Search results for "Climate Action"

Pathways towards a sustainable future envisioned by early-career conservation researchers

2021

Scientists have warned decision-makers about the severe consequences of the global environmental crisis since the 1970s. Yet ecological degradation continues and little has been done to address climate change. We investigated early-career conservation researchers' (ECR) perspectives on, and prioritization of, actions furthering sustainability. We conducted a survey (n = 67) and an interactive workshop (n = 35) for ECR attendees of the 5th European Congress of Conservation Biology (2018). Building on these data and discussions, we identified ongoing and forthcoming advances in conservation science. These include increased transdisciplinarity, science communication, advocacy in conservati…

Food availability and temperature optima shaped functional composition of chironomid assemblages during the Late Glacial–Holocene transition in North…

2021

Abstract Non-biting midges (Chironomidae) are the most diverse and abundant invertebrate group in boreal lakes and are strongly responsive to climate change, thus they are a valuable palaeoecological proxy for studying aquatic biodiversity response in the face of climate change. Here, we aim to decipher the influence of climate-induced changes on temporal patterns in chironomid assemblages. We apply a novel approach combining traditional taxon-based analysis and species-trait framework to subfossil chironomid assemblages in a sediment core covering the Late Glacial–Holocene transition in Northern Europe. We produce pollen-based July and January temperature reconstructions to characterize pa…

Biodiversity is not (and never has been) a bed of roses!

2011

9 pages; International audience; Over the last decades, the critical study of fossil diversity has led to significant advances in the knowledge of global macroevolutionary patterns of biodiversity. The deep-time history of life on Earth results from background originations and extinctions defining a steady-state, nonstationary equilibrium occasionally perturbed by biotic crises and "explosive" diversifications. More recently, a macroecological approach to the large-scale distribution of extant biodiversity offered new, stimulating perspectives on old theoretical questions and current practical problems in conservation biology. However, time and space are practically distinct, but functional…

Globacrochordiceras gen. nov. (Acrochordiceratidae, late Early Triassic) and its significance for stress-induced evolutionary jumps in ammonoid linea…

2013

<i>Globacrochordiceras transpacificum</i> gen. et sp. nov. is an ammonoid (Ammonoidea, Cephalopoda) with a shell characterized by plicate ribbing (rounded and undulating ribs strengthening on the venter without interruption), increasing involution through ontogeny, overhanging and deep umbilical wall, absence of tuberculation, subtriangular whorl section, globose adult shape with a closed umbilicus followed by an abrupt egressive coiling, and a subammonitic adult suture line. This new taxon occurs in Nevada (USA) and in Guangxi (South China). It has its typical occurrence within the <i>Neopopanoceras haugi</i> Zone of late Spathian age (Early Triassic). The plicate r…

2020

Towards European Dimensions of City Resilience

2016

International audience; Disaster resilience is becoming more important and raises the highest concerns worldwide, including in Europe. Cities have a vital role for resilience because a majority of the population resides in the cities. Despite the recognition of the importance of city resilience, there is no strong consensus what city resilience is and its dimensions, and how the resilience concept should be transferred into management practice in the cities. In this paper, we conduct a survey of EU sectorial approaches in terms of EU-funded projects related to climate change and critical infrastructure, where urban or city resilience are in focus. The goal is to obtain an overview of how th…

Within trophic level shifts in collagen-carbonate stable carbon isotope spacing are propagated by diet and digestive physiology in large mammal herbi…

2018

Stable carbon isotope analyses of vertebrate hard tissues such as bones, teeth, and tusks provide information about animal diets in ecological, archeological, and paleontological contexts. There is debate about how carbon isotope compositions of collagen and apatite carbonate differ in terms of their relationship to diet, and to each other. We evaluated relationships between δ13Ccollagen and δ13Ccarbonate among free-ranging southern African mammals to test predictions about the influences of dietary and physiological differences between species. Whereas the slopes of δ13Ccollagen–δ13Ccarbonate relationships among carnivores are ≤1, herbivore δ13Ccollag…

Allelopathy and the role of allelochemicals in plant defence

2017

International audience; Allelopathy is described as the interference to plant growth resulting from chemical interactions among plants and other organisms mediated through release of plant-produced bioactive secondary metabolites referred to as allelochemicals. A number of mechanisms have been studied for the release of allelochemicals from various plant tissues including volatilization or leaching from aerial parts, exudation from roots and decomposition of plant residues in soil. Despite differences in biological activity and mode of action, related compounds commonly share similar biosynthetic pathways while some classes of metabolites can be produced using diverse biosynthetic pathways.…

Variation in the immune state of Gammarus pulex (Crustacea, Amphipoda) according to temperature: are extreme temperatures a stress?

2017

9 pages; International audience; Temperature is known to impact host-parasite interactions in various ways. Such effects are often regarded as the consequence of the increased metabolism of parasites with increasing temperature. However, the effect of temperature on hosts' immune system could also be a determinant. Here we assessed the influence of temperature on the immunocompetence of the crustacean amphipod Gammarus pulex. Amphipods play a key ecological role in freshwater ecosystems that can be altered by several parasites. We investigated the consequences of three weeks of acclimatization at four temperatures (from 9 °C to 17 °C) on different immunological parameters. Temperature influ…

Phylogeography, evolutionary history and effects of glaciations in a species (Zootoca vivipara) inhabiting multiple biogeographic regions

2018

[Aim]: During glaciations, the distribution of temperate species inhabiting the Northern Hemisphere generally contracts into southern refugia; and in boreo‐alpine species of the Northern Hemisphere, expansion from Northern refugia is the general rule. Little is known about the drivers explaining vast distributions of species inhabiting multiple biogeographic regions (major biogeographic regions defined by the European Environmental Agency). Here we investigate the fine‐scale phylogeography and evolutionary history of the Eurasian common lizard (Zootoca vivipara), the terrestrial reptile with the world's widest and highest latitudinal distribution, that inhabits multiple biogeographic region…