Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Public Library of Science
Résumé : International audience
Here we show that Daceton armigerum, an arboreal myrmicine ant whose workers are equipped with hypertrophied trap-jaw mandibles, is characterized by a set of unexpected biological traits including colony size, aggressiveness, trophobiosis and hunting behavior. The size of one colony has been evaluated at ca. 952,000 individuals. Intra- and interspecific aggressiveness were tested and an equiprobable null model used to show how D. armigerum colonies react vis-à-vis other arboreal ant species with large colonies; it happens that D. armigerum can share trees with certain of these species. As they hunt by sight, workers occupy their hunting areas only during the daytime, but stay on chemical trails between nests at night so that the center of their home range is occupied 24 hours a day. Workers tend different Hemiptera taxa (i.e., Coccidae, Pseudococcidae, Membracidae and Aethalionidae). Through group-hunting, short-range recruitment and spread-eagling prey, workers can capture a wide range of prey (up to 94.12 times the mean weight of foraging workers).
ISSN: 1932-6203

hal-00825759
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00825759
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00825759/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00825759/file/Dejean2012_TheEcology.pdf
DOI : 10.1371/journal.pone.0037683

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 Oxford University Press (OUP)
Résumé : International audience
We present a new interpretation of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) fabrics in basaltic lava flows based on the detailed study of magnetic mineralogy and silicate crystallographic fabric of a Quaternary lava flow from the French Massif Central (La Palisse). We consider the model of AMS fabric imbrication between magnetic foliation and flow surface, as initially proposed for dykes. At the two sampling sites, the concordance between the flow direction deduced from the AMS foliation and that deduced from field observations indicates that the imbrication model could apply to the lava flows. However, the flow senses inferred fromAMSare systematically opposed between the two sampling sites suggesting permutations between K1 and K3 AMS axes, a configuration referred to as inverse fabric. Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) measurements show strong lattice-preferred orientations (LPO) for plagioclase, especially the (010) plagioclase plane, which tends to be parallel to the flow. Clinopyroxene LPO remains less marked than plagioclase LPO, whereas titanomagnetite does not display a significant LPO. Comparison between magnetic and crystallographic fabrics suggests that the AMS fabric of the lava flow results from the distribution of titanomagnetite grains, which is in turn controlled by the fabric of the silicate framework. Magnetic hysteresis parameters and anisotropy of remanent magnetization (ARM) measurements exclude a significant contribution from single-domain grains, often called upon to explain inverse magnetic fabrics. The origin of the observed inverse magnetic fabric may relate to the dip of the palaeosurface, which is the only remarkable difference between the two sampling sites. AMS appears as a good tool to determine the direction of basaltic lava flows and coupling with local crystallographic fabric data provides a valuable control of relationships between magnetic fabrics and flow and thus contributes to better constrain the AMS signature of lava flows.
ISSN: 0956-540X

hal-00903561
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903561
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903561/document
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00903561/file/TB-GJI-193-2-Orig.pdf
DOI : 10.1093/gji/ggs115

Éditeur(s) : Paris : Imprimerie nationale
Siècle(s) traité(s) : 19
Droits : Domaine public
Provenance : Archives départementales de Guadeloupe
Permalien : http://www.manioc.org/patrimon/ADG17019
ADG17019