Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : Les dossiers thématiques d'Agropolis, n° 11
Dans le contexte actuel de contraintes climatiques et socioéconomiques, les agricultures des zones sèches doivent évoluer afin de s’adapter et de répondre à un double défi : produire plus pour satisfaire les besoins alimentaires importants de populations en croissance, mais aussi produire mieux de façon viable et durable. Pour cela, les agricultures de ces zones doivent évoluer vers des modes de production à la fois plus productifs, économes en ressources naturelles et résistants aux aléas climatiques.Dans ce cadre, l’ingénierie écologique propose de nouvelles alternatives de gestion des systèmes agro-sylvo-pastoraux caractéristiques des régions arides et semi-arides d’Afrique subsaharienne. Ceci implique de maitriser la complexité des systèmes étudiés et de s’inspirer à la fois du fonctionnement des écosystèmes naturels de référence à la région agroécologique concernée — les savanes pour les zones sèches ouest-africaines — et des pratiques traditionnelles et savoir-faire locaux issus d’une longue adaptation face aux contraintes environnementales.À partir des expériences ouest-africaines notamment, différentes options pratiques sont exposées dans ce dossier. On pourra ainsi agir sur la biodiversité des organismes, que ce soit les plantes ou les microorganismes du sol par exemple, favoriser le recyclage des matières organiques et des éléments nutritifs pour les plantes qui sont associées, maitriser les cycles de l’eau et, enfin, agir sur l’organisation des paysages pour favoriser un meilleur contrôle des ravageurs de culture.Cependant, développer une telle approche demande une vision intégrée du fonctionnement et de l’évolution des systèmes agro-sylvo-pastoraux. Les questions sociales — le foncier, l’urbanisation et les migrations — et économiques — les marchés des denrées de première nécessité, la pauvreté, etc. — sont des déterminants essentiels qu’il convient de prendre en compte pour le développement durable des populations dans les zones sèches en Afrique subsaharienne.
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01585038

hal-01585038
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01585038

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 Laboratoire Arago
Résumé : International audience
As it is unlikely that successful settlement is solely a matter of chance (i.e. tofind a suitable habitat), one of the greatest challenges facing the fish larvae is how to locate therelatively rare patches of coral reef habitat on which they settle and ultimately reside as adults.The answer must lie partly in the sensory modalities of fishes at settlement. Habitat selection isonly possible if fish larvae could detect some environmental cues to select a suitable reef habitatat settlement. The present review aims at providing the latest works dealing with informationperception in coral reef fish larvae at settlement. Two decades ago, it was generally assumedthat larval behaviors and sensory abilities at settlement were considered too feeble to significantlyaffect dispersal outcomes. Several recent studies showed that recognition of suitable reefhabitats by fish larvae at settlement is based on a combination of visual, chemical and acousticcues. The first part of our review shows the main advances in the knowledge of visual, chemicaland acoustic cues used by fish larvae to detect an island, a reef, a micro-habitat, a conspecific orsome predators. The second part of our review deals with the effect of imprinting and/or innatecapabilities. The third part focuses on the different cues used at different scales and underlinessome contradictory results about the distance of transmission and detection of chemical andacoustic cues in coral reefs. Finally, as global and regional environmental changes have stressedcoral reefs to such an extent that they are either destroyed or in decline, the fourth part presentsthe effects of both anthropogenic and environmental stressors on information perception andresponse capacities in coral reef fish larvae. If polluted seawater disrupts the larval abilities tofind a suitable reef habitat, fish larvae may spend more time in the planktonic environment,resulting in increased energetic costs and predation risk, and consequently a lower larval settlement.We hypothesise that as the stability of fish communities is dependent, in part, on the stabilityof social interactions, the disruption of “larvae-habitat relationships” can have major consequencesfor larval settlement into adult population with further repercussions for the ecosystemas a whole. Overall, larval settlement of coral reef fish is an excellent example of the complexityof interactions between an organism and its environment as without perceiving environmentalcues, fish larva would have very little chance of selecting a suitable reef habitat. Moreover,understanding the relationship between reef state and settlement potential will allow managementplanning for the maintenance of coral reefs that are increasingly degraded.
ISSN: 0240-8759

hal-01191776
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01191776

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD eLife Sciences Publication
Résumé : International audience
Larval recruitment, the transition of pelagic larvae into reef-associated juveniles, is a critical step for the resilience of marine fish populations but its molecular control is unknown. Here, we investigate whether thyroid-hormones (TH) and their receptors (TR) coordinate the larval recruitment of the coral-reef-fish Acanthurus triostegus. We demonstrate an increase of TH-levels and TR-expressions in pelagic-larvae, followed by a decrease in recruiting juveniles. We generalize these observations in four other coral reef-fish species. Treatments with TH or TR-antagonist, as well as relocation to the open-ocean, disturb A. triostegus larvae transformation and grazing activity. Likewise, chlorpyrifos, a pesticide often encountered in coral-reefs, impairs A. triostegus TH-levels, transformation, and grazing activity, hence diminishing this herbivore’s ability to control the spread of reef-algae. Larval recruitment therefore corresponds to a TH-controlled metamorphosis, sensitive to endocrine disruption. This provides a framework to understand how larval recruitment, critical to reef-ecosystems maintenance, is altered by anthropogenic stressors.
ISSN: 2050-084X

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
hal-01633712
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01633712
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01633712/document
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01633712/file/elife-27595-v1.pdf
DOI : 10.7554/eLife.27595