Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
Studies on tree biomechanical design usually focus on stem stiffness, resistance to breakage or uprooting, and elastic stability. Here we consider another biomechanical constraint related to the interaction between growth and gravity. Because stems are slender structures and are never perfectly symmetric, the increase in tree mass always causes bending movements. Given the current mechanical design of trees, integration of these movements over time would ultimately lead to a weeping habit unless some gravitropic correction occurs. This correction is achieved by asymmetric internal forces induced during the maturation of new wood. The long-term stability of a growing stem therefore depends on how the gravitropic correction that is generated by diameter growth balances the disturbance due to increasing self weight. General mechanical formulations based on beam theory are proposed to model these phenomena. The rates of disturbance and correction associated with a growth increment are deduced and expressed as a function of elementary traits of stem morphology, cross-section anatomy and wood properties. Evaluation of these traits using previously published data shows that the balance between the correction and the disturbance strongly depends on the efficiency of the gravitropic correction, which depends on the asymmetry of wood maturation strain, eccentric growth, and gradients in wood stiffness. By combining disturbance and correction rates, the gravitropic performance indicates the dynamics of stem bending during growth. It depends on stem biomechanical traits and dimensions. By analyzing dimensional effects, we show that the necessity for gravitropic correction might constrain stem allometric growth in the long-term. This constraint is compared to the requirement for elastic stability, showing that gravitropic performance limits the increase in height of tilted stem and branches. The performance of this function may thus limit the slenderness and lean of stems, and therefore the ability of the tree to capture light in a heterogeneous environment.
ISSN: 0022-5193

hal-00534316
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00534316
DOI : 10.1016/j.jtbi.2008.10.011

Éditeur(s) : Europe Aqauculture Symposium, October 14-17, San Sebastian, Spain
Résumé : Shrimp farming in New-Caledonia faces up to difficulties. A fluctuating quality of broodstock prevents sustainable production of larvae in quantity and quality. The traditional extensive rearing method of broodstock in outdoor earthen ponds used in New Caledonia raises several issues: poor water quality control and biosecurity. Therefore it is fundamental to modify the broodstock culture strategy in order to achieve an easier water quality management and maximal biosecurity. Biofloc technology (BFT) offers easier water quality management, higher natural productivity, higher level of biosecurity, and could be a good alternative. Since 2011 a R&D program started under the supervision of IFREMER in New Caledonia and French Polynesia in order to study and develop biofloc technology for rearing shrimp L. stylirostris broodstock. In a first step we showed that biofloc (BFT) improved significantly the reproductive performances of shrimps and the quality of their larvae compared to Clear Water (CW) or Earthen Pond (EP), with: • A better final survival rate of broodstock from BFT compare to CW. • Females from BFT produced more eggs per spawn and spawned more frequently compared to females from CW or EP. • The larvae from BFT females had a significantly higher survival rate compared to larvae from CW females, respectively 70% (n=4) and 45% (n=4). In a second step we studied the underlying biological mechanisms explaining the better reproductive performance and health status of the broodstock from BFT rearing system, and the better quality of their larvae. We showed that the juvenile shrimp fed actively on biofloc, which represented 60% of their whole food (40% coming from pelleted diet). Biofloc represents a significant source of essential nutrients (vitamins, antioxidants, highly unsaturated fatty acids, …) or dietary bacteria which could act as probiotic. These dietary complements could explain the improved health status (immunity and oxidative status status), the better resistance to oxidative stress and a systematically better survival rate of the shrimp reared in BFT compared to those reared in CW.

Droits : 2014 Ifremer
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00250/36084/34635.pdf
http://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00250/36084/

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD AGU and the Geochemical Society
Résumé : International audience
We analyze focal mechanisms of shallow-intermediate earthquakes in a NW-SE transect along the western Betic Cordillera and Alboran Sea, and deep earthquakes located in the central Betics to constrain the state of stress at the Gibraltar Arc slow convergence area. Shallow earthquakes (< 40 km) are preferably clustered at the mountain front. A general NW-SE horizontal compression is compatible with the convergence, and NW plunging compression axes are in agreement with frontal thrust activity. Toward the Alboran Sea the earthquakes are progressively deeper, reaching intermediate depths (40-120 km) near the coast and supporting the present-day activity of subduction only in this area. The Iberian continental crust concentrates most of the intermediate seismicity and is forced to partially sink into the mantle, probably through the pull of the oceanic slab. This downdip pull together with the buoyancy of the Iberian continental crust produces the slab curvature, downdip extension in the external arc of the continental slab, and downdip compression in the inner arc. T axes highly dipping to the southeast at 90-120 km depth occur at the oceanic/continental transition. Deep earthquakes (> 620 km) show very similar focal mechanisms, fitting the general slab behavior of resistance to further descent at the 660 km discontinuity. Seismicity features evidence the present-day stress distribution in a context of transition from subduction to continental collision.
ISSN: 1525-2027

hal-00669889
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00669889
DOI : 10.1029/2011GC003824

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Oxford University Press
Résumé : International audience
Type IB DNA topoisomerases can eliminate torsional stresses produced during replication and transcription. These enzymes are found in all eukaryotes and a short version is present in some bacteria and viruses. Among prokaryotes, the long eukaryotic version is only observed in archaea of the phylum Thau-marchaeota. However, the activities and the roles of these topoisomerases have remained an open question. Here, we demonstrate that all available thaumar-chaeal genomes contain a topoisomerase IB gene that defines a monophyletic group closely related to the eukaryotic enzymes. We show that the topIB gene is expressed in the model thaumarchaeon Ni-trososphaera viennensis and we purified the recom-binant enzyme from the uncultivated thaumarchaeon Candidatus Caldiarchaeum subterraneum. This enzyme is active in vitro at high temperature, making it the first thermophilic topoisomerase IB characterized so far. We have compared this archaeal type IB enzyme to its human mitochondrial and nuclear counterparts. The archaeal enzyme relaxes both negatively and positively supercoiled DNA like the eukaryotic enzymes. However, its pattern of DNA cleavage specificity is different and it is resistant to camptothecins (CPTs) and non-CPT Top1 inhibitors, LMP744 and lamellarin D. This newly described ther-mostable topoisomerases IB should be a promising new model for evolutionary, mechanistic and structural studies.
ISSN: 0305-1048

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
hal-01327354
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01327354
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01327354/document
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01327354/file/Nucl.%20Acids%20Res.-2016-Dahmane-2795-805.pdf
DOI : 10.1093/nar/gkw097

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer Verlag
Résumé : International audience
In this study, we quantify and analyze the spatial and temporal evolution of the surface displacement of Kahrod landslide located in the center of Alborz range (Iran) within the Haraz valley. This landslide represents a threat for this main drainage axis and its numerous infrastructures. We present three sets of displacement vectors based on GPS technique. An 8-benchmark network has been surveyed four times on a 1-year period basis. It provides accurate information on the rate of displacement within the landslide, and addresses the problem of the mechanical resistance of a small hillock, down slope, under the stress imposed by the landslide. Then. this network is densified (57 marks) and measured twice in 6 months using a rapidstatic approach. This yields to a dense description of surface deformation over the whole landslide. Finally, a 1-year time series of permanent GPS recordings is presented and compared to rainfall. Furthermore, we analyze Envisat radar differential interferograms (DInSAR) spanning the same period as permanent GPS. These geodetic data allow to precisely determine the limits of the current sliding zone and to describe the spatial and temporal evolution of surface displacement. The combination of geodesy and field observations leads to a precise description of the past and present kinematics behavior of Kahrod landslide. The chaotic nature of the sliding mass suggests a first catastrophic landslide in a first episode. During the period of observation, the landslide appears to deform quite steadily, and the evidence of short-term correlation between rainfall and deformation amplitude needs to be confirmed by future measurements. Carrying on the acquisition of GPS and InSAR data within the sliding mass but also within adjacent bedrock should give fundamental information with regards to major activation processes (river sapping, water seeping, earthquakes, or failure within the frontal hill of bedrock) and their potential consequences.
ISSN: 1435-9529

hal-00411318
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00411318
DOI : 10.1016/j.enggeo.2008.02.013

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
Over the last few decades, sessile benthic organisms from the Mediterranean Sea have suffered from the global warming of the world's oceans, and several mass mortality events were observed during warm summers. It has been hypothesized that mortality could have been due to a nutrient (food) shortage following the stratification of the water column. However, the symbiotic gorgonian Eunicella singularis has also presented a locally exceptional mortality, despite its autotrophic capacities through the photosynthesis of its dinoflagellate symbionts. Thus, this study has experimentally investigated the response of E. singularis to a thermal stress (temperature increase from 18 to 26 degrees C), with colonies maintained more than 2 months under four nutritional diets: autotrophy only (AO), autotrophy and inorganic nitrogen addition (AN), autotrophy and heterotrophy (AH), heterotrophy only (HO). At 18 degrees C, and contrary to many other anthozoans, supplementation of autotrophy with either inorganic nitrogen or food (heterotrophy) had no effect on the rates of respiration, photosynthesis, as well as in the chlorophyll, lipid and protein content. In the dark, heterotrophy maintained the gorgonian's metabolism, except a bleaching (loss of pigments), which did not affect the rates of photosynthesis. At 24 degrees C, rates of respiration, and photosynthesis significantly decreased in all treatments. At 26 degrees C, in addition to a decrease in the lipid content of all treatments, a bleaching was observed after 1 week in the AO treatment, while the AH and AN treatments resisted three weeks before bleaching. These last results suggest that, temperatures above 24 degrees C impair the energetic reserves of this species and might explain the mortality events in the Mediterranean.
ISSN: 1932-6203

hal-01546169
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01546169
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0064370

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : A combination of statistical studies on present-day subduction zones and three-dimensional (3D) laboratory models is performed with the aim to clarify the way that plate kinematics control the geometry of the slab and the overriding plate deformation in subduction zones. In 3D laboratory models, the analogue of a two layer linearly viscous lithosphere–upper mantle system is achieved by means of silicon putty glucose syrup tank experiment. The subducting and overriding plate velocities are systematically changed by exploring the variability field of natural plate kinematics. Both statistical and modelling approaches recognize the importance of overriding plate motion on subduction process behavior: (1) trenches migrate at a rate close to the overriding plate motion, but always move slower than the overriding plates. The mechanism at work is a direct consequence of “slab anchoring” opposed by both lithosphere and mantle viscous resistance and is responsible for overriding plate deformation and slab geometry variability. (2) An overriding plate shortens when the overriding plate moves toward the trench and conditions that are favourable for overriding plate extension are created when the overriding plate moves away from the trench. (3) Shallow and steep dips are found if the overriding plate moves toward and away from the trench, respectively.
ISSN: 0012-821X

hal-00406598
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00406598
DOI : 10.1016/j.epsl.2007.02.004