PLM: Perturbed Lactation Model

International audienceIntroducing PLM: A lactation curve model with explicit representation of perturbations as a phenotyping tool for dairy livestock precision farmin

: Une méthode d’évaluation multicritère pour estimer la contribution des systèmes de culture au développement durable

National audienceL’outil MASC (pour Multi-attribute Assessment of the Sustainability of Cropping systems) a été conçu pour évaluer la contribution au développement durable des systèmes de culture. Cet outil s’appuie sur une évaluation des trois dimensions usuellement distinguées dans la durabilité (économique, sociale, et environnementale) à travers 39 critères sélectionnés pour rendre compte des performances des systèmes de grandes cultures en Europe de l'Ouest. Pour évaluer un système de culture, il faut renseigner chacun des critères de base qui le caractérise de manière qualitative, à partir d'une échelle de jugement de 3 à 5 classes. MASC effectue ensuite une agrégation progressive des critères, selon un « arbre » qui, partant des 39 critères élémentaires, permet de remonter progressivement pour disposer in fine d’une évaluation globale de la contribution des systèmes de culture au développement durable. L’agrégation des critères se fait à l’aide de règles de décision de type « si -alors ».Par rapport aux outils d’évaluation existant à l’échelle du système de culture, MASC présente plusieurs intérêts. Cet outil aide ses utilisateurs à porter un jugement sur le degré de satisfaction des objectifs de durabilité assignés aux systèmes de culture, dans les différents domaines économique, social, et agro-environnemental considérés. Il donne un contenu « technique » au développement durable grâce à des critères d’évaluation renseignés à partir d’une description fine des pratiques agricoles (planifiées ou déjà mises en œuvre). Ensuite, en permettant une certaine souplesse dans l’appréhension du développement durable par son utilisateur (pour tenir compte en particulier du poids d’enjeux locaux), il oblige ce dernier à préciser sa vision de la durabilité. D'un point de vue pratique, MASC est simple d’usage, et pédagogique, puisque l’ensemble du fonctionnement est transparent pour l’utilisateur. Ces caractéristiques en font un outil adapté pour les chercheurs, mais aussi pour les professionnels souhaitant évaluer de manière pluri-dimensionnelle les pistes de transformation de leurs pratiques

Proceedings of DAAfrica'2024: Data Science for Agriculture in Africa. Workshop affiliated with CARI'2024 November 23, 2024, Bejaia, Algeria (hybrid)

Source Agritrop Cirad (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/611451/)International audienc

Development of an airborne Eddy covariance system dedicated to greenhouse gases (CO2/CH4) and energy fluxes measurements of heterogeneous landscapes onboard fixed-wing UAV

On-site presentationInternational audienceClimate change poses significant threats to ecosystems and human activities, necessitating urgent efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This requires new tools able to monitor and quantify emissions at the meso-scale, applicable to large industrial facilities, agricultural sites, landfills or natural areas such as forests or peatlands. To address this challenge, our project aims at developing a lightweight (< 4 kg) eddy covariance (EC) system embarked on a fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) uncrewed aircraft system, enabling precise measurements of greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4) and energy fluxes between the surface and the atmosphere over large and heterogeneous areas. The system combines a five-hole turbulence probe (ADP) to measure three-dimensional wind and air temperature, along with a custom-fabricated diode laser spectrometer for CO2, CH4 and H2O concentrations. The gas analyzer is lightweight (2.1 kg), highly accurate (< 0.5 %), capable of rapid measurements (100 Hz) and optimized for high-speed mobile platforms. A preliminary mobile EC system (comprising the ADP, a reference sonic anemometer and the custom gas analyzer) was mounted on a vehicular platform to evaluate the integrated sensor suite under real atmospheric conditions. Comparative analyses of instantaneous relative velocity components and turbulence spectra show close agreement between the two wind sensors, confirming the ADP’s suitability for integration into our VTOL-based EC system. Furthermore, the water vapor and CO2 concentration spectra indicate that the concentration sensor is well-suited for measuring atmospheric gases within a mobile EC setup. A continuous wavelet transform approach was applied to compute surface fluxes on agricultural fields near the road trip. Combined with a footprint analysis to study landscape heterogeneity, this lays the groundwork for a transition to a drone-based EC system.  A flight maneuver was conducted with the ADP-equipped VTOL under unstable atmospheric conditions to validate wind and air temperature measurements. Spectral analysis indicates that the airborne platform can capture actual atmospheric turbulence. Sensible heat flux was computed for this test flight, demonstrating our drone-based EC system’s potential to generate surface fluxes and emissions maps over heterogeneous landscapes. As part of our future work, flight trials will be carried out to measure greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4) and energy fluxes. These measurements will be compared against tower-based EC fluxes to evaluate the performance of the UAV-based system.

Technologies numériques du renseignement : au service de la sécurité globale ou instrument du contrôle social ?

International audiencePaper OutlineThe legalisation of ‘para-legal’ wiretappingFaced with Islamic terrorism, a pile-up of laws and administrative proceduresInternational legal architecture against terrorismState of emergency and administrative measures, the ‘Pas de deux’Ethnography of the courtsPlan de l'articleLa légalisation des écoutes « para-légales »Face au terrorisme islamique, empilement de lois et de procédures administrativesArchitecture juridique internationale contre le terrorismeÉtat d’urgence et mesures administratives, le « Pas de deux »Ethnographie des cours de justic

Optimizing CO2 emission estimates in Paris through enhanced urban atmospheric monitoring

International audienceAs part of the EU-funded PAUL project (ICOS Cities), the metropolitan area of Paris, in parallel with Munich and Zurich, has been instrumented with various observing systems to define the most-suitable approaches for CO2 emissions monitoring. This effort is underpinned by an extensive urban atmospheric monitoring network, comprising nine towers equipped with high-accuracy and mid-cost sensors designed to capture  variations in atmospheric concentrations. Driven by 1-km meteorological fields (from WRF), the Stochastic Time-Inverted Lagrangian Transport (STILT) model has been employed for backward simulations of CO2 enhancements based on state-of-the-art high-resolution inventories for 2023. Transport errors have been significantly reduced ( from about 4-5 m/s to  1~2 m/s) through the assimilation of three-dimensional wind profiles obtained from multiple Lidar data over Paris (Urbisphere project), using 3DVar data cycling assimilation. Fossil fuel emissions (TNO, AirParif) and biogenic emissions (using offline VPRM MODIS and Sentinel-2) serve as prior inventories in our inverse modeling framework. This framework employs a Bayesian inversion technique producing hourly fluxes with time-varied adaptive mesh grids (1 km in the downtown area, gradually aggregated to 100 km across the region), balancing computational efficiency with inversion accuracy near monitoring sites. However, direct comparisons revealed systematic discrepancies in the inversion results, particularly in the adjustments between anthropogenic and biogenic emissions. To address this, radiocarbon (14C) observations from two Parisian sites were incorporated as additional constraints, improving the partitioning of fossil fuel and biogenic contributions in the inversion

SEAMPL, Un outil d'aide à la conception de scénarios de réemploi basé sur des critères environnementaux.

International audienceReusing glass bottles is one of the promising solutions for reducing the environmental impacts of packaging in the beverage sector. Reuse systems are often associated with potential reductions in impact compared to single-use systems. However, behind these published optimal potentials lies a diversity of systems, organizations, and thus actual potentials that depend on variable parameters (such as return rates of bottles, breakage rates, weight, logistical distances, etc.). Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an ideal method for quantifying the impacts of these systems and identifying opportunities for improvement. However, due to the complexity and cost of the method, stakeholders often struggle to use it, especially at the early stages of a project. As a result, LCA is often postponed to a later phase—when the system is already well established and economically stable—which reduces its usefulness in supporting eco-design and relegates it to a mere validation role. As part of the European FAIRCHAIN project (2020–2024), the SEAMPL software was developed to enable stakeholders who are not specialists in environmental assessment to apply LCA to their developing systems and include environmental aspects in decision-making among different possible directions. Conducting an LCA of a reuse system requires numerous parameters (estimated between 60 and 90 in this work). SEAMPL offers the ability to input only a limited number of these parameters while maintaining scientific robustness in the results. This is achieved through simplified, parameterized LCA models based on global sensitivity analysis. Input parameters used to assess environmental impacts are those contributing more than 5% to the variance of the impact results for at least one of the sixteen impact categories assessed. To cover a wide range of possible reuse systems, a typology was developed with reuse stakeholders. Simplified models were then created for each system of this typology. SEAMPL thus provides users with LCA models and significantly simplifies the data collection process. This allows users to integrate the environmental dimension early in their development process and to test a large number of potential scenarios (e.g., comparing a system where the stakeholder owns their own bottle washer with one where washing is outsourced to another party).Le réemploi du verre fait partie des solutions prometteuses pour réduire les impacts environnementaux des emballages dans le secteur des boissons. Des potentiels de réductions des impacts sont souvent avancés pour les systèmes de réemploi, en comparaison de l’usage unique. Cependant, derrière ces potentiels optimaux se cachent une diversité de systèmes, d’organisations et donc de potentiels réels, dépendant de paramètres variables (taux de retour des bouteilles, taux de casse, poids, distances logistiques, etc.). L’Analyse du Cycle de Vie (ACV) est une méthode idéale pour quantifier les impacts de ces systèmes et pour chercher à les améliorer. Cependant, devant la complexité de la méthode, ainsi que son coût de mise en oeuvre, les acteurs peinent à en faire usage, en particulier en début de projet, reléguant son utilisation à une phase plus propice (le système est déjà sur de bons rails, la stabilité économique assurée), mais tardive. Cette utilisation tardive réduit la capacité de l’ACV à aider à l’écoconception des systèmes et la cantonne alors à un simple rôle de validation. Dans le cadre du projet européen FAIRCHAIN (2020-2024), le logiciel SEAMPL a été développé, pour permettre aux acteurs, non-spécialistes de l’évaluation environnementale, d’appliquer l’ACV à leur système en développement et d’inclure les aspects environnementaux dans le choix de différentes des orientations possibles. L’évaluation par ACV d’un système de réemploi nécessite de nombreux paramètres (estimés de 60 à 90 dans le cadre de ce travail). SEAMPL offre la possibilité de ne renseigner qu’un nombre réduit de ces paramètres tout en préservant la robustesse scientifique des résultats. Il se base pour cela sur les modèles ACV simplifiés paramétrés, par analyse globale de la variance. Les paramètres d’entrée retenus pour mesurer l’impact environnemental sont ceux contribuant à plus de 5% de la variance du résultat d’impact pour au moins une des seize catégories d’impact mesurées. Afin de couvrir une large gamme de systèmes de réemploi possibles, une typologie a été développée avec des acteurs du réemploi. Puis, des modèles simplifiés ont été développé pour chaque élément de la typologie. Ainsi SEAMPL fournit aux utilisateurs des modèles ACV types, et permet de simplifier grandement le travail de collecte de données. Ainsi, ils peuvent intégrer la dimension environnementale au plus tôt dans leur développement pour tester un grand nombre de scénarios envisageables (par exemple, comparaison d’un système dans lequel l’acteur aurait sa propre laveuse, avec un système dans lequel il sous-traiterait le lavage à un autre acteur, etc.)

Integrative metagenomics and metabolomics reveal age-associated gut microbiota and metabolite alterations in a hamster model of COVID-19

International audienceAging is a key contributor of morbidity and mortality during acute viral pneumonia. The potential role of age-associated dysbiosis on disease outcomes is still elusive. In the current study, we used high-resolution shotgun metagenomics and targeted metabolomics to characterize SARS-CoV-2-associated changes in the gut microbiota from young (2-month-old) and aged (22-month-old) hamsters, a valuable model of COVID-19. We show that age-related dysfunctions in the gut microbiota are linked to disease severity and long-term sequelae in older hamsters. Our data also reveal age-specific changes in the composition and metabolic activity of the gut microbiota during both the acute phase (day 7 post-infection, D7) and the recovery phase (D22) of infection. Aged hamsters exhibited the most notable shifts in gut microbiota composition and plasma metabolic profiles. Through an integrative analysis of metagenomics, metabolomics, and clinical data, we identified significant associations between bacterial taxa, metabolites and disease markers in the aged group. On D7 (high viral load and lung epithelial damage) and D22 (body weight loss and fibrosis), numerous amino acids, amino acid-related molecules, and indole derivatives were found to correlate with disease markers. In particular, a persistent decrease in phenylalanine, tryptophan, glutamic acid, and indoleacetic acid in aged animals positively correlated with poor recovery of body weight and/or lung fibrosis by D22. In younger hamsters, several bacterial taxa (Eubacterium, Oscillospiraceae, Lawsonibacter) and plasma metabolites (carnosine and cis-aconitic acid) were associated with mild disease outcomes. These findings support the need for age-specific microbiome-targeting strategies to more effectively manage acute viral pneumonia and long-term disease outcomes

Main conclusions and perspectives from the collective scientific assessment of the effects of plant protection products on biodiversity and ecosystem services along the land–sea continuum in France and French overseas territories

International audiencePreservation of biodiversity and ecosystem services is critical for sustainable development and human well-being. However, an unprecedented erosion of biodiversity is observed and the use of plant protection products (PPP) has been identified as one of its main causes. In this context, at the request of the French Ministries responsible for the Environment, for Agriculture and for Research, a panel of 46 scientific experts ran a nearly 2-year-long (2020-2022) collective scientific assessment (CSA) of international scientific knowledge relating to the impacts of PPP on biodiversity and ecosystem services. The scope of this CSA covered the terrestrial, atmospheric, freshwater, and marine environments (with the exception of groundwater) in their continuity from the site of PPP application to the ocean, in France and French overseas territories, based on international knowledge produced on or transposable to this type of context (climate, PPP used, biodiversity present, etc.). Here, we provide a brief summary of the CSA's main conclusions, which were drawn from about 4500 international publications. Our analysis finds that PPP contaminate all environmental matrices, including biota, and cause direct and indirect ecotoxicological effects that unequivocally contribute to the decline of certain biological groups and alter certain ecosystem functions and services. Levers for action to limit PPP-driven pollution and effects on environmental compartments include local measures from plot to landscape scales and regulatory improvements. However, there are still significant gaps in knowledge regarding environmental contamination by PPPs and its effect on biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services. Perspectives and research needs are proposed to address these gaps