First record of terrestrial Enchytraeidae (Annelida: Clitellata) in Versailles palace's park, France

France can be qualified as terra incognita regarding terrestrial enchytraeids because very little data has been recorded so far in this country. In spring and autumn 2016, enchytraeid communities were investigated in a loamy soil in a meadow located in the park of Versailles palace, France. In total, twenty four enchytraeid species were identified, belonging to six different genera i.e. eleven Fridericia species, four Enchytraeus species, four Achaeta species, two Buchholzia species, two Marionina species and one Enchytronia species. According to the published data, this was one of the highest diversity found in a meadow in Europe

Verhalten verschiedener Zwischenkulturen in einem Netzwerk von On-Farm-Versuchen

Um das Verhalten von Zwischenkulturen bei verschiedenen Umweltbedingungen besser zu verstehen, wurde ein Netzwerk von Versuchsparzellen entlang der Achse Genf- Zürich und im Jura eingerichtet. Einige der untersuchten Arten vermochten den Boden im Herbst schnell zu bedecken (z.B. Sareptasenf). Andere Arten produzierten eine bedeutende Biomasse oberirdischer Pflanzenteile (z.B. Sonnenblume). Wieder andere, im Herbst weniger leistungsfähige Arten, stellten eine gute Bodenbedeckung Ende Winter sicher, wie der Rauhafer. Mit einer multifaktoriellen Analyse konnten die Beziehungen zwischen den Leistungen der verschiedenen Zwischenkulturen und den Umweltbedingungen untersucht werden. Keine Art vereinigt alle über die gesamte Zwischenkultur erwünschten Eigenschaften, Mischungen verschiedener Arten sind jedoch vielversprechend

Biodiversity indicators in organic and conventional farming systems: main results from the European project BIOBIO

In the framework of the European project BIOBIO, we compared between countries habitat and cumulated species richnesses of plants, wild bees, spiders and earthworms, measured in 169 conventional and organic farms belonging to 10 case studies in 10 European countries. For the French case study (Gascony Valleys and Hills), correlations between direct (habitat and taxonomic richnesses) and indirect (agricultural practices) indicators of biodiversity within 8 conventional and 8 organic farms, were calculated. Results showed that the main driver of biodiversity at the farm level was the number of cultivated and above all semi-natural habitats, inthe French case study region as well as inthe other regions. This factor partially explained the highest biodiversity level of the French case study region. However, farming practices, specific or not to the organic and conventional systems, most often drove biodiversity parameters at the habitat level. In fine, the project proposed the BIOBIO method for monitoring biodiversity in farms

Soil biota in boreal urban greenspace : Responses to plant type and age

Plant functional type influences the abundance and distribution of soil biota. With time, as root systems develop, such effects become more apparent. The relationship of plant type and time with the structure and abundance of soil microbial and invertebrate communities has been widely investigated in a variety of systems. However, much less is known about long-term soil community dynamics within the context of urban environments. In this study, we investigated how soil microbes, nematodes and earthworms respond to different plant functional types (lawns only and lawns with deciduous or evergreen trees) and park age in 41 urban parks in southern Finland. As non-urban controls we included deciduous and evergreen trees in 5 forest sites. We expected that microbial biomass and the relative abundance of fungi over bacteria would increase with time. We also expected major differences in soil microbial and nematode communities depending on vegetation: we hypothesized that i) the presence of trees, and evergreens in particular, would support a greater abundance of fungi and fungal-feeding nematodes over bacteria and bacterial-feeding nematodes and ii) the fungi to bacteria ratio would be lowest in lawns, with deciduous trees showing intermediate values. In contrast to our predictions, we showed that old deciduous trees, rather than evergreens, supported the highest fungal abundances and fungal-feeding nematodes in the soil. Consistent with our predictions, microbial biomass in urban park soils tended to increase with time, whereas - in contrast to our hypotheses - fungal-feeding nematode abundance declined. Even in the oldest parks included in the current study, microbial biomass estimates never approximated those in the minimally managed natural forests, where biomass estimates were three times higher. Anecic earthworm abundance also increased with time in urban parks, whereas abundances of fungal-feeding, plant-feeding and omnivorous nematodes, as well as those of epigeic and endogeic earthworms remained constant with time and without any distinct differences between urban parks and the control forests. Our findings highlight that although urban park soils harbor diverse soil communities and considerable microbial biomass, they are distinct from adjacent natural sites in community composition and biomass.Peer reviewe

Translocator protein is a marker of activated microglia in rodent models but not human neurodegenerative diseases

Microglial activation plays central roles in neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. Positron emission tomography (PET) targeting 18 kDa Translocator Protein (TSPO) is widely used for localising inflammation in vivo, but its quantitative interpretation remains uncertain. We show that TSPO expression increases in activated microglia in mouse brain disease models but does not change in a non-human primate disease model or in common neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory human diseases. We describe genetic divergence in the TSPO gene promoter, consistent with the hypothesis that the increase in TSPO expression in activated myeloid cells depends on the transcription factor AP1 and is unique to a subset of rodent species within the Muroidea superfamily. Finally, we identify LCP2 and TFEC as potential markers of microglial activation in humans. These data emphasise that TSPO expression in human myeloid cells is related to different phenomena than in mice, and that TSPO-PET signals in humans reflect the density of inflammatory cells rather than activation state.Published versionThe authors thank the UK MS Society for financial support (grant number: C008-16.1). DRO was funded by an MRC Clinician Scientist Award (MR/N008219/1). P.M.M. acknowledges generous support from Edmond J Safra Foundation and Lily Safra, the NIHR Senior Investigator programme and the UK Dementia Research Institute which receives its funding from DRI Ltd., funded by the UK Medical Research Council, Alzheimer’s Society, and Alzheimer’s Research UK. P.M.M. and D.R.O. thank the Imperial College Healthcare Trust-NIHR Biomedical Research Centre for infrastructure support and the Medical Research Council for support of TSPO studies (MR/N016343/1). E.A. was supported by the ALS Stichting (grant “The Dutch ALS Tissue Bank”). P.M. and B.B.T. are funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (projects 320030_184713 and 310030_212322, respectively). S.T. was supported by an “Early Postdoc.Mobility” scholarship (P2GEP3_191446) from the Swiss National Science Foundation, a “Clinical Medicine Plus” scholarship from the Prof Dr. Max Cloëtta Foundation (Zurich, Switzerland), from the Jean et Madeleine Vachoux Foundation (Geneva, Switzerland) and from the University Hospitals of Geneva. This work was funded by NIH grants U01AG061356 (De Jager/Bennett), RF1AG057473 (De Jager/Bennett), and U01AG046152 (De Jager/Bennett) as part of the AMP-AD consortium, as well as NIH grants R01AG066831 (Menon) and U01AG072572 (De Jager/St George-Hyslop)

Observation of 13 mutual events of Jovian satellites performed at Lille Observatory

We have observed the four Galilean satellites of Jupiter during their mutual occultations and eclipses from February to April 2003 using a CCD camera attached to the 32.5 cm refractor of the observatory of Lille. We have recorded 13 lightcurves of these events. We have performed a first astrometric reduction based on the method developed in Noyelles et al. (2003). This analysis of the results and comparison with theory show that the observations are good; the residuals are about 0.03 arcsec. The observations are available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5

Relations sociales et ajustements à la crise : une analyse microstatistique comparative franco‐britannique

International audienceDans cette étude comparative sur la France et la Grande‐Bretagne, les auteurs analysent les liens entre relations professionnelles et ajustements (des effectifs et des salaires) face à la crise de 2007–2008, en s'appuyant sur deux enquêtes au niveau des établissements, fortement comparables, l'une britannique (WERS), l'autre française (REPONSE), collectées en 2010–2012. Malgré des contextes différents (composition du tissu productif, temporalité et impact de la crise), les liens entre relations sociales et stratégies d'ajustement semblent proches (la présence syndicale ne suffisant pas à empêcher les ajustements). La différenciation des systèmes de relations professionnelles ne permet donc pas d'expliquer les divergences de modes d'ajustement constatées au niveau macroéconomique

Indicateurs de biodiversité dans les exploitations agricoles biologiques et conventionnelles des Vallées et Coteaux de Gascogne, cas d’étude français du projet européen BIOBIO.

Dans le cadre du projet européen BIOBIO, nous avons comparé entre pays les richesses en habitats et richesses spécifiques cumulées de quatre groupes taxonomiques (plantes, abeilles sauvages, araignées, vers de terre), de 169 exploitations biologiques ou conventionnelles appartenant à 10 pays. Pour le cas d’étude français, Vallées et Coteaux de Gascogne, les corrélations entre indicateurs directs (richesses spécifiques des taxons et habitats) et indirects (pratiques agricoles) de biodiversité, relevés dans 8 exploitations conventionnelles et 8 biologiques, ont été recherchées. Les résultats montrent que le nombre d’habitats cultivés et surtout semi-naturels par exploitation est le principal facteur déterminant le niveau de biodiversité à cette échelle, pour le cas d’étude français comme pour les autres cas d’étude. Ce facteur explique en partie le plus haut niveau de biodiversité observé pour le cas d’étude français. Néanmoins, les pratiques, spécifiques ou non des modes de production biologique et conventionnelle, gouvernent généralement les paramètres de biodiversité à l’échelle de l’habitat. In fine, le projet propose la méthode BIOBIO de suivi de la biodiversité dans les exploitations agricoles