imprint On Modern Ecosystems As Earth’s climate cycles between warm and cool periods, species often must move to stay within suitable conditions. Scientists have now mapped how fast species have had to migrate in the past to keep up with changing climate. They found that small-ranged species – which constitute much of Earth’s biodiversity – are concentrated in regions where little migration has been required. Climate change due to human activities will drastically increase the required migration rates in many of these locations, putting their unique faunas at risk.
07/10/11 Living Species of Aquatic Beetle Found in 20-Million-Year-Old Sediments A study of an Early Miocene fossil from southern Siberia performed by an international team of researchers, from the National Museum in Prague, Voronezh State University and the Museum of Natural History in London, led to the surprising find that the fossil belongs to a species of aquatic beetles which is still alive today and widely distributed in Eurasia. The study was published in the open-access journal ZooKeys.
07/10/11 Plants May Have the Genetic Flexibility to Respond to Climate Change Plants may have the genetic flexibility to respond to climate change. In experiments with the common European plant Arabidopsis thaliana, a team of researchers led by Brown University scientists learned that climate is the agent that determines the suite of genes that gives the plant the best chance of surviving and reproducing throughout its natural range. The finding may unlock the molecular basis for other plants' adaptability to climate change. Results appear in Science.					07/10/11 Forest Structure, Services and Biodiversity May Be Lost Even as Form Remains A forest may look like a forest, have many of the same trees that used to live there, but still lose the ecological, economic or cultural values that once made it what it was, researchers suggest in articles in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences. One study outlines services and functions that are disappearing in mountain ash forests in Australia, and a commentary in the journal pointed out that many of the same issues are in play in forests of the Pacific Northwest, the grasslands of the Great Basin, and other areas
07/10/11 Plants May Have the Genetic Flexibility to Respond to Climate Change Plants may have the genetic flexibility to respond to climate change. In experiments with the common European plant Arabidopsis thaliana, a team of researchers led by Brown University scientists learned that climate is the agent that determines the suite of genes that gives the plant the best chance of surviving and reproducing throughout its natural range. The finding may unlock the molecular basis for other plants' adaptability to climate change. Results appear in Science.					07/10/11 Forest Structure, Services and Biodiversity May Be Lost Even as Form Remains A forest may look like a forest, have many of the same trees that used to live there, but still lose the ecological, economic or cultural values that once made it what it was, researchers suggest in articles in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences. One study outlines services and functions that are disappearing in mountain ash forests in Australia, and a commentary in the journal pointed out that many of the same issues are in play in forests of the Pacific Northwest, the grasslands of the Great Basin, and other areas
04/10/11 Touche pas à ma calanque Plaisanciers, chasseurs, pêcheurs, élus : Marseille se déchire autour du projet de création d’un parc naturel aux portes de la ville, prévu en 2012. C’est un projet ancien et complexe : un parc national des Calanques en lisière de Marseille, avec une partie terrestre et une autre marine. Cela fait rêver ? Mais la situation péri-urbaine complique tout, imposant de nombreux compromis. Et alors que l’enquête publique démarre dans quelques jours pour parvenir à ouvrir le parc l’an prochain, celui-ci ne fait plus que des insatisfaits						29/09/11 From forest to field: Perennial fruit crop domestication Premise of the study: Archaeological and genetic analyses of seed-propagated annual crops have greatly advanced our understanding of plant domestication and evolution. Comparatively little is known about perennial plant domestication, a relevant topic for understanding how genes and genomes evolve in long-lived species, and how perennials respond to selection pressures operating on a relatively short time scale. Here, we focus on long-lived perennial crops (mainly trees and other woody plants) grown for their fruits.
23/09/11 Ecologists Use Power of Network Science to Challenge Long-Held Theory For decades, ecologists have toiled to nail down principles explaining why some habitats have many more plant and animal species than others Much of this debate is focused on the idea that the number of species is determined by the productivity of the habitat. Shouldn't a patch of prairie contain a different number of species than an arid steppe or an alpine tundra?
23/09/11 La forêt de pins d'Aquitaine prend sa revanche En janvier 2009, près de 600.000 hectares, soit un tiers de la surface du plus grand massif forestier français, ont été touchés, principalement des pins dans la forêt des Landes. En une seule nuit, les éléments naturels ont porté un coup très dur à une filière qui réalise un chiffre d'affaires annuel de 2,5 milliards d'euros pour 33.000 emplois, dont les deux tiers sont des sylviculteurs. Mais de nouveaux débouchés sont apparus ces dernières années, l'innovation bousculant la tradition.					20/09/11 Minimizing Extinctions in a Changing Climate More species could be saved from extinction under climate change thanks to a new model scientists have developed to guide allocation of conservation funding. The international team, led by Dr Brendan Wintle of the University of Melbourne and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, is the first to develop a pioneering decision-support model that incorporates both ecological and economic information to guide conservation investment in the face of climate change.
16/09/11 Water Evaporated from Trees Cools Global Climate, Researchers Find Scientists have long debated about the impact on global climate of water evaporated from vegetation. New research from Carnegie's Global Ecology department concludes that evaporated water helps cool Earth as a whole, not just the local area of evaporation, demonstrating that evaporation of water from trees and lakes could have a cooling effect on the entire atmosphere. These findings, published Sept. 14 in Environmental Research Letters, have major implications for land-use decision making
08/09/11 Ingénierie écologique et entreprise : comment répondre aux besoins et protéger la biodiversité ? Il est fréquent que les entreprises contribuent, volontairement ou non, à l'érosion croissante de la biodiversité, socle de leur avantage concurrentiel et de leur création de valeur. Conscientes que la dégradation des écosystèmes est en grande partie provoquée par leurs activités, elles se rendent compte aujourd'hui qu'elles ne sauraient se développer sans ces mêmes écosystèmes dont elles retirent toutes sortes de bénéfices (services écosystémiques ou SE). La pression des parties prenantes les incite à réfléchir aux investissements et aux nouveaux marchés qui leur permettront de croître tout en protégeant la biodiverstéi.					08/09/11 Tree Rings Reveal Forest Fires from Hundreds of Years Ago With wildfires often in the news, Charles Lafon, associate professor of geography, has studied the fire history of forests throughout the southern and central Appalachian Mountains. He says trees can reveal key information about fire events, and some trees have a lot to tell -- one tree he examined endured 14 separate fires through its lifetime. He has published the research in Applied Vegetation Science and Physical Geography.
08/09/11 La fragmentation des espaces naturels devient alarmante en Europe Alors qu'en France la mise en place de trames vertes et bleues semble longue et difficile, l'AEE vient de publier un rapport sur les conséquences dévastatrices pour la faune et la flore de la fragmentation des espaces naturels en Europe. En France, la trame verte et bleue (TVB), volet majeur du Grenelle de l'environnement, est encore au stade expérimental. Il s'agit de la mise en place de corridors écologiques reliant des zones protégées, qui devraient être opérationnelles dès 2012, d'après le ministère de l'Ecologie, sur le territoire français.
08/09/11 Écologie des eaux - Les veines du paysage Les rivières sont essentielles à la biodiversité et à la mise en réseau des habitats. On en a la preuve en se promenant sur les bords de la Singine (BE/FR). Avant tout projet de renaturation, il faut réfléchir à l'état visé et fixer des objectifs, qui varient en fonction du type de cours d'eau: comment veut-on qu'il se présente? Quelles espèces pourraient profiter de ces travaux? Pour les rivières qui prennent leur source dans les Préalpes, la Singine peut servir de référence. En parcourant les gorges, on a le loisir de voir à quoi ressemble un cours d'eau de ce type quand il a suffisamment d'espace. Mais il est conseillé de s'équiper de bottes de pêche et de se renseigner sur le niveau de l'eau avant de partir						05/09/11 Les secrets d'adaptation de la «bactérie du désert» Un consortium de chercheurs, notamment du CNRS, du CEA, de l'Inra et des Universités de la Méditerranée, de Paris-Sud, Toulouse et Grenoble 1, ont réalisé l'analyse du génome de la bactérie Ramlibacter tataouinensis TTB310, appelée aussi « bactérie du désert ». Le décryptage de son génome a révélé la présence du gène kaiC, un gène dont la fonction était jusqu'alors connue uniquement chez certaines bactéries photosynthétiques
02/09/11 Tree-Killing Pathogen Traced Back to California Genetic detective work by an international group of researchers may have solved a decades-long mystery of the source of a devastating tree-killing fungus that has hit six of the world's seven continents. "The fungus was likely introduced from California either in the South of France or in Central Italy 60 to 80 years ago, and that introduction resulted in a global pandemic that has devastated the region's iconic Italian cypress trees," said Matteo Garbelotto, adjunct associate professor and cooperative extension specialist in ecosystem sciences at the University of California, Berkeley
01/09/11 Following the Trail of Conservation Successes Pessimism prevails in the conservation community because of ongoing habitat destruction and associated threats to a wide variety of species. With the global population expected to surge past 10 billion people by the end of this century, conservationists will face increasing challenges in their efforts to protect imperiled species and habitats.					29/08/11 Most Plant Species Important in Various and Varying Ecosystems From the kinds that people sneeze at, to the kinds that have prickly seeds that stick to pant legs, there are many different types of plants in grasslands around the world. According to a new analysis of plants in grassland ecosystems around the world, it turns out that most of those plant species are important.
29/08/11 Global Warming May Cause Higher Loss of Biodiversity Than Previously Thought If global warming continues as expected, it is estimated that almost a third of all flora and fauna species worldwide could become extinct. Scientists from the Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (Biodiversität und Klima Forschungszentrum, BiK-F) and the SENCKENBERG Gesellschaft für Naturkunde discovered that the proportion of actual biodiversity loss should quite clearly be revised upwards: by 2080, more than 80 % of genetic diversity within species may disappear in certain groups of organisms, according to researchers in the title story of the journal Nature Climate Change. The study is the first world-wide to quantify the loss of biological diversity on the basis of genetic diversity.
24/08/11 Genomewide Mapping Reveals Developmental and Environmental Impacts Complex traits that help plants adapt to environmental challenges are likely influenced by variations in thousands of genes that are affected by both the plant's growth and the external environment, reports a team of researchers at the University of California, Davis				24/08/11 Species Affected by Climate Change: To Shift or Not to Shift? Relocating species threatened by climate change is a radical and hotly debated strategy for maintaining biodiversity. In a paper published August 10 in the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers from CSIRO, University of Queensland and United States Geological Survey present a pragmatic decision framework for determining when, if ever, to move species in the face of climate change.
24/08/11 Climat : Phil Jones publie toutes ses données brutes Climategate, épisode final ? Vous vous souvenez de cette accusation lancée par les climatosceptiques contre Phil Jones - le climatologue du Hadley Centre qui produit un indice d'évolution de la température moyenne ? Il refuserait, le méchant, de livrer ses données brutes. Car, il aurait trafiqué ces données pour duper l'opinion publique et les gouvernement en mettant en scène une évolution climatique inventée et non observée. A droite, une présentation de l'écart à la moyenne (calculée sur 1961-1990) de la température de la planète, montrant l'évolution nette depuis trente ans, selon les analyses de l'équipe de Phil Jones.
22/08/11 Biodiversity Key to Earth's Life-Support Functions in a Changing World The biological diversity of organisms on Earth is not just something we enjoy when taking a walk through a blossoming meadow in spring; it is also the basis for countless products and services provided by nature, including food, building materials, and medicines as well as the self-purifying qualities of water and protection against erosion. These so-called ecosystem services are what makes Earth inhabitable for humans. They are based on ecological processes, such as photosynthesis, the production of biomass, or nutrient cycles.
22/08/11 Biodiversity Critical for Maintaining Multiple 'Ecosystem Services' As biodiversity declines worldwide, there is concern that this will lead to declines in the services that ecosystems provide for people, such as food production, carbon storage, and water purification. But until now it has been unclear, whether just a few or in fact a large number of the species in an ecosystem are needed to provide ecosystem services.					10/08/11 Tools to Imagine the Forest of the Future Can we predict the future regeneration of a forest given that at time T, a volume V of wood is extracted? What effects will the cut have on the competition between young and old trees in their efforts to gain access to light? Cemagref researchers are developing simulation models to anticipate the impact of future management decisions over different time scales in order to ensure the long-term balance between wood-production systems and other forest functions.
10/08/11 Study Builds On Plausible Scenario for Origin of Life On Earth A relatively simple combination of naturally occurring sugars and amino acids offers a plausible route to the building blocks of life, according to a paper published in Nature Chemistry.				02/08/11 Warming Climate Could Give Exotic Grasses Edge Over Natives In the study, which has been accepted for publication in the journal Global Change Biology and is now available online, UC Berkeley biologists catalogued the ranges of all 258 native grasses and 177 exotic grasses in the state and estimated how climate change -- in particular, increased temperature and decreased rainfall -- would change them.
29/07/11 Spread of Invasive Plant Species in South America and Australia Examined Invasive plant species in Chile pose a higher threat to its neighbour, Argentina, than vice versa. This was concluded by scientists from the University of Concepción in Chile and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) after analysing the flora of both countries. In particular, 22 non-native species which occur in Chile on connecting roads leading to Argentina present a high risk, according to the researchers, writing in the journal Biological Invasions.
29/07/11 Beetles Play an Important Role in Reducing Weeds Researchers funded by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the French Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) have found that ground beetles reduce the amount of weed seeds in the soil. Weeds reduce crop yields and these findings support the need to conserve farmland biodiversity as it plays an important supporting role to herbicides in controlling weeds and improving food security.					29/07/11 Ongoing Global Biodiversity Loss Unstoppable With Protected Areas Alone Continued reliance on a strategy of setting aside land and marine territories as "protected areas" is insufficient to stem global biodiversity loss, according to a comprehensive assessment published July 28 in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series.
29/07/11 Ecology: A world without mosquitoes Every day, Jittawadee Murphy unlocks a hot, padlocked room at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland, to a swarm of malaria-carrying mosquitoes (Anopheles stephensi). She gives millions of larvae a diet of ground-up fish food, and offers the gravid females blood to suck from the bellies of unconscious mice — they drain 24 of the rodents a month. Murphy has been studying mosquitoes for 20 years, working on ways to limit the spread of the parasites they carry. Still, she says, she would rather they were wiped off the Earth.
26/07/11 Animal Species Large and Small Follow Same Rule for How Common They Are in Ecosystems Animal species all follow the same rule for how common they are in an ecosystem, scientists have discovered. And the rule is simple. Everything from birds to fishes, crabs to snails to worms, and the parasitic animals that live inside or on them, follows it.
26/07/11 Epigenetic 'Memory' Key to Nature Versus Nurture Researchers at the John Innes Centre have made a discovery, reported this evening (24 July) in Nature, that explains how an organism can create a biological memory of some variable condition, such as quality of nutrition or temperature. The discovery explains the mechanism of this memory -- a sort of biological switch -- and how it can also be inherited by offspring.
22/07/11 Parasites Help Reveal New Ecological Rules: Animal Species Large and Small Follow Same Rule for How Common They Are in Ecosystems Scientists at UC Santa Barbara and other institutions say their new research is expected to profoundly affect the field of ecology and can assist the management of ecosystems, including forests, lakes, and oceans. And it's all because of parasites.					22/07/11 The Tallest Tree in All the Land The next time you're outdoors, see if you can spot the tallest tree. If you're in the desert Southwest, this may be an easy task -- trees there are few and far between, and tend to hunch low to the ground to conserve resources. In the temperate Northeast, dense forests make the exercise a bit more difficult. And in the rainy Northwest, the towering stands of sequoias often reach higher than the eye can estimate.
11/07/11 Climate change could kill one in 10 species by end of the century The findings support the view that the earth is currently experiencing a global mass extinction where the rate at which species are being lost is many times greater than the historical extinction rate. It is the sixth great mass extinction in the history of life on earth. Scientists said that previous predictions of how fast species are being lost because of climate change match the actual observed losses. They calculate that around 10 per cent of species alive today could be facing extinction by 2100 Publication PNAS						07/07/11 Most of World's 'Missing Species' Live in Known Hotspots, Study Finds Most of the world's "missing" or undiscovered species live in regions already identified by scientists as conservation priorities, according to a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. >> Full text
27/06/11 : Study of phytoremediation benefits of 86 indoor plants published Scientists determined the formaldehyde removal efficiency of a diverse cross-section of 86 indoor plant species. Ferns had the highest formaldehyde removal efficiency of the five classes of plants used in the experiments. Osmunda japonica (Japanese royal fern) was the most effective at removing formaldehyde of the species tested, proving 50 times more effective than the least-efficient species. All plants in the study were classified as excellent, intermediate, and poor based on formaldehyde removal efficiency.
27/06/11 : The mechanics of speciation Model examines factors that contribute to the emergence of new species Mate choice, competition, and the variety of resources available are the key factors influencing how a species evolves into separate species, according to a new mathematical model that integrates all three factors to reveal the dynamics at play in a process called sympatric speciation				23/06/11 : Biodiversité : fini la pelouse, vive la jachère fleurie ! Le gazon ? Quelle horreur ! C'est terriblement contraignant à entretenir. Et souvent très moche, à la différence de la jachère fleurie. De quoi s'agit-il ? Cela consiste à semer des graines dont les plantes fleurissent votre terrain et boostent la biodiversité environnante. Nous traversons la sixième grande vague d'extinction des espèces de l'histoire. Même si votre influence personnelle sur ce phénomène est mesurée, vous pouvez faire quelque chose directement dans vos jardins et vos communes grâce à la jachère fleurie.
58% of All Species Might Not Survive in Conservation Areas in Europe by 2080 Europe has the world's most extensive network of conservation areas but they are selected without taking the effects of climate change into account. A team of European researchers, led by Spaniards, has shown for the first time that this phenomenon threatens these areas, including those of the network Red Natura 2000. The impact will be greater in southern countries like Spain. The study, which has been published in Ecology Letters, is the first "exhaustive" evaluation of the effects of climate change on species' range in the protected areas of 38 European countries and those in Red Natura 2000.
Les forêts européennes s’étendent mais se morcellent Alors que les forêts tropicales perdent toujours davantage de feuilles, victimes d'une déforestation massive, leurs cousines européennes, elles, s'étendent d'année en année. Selon le rapport Etat des forêts d'Europe 2011, présenté mardi 14 juin lors de la sixième Conférence ministérielle pour la protection des forêts en Europe, le Vieux Continent abrite, en incluant la Russie, 1,02 milliard d'hectares de forêts, soit un quart de la surface forestière mondiale. Car depuis 20 ans, la surface forestière s'est étendue dans toutes les régions d'Europe, à raison de 800 000 hectares chaque année
15/06/11 - New Constellations of Species Change Ecosystems Human activities that are causing global climate changes and destroying habitats in nature are leading to the extinction of many species from Earth's ecosystems. At the same time, many species are expanding the range of their habitat.			10/06/11 - Les causes de la fonte des glaciers tropicaux enfin identifiées Les causes de la fonte des glaciers tropicaux sur les 10 000 dernières années sont enfin dévoilées par une équipe de chercheurs français(1) du CNRS, du CEA, de l'IRD, de l'Université Joseph Fourrier et un chercheur américain de l'Université d'Albany. Ils ont montré que le recul du glacier bolivien Telata sur cette période est avant tout lié à une hausse de température atmosphérique de 3°C et au réchauffement du pacifique tropical en réponse à une augmentation de l'insolation(2). Ces travaux ont été publiés le 09 juin 2011 sur le site de la revue Nature.
10/06/11 Bacteria on Old-Growth Trees May Help Forests Grow These findings highlight the importance of maintaining the large old-growth trees in the coastal temperate rainforests that stretch from Southern Alaska to Northern California. Lindo's findings suggest that it is the interactions between old trees, mosses and cyanobacteria, which contribute to nutrient dynamics in a way that may actually sustain the long-term productivity of these forests.
09/06/11 - Ecology Biased Against Non-Native Species ? The authors of the Nature comments section note that assumptions that "introduced species" offer only deleterious impacts are misguided and "that human-induced impacts, such as climate change, nitrogen eutrophication, urbanization and land use change are making the native-versus-alien species dichotomy in conservation increasingly meaningless."					08/06/11 - Glaciations May Have Larger Influence on Biodiversity Than Current Climate, Dung Beetle Study Finds An investigation by the Spanish Scientific Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC) reveals that the large impacts occurred during the last ice age maintain their effects on the current distribution of dung beetles of the scarab family (Scarabaeidae). In Ecology Letters
07/06/11 Fragmentation des espaces naturels La fragmentation des espaces naturels pèse sur la biodiversité par la présence de barrières difficilement franchissables, principaux cours d’eau et grandes voies de transport terrestre, et par la baisse des surfaces des espaces non fragmentés. En France métropolitaine, la fragmentation des espaces semi-naturels augmente régulièrement, tandis que la surface totale des milieux naturels terrestres diminue. Les régions de montagne et les grands ensembles forestiers apparaissent comme les moins fragmentés, à l’opposé en particulier des régions d’agriculture intensive et des grandes vallées.
06/06/11 - Climate Change Allows Invasive Weed to Outcompete Local Species Yellow starthistle already causes millions of dollars in damage to pastures in western states each year, and as climate changes, land managers can expect the problem with that weed and others to escalate.				07/06/11 First-of-Its-Kind Fluorescence Map Offers a New View of the World's Land Plants Scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have produced groundbreaking global maps of land plant fluorescence, a difficult-to-detect reddish glow that leaves emit as a byproduct of photosynthesis. While researchers have previously mapped how ocean-dwelling phytoplankton fluoresce, the new maps are the first to focus on land vegetation and to cover the entire globe. Article Biogeosciences
06/06/11 - Climate Change Allows Invasive Weed to Outcompete Local Species Yellow starthistle already causes millions of dollars in damage to pastures in western states each year, and as climate changes, land managers can expect the problem with that weed and others to escalate.
06/06/11 - Setting the scenario: planning for environmental change Changes in the way we use the land and sea in the last 50 years have diminished many of the benefits our ecosystems give us. We know it's happening, but don't know all the long-term effects. Roy Haines-Young and colleagues explain how the UK National Ecosystem Assessment is helping us plan for our possible futures.						06/06/11 - Coping With Climate Change: Can We Predict Which Species Will Be Able to Move Far or Fast Enough to Adapt ? As global temperatures rise, suitable sites for many plants and animals are shifting to cooler and higher ground. Can we predict which species will be able to move far or fast enough to keep up? A new study says the secrets to success in the face of a warming world are still elusive.
Le printemps 2011 est le plus chaud en France depuis "au moins 1900" On a eu un des printemps les plus secs depuis au moins cinquante ans, voire le plus sec, et le plus chaud depuis au moins 1900", a déclaré, lundi 30 mai, Frédéric Nathan, prévisionniste chez Météo France. Le printemps, au sens météorologique du terme, couvre les mois de mars, avril et mai. Le printemps calendaire s'achève le 21 juin. "Il y a eu un manque de précipitation, et en plus, avec la chaleur, il y a eu évaporation. C'est pour cela que l'état des sols est parfois pire qu'en 1976", a expliqué Frédéric Nathan. Des précipitations sont attendues lundi en soirée et mardi, mais leur caractère orageux empêchera une bonne imprégnation des sols. >> En savoir plus
Rethinking Extinction Risk? Criteria for Assessing Risk of Extinction in Plants Should Be Reconsidered, Experts Argue For more than 40 years, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has published the Red List of Threatened Species describing the conservation status of various species of animals. They are now also including plants in their lists and the picture they present is dramatic. According to recent estimates, around 20 per cent of flowering plants are currently at risk of extinction -- though the exact number is unknown since such a small proportion of plant species has even been measured. - Article PLoS						Mediterranean Sea Invaded by Hundreds of Alien Species More than 900 new alien species have been encountered in the coastal environments of the eastern Mediterranean Sea in recent decades, including the poisonous pufferfish. The invasion of alien species has had the consequence that the whole food chain is changing, while there is a lack of knowledge on which to base relevant risk assessments, a four-year study conducted at the University of Gothenburg shows.
What makes leaves sprout in the spring ? But how does this happen? As internationally acclaimed plant biologist (and Vice-Principal, Research at U of T Scarborough) Professor Malcolm Campbell explains in this interview, this bursting of buds is the result of a complex program designed by the trees over tens of thousands of years. It all depends on a number of factors occurring throughout the year – and variation in one factor can change the timing of trees’ buds bursting in the spring.				Species and Communities in Extreme Environments Yuri Ivanovich Chernov is one of the greatest modern experts in ecology and biogeography, Arctic regions in particular, not only in Russia but globally. His main monographs are “Nature Zonation and Terrestrial Animal Life” (1975), “Structure of the Animal Population of the Subarctic” (1978) and “Life of the Tundra” (1980), all in Russian. The latter book was later published in English as “The Living Tundra” (1985) with Cambridge University Press and, together with the second edition, for 20 years became the only truly indispensable manual of tundra science in the world. In the present collection of papers, some of Y. I. Chernov's students or followers attempt to reflect upon a number of the synecological and biogeographical paradigms he advanced.
Big Clue to Future Climate Change in Small Plants Yarrow, it's called, this flowering plant also known as "little feather" for the shape of its leaves. Prized as a garden plant that repels unwanted insects while attracting beneficial ones, it also improves soil quality and is used in many herbal medicines. Now yarrow--and 12 other grassland species, including Indian grass, thimbleweed and wild lupine--may have a larger role, scientists have found: as players in Earth's changing climate.
Preserving Plants and Animals Caught Between Forest 'Fragments' Maintaining the world's threatened animal and plant species may rest with something as simple as knowing how far a bird can fly before it must answer nature's call Birds disperse seeds as they travel, but deforestation can mean those seeds might land where they can't sprout and grow, according to a University of Florida researcher who co-wrote a study in last month's issue of Ecology that looks at how tropical birds disperse plant seeds in Brazil's Amazon rainforest.				Genetic 'Wiring' of Seeds Revealed The genetic 'wiring' that helps a seed to decide on the perfect time to germinate has been revealed by scientists for the first time. Plant biologists at The University of Nottingham have also discovered that the same mechanism that controls germination is responsible for another important decision in the life cycle of plants -- when to start flowering Their discovery throws light on the genetic mechanisms that plants use to detect and respond to vital environmental cues and could be a significant step towards the development of new crop species that are resistant to climate change and would help secure future food supplies.
Herboristeries : l'Europe s'en prend aux remèdes de mamie Adieu fougère, gui, buis… Sous le coup d'une directive européenne, ces remèdes ancestraux sont désormais bannis des rayons de la paisible herboristerie du Palais-Royal, à Paris. Une directive européenne soumet désormais les produits à base de plantes à une autorisation de mise sur le marché (AMM), comme les médicaments conventionnels. Les dossiers doivent démontrer que le remède est efficace, sûr, et correspond à un usage médical établi.					Tree Rings Tell a 1100 year History of El Niño El Niño and its partner La Niña, the warm and cold phases in the eastern half of the tropical Pacific, play havoc with climate worldwide. Predicting El Niño events more than several months ahead is now routine, but predicting how it will change in a warming world has been hampered by the short instrumental record. An international team of climate scientists has now shown that annually resolved tree-ring records from North America, particularly from the US Southwest, give a continuous representation of the intensity of El Niño events over the past 1100 years and can be used to improve El Niño prediction in climate models
Changes in Vegetation Determine How Animals Migrate The predictability and scale of seasonal changes in a habitat help determine the distance migratory species move and whether the animals always travel together to the same place or independently to different locations, according to a paper published online in February in Global Ecology and Biogeography by the National Zoo's Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute researchers and partners
Genome Duplication Encourages Rapid Adaptation of Plants Plants adapt to the local weather and soil conditions in which they grow, and these environmental adaptations are known to evolve over thousands of years as mutations slowly accumulate in plants' genetic code. But a University of Rochester biologist has found that at least some plant adaptations can occur almost instantaneously, not by a change in DNA sequence, but simply by duplication of existing genetic material
Publication du ministère (Collection RéférenceS) Environnement littoral et marin, édition 2011 En s’appuyant sur les informations disponibles (statistique publique, réseaux de suivi de la qualité du milieu marin, enquêtes, rapports, suivi des conventions marines, ce dossier présente un état des lieux détaillé des principales problématiques environnementales portant sur la mer et le littoral, en métropole et, lorsque les informations sont disponibles, dans les départements d’outre-mer
Newly discovered plant fossil reveals more than age Over 100 million years ago, the understory of late Mesozoic forests was dominated by a diverse group of plants of the class Equisetopsida. Today, only one genus from this group, Equisetum (also known as horsetail or scouring rush), exists—and it is a prime candidate for being the oldest extant genus of land plant.				Improving Post-Fire Forest Management to Promote Biodiversity in the Mediterranean Ecosystems The occurrence of forest fires is a natural phenomenon in Mediterranean ecosystems. In recent decades the frequency and spread of fires have become prominent factors in the economics, social impact and conservation of biodiversity. The abandonment of traditional agricultural and grazing activities in forests has contributed in particular to the current pattern of forest fires, in as much as the total forest area is as large as it has even been in Catalonia and the flora it contains is highly flammable.
Hyperdiverse Flora in Cape Region, Africa, Mainly Caused by Huge Range of Soil Types Hardly any other place worldwide boosts such a hyperdiverse flora as is to be found on the southwestern tip of Africa. The flora is moreover quite unique with almost 70 % of the native species being endemic. An international team of scientists led by Dr Jan Schnitzler, Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Frankfurt am Main, Germany, has now established that the remarkable plant diversity is mainly due to the large range of different soils in this region.
Ancestors of Land Plants Revealed It was previously thought that land plants evolved from stonewort-like algae. However, new research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology shows that the closest relatives to land plants are actually conjugating green algae such as Spirogyra.					Can Siberian Hot Springs Reveal Ancient Ecology ? Exotic bacteria that do not rely on oxygen may have played an important role in determining the composition of Earth's early atmosphere, according to a theory that UChicago researcher Albert Colman is testing in the scalding hot springs of a volcanic crater in Siberia.
Early Warning Signal for Ecosystem Collapse: Fluctuations Before the Fall Researchers eavesdropping on complex signals emanating from a remote Wisconsin lake have detected what they say is an unmistakable warning -- a death knell -- of the impending collapse of the lake's aquatic ecosystem. Researchers have found that models used to assess catastrophic changes in economic and medical systems can also predict environmental collapse. Stock market crashes, epileptic seizures, and ecological breakdowns are all preceded by a measurable increase in variance—be it fluctuations in brain waves, the Dow Jones index, or, in the case of the Wisconsin lake, chlorophyll.
Pétrole : la plaine de la Crau a pansé ses plaies Cinquante millions d'euros ont été dépensés pour restaurer cette réserve naturelle du sud de la France, victime de la rupture d'un pipeline d'hydrocarbures en août 2009. Pour réhabiliter cet écosystème unique, une opération de dépollution hors normes et inédite a été menée. «Vu les caractéristiques et les propriétés très particulières de la zone contaminé e, il était hors de question de recouvrir le sol d'une terre végétale quelconque», explique Thierry Dutoit , professeur d'écologie à l'université d'Avignon et conseiller scientifique de la réserve naturelle.
Model of island ecology sheds new light on the origins of island species Animal and bird species found only on a single island should still be common within that island. This is the finding of a new model developed by researchers from the University of Leeds and Imperial College London. The model could apply both to actual islands and isolated areas of habitat on the mainland that are home to unique species, such as the table top mountains of South America.				Les terres agricoles face à la pression de l'urbanisation : une résistance et des enjeux différenciés En Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, les dynamiques démographiques des quarante dernières années, particulièrement fortes dans l'espace rural et périurbain, sont consommatrices d'espace et mettent en péril les terres agricoles. Or, préserver les espaces agricoles est aujourd'hui une priorité. Trois groupes de communes, situées à proximité du littoral, autour de l'agglomération avignonnaise et dans un vaste arrière-pays, subissent une pression de l'urbanisation. Elle est particulièrement forte dans les deux premiers espaces ; dans le troisième moins dense, on parle plutôt de mutation du territoire. Document INSEE
Botany: Shootingstars Provide Clues to Likely Response of Plants to Global Warming Both migration and evolution played a role in the adaptation of shootingstars to warmer temperatures after the last ice age. Many scientists are concerned that plant and animal species may face extinction due to global warming, but biologists at Washington University in St. Louis are trying to predict exactly what will happen to them. Which species will migrate? Which evolve? Which change their behavior? Which become extinct?
Genetic Differences Influence the Structure of Ecological Communities Scientists from The University of Manchester are among a group of researchers investigating how genetic differences among individuals contribute to the way ecological communities form, interact and change over time.				Are Invasive Plants a Threat to Native Biodiversity? It Depends on the Spatial Scale The phrase "invasive plant species" typically evokes negative images such as broad swaths of kudzu smothered trees along the highway or purple loosestrife taking over wetlands and clogging waterways -- and as such, invasive plants are largely viewed as major threats to native biodiversity. However, research has shown both that invasive species may be one of the most important threats to biodiversity and that plant invasions are rarely the cause for native species extinctions. How can these conflicting pieces of evidence be reconciled ?
New Genetic Study Helps Solve Darwin's Mystery About Ancient Evolution of Flowering Plants The evolution and diversification of the more than 300,000 living species of flowering plants may have been "jump started" much earlier than previously calculated, a new study indicates. According to Claude dePamphilis, a professor of biology at Penn State University and the lead author of the study, which includes scientists at six universities, two major upheavals in the plant genome occurred hundreds of millions of years ago -- nearly 200 million years earlier than the events that other research groups had described. The research also indicates that these upheavals produced thousands of new genes that may have helped drive the evolutionary explosion that led to the rich diversity of present-day flowering plants.
River Water and Salty Ocean Water Used to Generate Electricity Stanford researchers have developed a battery that takes advantage of the difference in salinity between freshwater and seawater to produce electricity. Anywhere freshwater enters the sea, such as river mouths or estuaries, could be potential sites for a power plant using such a battery, said Yi Cui, associate professor of materials science and engineering, who led the research team.					Ecologists find genomic clues to invasive and endangered plants Ecologists have discovered strong links between how many sets of chromosomes a plant species has and whether it is in danger of becoming rare, or conversely, becoming invasive. The findings1 could help conservation scientists to predict whether species will need protecting or controlling and how to allocate resources to these efforts.
How Plants Absorb Pollutants The environmental concern is great when considering the role of toxic contaminants in the plant-soil relationship. Understanding plant's absorption and accumulation of these contaminants from the soil would be incredibly beneficial.
Tree Growth and Fecundity Affected More by Climate Change Than Previously Thought An 18-year study of 27,000 individual trees by National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded scientists finds that tree growth and fecundity--the ability to produce viable seeds--are more sensitive to climate change than previously thought. The results, published April 5 in the journal Global Change Biology, identify earlier spring warming as one of several factors that affect tree reproduction and growth.						Longue vie au protée Le petit amphibien slovène a longtemps animé les débats sur l’évolution des espèces. On lui découvre à présent une jeunesse sans fin. Visite en Ariège du seul laboratoire au monde où est étudié l’animal.
More Robust Measures Needed to Identify and Protect Endangered Species, Experts Say Scientists and conservation organisations currently work out a species' extinction risk by determining how likely it is that climate change will make its habitat unsuitable. They then focus their efforts on protecting species whose location is threatened by changing temperature and rainfall
Manage Biological Invasions Like Natural Disasters, Biologists Say Biological invasions get less prime-time coverage than natural disasters, but may be more economically damaging and warrant corresponding investments in preparedness and response planning, according to three biologists writing in the April issue of BioScience
Augmentation du niveau de la mer Méditerranée : accélération du rythme depuis dix ans Une étude de l'Institut Espagnol d'Océanographie (IEO) montre que le rythme de croissance du niveau de la mer Méditerranée a doublé durant la dernière décennie pour atteindre la valeur de trois millimètres par an. Résultats des observations. En se basant sur des relevés océanographiques et atmosphériques de 1948 à 2008 et en appliquant un modèle d'analyse pionnier en Europe pour l'observation des oscillations périodiques, l'IEO a estimé que le niveau de la mer Méditerranée avait augmenté de 15 à 20 centimètres durant le 20ème siècle					Algae, Bacteria Hogged Oxygen After Ancient Mass Extinction, Slowed Marine Life Recovery A mass extinction is hard enough for Earth's biosphere to handle, but when you chase it with prolonged oxygen deprivation, the biota ends up with a hangover that can last millions of years">Algae, Bacteria Hogged Oxygen After Ancient Mass Extinction, Slowed Marine Life Recovery Such was the situation with the greatest mass extinction in Earth's history 250 million years ago, when 90 percent of all marine animal species were wiped out, along with a huge proportion of plant, animal and insect species on land.
Can We Get More Social Benefits from Forests and Have Higher Biodiversity ? When local residents are allowed to make rules about managing nearby forests, the forests are more likely to provide greater economic benefits to households and contain more biodiversity, two University of Michigan researchers and a colleague conclude from an analysis of forest practices in tropical developing countries of East Africa and South Asia.					Tree Resin Captures Key Evidence of Current and Ancient Insect Invasions Normally, to assess if a tree is under an attack from boring insects researchers have sometimes had to rip patches of bark from healthy trees. But now forestry workers looking for the telltale sign of insect borings in tree trunks have a far less invasive method -- they can just examine the resin that collects in clumps on the tree trunk
Biodiversity Leads to Higher Productivity Ecosystems containing several species are more productive than individual species on their own. Using data from more than 400 published experiments, an international research team has found overwhelming evidence that biodiversity in the plant kingdom is very efficient in assimilating nutrients and solar energy, resulting in greater production of biomass.
Ancient Human Trash Heaps Gave Rise to Everglades Tree Islands, Research Suggests Scientists have thought for many years that the so-called fixed tree islands (a larger type of tree island frequently found in the Everglades' main channel, Shark River Slough) developed on protrusions from the rocky layer of a mineral called carbonate that sits beneath the marsh. Now, new research indicates that the real trigger for island development might have been middens, or trash piles left behind from human settlements that date to about 5,000 years ago.
Allergies? Pollen Also Appears Outside Flowering Season Researchers from the University of Extremadura (Spain) have shown that the pollen levels of certain plants, such as grasses and cupressaceae, can appear before or after the peak moment of flowering. This phenomenon is caused by the "resuspension" of pollen, and its dispersal over large distances, and this is of great use in predicting allergies.					Think Globally, but Act Locally When Studying Plants, Animals, Global Warming, Researchers Advise Global warming is clearly affecting plants and animals, but we should not try to tease apart the specific contribution of greenhouse gas driven climate change to extinctions or declines of species at local scales, biologists from The University of Texas at Austin advise. Nature Climate Change
A New Evolutionary History of Primates (PLoS Genetics)
Flowering Plant Study 'Catches Evolution in the Act' The study shows the new plant species had relaxed control of gene expression in its earliest generations. But today, after 80 years of evolution, control has been regained, allowing for the production of different patterns of gene expression in different plants. The new species was remade in UF greenhouses as well as studied in its natural habitat.					Intervention Offers 'Best Chance' to Save Species Endangered by Climate Change, Expert Argues In an opinion paper in Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Professor Thomas, of the University's Department of Biology, says that moving endangered species is the only viable option to maintain some climate-endangered species in the wild. He says: "Expanding the dispersal of endangered species may represent the most effective climate change adaptation strategy available to conservationists to reduce extinction rates across the globe."
Le mois de décembre le plus froid depuis 40 ans (en France) Les Français ont grelotté tout l'hiver… Non sans raison: sur les trois mois de décembre, janvier et février les températures, en moyenne, ont été inférieures aux normales saisonnières de 0,6°C (en référence à la période 1971-2000) selon les relevés de Météo France.
A South Pacific Island, Under the Microscope Portions of the once vibrant reef ringing the South Pacific island of Mo‘orea are now an apocalyptic landscape of gray rubble. Under the rich turquoise-colored surface, dead coral towers lie in pieces, blanketed with a fine layer of decay. What has caused such trouble in paradise? A nasty invasion of armored starfish. The crown of thorns (Acanthaster planci or taramea in Tahitian), with menacing poisonous spikes and a voracious appetite, literally sucks the life out of reef communities. The starfish feast on coral polyps, leaving an empty white skeleton and ransacked home for other marine species before moving on to the next meal.
Loss of Plant Diversity Threatens Earth's Life-Support Systems, Experts Say An international team of researchers including professor Emmett Duffy of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science has published a comprehensive new analysis showing that loss of plant biodiversity disrupts the fundamental services that ecosystems provide to humanity The functional role of producer diversity in ecosystems
Will loss of plant diversity compromise Earth's life-support systems? Biodiversity around the world is increasingly threatened by global warming, habitat loss, and other human impacts. But what does this loss of species mean for the functioning of ecosystems that humans depend on for goods and services? Can ecosystems around our planet survive and maintain their primary functions with fewer species in them? After decades of research on many issues pertaining to life on Earth, are scientists any closer to attaining these answers?					Cultivating trouble: Plant protection efforts falling short, report says According to the North American Collections Assessment report, only 39 percent of the nearly 10,000 North American plant species threatened with extinction are being maintained in collections. “This report is a wonderful illustration of the Arboretum’s critical role in shaping the national and international agenda for the preservation of rare and endangered biodiversity,” said William “Ned” Friedman, director of the Arnold Arboretum and Arnold Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology
Faster Method to Study Plant Ecology Cleaning up pollution, protecting soil from erosion and maintaining species-rich ecosystems are some of the goals of a computational ecology project by a University of Houston (UH) scientist and his team. Published recently in a top journal, the work sheds light on a new method to speed up research in the ecology of plants.
Invasive Species Widespread, but Not More Than at Home Range Invasive plant species have long had a reputation as being bad for a new ecosystem when they are introduced. Stan Harpole, assistant professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology at Iowa State University, is founding organizer of a team of more than 70 researchers working at 65 sites worldwide that tested that assumption.					Evolution Drives Many Plants and Animals to Be Bigger, Faster For the vast majority of plants and animals, the 'bigger is better' view of evolution may not be far off the mark, says a new broad-scale study of natural selection. Organisms with bigger bodies or faster growth rates tend to live longer, mate more and produce more offspring, whether they are deer or damselflies, the authors report.
Large Forest Animals Contribute to Plant Diversity Over several decades, the growth in deer, roe deer and wild boar populations has spread to all of France. Cemagref researchers have shown that in spite of the damage caused, notably to bushes and young trees in forests and to crops, these animals also help in increasing plant diversity.
Seeing the forest through the trees Leonardo Da Vinci was the first to accurately describe trees' branching rules. He created sketches of trees in a page of his notebook based on the rule that daughter branches and twigs have the same combined cross-sectional area as the branch from which they originated.				Land use, water and Mediterranean landscapes: modelling long-term dynamics of complex socio-ecological systems Archaeology is a vital tool in understanding the long-term consequences of human impact on the environment. Computational modeling can refine that understanding. But according to Arizona State University archaeologist C. Michael Barton, it takes a revolution in thought, along with the newest methods of modeling, to produce a comprehensive picture of the past that can help inform land-use decisions for our future.
Plants That Can Move Inspire New Adaptive Structures The Mimosa plant, which folds its leaves when they're touched, is inspiring a new class of adaptive structures designed to twist, bend, stiffen and even heal themselves. University of Michigan researchers are leading their development. "This is quite different from other traditional adaptive materials approaches," Wang said. "In general, people use solid-state materials to make adaptive structures. This is really a unique concept inspired by biology."
Geographer Calls for Complexity in Sustainability Science Models Tropical deforestation is intimately linked with urban dynamics and needs to be considered along with the role and effect of national and regional policies on land use decisions, and the dynamics of economic globalization in the next generation of sustainability science research, according to an Arizona State University geographer.
Researchers Tapping the Potential of Radar Technologies to Advance Aeroecology University of Oklahoma researchers are part of a growing cross-disciplinary collaboration that seeks to tap the potential of radar technologies to advance aeroecology -- a field that integrates atmospheric science, earth science, geography, ecology, computer science, computational biology and engineering.
Experts Question Aspects of Prescribed Burning From The University of Western Australia, Kings Park and Botanic Garden, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, the scientists argue that deliberately increasing the frequency of fires may lead to ecosystem degradation and loss of biodiversity.				Two new plants discovered in Spain Just when everyone thought that almost every plant species on the Iberian Peninsula had been discovered, Spanish researchers have discovered Taraxacum decastroi and Taraxacum lacianense, two dandelions from the Pyrenees and the Cordillera Cantábrica mountain range, respectively. This finding confirms Spain's privileged position as a hotbed of biodiversity.
New Research Changes Understanding of C4 Plant Evolution The research team, led by University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Appalachian Laboratory researcher Dr. David Nelson and University of Illinois Professor Feng Sheng Hu, examined the carbon isotope signatures of hundreds of grass-pollen grains and found that C4 grasses were already present on the landscape during the early part of the Oligocene, some 14 million years earlier than previously thought from geological evidence. Their findings are now published online in the journal Geology and will shortly appear in the print edition.
Researchers Tapping the Potential of Radar Technologies to Advance Aeroecology University of Oklahoma researchers are part of a growing cross-disciplinary collaboration that seeks to tap the potential of radar technologies to advance aeroecology -- a field that integrates atmospheric science, earth science, geography, ecology, computer science, computational biology and engineering.
Experts Question Aspects of Prescribed Burning From The University of Western Australia, Kings Park and Botanic Garden, and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, the scientists argue that deliberately increasing the frequency of fires may lead to ecosystem degradation and loss of biodiversity.				Two new plants discovered in Spain Just when everyone thought that almost every plant species on the Iberian Peninsula had been discovered, Spanish researchers have discovered Taraxacum decastroi and Taraxacum lacianense, two dandelions from the Pyrenees and the Cordillera Cantábrica mountain range, respectively. This finding confirms Spain's privileged position as a hotbed of biodiversity.
New Research Changes Understanding of C4 Plant Evolution The research team, led by University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Appalachian Laboratory researcher Dr. David Nelson and University of Illinois Professor Feng Sheng Hu, examined the carbon isotope signatures of hundreds of grass-pollen grains and found that C4 grasses were already present on the landscape during the early part of the Oligocene, some 14 million years earlier than previously thought from geological evidence. Their findings are now published online in the journal Geology and will shortly appear in the print edition.
Invasive Plants Can Create Positive Ecological Change A team of scientists has discovered that human-introduced, invasive species of plants can have positive ecological effects. Tomás Carlo, an assistant professor of biology at Penn State University, and Jason Gleditsch, a graduate student in the Department of Biology, have studied how invasive fruiting plants affect ecosystems and how those effects, contrary to prevailing ideas, sometimes can be beneficial to an ecological community.					How Plants Near Chernobyl Shrug Off Radiation Scientists are reporting discovery of the biological secrets that enable plants growing near the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant to adapt and flourish in highly radioactive soil -- legacy of the 1986 nuclear disaster in the Ukraine. Their study, which helps solve a long-standing mystery, appears in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology.
Des travaux colossaux débutent pour soigner la plaine de La Crau "Il faudra des centaines d'années pour retrouver la nature comme elle se présentait avant l'accident. Le terrain qui a été détruit avait 6 000 ans d'âge, façonné par la géologie, le climat et le pastoralisme" Thierry Dutoit, président du conseil scientifique de la Réserve, se félicite néanmoins du protocole retenu pour restaurer les sols. D'ici au 1er avril, début de la période de nidification des espèces protégées de la Crau -ganga cata, outardes canepetières et autres alouettes calandres- 46 000 tonnes de terres identiques à celles qui ont été décaissées vont être acheminées sur le site. Elles proviennent de la carrière de la Menudelle à Saint-Martin de Crau et présentent les mêmes caractéristiques. Tout pour retrouver la steppe originelle
Voyage dans l'Anthropocène Qu’est-ce qu’un "voyage dans l’Anthropocène" ? Entretien entre Claude Lorius et Laurent Carpentier.
Home and Away: Are Invasive Plant Species Really That Special ? Invasive plant species are a serious environmental, economic and social problem worldwide. Their abundance can lead to lost native biodiversity and ecosystem functions, such as nutrient cycling. Despite substantial research, however, little is known about why some species dominate new habitats over native plants that technically should have the advantage.
Island-Scale Study Reveals Climate-Change Effects A large-scale UC Davis experiment with ants, lizards and seaweed on a dozen Caribbean islands shows that predicting the effects of environmental change on complex natural ecosystems requires a large laboratory			Plants Can Adapt Genetically to Survive Harsh Environments A Purdue University scientist has found genetic evidence of how some plants adapt to live in unfavorable conditions, a finding he believes could one day be used to help food crops survive in new or changing environments.			New Appreciation of the Ecology-Evolution Dynamic Ecology drives evolution. In the Jan 28 issue of the journal Science, UC Davis expert Thomas Schoener describes growing evidence that the reverse is also true, and explores what that might mean to our understanding of how environmental change affects species and vice-versa
Mass Extinction Linked to Ancient Climate Change, New Details Reveal About 450 million years ago, Earth suffered the second-largest mass extinction in its history -- the Late Ordovician mass extinction, during which more than 75 percent of marine species died. Exactly what caused this tremendous loss in biodiversity remains a mystery, but now a team led by researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has discovered new details supporting the idea that the mass extinction was linked to a cooling climate.					Climatic Fluctuations in Last 2,500 Years Linked to Social Upheavals It would seem that there are striking chronological parallels between significant variations of climate and major historical epochs, such as the Migration Period and the heyday of the Middle Ages. This is the conclusion reached following a study undertaken by researchers from Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and the USA, in which they were able to reconstruct the summer climate in Europe over the last 2,500 years from the information provided by annual tree rings.
Humans Has Been Provoking Climate Change for Thousands of Years, Carbon History Shows The Roman Conquest, the Black Death and the discovery of America -- by modifying the nature of the forests -- have had a significant impact on the environment. These are the findings of EPFL scientists who have researched our long history of emitting carbon into the environment.				War, Plague No Match for Deforestation in Driving CO2 Buildup Genghis Khan and his Mongol hordes had an impact on the global carbon cycle as big as today's annual demand for gasoline. The Black Death, on the other hand, came and went too quickly for it to cause much of a blip in the global carbon budget. Dwarfing both of these events, however, has been the historical trend towards increasing deforestation, which over centuries has released vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, as crop and pasture lands expanded to feed growing human populations. Even Genghis Kahn couldn't stop it for long.
Le monde des graines au Muséum A l’instar de nombreux lieux secrets que cèle le Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris, il y a la carpothèque-séminothèque. C’est une sorte de bibliothèque de graines et de fruits de référence. Elle comprend 25000 échantillons de la flore mondiale dont les plus beaux sont exposés dans des vitrines. Cette collection, fut commencée vers 1840. Mais il y a plus. Ce service gère également 5 000 lots de graines dites "mortes". Elles ont été collectées en France à partir de 1940. Enfin on y trouve 12000 échantillons de semences représentatives du patrimoine du Jardin des Plantes. C‘est sur ces collections que veille Yves Pauthier. Visite dialoguée de cette arche de Noé botanique pour ce rendez-vous de Continent sciences.
Climate Change Threatens Many Tree Species Global warming is already affecting the earth in a variety of ways that demand our attention. Now, research carried out at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem indicates that many tree species might become extinct due to climate change if no action is taken in time.					Islands in the Sky: How Isolated Are Mountain Top Plant Populations ? Do mountain tops act as sky islands for species that live at high elevations? Are plant populations on these mountain tops isolated from one another because the valleys between them act as barriers, or can pollinators act as bridges allowing genes to flow among distant populations?
Mountain Ranges May Act as 'Safe Haven' for Species Facing Climate Change Swiss researchers studying the projected effects of climate change on alpine plant species have discovered that mountain ranges may represent a 'safer' place to live during changing climate conditions. The research, published in the Journal of Biogeography, finds that the habitat diversity of mountain ranges offer species 'refuge habitats' which may be important for conservation.
Species Loss Tied to Ecosystem Collapse and Recovery Geologists at Brown University and the University of Washington have a cautionary tale: Lose enough species in the oceans, and the entire ecosystem could collapse. Looking at two of the greatest mass extinctions in Earth's history, the scientists attribute the ecosystems' collapse to a loss in the variety of species sharing the same space. It took up to 10 million years after the mass extinctions for the ecosystem to stabilize. The findings appear in Geology
New Evidence for Climate Impacts on Ancient Societies Annual-resolved European summer climate has, for the first time ever, been reconstructed over the past 2,500 years. Tree rings reveal possible links between past climate variability and changes in human history. Climate change coincided with periods of socioeconomic, cultural and political turmoil associated with the Barbarian Migrations, the Black Death and Thirty Years' War.					Putting the Dead to Work: Conservation Paleobiologists Dig Deep to Solve Today's Ecological, Evolutionary Questions Conservation paleobiologists -- scientists who use the fossil record to understand the evolutionary and ecological responses of present-day species to changes in their environment -- are putting the dead to work.
Rapport du MEDAD - Feux de forêt - L'exposition en France Chaque année, en moyenne 6 000 départs de feu ont lieu et 25 000 hectares de forêt sont incendiés en France métropolitaine. Les trois quarts des communes françaises ayant subi des feux sont situées dans la moitié sud de la France. Les zones boisées du Sud de la France ont un potentiel combustible élevé dû aux essences présentes et aux sols secs. La présence croissante de biens et de personnes à proximité et dans les forêts augmente les zones de vulnérabilité face aux incendies. Cette présence diffuse de l’habitat, conjuguée au relief, rend la lutte et la prévention des feux plus difficiles pour les services de secours. Par conséquent, des plans de prévention des risques sont mis en place dans les communes concernées.
Publication de la première évaluation des universités françaises Chercher un rapport AERES
Découverte des « facteurs Myc » : vers une technologie verte pour améliorer les rendements Des chercheurs de l'Inra, du CNRS et de l'Université Paul Sabatier de Toulouse ont déterminé la structure et l'activité biologique de signaux moléculaires, appelés facteurs Myc. Ces composés sont synthétisés par des champignons mycorhiziens du sol dans le cadre de symbioses. Ils sont actifs à de faibles concentrations et permettent de favoriser la croissance du système racinaire des plantes et la formation de mycorhizes, associations symbiotiques d'un champignon avec les racines des végétaux. Des procédés de synthèse de ces molécules ont été mis au point et vont permettre d'étudier leurs effets sur les cultures dans le but d'améliorer leur rendement, sans apport supplémentaire de fertilisants. Ces résultats sont publiés aujourd'hui dans la revue Nature ; ils ont également fait l'objet d'un dépôt de brevet.
A Diet for an Invaded Planet: Invasive Species There’s a new shift in the politics of food, not quite a movement yet, more of an eco-culinary frisson. But it may have staying power; the signs and portents are there. Vegans, freegans, locavores — meet the invasivores. Some divers in the Florida Keys recently held a lionfish derby, the idea being to kill and eat lionfish, an invasive species. Local chefs cooperated by promoting the lionfish as a tasty entree. The idea drew editorial support from Andrew Revkin in a post on The Times’s Dot Earth blog in which he also mentioned an attempt by some fisheries biologists to rename the invading Asian carp “Kentucky tuna” to make it more appealing to diners. And the Utne Reader recently ran an article about Chicago chefs turning their attention to the same invasive fish.						Weird and Wonderful Plant and Fungal Discoveries of 2010 As the UN's International Year of Biodiversity draws to a close, scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew are celebrating the diversity of the planet's plant and fungal life by highlighting some of the weird, wonderful and stunning discoveries they've made this year from the rainforests of Cameroon to the UK's North Pennines. But it's not just about the new -- in some cases species long thought to be extinct in the wild have been rediscovered.
Back to the Dead Sea: Climate Change Study Digs Into Half a Million Years of History They'll drill through four ice ages, epic sandstorms, humankind's migration from Africa to the New World, and the biggest droughts in history. Tel Aviv University is heading an international study that for the first time will dig deep beneath the Dead Sea, 500 meters (about a third of a mile) down under 300 meters (about a fifth of a mile) of water. Drilling with a special rig, the researchers will look back in time to collect a massive amount of information about climate change and earthquake patterns.
The Movement of Tree Sap Analyzed Scientists at Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M) used a 3D modeling to analyze the mechanisms used to by trees to transport water in their interior. The objective: to discover the keys to the movement of sap in order to apply these advances to new hydraulic systems or to suction pumps.					Budding Research Links Climate Change and Earlier Flowering Plants According to research published November 16 by a University of Cincinnati faculty member, native plants in southwestern Ohio are flowering significantly earlier, a finding he attributes, at least in part, to global warming.
What triggers mass extinctions? Study shows how invasive species stop new life Collapse of Earth's marine life 378 to 375 million years ago holds key An influx of invasive species can stop the dominant natural process of new species formation and trigger mass extinction events, according to research results published today in the journal PLoS ONE. The study of the collapse of Earth's marine life 378 to 375 million years ago suggests that the planet's current ecosystems, which are struggling with biodiversity loss, could meet a similar fate.
Fledgling Ecosystem in Former Open-Pit Coal Mine in Germany Lets Scientists Observe How Soil, Flora and Fauna Develop How do ecosystems develop? No one really knows, yet. There is however one project, unique in the world, seeking to answer this question. In a former open-pit coal mining area in Brandenburg, Germany, a surface of six hectares was partitioned off and then left to its own resources. Scientists from the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM), in collaboration with researchers from other institutions, are studying the development of soil, flora, and fauna there. With this research they aim to establish the factors that have a particularly strong influence on developing ecosystems.
L'histoire évolutive des espèces affecte le fonctionnement des écosystèmes 2010 a été proclamée année internationale de la biodiversité. Dans un contexte où celle-ci s’effrite à un rythme sans précédent, il semble impératif de mieux comprendre les conséquences de son érosion et notamment l'impact que la diversité des espèces peut avoir sur le fonctionnement d'un écosystème. Grâce à une expérience menée sur des souches de bactéries qu'elle a fait évoluer pendant plusieurs centaines de générations, une équipe internationale incluant des chercheurs du CNRS, (UMR 5554 CNRS/ Université Montpellier 2 et UMR 5119 CNRS/Université Montpellier 2/IFREMER) vient de montrer que cet impact variait en fonction de l'histoire évolutive des espèces présentes. Une étude publiée dans la revue Nature.
Plants 'Remember' Winter to Bloom in Spring With Help of Special Molecule The role a key molecule plays in a plant's ability to remember winter, and therefore bloom in the spring, has been identified by University of Texas at Austin scientists. Many flowering plants bloom in bursts of color in spring after long periods of cold in the winter. The timing of blooming is critical to ensure pollination, and is important for crop production and for droves of people peeping at wildflowers.					Managing Nature Reserves Using Ecological Disturbances Can Easily Go Wrong Ecological disturbances are not necessarily a bad thing -- deliberate disturbances can actually be used to preserve or even increase biodiversity in a nature reserve. The outcome depends on countless different factors, but many mistakes are made by those working with ecological disturbances and biodiversity, claims a researcher from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden).
Developing Countries Often Outsource Deforestation, Study Finds In many developing countries, forest restoration at home has led to deforestation abroad, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The authors say their findings could have significant implications for ongoing efforts to protect the world's remaining forests, which are disappearing at an annual rate of more than 32 million acres -- an area roughly the size of England
Cost Effectiveness of Ecological Restoration Demonstrated Research recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) provides new evidence that ecological restoration can provide a cost effective response to environmental degradation The research focused on the dryland forests of Latin America, and examined the cost effectiveness of ecological restoration techniques such as tree planting and forest regeneration. This was achieved using a novel research approach, which involved mapping the value of different benefits provided by these forests
Mass Animal Extinctions, Not Climate Change, Caused Major Shifts in Plant Communities Jack Williams is a plant ecologist at heart. He likes to figure out how--and why--plant communities change over time. "For my entire career, I've been keenly interested in the problem of 'no-analogue' plant communities, which are communities that existed in the past but are no longer found today," said Williams, a professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, who is an expert on ancient climates and ecosystems. "They are often composed of still-alive species, but in combinations not found at present, and would look very strange to a modern ecologist."						The Puzzle of Biological Diversity Biologists have long thought that interactions between plants and pollinating insects hasten evolutionary changes and promote biological diversity. However, new findings show that some interactions between plants and pollinators are less likely to increase diversity than previously thought, and in some instances, reduce it.
Budding Research Links Climate Change and Earlier Flowering Plants According to research published November 16 by a University of Cincinnati faculty member, native plants in southwestern Ohio are flowering significantly earlier, a finding he attributes, at least in part, to global warming. UC biologist Denis Conover, field service associate professor, has spent countless hours walking the Shaker Trace Wetlands at Miami Whitewater Forest over the last 18 years to survey hundreds of different plant species				Le réchauffement climatique ne favoriserait plus la croissance des plantes La Terre a fait une volte-face : la productivité des plantes qui avait tout d'abord explosé sous les températures douces et une période de pousse rallongée est maintenant en déclin, touchée par le stress de la sécheresse. Maosheng Zhao et Steven Running, des chercheurs (financés par la NASA) de l'Université de Montana à Missoula, ont découvert un changement mondial au cours d'une analyse de données-satellite de la NASA. Comparé à une augmentation de 6 % s'étalant sur deux décennies auparavant, le récent déclin sur 10 ans est léger, seulement 1%. Le changement, cependant, pourrait avoir un impact sur la sécurité alimentaire, les biocarburants et le cycle mondial du carbone.
Ecologie : la jungle urbaine réduit la pollution atmosphérique La capacité des arbres à absorber le dioxyde de carbone est bien connue et joue un rôle fondamental dans la lutte contre le changement climatique. Mais leur rôle ne s'arrête pas là : ils sont aussi capables d'absorber d'autres composés chimiques aériens. Les résultats d'une étude publiée le 21 octobre dernier dans la revue Science Express révèlent que les capacités d'absorption de la pollution atmosphérique par les forêts auraient été largement sous-estimées.
La FAO s'inquiète de l'érosion de la diversité génétique des plantes Face à ce constat sans appel, la FAO avance des solutions ''légères'' selon NoteConsulter le site internet de la campagne ''La biodiversité... ça se cultive aussi !'' menée par Agir Pour l'Environnement, le Réseau Semences Paysannes et leurs 21 partenairesPlus d'infosAgir pour l'environnement. L'association, qui se réjouit de la reconnaissance de l'importance de la diversité cultivée par la FAO, regrette que celle-ci ''n'ose pas aller jusqu'au nécessaire examen de conscience, et fasse l'impasse sur les causes politiques et économiques de la perte actuelle de biodiversité cultivée''. A la lecture du rapport, le lecteur reste en effet sur sa faim. ''Ce texte est probablement issu d'un compromis entre les différents courants de la FAO. La timidité de cette institution est également due à un constat qui remet en question quarante ans de politique onusienne. La révolution verte prônée par la FAO a découlé d'un choix de semences à haut rendement qui a conduit à uniformiser à l'échelle mondiale les pratiques agricoles'', analyse Jacques Caplat, chargé de mission pour Agir pour l'environnement.
Continuing Biodiversity Loss Predicted but Could Be Slowed; Common Approach Urged to Unify Global Biodiversity Advice A new analysis of several major global studies of future species shifts and losses foresees inevitable continuing decline of biodiversity during the 21st century but offers new hope that it could be slowed if emerging policy choices are pursued.					Very Large Protected Areas Preserve Wilderness but Ignore Rare Species, Analysis Finds Protected areas are generally seen as a triumph for the preservation of nature, yet the reality on the ground is more complex. The world's largest protected areas encompass vast amounts of wilderness but do not extensively overlap the highest priority areas for conservation or include unusually large numbers of birds, amphibians, or mammals, according to an analysis published in the November issue of BioScience.
How Ancient Plants and Soil Fungi Turned Earth Green New research by scientists at the University of Sheffield has shed light on how Earth's first plants began to colonize the land over 470 million years ago by forming a partnership with soil fungi. The research, published in Nature Communications, has provided essential missing evidence showing that an ancient plant group worked together with soil-dwelling fungi to 'green' Earth in the early Palaeozoic era, nearly half a billion years ago.
Bilan (Ministère) et Contre Bilan (Agir pour l'environnement) du Grenelle de l'Environnement
Coniferous Forests: New Research Changes Understanding of Atmospheric Aerosol Properties and Climate Effects Terrestrial vegetation and atmospheric photochemistry produce large amounts of fine particles in the atmosphere, thereby cooling Earth's climate. According to new research published in the Oct. 14 issue of Nature, the physical state of the fine particles produced by coniferous forests is solid, whereas previously scientists have assumed that these particles were liquid. The new findings have major implications for our understanding of particle formation processes, for the transformation of particles in the atmosphere and for their effects on climate.						Could Genetically Altered Trees, Plants Help Counter Global Warming? The study, by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, outlines a variety of strategies for augmenting the processes that plants use to sequester carbon dioxide from the air and convert it into long-lived forms of carbon, first in vegetation and ultimately in soil.
Rare Japanese Plant Has Largest Genome Known to Science The diversity of genome sizes (the amount of DNA) in plants and animals has fascinated but at the same time puzzled scientists since this variation was first detected in the early 20th century. How and why such diversity evolved are important unanswered questions because we know that it has biological and ecological consequences that affect the distribution and persistence of biodiversity.
Science News Share Blog Cite Print Email BookmarkSpecies Accumulate on Earth at Slower Rates Than in the Past, Computational Biologists Say In the study, published in the journal PLoS Biology, Penn researchers developed a novel computational approach to infer the dynamics of species diversification using the family trees of present-day species. Using nine patterns of diversification as alternative models, they examined 289 phylogenies, or evolutionary trees, representing amphibians, arthropods, birds, mammals, mollusks and flowering plants.
World's Rivers in 'Crisis State', Report Finds The report, published Sept. 30 in the journal Nature, is the first to simultaneously account for the effects of such things as pollution, dam building, agricultural runoff, the conversion of wetlands and the introduction of exotic species on the health of the world's rivers				Disappearing Glaciers Enhanced Biodiversity Biodiversity decreases towards the poles almost everywhere in the world, except along the South American Pacific coast. Investigating fossil clams and snails Steffen Kiel and Sven Nielsen at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (CAU) could show that this unusual pattern originated at the end of the last ice age, 20,000 to 100,000 years ago. The retreating glaciers created a mosaic landscape of countless islands, bays and fiords in which new species developed rapidly -- geologically speaking. The ancestors of the species survived the ice age in the warmer Chilean north
Novelty and Complexity Are Result of Small Evolutionary Changes By reconstructing an ancient protein and tracing how it subtly changed over vast periods of time to produce scores of modern-day descendants, scientists have shown how evolution tinkers with early forms and leaves the impression that complexity evolved many times. Human and other animal cells contain thousands of proteins with functions so diverse and complex that it is often difficult to see how they could have evolved from a few ancestral proteins, said biologist Joseph W. Thornton of the University of Oregon and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, who led the research.
Biodiversity's holy grail is in the soil Why are tropical forests so biologically rich? Smithsonian researchers have new evidence that the answer to one of life's great unsolved mysteries lies underground, according to a study published in the journal, Nature.
New study shows over one-fifth of the world's plants are under threat of extinction A global analysis of extinction risk for the world's plants, conducted by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew together with the Natural History Museum, London and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), has revealed that the world's plants are as threatened as mammals, with one in five of the world's plant species threatened with extinction. The study is a major baseline for plant conservation and is the first time that the true extent of the threat to the world's estimated 380,000 plant species is known, announced as governments are to meet in Nagoya, Japan in mid-October 2010 to set new targets at the United Nations Biodiversity Summit.					Learning to Live on Land: How Some Early Plants Overcame an Evolutionary Hurdle Moving onto dry land required major lifestyle changes to adapt to this new "hostile" environment, and in turn helped change global climate and atmospheric conditions to conditions we recognize today. By absorbing carbon while making food, and releasing oxygen, early plants shaped ecosystems into a more hospitable environment, paving the way for animals to make a parallel journey onto land.
Biologie : le renouveau de l'écologie scientifique L'écologie scientifique va bien et veut le faire savoir. Début septembre, près de mille écologues se sont retrouvés à Montpellie r pour la conférence "Ecologie 2010", qui a réuni toutes les spécialités d'une discipline paradoxalement méconnue du grand public. "C'est la première fois que tout le monde se réunissait, dit Jacques Roy, chercheur au CNRS, coprésident de la manifestation. Il y a vingt ans, la discipline était dominée par l'écologie fonctionnelle et l'écologie des populations. Maintenant, il y a plus de quinze réseaux. Il fallait les faire se rencontrer, et leur donner une tribune commune."						Biodiversité : les entreprises au banc des accusés 81 % des personnes interrogées considèrent que les entreprises ont un impact négatif voire très négatif sur la biodiversité. Et dans 67 % des cas, elles pensent également que les actions que les grandes firmes mènent pour limiter leur empreinte écologique sont avant tout de la communication. Chez les cadres supérieurs, traditionnellement plus sensibles à la thématique environnementale, la perception négative des activités économiques atteint même 89 %.
Toward Resolving Darwin's 'Abominable Mystery': Patterns of Flower Biodiversity Point to the Importance of Having 'Room to Grow' What, in nature, drives the incredible diversity of flowers? This question has sparked debate since Darwin described flower diversification as an 'abominable mystery.' The answer has become a lot clearer, according to scientists at the University of Calgary whose research on the subject is published in the online edition of the journal Ecology Letters.					Sun and Volcanic Eruptions Pace North Atlantic Climate Swings A study presented in Nature Geoscience suggests that changes in solar intensity and volcanic eruptions act as a metronome for temperature variations in the North Atlantic climate. A research team from the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Bergen, Norway, has studied the climate in the North Atlantic region over the past 600 years using the Bergen Climate Model and the observed temperature evolution. They point to changes in the solar intensity and explosive volcanic eruptions as important causes for climate variations in the North Atlantic during this period.
Scots Pine Shows Its Continental Roots By studying similarities in the genes of Scots Pine trees, scientists have shown that the iconic pine forests of Highland Scotland still carry the traces of the ancestors that colonised Britain after the end of the last Ice Age, harbouring genetic variation that could help regenerate future populations, according to new results in the journal Heredity. The research was carried out by an international team from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, the Polish Academy of Sciences, the University of Edinburgh and the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute.
Can Cloned Plants Live Forever? Despite the many cosmetic products, surgical treatments, food supplements, and drugs designed specifically to reverse the biological effects of aging in humans, long-lived aspen clones aren't so lucky. Researchers at the University of British Columbia have shown that as long-lived male aspen clones age, their sexual performance declines. Dilara Ally, who conducted this research for her Ph.D., also showed that with that loss of sex and sexual fitness, ultimately the lineage could go extinct.
La mer avance et la Camargue disparaît ! Dans le vent qui rend fou, on observe le mouvement des vagues qui n'ont que faire des roches apportées par une noria de camions. Stéphane évoque des bandes entières de plages disparues dans ce domaine où les visiteurs sont rares. Terre de solitude qui prête aux débats philosophiques. "Faut-il vraiment tout protéger, se bunkeriser, s'interroge Didier Olivry, directeur du Parc régional de Camargue. Dans le centre des Saintes, on ne voit plus la mer. Les digues en dur, les "épis" ne sont plus des fortifications sûres, la mer les attaque. Alors, il faut jouer avec l'aléa, accepter que la Camargue puisse reculer."
Quaternary climates: a perspective for global warming This brief review provides an Earth Science perspective on present climate change (global warming) using evidence from past ice ages with details from the Quaternary ice age. It places the present (Quaternary) ice age in the context of Earth history and outlines possible causes of ice ages and the scale and style of ice age climate. Milankovitch climate forcing is described and explained as the cause of relatively predictable climatic variations within an ice age (and at other times), and this is followed by an outline of the factors likely to be responsible for short and rapid sub-Milankovitch climate variations that are superimposed on the predictable changes. Finally the anomalous, relatively constant climate of the last 11.5 ka (Holocene) is highlighted and explained in terms of human input of greenhouse gasses into the Earth's atmosphere.							Secrets of a Vanished English Landscape: Geologists Examine 5,000-Year-Old 'Fossilized' Landscape Thousands of years ago the English Fenlands, stretching across what is now Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and north Norfolk was a gigantic coastal swamp, not quite land and not quite sea, but inhabited by Bronze Age settlers who hunted and fished amid its fertile waters.
Burning Invasive Juniper Trees Boosts Perennial Grass Recovery Agricultural Research Service (ARS) rangeland scientists Jon Bates and Tony Svejcar conducted a study at a site dominated by a stand of invasive western junipers to assess different management strategies after the junipers have been cut down. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.
Le type d'interaction entre les espèces jouerait un rôle fondamental dans la stabilité des communautés écologiques Elisa Thébault et Colin Fontaine, respectivement chercheurs à l'université de Wageningen (Pays-Bas) et au laboratoire « Conservation des espèces, suivi et restauration des populations laboratoire » (MNHN/CNRS), ont montré que l'architecture des réseaux favorisant la stabilité des communautés écologiques diffère fondamentalement entre les réseaux trophiques (« qui mange qui ») et les réseaux mutualistes (« qui pollinise qui »). Leurs résultats théoriques concluent que, pour être stables, les réseaux d'interactions mutualistes doivent présenter une architecture emboitée alors que les réseaux trophiques doivent adopter une architecture compartimentée. Cette différence d'architecture se retrouve dans un grand nombre de réseaux empiriques de pollinisation (mutualiste) et d'herbivorie (trophique). Ce travail est une avancée majeure pour mieux comprendre le fonctionnement et la stabilité des communautés. L'ensemble de ces résultats est publié dans la revue Science du 13 août 2010.
First Evidence of Genetically Modified Plants in the Wild, Scientists Report Scientists currently performing field research in North Dakota have discovered the first evidence of established populations of genetically modified plants in the wild.				Key Mechanisms of Cell Division in Plants Identified Scientists have developed new technology that may contribute to the increase of crop yields in agriculture. The technology platform based on "tandem affinity purification" was developed to map the basic machinery of cell division in plants much faster than the existing techniques. The results published in Molecular Systems Biology, were obtained through collaboration with researchers from University of Antwerp.
Signs of Reversal of Arctic Cooling: Rapid Temperature Rise in the Coldest Region of Mainland Europe In the Tree-Ring-Laboratory at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart the German researchers measured the width of the individual tree rings. The calibration of these data with the help of meteorological records for the last 127 years and the interpretation of results occurred together with Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in Halle. "Besides of temperature, growth is also strongly influenced by non-climatic factors like light, nutrients, water supply and competition from other trees. So it is vital to isolate these trends to obtain a climate signal as pure as possible," explains Yury M. Kononov from the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow.
Some Trees 'Farm' Bacteria to Help Supply Nutrients Researchers from France report their findings in the July 2010 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. "In acidic forest soils, availability of inorganic nutrients is a tree-growth-limiting factor. A hypothesis to explain sustainable forest development proposes that tree roots select soil microbes involved in central biogeochemical processes, such as mineral weathering, that may contribute to nutrient mobilization and tree nutrition," says Stéphane Uroz, an author on the study.					Les stomates des plantes révèlent leurs secrets Une étude financée par l'UE devrait conduire à repenser la façon dont les plantes libèrent de la vapeur d'eau dans l'atmosphère, par le processus de transpiration. L'étude, publiée dans la revue Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a des répercussions sur des domaines aussi variés que les prévisions climatiques, le réchauffement planétaire, l'agriculture et l'hydrologie.
The Healing Effects of Forests Forests – and other natural, green settings – can reduce stress, improve moods, reduce anger and aggressiveness and increase overall happiness. "Many people," says Dr. Eeva Karjalainen, of the Finnish Forest Research Institute, Metla, "feel relaxed and good when they are out in nature. But not many of us know that there is also scientific evidence about the healing effects of nature."
Have BIO2010 Goals Been Achieved ? Leaders In biology education are celebrating the progress made since the publication of BIO2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists. The landmark report, published in 2003 by the National Research Council (NRC), called on institutions of higher education to revamp both the curricula and teaching methods in the life sciences to meet the challenges of the 21st century.				Concealed Patterns Beneath Life's Variety: Synthesis of Studies of How Biodiversity Changes Reveals Trends Over Space and Time Although the tropics appear to the casual observer to be busily buzzing and blooming with life's rich variety when compared with temperate and polar regions -- a fact that scientists have thoroughly documented -- the distribution of species in space and time actually varies around the globe in surprising and subtle ways. So explains Janne Soininen of the University of Helsinki in an article published in the June 2010 issue of BioScience.
Record de chaleur sur Terre pour le mois de juin 2010 Il fait chaud sur Terre. Très chaud. D'après les données de la NOAA, le mois de juin 2010 serait même le mois le plus brûlant de l'histoire des relevés de température moyenne démarrés en 1880. Il aurait ainsi fait 16,2°C, soit 0,68° au-dessus de la moyenne du XXe siècle (environ 15,5°C). Cela n'a l'air de rien, mais à l'échelle du globe, la différence est considérable. Par endroit, la température moyenne a en effet été supérieure de 4, voire 5°. C'est le cas au centre et à l'est des Etats-Unis, au Pérou, à l'est et à l'ouest en Russie, en Mongolie, dans le nord-est de la Chine, ou encore au Groenland, d'après la carte publiée par la NOAA qui prend comme référence une moyenne établie sur la période 1971-2000.
New Research on Rapidly-Disappearing Ancient Plant Offers Hope for Species Recovery Cycads, "living fossil" descendents of the first plants that colonized land and reproduced with seeds, are rapidly going extinct because of invasive pests and habitat loss, especially those species endemic to islands.
La poule est apparue avant l'oeuf ! Qui, de l'oeuf ou de la poule, est apparu en premier? Si c'est l'oeuf, il faut bien qu'une poule l'ait conçu, mais si c'est la poule, il faut bien qu'elle soit sortie d'un oeuf... Plus besoin de laisser ce grand paradoxe gâcher votre vie, des scientifiques affirment l'avoir résolu, rapporte Metro.co.uk. Ces scientifiques anglais affirment que la poule est apparue avant l'oeuf, puisque la formation d'un oeuf n'est possible que grâce à une protéine qui existe dans... les ovaires de la poule. «On a longtemps suspecté que l'oeuf était apparu en premier, mais maintenant nous avons la preuve scientifique qui montre que c'est en fait la poule qui est arrivée d'abord», explique le Dr. Colin Freeman
What Plant Genes Tell Us About Crop Domestication Anyone who has seen teosinte, the wild grass from which maize (corn) evolved, might be forgiven for assuming many genetic changes underlie the transformation of one plant to the other. However, a method for exploring the genetics of domestication called Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) mapping has revealed that only modest modifications are needed to convert a wild plant to a crop plant. Some major transitions in phenotype can even be achieved by a single genetic change.
Thousands of Undiscovered Plant Species Face Extinction Worldwide Faced with threats such as habitat loss and climate change, thousands of rare flowering plant species worldwide may become extinct before scientists can even discover them, according to a paper published today by a trio of American and British researchers in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Quand le climat chauffe en montagne, c'est la plaine qui trinque ''Ce sont les gens de la plaine qui risquent d'être les plus concernés par le problème du changement climatique en montagne''. C'est ainsi que le directeur général de l'Office international de l'eau (OIEau) et secrétaire du Réseau international des organismes de bassin (RIOB)				Etonnante contribution du Grand Port Maritime de Marseille à l’année de la biodiversité Selon les scientifiques, la biodiversité est la dynamique des interactions dans des milieux en changement. On peut donc aisément en déduire que protéger la nature c’est protéger les capacités d’adaptation du vivant. Or, dans un article de la revue « navigation ports & industries, de janvier 2010 » intitulé « l’accès fluvial contesté par les écologistes » une journaliste ironise : « connaissez-vous la Tolypella Salina ou l’Althelie filiforme ? Non ? Vous n’êtes pas les seuls ! »
Scientists Find Direct Line from Development to Growth It may seem intuitive that growth and development somehow go together so that plants and animals end up with the right number of cells in all the right places. But it is only now that scientists at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy have gotten some of the first insights into how this critical coordination actually works in a plant.
Complex, Multicellular Life from Over Two Billion Years Ago Discovered The discovery in Gabon of more than 250 fossils in an excellent state of conservation has provided proof, for the first time, of the existence of multicellular organisms 2.1 billion years ago. This finding represents a major breakthrough: until now, the first complex life forms (made up of several cells) dated from around 600 million years ago.					Why Some Plants Flower in Spring, Autumn and Some in Summer A team of researchers from Warwick have isolated a gene responsible for regulating the expression of CONSTANS, an important inducer of flowering, in Arabidopsis. 'Being able to understand and ultimately control seasonal flowering will enable more predictable flowering, better scheduling and reduced wastage of crops', explained Dr Jackson.
Algues vertes Des députés veulent faciliter l'installation d'élevages de porcs en Bretagne Peut-on lutter contre les algues vertes en Bretagne d'un côté et y faciliter de l'autre l'implantation d'élevages de porcs et de volailles, dont la concentration est l'une des causes de l'excès de nitrates dans l'eau... donc des proliférations d'algues ? Le débat promet d'être vif à l'Assemblée nationale, où le projet de loi de modernisation de l'agriculture et de la pêche est examiné en première lecture à partir de mardi 29 juin. Un amendement du député Marc Le Fur (UMP, Côtes-d'Armor), adopté en commission des affaires économiques, propose en effet d'alléger la réglementation applicable aux installations ou extensions d'élevages. Les écologistes parlent de "déclaration de guerre à la politique environnementale".
Global Wind Shifts May Have Ushered in Warmer Climate at End of Last Ice Age Scientists still puzzle over how Earth emerged from its last ice age, an event that ushered in a warmer climate and the birth of human civilization. In the geological blink of an eye, ice sheets in the northern hemisphere began to collapse and warming spread quickly to the south. Most scientists say that the trigger, at least initially, was an orbital shift that caused more sunlight to fall across Earth's northern half. But how did the south catch up so fast?					Climate Change Complicates Plant Diseases of the Future Human-driven changes in the earth's atmospheric composition are likely to alter plant diseases of the future. Researchers predict carbon dioxide will reach levels double those of the preindustrial era by the year 2050, complicating agriculture's need to produce enough food for a rapidly growing population.
PROTEGER LES ESPECES NE SUFFIT PAS ! « La conservation de la biodiversité doit aussi passer par le maintien des fonctions et des processus évolutifs », c’est ce qu’annoncent les chercheurs du CNRS de l’Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de l’université Montpellier II (ISEM), dans un article à paraître dans Ecology Letters en août 2010. Grâce à une nouvelle approche intégrative, les scientifiques ont prouvé que les aires protégées françaises ne permettent pas d’optimiser la protection de la biodiversité
The Great Pond Experiment: Regional vs. Local Biodiversity Scientist Jon Chase once worked in a lab that set up small pond ecosystems for experiments on species interactions and food webs. "We would try to duplicate pond communities with a given experimental treatment," he says. "We put 10 of this species in each pond, and five of these species, and eight of the other species, and 15 milliliters of this nutrient and 5 grams of that and 'sproing,' every replicate would do its own thing and nothing would be like anything else.						Climate Change Linked to Major Vegetation Shifts Worldwide Vegetation around the world is on the move, and climate change is the culprit, according to a new analysis of global vegetation shifts led by a University of California, Berkeley, ecologist in collaboration with researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service.
Molecular Methods Are Not Sufficient in Systematics and Evolution Modern evolutionary systematists often use molecular methods, such like mitochondrial DNA analysis, to differentiate between species and subspecies. These molecular methods are a flashy symbol of modern science cleverly exploited by media to draw interest of public and by laboratory scientists to draw attention of government funding agencies.				Biodiversity Hot Spots More Vulnerable to Global Warming Than Thought Global warming may present a threat to animal and plant life even in biodiversity hot spots once thought less likely to suffer from climate change, according to a new study from Rice University. Research by Amy Dunham, a Rice assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, detailed for the first time a direct correlation between the frequency of El Niño and a threat to life in Madagascar, a tropical island that acts as a refuge for many unique species that exist nowhere else in the world. In this case, the lemur plays the role of the canary in the coal mine.
Follow the Money: Wealth, Population Are Key Drivers of Invasive Species A new study of biological invasions in Europe found they were linked not so much to changes in climate or land cover, but to two dominant factors -- more money and more people. Wealth and population density, along with an increase in international trade and commerce, were the forces most strongly associated with invasive species that can disrupt ecosystems and cause severe ecological or agricultural damage, scientists said
Aquatic Life Declines at Early Stages of Urban Development, Research Finds The number of native fish and aquatic insects, especially those that are pollution sensitive, declines in urban and suburban streams at low levels of development -- levels often considered protective for stream communities, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Making Lake and Stream Conservation More Effective "We call our approach landscape limnology," said Patricia Soranno, MSU associate professor of fisheries and wildlife. "It's a new way to study freshwater that considers all freshwaters together -- lakes, rivers and wetlands -- as they interact with one another and with natural and human landscapes. Our goal is to improve our broad understanding of the diversity of freshwater resources and to give freshwater managers science-based tools to manage and protect these bodies of water."					Oasis Near Death Valley Fed by Ancient Aquifer Under Nevada Test Site Every minute, 10,000 gallons of water mysteriously gush out of the desert floor at a place called Ash Meadows, an oasis that is home to 24 plant and animal species found nowhere else in the world. A new Brigham Young University study indicates that the water arriving at Ash Meadows is completing a 15,000-year journey, flowing slowly underground from what is now the Nevada Test Site.
Who Are We Sharing the Planet With? Millions Less Species Than Previously Thought, New Calculations Suggest New calculations reveal that the number of species on Earth is likely to be in the order of several million rather than tens of millions. The findings, from a University of Melbourne-led study, are based on a new method of estimating tropical insect species -- the largest and one of the most difficult groups on the planet to study -- having significant implications for conservation efforts.
Le futur agricole d'Haïti selon l'américain Monsanto La multinationale fait un don de 476 tonnes de semences aux agriculteurs haïtiens. Un « geste humanitaire » pour le moins intéressé. En Haïti, les paysans accusent Monsanto de vouloir mettre la main sur l'agriculture locale. La vague d'indignation a débuté le 10 mai, initiée par un article du curé Jean-Yves Urfié qui dénonce le « cadeau empoisonné » de Monsanto. Sa première inquiétude porte sur les graines envoyées par Monsanto, qu'il soupçonne d'être des OGM accompagnés d'herbicides toxiques (les « Roundup »). Mais le ministre de l'Agriculture Joana Gué dément cette information lors d'une conférence de presse deux jours plus tard. Puis c'est au tour de Monsanto de réfuter sur son site une accusation « erronée ». Jean-Yves Urfié rectifie finalement sa dénonciation.						20th Century One of Driest in Nine Centuries for Northwest Africa Droughts in the late 20th century rival some of North Africa's major droughts of centuries past, reveals new research that peers back in time to the year 1179. The first multi-century drought reconstruction that includes Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia shows frequent and severe droughts during the 13th and 16th centuries and the latter part of the 20th century. An international research team figured out northwest Africa's climate history by using the information recorded in tree rings. The oldest trees sampled contain climate data from the medieval period. One tree-ring sample from Morocco dates back to the year 883.
21 mai 2010: et l'homme créa la vie Le biologiste américain John Craig Venter et son équipe annonce la naissance d'une bactérie au génome synthétique «Nous rapportons la conception, la synthèse et l'assemblage de 1,08 Mb du génome Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn 1.0, numérisés à partir des informations sur la séquence du génome et sa transplantation dans un Mycoplasma capricolum, cellule receveuse, pour créer de nouveaux Mycoplasma mycoides, cellules qui sont contrôlées uniquement par le chromosome synthétique. L'ADN présent dans les cellules n'est que de l'ADN conçu par synthèse y compris (...) les polymorphismes et les mutations acquises au cours du processus de construction. Les nouvelles cellules ont les propriétés phénotypiques prévues et sont capables d'autoréplication. » Interview de Craig Venter
Nematodes Illuminate Biological Diversity of the Island Réunion in the Indian Ocean Réunion is to Ralf Sommer and Matthias Herrmann from the Max Plank Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen what the Galápagos Islands were to Charles Darwin. This is the island in the Indian Ocean where biologists are now studying biological diversity with the help of a very unremarkable creature: the nematode.					Are Invasive Species Bad? Not Always, Say Researchers New research at Brown University challenges the notion that invasive species can't coexist with native animals. The researchers studied the Asian shore crab, which has proliferated along the Atlantic shore. In a paper in Ecology, the team explains why the crab has been successful in its new home without hurting native species.
Scientists Release Biocontrol for Water Hyacinth Waterhyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is a free-floating aquatic plant native to South America that has infested freshwater ecosystems from North Carolina to California but is especially problematic in the southeastern United States. The plant is a real menace, affecting water traffic, water quality, infrastructure for pumping and hydroelectric operations, water use and biodiversity. Other problems include fish kills due to low oxygen levels and increases in populations of vectors of human and animal diseases.
'New vision required to stave off dramatic biodiversity loss', says UN's Global Biodiversity Outlook report Natural systems that support economies, lives and livelihoods across the planet are at risk of rapid degradation and collapse, unless there is swift, radical and creative action to conserve and sustainably use the variety of life on Earth. That is a principal conclusion of a major new assessment of the current state of biodiversity and the implications of its continued loss for human well-being. The third edition of Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3), produced by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) confirms that the world has failed to meet its target to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010.
Charting the Development of Human Populations in the North and South of the Mediterranean Region The Mediterranean is the birthplace of ancient peoples and cultures, but has it acted as a bridge or a barrier in the genetic history of northern and southern populations? Gene flow and population structure on the north and south shores of the Mediterranean form the basis of the work published recently by the Human Population Genetics research group.						Catalog Details 1.25 Million Species of Organisms Across the World The world's most valuable asset, on which we all depend, is silently slipping through our fingers -- it is the world's astounding biodiversity, in some cases lost before it is even discovered.
First Large-Scale Formal Quantitative Test Confirms Darwin's Theory of Universal Common Ancestry More than 150 years ago, Darwin proposed the theory of universal common ancestry (UCA), linking all forms of life by a shared genetic heritage from single-celled microorganisms to humans. Until now, the theory that makes ladybugs, oak trees, champagne yeast and humans distant relatives has remained beyond the scope of a formal test. Now, a Brandeis biochemist reports in Nature the results of the first large scale, quantitative test of the famous theory that underpins modern evolutionary biology.
Linnaeus 2.0: First E-Publication of New Plant Species Four new Neotropical plant species in the hyperdiverse genus Solanum (Solanaceae), which includes plants as diverse as the deadly nightshade as well as the more palatable tomato have been published in the open access online-only journal PLoS ONE by Dr. Sandra Knapp of the Natural History Museum, London.
Biodiversity Found In Unexpected Regions: More Than 200 Plant Species Found In Semi-Arid Rivers In South Eastern Spain The prevailing belief to date has been that the streams of south eastern Spain contained nothing of interest. However, a research project by the University of Murcia has shown that these ecosystems, which are unique in Europe, are home to great plant and animal biodiversity. This has enabled the research team to explode the myth that arid systems do not contain any organisms of interest, and to call for them to be protected because of their ecological value.
'Different Forms of Flowers' Continues to Fascinate: Darwin's Influential Study Inspires Research on Breeding System Called Heterostyly Although Charles Darwin is most well-known both for his book "On the Origin of Species" and his theories on natural selection, he once stated, "I do not think anything in my scientific life has given me so much satisfaction as making out the meaning of the structure of these plants." What could be more satisfying than unraveling the mysteries of evolution?					Scientist Ties Distribution Modeling to Ecological Theory As the planet warms, scientists have observed a radical disruption in the geographic distribution of thousands of animals and plants, which has unknown consequences for species survival. William Godsoe, post-doctoral fellow at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, studies the statistical relationships between a species ecological requirements, or niche, and its distribution, which offers a way to predict and mitigate ecological challenges facing the plant, such as climate change, habitat loss and species invasion.
Trees Facilitate Wildfires As a Way to Protect Their Habitat Fire is often thought of as something that trees should be protected from, but a new study suggests that some trees may themselves contribute to the likelihood of wildfires in order to promote their own abundance at the expense of their competitors. The study, which appears in the December 2009 issue of the journal The American Naturalist, says that positive feedback loops between fire and trees associated with savannas can make fires more likely in these ecosystems.
Species distribution models can exaggerate differences in environmental requirements Separate species that live in radically different environments don't necessarily also have different ecological niches. This is the finding of a study investigating the accuracy of current statistical tests that use models of geographic distributions to infer changes in environmental requirements.
Secrets of Unique Enzyme May Illuminate Ancient Ecosystems Montana State University chemists have determined the structure of an intermediate form of a unique enzyme that participates in some of the most fundamental reactions in biology.			Complexity and Diversity The mechanisms for the origin and maintenance of biological diversity are not fully understood. It is known that frequency-dependent selection, generating advantages for rare types, can maintain genetic variation and lead to speciation, but in models with simple phenotypes (that is, low-dimensional phenotype spaces), frequency dependence needs to be strong to generate diversity. However, we show that if the ecological properties of an organism are determined by multiple traits with complex interactions, the conditions needed for frequency-dependent selection to generate diversity are relaxed to the point where they are easily satisfied in high-dimensional phenotype spaces.
Pollens et allergie : tout dépend du temps Plus de 20% des Français sont touchés par des réactions allergiques dues aux pollens. La météo joue un rôle déterminant : elle intervient dans le déclenchement de la pollinisation, la quantité de pollen produit et le transport des grains dans l'air que nous respirons.
Breeding Orchid Species Creates a New Perfume Some orchids mimic the scent of a female insect in order to attract males for pollination. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology found that breeding two of these orchid species to generate a novel hybrid resulted in a new scent. This new odour had no effect on normal solitary bees from the area but was highly attractive to another species of wild bee that never visited any of the parent orchid species.
How Ancient Flowering Plants Grew: Early Angiosperms Were Weedy, Fast-Growing Fossils and their surrounding matrix can provide insights into what our world looked like millions of years ago. Fossils of angiosperms, or flowering plants (which are the most common plants today), first appear in the fossil record about 140 million years ago. Based on the material in which these fossils are deposited, it is thought that early angiosperms must have been weedy, fast-growing shrubs and herbs found in highly disturbed riparian stream channels and crevasses.
Brésil: tir de barrage contre les écologistes Un consortium brésilien à dominante publique a remporté mardi l'appel d'offres pour la construction en Amazonie du gigantesque barrage de Belo Monte, infligeant une défaite aux écologistes et aux indiens qui ont tenté jusqu'au bout de s'opposer à ce projet jugé dévastateur. Le consortium Norte Energia, dirigé par une filiale du brésilien Electrobras (publique), a été choisi à l'issue d'une bataille judiciaire à rebondissements. La justice fédérale a finalement rejeté mardi plusieurs recours présentés par un tribunal de l'Etat amazonien du Para, qui avaient eu pour effet de suspendre l'appel d'offres.					Une nouvelle espèce de champignon spectaculaire Une équipe de chercheurs du Laboratoire des symbioses tropicales et ses partenaires vient de découvrir, dans le Grand Sud de la Nouvelle-Calédonie, une nouvelle espèce de champignon d’un rose presque fluorescent et d’une forme très inattendue. Podoserpula miranda , ainsi nommé par ses découvreurs pour l’émerveillement qu’il a suscité, vit au cœur d’une forêt de « chênes gommes », en symbiose avec ces arbres
Presence of snails points to forest recovery - Post-fire management applications A team of Catalan researchers has studied the changes in the make-up of animal populations following forest fires, and have concluded that malacological fauna are a good indicator of forest recovery. The conclusions of this study will help to ensure that post-fire forestry operations that do not harm these species of molluscs, which are sensitive to microclimatic conditions of the soil and vegetation structure.
Traces of early Native Americans -- in sunflower genes In an upcoming issue of Current Biology, Indiana University Bloomington biologists present the first concrete evidence for how gene duplications can lead to functional diversity in organisms. In this case, the scientists learned how duplications of a gene called FLOWERING LOCUS T, or FT, could have evolved and interacted to prolong a flower's time to grow. A longer flower growth period means a bigger sunflower -- presumably an attribute of great value to the plant's first breeders.