Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
Marine biological invasions threaten biodiversity worldwide. Here we explore how Marine Protected areas, by reducing human use of the coast, confer resilience against the introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS), using two very different Pacific islands as case studies for developing and testing mathematical models. We quantified NIS vectors and promoters on Vancouver (Canada) and Moorea (French Polynesia) islands, sampled and barcoded NIS, and tested models at different spatial scales with different types of interaction among vectors and between marine protection and NIS frequency. In our results NIS were negatively correlated with the dimension of the protected areas and the intensity of the protection. Small to medium geographical scale protection seemed to be efficient against NIS introductions. The likely benefit of MPAs was by exclusion of aquaculture, principally in Canada. These results emphasize the importance of marine protected areas for biodiversity conservation, and suggest that small or medium protected zones would confer efficient protection against NIS introduction.
ISSN: 2045-2322

hal-01381251
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01381251
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01381251/document
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01381251/file/rate%20of%20biological%20invasions.pdf
DOI : 10.1038/srep33013

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
Epigenetics, as a DNA signature that affects gene expression and enables rapid reaction of an organism to environmental changes, is likely involved in the process of biological invasions. DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism common to plants and animals for regulating gene expression. In this study we show, for the first time in any marine species, significant reduction of global methylation levels during the expansive phase of a pygmy mussel (Xenostrobus securis) recent invasion in Europe (twoyear old), while in older introductions such epigenetic signature of invasion was progressively reduced. Decreased methylation was interpreted as a rapid way of increasing phenotypic plasticity that would help invasive populations to thrive. This epigenetic signature of early invasion was stronger than the expected environmental signature of environmental stress in younger populations sampled from ports, otherwise detected in a much older population (>90 year old) of the also invasive tubewormFicopomatus enigmaticus established in similar locations. Higher epigenetic than genetic diversity found in X. securis was confirmed from F. enigmaticus samples. As reported for introduced plants and vertebrates, epigenetic variation could compensate for relatively lower genetic variation caused by founder effects. These phenomena were compared with epigenetic mechanisms involved in metastasis, as parallel processes of community (biological invasion) and organism (cancer) invasions.
ISSN: 2045-2322

hal-01488962
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01488962
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01488962/document
https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01488962/file/Epigenetic.pdf
DOI : 10.1038/srep42193