Search results for "adaptation"
showing 10 items of 1775 documents
Identification and biological traits of a planthopper from the genus Pentastiridius (Hemiptera: Cixiidae) adapted to an annual cropping rotation
2009
International audience; Cixiid planthoppers have been shown to vector phloem-limited prokaryotes associated with plant diseases world-wide. In eastern France, an emerging disease of sugar beet called syndrome basses richesses has been associated with phloem-restricted bacteria transmitted by a cixiid planthopper within the genus Pentastiridius. Early investigation suggested the species being Pentastiridius beieri. On the basis of a morphological and phylogenetic study we report the identification of the planthopper as Pentastiridius leporinus. Furthermore we report some biological traits of the species, which shows a surprising ecological adaptation to an annual cropping rotation sugar beet…
Lobesia botrana larvae develop faster in the presence of parasitoids.
2013
3 pages; International audience; To combat parasitism hosts often rely on their immune system, which is the last line of defense. However, the immune system may not always be effective, and other non-immunological defenses might be favored to reduce the cost of parasite infection. Here we report that larvae of the moth Lobesia botrana can rapidly accelerate their development and reach maturity earlier in response to cues perceived at a distance from parasitoids. Such a phenotypically plastic life history shift, induced by the perception of deadly enemies in the environment, is likely to be an adaptive defensive strategy to prevent parasitoid attack, and has important implications in host-pa…
Eco-genetics of desiccation resistance in Drosophila.
2021
International audience; Climate change globally perturbs water circulation thereby influencing ecosystems including cultivated land. Both harmful and beneficial species of insects are likely to be vulnerable to such changes in climate. As small animals with a disadvantageous surface area to body mass ratio, they face a risk of desiccation. A number of behavioural, physiological and genetic strategies are deployed to solve these problems during adaptation in various Drosophila species. Over 100 desiccation-related genes have been identified in laboratory and wild populations of the cosmopolitan fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and its sister species in large-scale and single-gene approaches…
Usability and acceptability assessment of an empathic virtual agent to prevent major depression
2016
In Human-Computer Interaction, the adaptation of the content and the way of how this content is communicated to the users in interactive sessions is a critical issue to promote the acceptability and usability of any computational system. We present a user-adapted interactive platform to identify and provide an early intervention for symptoms of depression and suicide. In particular, we describe the work performed to assess users' system acceptability and usability. An empathic Virtual Agent is the main interface with the user, and it has been designed to generate the appropriate dialogues and emotions during the interactions according to the detected user's specific needs. This personalizat…
Reviewing the role of ecosystems services in the sustainability of the urban environment: A multi-country analysis
2020
The urban environment is characterised by many pressures caused by population growth, transport (and its related emissions), and the damage to green areas. Yet, there is a variety of ecosystem services available in urban areas, which may be deployed to ameliorate the current problems and foster their sustainability. This paper reviews the role of ecosystem services as tools for sustainability, based on an urban setting. It also describes a series of multi-country case studies, where an assessment of their functions using a set of benefits valuation approaches such as health benefits, economic benefits, social benefits and benefits to climate resilience, are provided, along with an appraisal…
The tougher the environment, the harder the adaptation? A psychological point of view in extreme situations
2021
IF: 2.8 (Q1); International audience; Grounded within a multidimensional and multilevel approach, the aim of this study was to investigate the time course of Psychological Adaptation Process (PAP) dimensions (social, emotional, occupational, and physical) during one-year polar winter-overs in Subantarctic and Antarctic stations. The effects of perceived control (PC) at the start of polar winter on the dynamics of the PAP dimensions were also examined. The present findings clarify some changes in PAP in extreme environments: (a) The dimensions of psychological adaptation evolved differently as a function of environmental conditions; and (b) PC influenced the trajectories of PAP dimensions. T…
Assessing Urban System Vulnerabilities to Flooding to Improve Resilience and Adaptation in Spatial Planning
2018
Fluvial, pluvial and coastal flooding are the most frequent and costly natural hazard. Cities are social hubs and life in cities is reliant on a number of services and functions such as housing, healthcare, education and other key daily facilities. Urban flooding can cause significant disruption to these services and wider impacts on the population. These impacts may be short or long with a variably spatial scale: urban systems are spatially distributed and the nature of this can have significant effects on flood impacts. From an urban-planning perspective, measuring this disruption and its consequences is fundamental in order to develop more resilient cities. Whereas the assessment of phys…
Adaptive Control of Soft Robots Based on an Enhanced 3D Augmented Rigid Robot Matching
2021
Despite having proven successful in generating precise motions under dynamic conditions in highly deformable soft-bodied robots, model based techniques are also prone to robustness issues connected to the intrinsic uncertain nature of the dynamics of these systems. This letter aims at tackling this challenge, by extending the augmented rigid robot formulation to a stable representation of three dimensional motions of soft robots, under Piecewise Constant Curvature hypothesis. In turn, the equivalence between soft-bodied and rigid robots permits to derive effective adaptive controllers for soft-bodied robots, achieving perfect posture regulation under considerable errors in the knowledge of …
Climate Change and Disasters
2017
Ideas and approaches proven successful within disaster risk reduction (DRR) literature and practice are either bypassed or inadequately considered by contemporary climate change work. This chapter explores the intersections between climate change and hazards, vulnerability, and risk, looking at climate change as both a hazard driver and a hazard inhibitor. The implications of the narrow interpretations of vulnerability employed in climate change work are examined, as well as the ways in which climate change has come to act as a scapegoat for issues, events, and processes caused by hazard-independent factors. The chapter formulates a case for climate change adaptation (CCA) to be seen as a s…