Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : The evolutionary potential of long-lived species, such as forest trees, is fundamental for their local persistence under climate change (CC). Genome–environment association (GEA) analyses reveal if species in heterogeneous environments at the regional scale are under differential selection resulting in populations with potential preadaptation to CC within this area. In 79 natural [i]Fagus sylvatica[/i] populations, neutral genetic patterns were characterized using 12 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers, and genomic variation (144 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) out of 52 candidate genes) was related to 87 environmental predictors in the latent factor mixed model, logistic regressions and isolation by distance/environmental (IBD/IBE) tests. SSR diversity revealed relatedness at up to 150m intertree distance but an absence of large-scale spatial genetic structure and IBE. In the GEA analyses, 16 SNPs in 10 genes responded to one or several environmental predictors and IBE, corrected for IBD, was confirmed. The GEA often reflected the proposed gene functions, including indications for adaptation to water availability and temperature. Genomic divergence and the lack of large-scale neutral genetic patterns suggest that gene flow allows the spread of advantageous alleles in adaptive genes. Thereby, adaptation processes are likely to take place in species occurring in heterogeneous environments, which might reduce their regional extinction risk under CC
ISSN: 0028-646X

hal-01309135
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01309135
PRODINRA : 343710
DOI : 10.1111/nph.13809

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD IOS Press
Résumé : International audience
Cancer is generally conceived as a dedifferentiation process in which quiescent post-mitotic differentiated cells acquire stem-like properties and the capacity to proliferate. This view holds for the initial stages of carcinogenesis but is more questionable for advanced stages when the cells can transdifferentiate into the contractile phenotype associated to migration and metastasis. Singularly from this perspective, the hallmark of the most aggressive cancers would correspond to a genuine differentiation status, even if it is different from the original one. This seeming paradox could help reconciling discrepancies in the literature about the pro-or anti-tumoral functions of candidate molecules involved in cancer and whose actual effects depend on the tumoral grade. These ambiguities which are likely to concern a myriad of molecules and pathways, are illustrated here with the selected examples of chromatin epigenetics and myocardin-related transcription factors, using the human MCF10A and MCF7 breast cancer cells. Self-renewing stem like cells are characterized by a loose chromatin with low levels of the H3K9 trimetylation, but high levels of this mark can also appear in cancer cells acquiring a contractile-type differentiation state associated to metastasis. Similarly, the myocardin-related transcription factor MRTF-A is involved in metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition, whereas this factor is naturally enriched in the quiescent cells which are precisely the most resistant to cancer: cardiomyocytes. These seeming paradoxes reflect the bistable epigenetic landscape of cancer in which dedifferentiated self-renewing and differentiated migrating states are incompatible at the single cell level, though coexisting at the population level. © 2016-IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved.
ISSN: 0888-6008

hal-01367146
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01367146
DOI : 10.3233/BD-150210
PUBMED : 27177343

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : Clay shale landscapes are sensitive to landslide, erosion, and re-sedimentation processes. In this context, tectonized clay shales have peculiar hydrological and mechanical behaviours. In order to improve our understanding of the processes involved in such systems, an experimental site has been settled in the Draix Observatory (ORE DRAIX) on a black marl hill slope of the Southern Alps (France) in the framework of the ECOU-PREF project. The site is a natural laboratory to study the evolution of clay shale landscapes at several scales (regional to µm). In this study, we aim to characterize the internal structure and fissure patterns of a stable interfluve, in order to locate preferential water flows within the system, and anticipate its evolution. This work is based on a series of mutli-disciplinary approaches including petrophysical analyses, well pulse injection tests and downhole geophysical measurements. Borehole geophysical results were combined with laboratory measurements on core plugs (permeability, density, porosity, and acoustic velocity). Optical and acoustical images have been used as an original tool for internal discontinuities characterisation and potential active flow path detection. They allowed the identification of three main lithological units interpreted as several stages of shale alteration. In addition, several main structural plane discontinuities (open fractures, schistosity planes, and fractures infilled with calcite or clays) were identified from the images and their potential transmissivity discussed with regard to piezometric and tracer measurements. In all, the integration of measurements leads to propose a simple scenario of fluid circulation and chemical alteration of the interfluve.
ISSN: 0885-6087

hal-00757581
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00757581
DOI : 10.1002/hyp.7997

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The increased use of pesticides has caused concern over the possible direct association of exposure to combinations of these compounds with bee health problems. There is growing proof that bees are regularly exposed to mixtures of agrochemicals, but most research has been focused on managed bees living in farmland, whereas little is known about exposure of wild bees, both in farmland and urban habitats. To determine exposure of wild bumblebees to pesticides in agricultural and urban environments through the season, specimens of five different species were collected from farms and ornamental urban gardens in three sampling periods. Five neonicotinoid insecticides, thirteen fungicides and a pesticide synergist were analysed in each of the specimens collected. In total, 61% of the 150 individuals tested had detectable levels of at least one of the compounds, with boscalid being the most frequently detected (35%), followed by tebuconazole (27%), spiroxamine (19%), carbendazim (11%), epoxiconazole (8%), imidacloprid (7%), metconazole (7%) and thiamethoxam (6%). Quantifiable concentrations ranged from 0.17 to 54.4 ng/g (bee body weight) for individual pesticides. From all the bees where pesticides were detected, the majority (71%) had more than one compound, with a maximum of seven pesticides detected in one specimen. Concentrations and detection frequencies were higher in bees collected from farmland compared to urban sites, and pesticide concentrations decreased through the season. Overall, our results show that wild bumblebees are exposed to multiple pesticides when foraging in agricultural and urban landscapes. Such mixtures are detected in bee tissues not just during the crop flowering period, but also later in the season. Therefore, contact with these combinations of active compounds might be more prolonged in time and widespread in the environment than previously assumed. These findings may help to direct future research and pesticide regulation strategies to promote the conservation of wild bee populations.
ISSN: 0269-7491

hal-01477203
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01477203
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01477203/file/Quantifying%20exposure%20of%20wild%20bumblebees_accepted.pdf
DOI : 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.01.001
PUBMED : 28087090

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Endocrine Society
Résumé : International audience
Sertoli cells (SCs), the only somatic cells within seminiferous tubules, associate intimately with developing germ cells. They not only provide physical and nutritional support but also secrete factors essential to the complex developmental processes of germ cell proliferation and differentiation. The SC transcriptome must therefore adapt rapidly during the different stages of spermatogenesis. We report comprehensive genome-wide expression profiles of pure populations of SCs isolated at 5 distinct stages of the first wave of mouse spermatogenesis, using RNA sequencing technology. We were able to reconstruct about 13 901 high-confidence, nonredundant coding and noncoding transcripts, characterized by complex alternative splicing patterns with more than 45% comprising novel isoforms of known genes. Interestingly, roughly one-fifth (2939) of these genes exhibited a dynamic expression profile reflecting the evolving role of SCs during the progression of spermatogenesis, with stage-specific expression of genes involved in biological processes such as cell cycle regulation, metabolism and energy production, retinoic acid synthesis, and blood-testis barrier biogenesis. Finally, regulatory network analysis identified the transcription factors endothelial PAS domain-containing protein 1 (EPAS1/Hif2α), aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT/Hif1β), and signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) as potential master regulators driving the SC transcriptional program. Our results highlight the plastic transcriptional landscape of SCs during the progression of spermatogenesis and provide valuable resources to better understand SC function and spermatogenesis and its related disorders, such as male infertility.
ISSN: 0888-8809

hal-01146846
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01146846
DOI : 10.1210/me.2014-1356
PUBMED : 25710594

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
Temperature and fluid pressure conditions control rock deformation and mineralization on geological faults, and hence the distribution of earthquakes1. Typical intraplate continental crust has hydrostatic fluid pressure and a near-surface thermal gradient of 31 ± 15 degrees Celsius per kilometre2, 3. At temperatures above 300–450 degrees Celsius, usually found at depths greater than 10–15 kilometres, the intra-crystalline plasticity of quartz and feldspar relieves stress by aseismic creep and earthquakes are infrequent. Hydrothermal conditions control the stability of mineral phases and hence frictional–mechanical processes associated with earthquake rupture cycles, but there are few temperature and fluid pressure data from active plate-bounding faults. Here we report results from a borehole drilled into the upper part of the Alpine Fault, which is late in its cycle of stress accumulation and expected to rupture in a magnitude 8 earthquake in the coming decades4, 5. The borehole (depth 893 metres) revealed a pore fluid pressure gradient exceeding 9 ± 1 per cent above hydrostatic levels and an average geothermal gradient of 125 ± 55 degrees Celsius per kilometre within the hanging wall of the fault. These extreme hydrothermal conditions result from rapid fault movement, which transports rock and heat from depth, and topographically driven fluid movement that concentrates heat into valleys. Shear heating may occur within the fault but is not required to explain our observations. Our data and models show that highly anomalous fluid pressure and temperature gradients in the upper part of the seismogenic zone can be created by positive feedbacks between processes of fault slip, rock fracturing and alteration, and landscape development at plate-bounding faults.
ISSN: 0028-0836

hal-01685757
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01685757
DOI : 10.1038/nature22355

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
Résumé : International audience
Meiotic recombination is required for the segregation of homologous chromosomes and is essential for fertility. In most mammals, the DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) that initiate meiotic recombination are directed to a subset of genomic loci (hot spots) by sequence-specific binding of the PRDM9 protein. Rapid evolution of the DNA-binding specificity of PRDM9 and gradual erosion of PRDM9-binding sites by gene conversion will alter the recombination landscape over time. To better understand the evolutionary turnover of recombination hot spots and its consequences, we mapped DSB hot spots in four major subspecies of Mus musculus with different Prdm9 alleles and in their F1 hybrids. We found that hot spot erosion governs the preferential usage of some Prdm9 alleles over others in hybrid mice and increases sequence diversity specifically at hot spots that become active in the hybrids. As crossovers are disfavored at such hot spots, we propose that sequence divergence generated by hot spot turnover may create an impediment for recombination in hybrids, potentially leading to reduced fertility and, eventually, speciation
ISSN: 0890-9369

hal-01281480
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01281480
DOI : 10.1101/gad.270009.115
PUBMED : 26833728

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : CIRAD, Montpellier, Perspective
In the Brazilian Amazon, degraded forests dominate the landscapes on the agricultural frontiers. This region is now facing a major challenge: halting degradation and sustainably managing these forests. Today, degraded forests represent a class of forest in their own right. They can nevertheless play a key role in combating climate change, and can also help to improve the ecological functioning of the different territories. Implementing public policies with the twin objectives of reducing degradation and promoting these forests implies strong support from research. In this Perspective, we focus on four research priorities: developing methods to characterise and monitor degraded forests; drafting specific forest management plans; understanding the role played by all social actors; and supporting policies at the territorial level.
En Amazonie brésilienne, les forêts dégradées dominent les paysages des fronts pionniers. Un grand défi attend désormais cette région : stopper la dégradation et gérer durablement ces forêts. Les forêts dégradées représentent aujourd’hui une catégorie de forêt à part entière. Elles peuvent néanmoins jouer un rôle majeur pour lutter contre le changement climatique. Elles peuvent aussi contribuer à un meilleur fonctionnement écologique des territoires. Développer des politiques publiques visant le double objectif de réduire la dégradation et de valoriser ces forêts implique un appui fort de la recherche. Dans ce Perspective, nous mettons l’accent sur quatre priorités de recherche : développer des méthodes de caractérisation et de suivi des forêts dégradées, élaborer des plans d’aménagement spécifiques, comprendre le rôle joué par tous les acteurs sociaux et accompagner les politiques à l’échelle territoriale.
Na Amazônia brasileira, as florestas degradadas dominam as paisagens das frentes pioneiras. Atualmente, esta região enfrenta um grande desafio: parar a degradação e fazer a gestão sustentável dessas florestas. As florestas degradadas são atualmente parte integrante de uma categoria de florestas. No entanto, elas podem desempenhar um papel importante na luta contra as mudanças climáticas e podem contribuir para um melhor funcionamento ecológico dos territórios. Desenvolver políticas públicas com o duplo objetivo de reduzir a degradação e melhorar a condição dessas florestas implica um forte apoio da pesquisa. Neste Perspective, nós focalizamos em quatro prioridades de pesquisa: desenvolver os métodos de caracterização e monitoramento das florestas degradadas, elaborar planos específicos de ordenamento do território, compreender o papel desempenhado por todos os atores sociais e acompanhar as politicas em escala territorial.
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01537653

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/
hal-01537653
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01537653
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01537653/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01537653/file/Persp40_LBLanc%20FR.pdf
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01537653/file/Persp40_LBLanc%20PORT.pdf

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Staphylococcus aureus can cause a wide range of infections in humans and warm-blooded animals. The epithelial surface is the principal site of staphylococcal infection. The goal of this work was to investigate the cytopathic effect of S. aureus and its ability to affect host cell cycle. Cultures of human cervix cancer HeLa and mammary gland bovine MAC-T epithelial cells were used to study in vitro the effects of S. aureus strains from human or ruminant origins. Using microscopic examination, we found that S. aureus induced an enlargement of the host cells and we observed that S. aureus slowed down cell proliferation. Similar effect was observed on both human and bovine cells using the human or the ruminant strains. Microscopic analysis of DAPI-stained cells revealed huge decrease of mitotic indexes in infected HeLa and Mac-T cells, synchronized by Double Thymidine Block. Flow cytometry analysis showed that S. aureus induces G2/M phase delay in synchronous HeLa cells. Western blot analysis revealed that the G2/M phase delay was associated with an accumulation of inactive phosphorylated cyclin-dependent kinase Cdk1/cdc2, a key inducer of mitosis entry, and dephosphorylation of core histone H3, an important component of the epigenetic landscape. Altogether, these results suggest that the delay in G2/M phase transition of the infected epithelial cells may be one of the mechanisms employed by S. aureus to survive and to propagate inside the host. Further investigations are ongoing to fully understand the mechanisms associated to this type of S. aureushost cell interactions.
journées des Microbiologistes de l' INRA 2012
L'Isle sur la Sorgue, France

hal-01209365
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01209365
PRODINRA : 174569

Éditeur(s) : Université des Antilles Études caribéennes
Résumé : Par sa maîtrise des mediascapes, que représentent en particulier la télévision et Internet, le basket africain-américain et sa culture ont su s’imposer progressivement dans le paysage du basket hexagonal, devenant ainsi aujourd'hui la référence majeure pour grand nombre de pratiquants français. Certains jeunes pratiquants de banlieue parisienne, qui se sont attribué à juste titre le surnom de « Cain-ris », s’approprient fortement les normes et les valeurs de ce mouvement sportif et culturel étatsunien, modifiant ainsi leurs pratiques culturelles et leur identité. Cet article a donc pour objectif d’analyser la complexité de cette identité « Cain-ri », une identité créée dans ce contexte spécifique de mondialisation et qui prend racine de part et d’autre de l’Atlantique.
By means of its control over mediascapes, especially represented both by television and Internet, American basketball and its culture has gradually grown in the landscape of hexagonal basketball, becoming today the major reference for a large number of French players. Certain young players from Parisian suburbs, who rightly made theirs the nickname of "Cain-ris", strongly appropriate to themselves the standards and values of this sports and cultural movement from the US, modifying this way their cultural practices and their identity. The objective of the article is then to analyze the complexity of this “Cain-ri” identity, an identity created within the specific context of globalization, taking roots on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean

Droits : info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
urn:doi:10.4000/etudescaribeennes.5891
http://journals.openedition.org/etudescaribeennes/5891

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Association for the Advancement of Science
Résumé : International audience
Most eukaryotic organisms are arthropods. Yet, their diversity in rich terrestrial ecosystems is still unknown. Here we produce tangible estimates of the total species richness of arthropods in a tropical rainforest. Using a comprehensive range of structured protocols, we sampled the phylogenetic breadth of arthropod taxa from the soil to the forest canopy in the San Lorenzo forest, Panama. We collected 6144 arthropod species from 0.48 hectare and extrapolated total species richness to larger areas on the basis of competing models. The whole 6000-hectare forest reserve most likely sustains 25,000 arthropod species. Notably, just 1 hectare of rainforest yields >60% of the arthropod biodiversity held in the wider landscape. Models based on plant diversity fitted the accumulated species richness of both herbivore and nonherbivore taxa exceptionally well. This lends credence to global estimates of arthropod biodiversity developed from plant models.
ISSN: 0036-8075

hal-00817285
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00817285
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00817285/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00817285/file/1226727Revisedtext.pdf
DOI : 10.1126/science.1226727

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Geological Society of America
Résumé : International audience
Because of its essential role in coupling climate and tectonics, denudation is a key parameter when constraining the history of Earth’s surface. This is particularly true at the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition, and the potential impact of the onset of Quaternary glaciations remains strongly debated. In the present study, we measured in situ cosmogenic 10Be within continuous late Cenozoic sedimentary sections that had already been dated using magnetostratigraphy. The new data were obtained from four sedimentary basins in the northern and southern Tianshan range (Central Asia). We first thoroughly discuss how in situ cosmogenic 10Be concentrations can be corrected for radioactive decay and for the contribution of postdepositional cosmogenic accumulation to derive the paleo–denudation rates. Our analysis shows that, in the four sedimentary records, the potential bias remains low enough to consider the derived denudation rates reliable. The four records, although likely influenced by local particularities due to lithological heterogeneity and local tectonics, display similar trends of continuously increasing denudation between ca. 9 Ma and the present. These rates have remained relatively high but steady since 4 Ma, ∼1.5 m.y. before the onset of the Quaternary glacial cycles. Though the rejuvenation of the Tianshan range since 11 Ma may explain most of the progressive increase (×5) in denudation, our data suggest that the Quaternary glaciations had only a limited impact on denudation in the Tianshan. Our data, however, indicate an increase in the spatial and high-frequency variability (<1 m.y.) of the denudation rates between 3 and 1 Ma. This may correspond to a transient readjustment of the landscape in response to the onset of Quaternary glacial cycles.
ISSN: 0016-7606

hal-01685766
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01685766
DOI : 10.1130/B31475.1

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
The INTERREG Caribbean IV program recommends the valorization and protection of the region's environmental core, through collaborative and sustainable management of resources. It uses Martinique as the test case. The French territories of Saint-Martin, Saint-Barthélemy, Guadeloupe, and Martinique, and the member states of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States are part of a geographic continuum that can easily be identified through its similar landscapes, climates, and natural resources and also through the environmental degradation the states have to face, caused by human activity (pollution and deterioration of ecosystems and habitats), natural hazards, and climate change including sea level rise. Therefore the islands of the Lesser Antilles are faced with an important developmental and environmental challenge, which could be easily summarized as a struggle for balance.
Meteorological Technology International

ird-00742661
http://hal.ird.fr/ird-00742661
http://hal.ird.fr/ird-00742661/document
IRD : fdi:010057442

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : International audience
Epigenetics is most often reduced to chromatin marking in the current literature, whereas this notion was initially defined in a more general context. This restricted view ignores that epigenetic memories are in fact more robustly ensured in living systems by steady-state mechanisms with permanent molecule renewal. This misconception is likely to result from misleading intuitions and insufficient dialogues between traditional and quantitative biologists. To demystify dynamic epigenetics, its most famous image, a Waddington landscape and its attractors, are explicitly drawn. The simple example provided, is sufficient to highlight the main requirements and characteristics of dynamic gene networks, underlying cellular differentiation, de-differentiation and trans-differentiation.
ISSN: 0248-4900

inserm-00920766
http://www.hal.inserm.fr/inserm-00920766
http://www.hal.inserm.fr/inserm-00920766/document
http://www.hal.inserm.fr/inserm-00920766/file/Dynamic_Epigenetics.pdf
PUBMED : 24111561

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Staphylococcus aureus can cause a wide range of infections in humans and warm-blooded animals. The epithelial surface is the principal site of staphylococcal infection. The goal of this work was to investigate the cytopathic effect of S. aureus and its ability to affect host cell cycle. Cultures of human cervix cancer HeLa and mammary gland bovine MAC-T epithelial cells were used to study in vitro the effects of S. aureus strains from human or ruminant origins. Using microscopic examination, we found that S. aureus induced an enlargement of the host cells and we observed that S. aureus slowed down cell proliferation. Similar effect was observed on both human and bovine cells using the human or the ruminant strains. Microscopic analysis of DAPI-stained cells revealed huge decrease of mitotic indexes in infected HeLa and Mac-T cells, synchronized by Double Thymidine Block. Flow cytometry analysis showed that S. aureus induces G2/M phase delay in synchronous HeLa cells. Western blot analysis revealed that the G2/M phase delay was associated with an accumulation of inactive phosphorylated cyclin-dependent kinase Cdk1/cdc2, a key inducer of mitosis entry, and dephosphorylation of core histone H3, an important component of the epigenetic landscape. Altogether, these results suggest that the delay in G2/M phase transition of the infected epithelial cells may be one of the mechanisms employed by S. aureus to survive and to propagate inside the host. Further investigations are ongoing to fully understand the mechanisms associated to this type of S. aureus-host cell interactions.
International Symposium on Staphylococci and Staphylococcal Infections -ISSSI-2012
Lyon, France

hal-01209356
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01209356
PRODINRA : 173265

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
We developed a new granular material (MatIV) to study experimentally landscape evolution in active mountain belt piedmonts. Its composition and related physical properties have been determined using empirical criteria derived from the scaling of deformation, erosion-transport and sedimentation natural processes. MatIV is a water-saturated composite material made up with 4 granular components (silica powder, glass microbeads, plastic powder and graphite) whose physical, mechanical and erosion-related properties were measured with different laboratory tests. Mechanical measurements were made on a modified Hubbert-type direct shear apparatus. Erosion-related properties were determined using an experimental set-up that allows quantifying the erosion/sedimentation budget from tilted relaxation topographies. For MatIV, we also investigated the evolution of mean erosion rates and stream power erosion law exponents in 1D as a function of slope.;Our results indicate that MatIV satisfies most of the defined criteria. It deforms brittlely according to the linear Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion and localizes deformation along discrete faults. Its erosion pattern is characterized by realistic hillslope and channelized processes (slope diffusion, mass wasting, channel incision). During transport, eroded particles are sorted depending on their density and shape, which results in stratified alluvial deposits displaying lateral fades variations. To evaluate the degree of similitude between model and nature, we used a new experimental device that combines accretionary wedge deformation mechanisms and surface runoff erosion processes. Results indicate that MatIV succeeded in producing detailed morphological and sedi-mentological features (drainage basin, channel network, terrace, syntectonic alluvial fan). Geometric, kinematic and dynamic similarity criteria have been investigated to compare precisely model to nature. Although scaling is incomplete, it yields particularly informative orders of magnitude. With all these characteristics, MatIV appears as a very promising material to investigate experimentally a wide range of scientific questions dealing with relief dynamics and interactions between tectonics, erosion and sedimentation processes.
ISSN: 0040-1951

hal-00669904
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00669904
DOI : 10.1016/j.tecto.2011.09.029

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
S U M M A R Y Over the last decade, thermomechanical models have revealed the control of both tectonics and erosion on the morphology of continental plateaus margins. However, unravelling the specific effects of these two coupled processes has been difficult in practice. Here, to assess the control of erosion, we investigate the dynamics of the eastern and the northern borders of the Tibetan Plateau, which are characterized by a low convergence rate and a steep topographic escarpment adjacent to the Sichuan and Tarim basins, respectively. Thermomechanical modelling of continental lithosphere coupled with fluvial denudation reveals that important crustal deformation with large-scale horizontal displacements can occur, without any convergence, as a response to mass transfer due to gravitational collapse and to erosional unloading. These processes are sensitive to crustal structure, geothermal gradient as well as surface erosion. At a timescale of several million years, our results suggest that this denudation-triggered deformation exerts a primary control on the evolution of those plateau margins by counterbalancing the mass removal due to erosion and stabilizing the topographic escarpment. This finding supports a possible explanation for the morphology of the Longmen Shan, eastern Tibet, in which the paradoxical combination of persistent high-topographic gradients close to the foreland and low convergence rates can be related to the influence of erosion on deformation patterns.
ISSN: 0956-540X

hal-01577060
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577060
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577060/document
https://hal-amu.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01577060/file/godard2009erosional.pdf
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-246X.2009.04324.x

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : Precise mapping of above-ground biomass (AGB) is a major challenge for the success of REDD+ processes in tropical rainforest. The usual mapping methods are based on two hypotheses: a large and long-ranged spatial autocorrelation and a strong environment influence at the regional scale. However, there are no studies of the spatial structure of AGB at the landscapes scale to support these assumptions. We studied spatial variation in AGB at various scales using two large forest inventories conducted in French Guiana. The dataset comprised 2507 plots (0.4 to 0.5 ha) of undisturbed rainforest distributed over the whole region. After checking the uncertainties of estimates obtained from these data, we used half of the dataset to develop explicit predictive models including spatial and environmental effects and tested the accuracy of the resulting maps according to their resolution using the rest of the data. Forest inventories provided accurate AGB estimates at the plot scale, for a mean of 325 Mg.ha^-1. They revealed high local variability combined with a weak autocorrelation up to distances of no more than10 km. Environmental variables accounted for a minor part of spatial variation. Accuracy of the best model including spatial effects was 90 Mg.ha^-1 at plot scale but coarse graining up to 2-km resolution allowed mapping AGB with accuracy lower than 50 Mg.ha^-1. Whatever the resolution, no agreement was found with available pan-tropical reference maps at all resolutions. We concluded that the combined weak autocorrelation and weak environmental effect limit AGB maps accuracy in rainforest, and that a trade-off has to be found between spatial resolution and effective accuracy until adequate “wall-to-wall” remote sensing signals provide reliable AGB predictions. Waiting for this, using large forest inventories with low sampling rate (<0.5%) may be an efficient way to increase the global coverage of AGB maps with acceptable accuracy at kilometric resolution
ISSN: 1932-6203

hal-01269305
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01269305
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0138456
PRODINRA : 326359

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
About 1-6% of the genetic ancestry of modern humans today originates from admixture with archaic humans. It has recently been shown that autosomal genomic regions with a reduced proportion of Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestries (NA and DA) are significantly enriched in genes that are more expressed in testis than in other tissues. To determine whether a cellular segregation pattern would exist, we combined maps of archaic introgression with a cross-analysis of three transcriptomic datasets deciphering the transcriptional landscape of human gonadal cell types. We reveal that the regions deficient in both NA and DA contain a significant enrichment of genes transcribed in meiotic germ cells. The interbreeding of anatomically modern humans with archaic humans may have introduced archaic-derived alleles that contributed to genetic incompatibilities affecting meiosis that were subsequently purged by natural selection.
ISSN: 0737-4038

hal-01578587
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01578587
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01578587/document
https://hal-univ-rennes1.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01578587/file/J%C3%A9gou%20et%20al%20-%20Meiotic%20Genes%20Are%20Enriched.pdf
DOI : 10.1093/molbev/msx141

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Wiley
Résumé : Tropical forests contain an important proportion of the carbon stored in terrestrial vegetation, but estimated aboveground biomass (AGB) in tropical forests varies two-fold, with little consensus on the relative importance of climate, soil and forest structure in explaining spatial patterns. Here, we present analyses from a plot network designed to examine differences among contrasting forest habitats (terra firme, seasonally flooded, and white-sand forests) that span the gradient of climate and soil conditions of the Amazon basin. We installed 0.5-ha plots in 74 sites representing the three lowland forest habitats in both Loreto, Peru and French Guiana, and we integrated data describing climate, soil physical and chemical characteristics and stand variables, including local measures of wood specific gravity (WSG). We use a hierarchical model to separate the contributions of stand variables from climate and soil variables in explaining spatial variation in AGB. AGB differed among both habitats and regions, varying from 78 Mg ha−1 in white-sand forest in Peru to 605 Mg ha−1 in terra firme clay forest of French Guiana. Stand variables including tree size and basal area, and to a lesser extent WSG, were strong predictors of spatial variation in AGB. In contrast, soil and climate variables explained little overall variation in AGB, though they did co-vary to a limited extent with stand parameters that explained AGB. Our results suggest that positive feedbacks in forest structure and turnover control AGB in Amazonian forests, with richer soils (Peruvian terra firme and all seasonally flooded habitats) supporting smaller trees with lower wood density and moderate soils (French Guianan terra firme) supporting many larger trees with high wood density. The weak direct relationships we observed between soil and climate variables and AGB suggest that the most appropriate approaches to landscape scale modeling of AGB in the Amazon would be based on remote sensing methods to map stand structure.
ISSN: 1354-1013

hal-01374829
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01374829
DOI : 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02432.x
PRODINRA : 183370