La mobilisation pour la vie sauve des époux Rosenberg : singularité de la cause ou inscription du mouvement dans une tradition de solidarité par-delà les frontières ?

L’action solidaire pour sauver la vie des époux Rosenberg (1951-1953) a largement franchi le cadre des frontières américaines, les mobilisations européennes dépassant même l’ampleur du mouvement initial. Cet article, s’appuyant particulièrement sur le cas français, vise à mettre à jour les mécanismes permettant l’émergence et le développement d’une solidarité par delà les frontières, mais aussi d’en révéler, notamment par la comparaison avec d’autres campagnes menées par le mouvement communiste international, l’historicité.Mobilisations and actions to save the Rosenbergs from execution (1951-1953) went far beyond the borders of the United States. Indeed mobilisation in Europe was larger than the original American movement. Focusing on the French case, this article provides a new analysis of the mechanisms that allowed for the emergence and growth of this solidarity beyond borders. By comparing this campaign to others undertaken by the international Communist movement, it also reveals its historical grounding

Communes de Sartène et de Giuncheto

La commune de Sartène possède un patrimoine préhistorique des plus riches et des plus spectaculaires de la Corse reconnu depuis le xixe s. Le travail de prospection-inventaire a été conduit sous la forme d’un atlas des sites pré et protohistoriques de la commune, il a abouti à la création de 121 fiches de sites ou d’indices de sites, qui contribuent à l’enrichissement de la Carte archéologique de la Corse (CAN), du service régional de l’archéologie. Cet état de la recherche permet d’identifie..

Étude des sites mégalithiques corses dans leur contexte chronoculturel

Le projet collectif de recherches, intitulé « Étude de sites mégalithes corses dans leur contexte chronoculturel », est principalement réalisé par les chercheurs de l’UMR 6636 à Aix-en-Provence (Économie, Environnement, Société préhistoriques, université de Provence, CNRS, ministère de la Culture et de la Communication), en collaboration avec le musée départemental de Préhistoire corse à Sartène. Programmé sur deux années, 1998 et 1999, le PCR a permis de progresser de manière significative s..

Mixed effects of long-term conservation investment in Natura 2000 farmland

Evaluating the effectiveness of conservation funding is crucial for correct allocation of limited resources. Here we used bird monitoring data to assess the effects of long-term conservation investment in a Natura 2000 (N2000) bird protection area (PA), which during two decades benefited from protection regulations, conservation projects, and agri-environment schemes. Variation between 1995–1997 and 2010–2012 in richness and abundance of flagship (Otis tarda, Tetrax tetrax, and Falco naumanni) and specialized fallow field species were more favorable (i.e., increased more or declined less) inside the PA than in a nearby control area. However, the reverse was found for total bird species, farmland, ground-nesting and steppe species, species associated to ploughed fields, and species of European conservation concern. Enhancing the effectiveness of conservation investment in N2000 farmland may require a greater focus on the wider biodiversity alongside that currently devoted to flagship species, as well as improved matching between conservation and agricultural policies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Toward a loss of functional diversity in stream fish assemblages under climate change

The assessment of climate change impacts on biodiversity has so far been biased toward the taxonomic identification of the species likely either to benefit from climate modifications or to experience overall declines. There have still been few studies intended to correlate the characteristics of species to their sensitivity to climate change, even though it is now recognized that functional trait-based approaches are promising tools for addressing challenges related to global changes. In this study, two functional indices (originality and uniqueness) were first measured for 35 fish species occurring in French streams. They were then combined to projections of range shifts in response to climate change derived from species distribution models. We set out to investigate: (1) the relationship between the degrees of originality and uniqueness of fish species, and their projected response to future climate change; and (2) the consequences of individual responses of species for the functional diversity of fish assemblages. After accounting for phylogenetic relatedness among species, we have demonstrated that the two indices used measure two complementary facets of the position of fish species in a functional space. We have also rejected the hypothesis that the most original and/or less redundant species would necessarily experience the greatest declines in habitat suitability as a result of climate change. However, individual species range shifts could lead simultaneously both to a severe decline in the functional diversity of fish assemblages, and to an increase in the functional similarity among assemblages, supporting the hypothesis that disturbance favors communities with combination of common traits and biotic homogenization as well. Our findings therefore emphasize the importance of going beyond the simple taxonomic description of diversity to provide a better assessment of the likely future effects of environmental changes on biodiversity, thus helping to design more effective conservation and management measures

Local factors mediate the response of biodiversity to land use on two African mountains

Land-use change is the single biggest driver of biodiversity loss in the tropics. Biodiversity models can be useful tools to inform policymakers and conservationists of the likely response of species to anthropogenic pressures, including land-use change. However, such models generalize biodiversity responses across wide areas and many taxa, potentially missing important characteristics of particular sites or clades. Comparisons of biodiversity models with independently collected field data can help us understand the local factors that mediate broad-scale responses. We collected independent bird occurrence and abundance data along two elevational transects in Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania and the Taita Hills, Kenya. We estimated the local response to land use and compared our estimates with modelled local responses based on a large database of many different taxa across Africa. To identify the local factors mediating responses to land use, we compared environmental and species assemblage information between sites in the independent and African-wide datasets. Bird species richness and abundance responses to land use in the independent data followed similar trends as suggested by the African-wide biodiversity model, however the land-use classification was too coarse to capture fully the variability introduced by local agricultural management practices. A comparison of assemblage characteristics showed that the sites on Kilimanjaro and the Taita Hills had higher proportions of forest specialists in croplands compared to the Africa-wide average. Local human population density, forest cover and vegetation greenness also differed significantly between the independent and Africa-wide datasets. Biodiversity models including those variables performed better, particularly in croplands, but still could not accurately predict the magnitude of local species responses to most land uses, probably because local features of the land management are still missed. Overall, our study demonstrates that local factors mediate biodiversity responses to land use and cautions against applying biodiversity models to local contexts without prior knowledge of which factors are locally relevant

Experimental infection of Artibeus lituratus bats and no detection of Zika virus in neotropical bats from French Guiana, Peru, and Costa Rica suggests a limited role of bats in Zika transmission

Author summaryIn previous works in 2008-2009, we found the presence of antibodies against flaviviruses, and viral RNA was detected in Neotropical chiropterans in Mexico, which led us to support the hypothesis that these animals could be reservoirs of flaviviruses. As controversial opinions have been exposed and based on a previous (2019) experimental ZIKV infection experiment conducted at Colorado State University using adult Artibeus males from a captive colony, in this work, we also experimentally infected adult Artibeus males complementarily adding females and using wild-caught animals instead of laboratory bats. We also monitored a diverse range of natural bat populations in Latin America for the presence of viral RNA against ZIKV in blood. A plaque reduction seroneutralization test was used for the detection of antibodies against ZIKV. Similar to the previous work, we found histopathological alterations in male testicles but also in the ovaries and oviducts of females, as well as gliosis and multifocal necrosis in pyramidal neurons and Purkinge cells of inoculated animals. Only two urine samples from inoculated animals showed viral RNA. Additionally, leukopenia and lymphoid follicular splenic hyperplasia were evidenced. In contrast to what was reported, no neutralizing antibodies against ZIKV were detected in any sample. Viral RNA within the blood was not present in any of the 2056 bat samples collected in French Guiana, Peru and Costa Rica and proceeding from 34 bat genera. These results together suggest that bats are not efficient amplifiers or reservoirs of ZIKV and might not have an important role in ZIKV transmission dynamics. Bats are important natural reservoir hosts of a diverse range of viruses that can be transmitted to humans and have been suggested to play an important role in the Zika virus (ZIKV) transmission cycle. However, the exact role of these animals as reservoirs for flaviviruses is still controversial. To further expand our understanding of the role of bats in the ZIKV transmission cycle in Latin America, we carried out an experimental infection in wild-caught Artibeus lituratus bats and sampled several free-living neotropical bats across three countries of the region. Experimental ZIKV infection was performed in wild-caught adult bats (4 females and 5 males). The most relevant findings were hemorrhages in the bladder, stomach and patagium. Significant histological findings included inflammatory infiltrate consisting of a predominance of neutrophils and lymphocytes, in addition to degeneration in the reproductive tract of males and females. This suggests that bat reproduction might be at some level affected by ZIKV. Leukopenia was also observed in some inoculated animals. Hemorrhages, genital alterations, and leukopenia are suggested to be caused by ZIKV; however, since these were wild-caught bats, we cannot exclude other agents. Detection of ZIKV by qPCR was observed at low concentrations in only two urine samples in two inoculated animals. All other animals and tissues tested were negative. Finally, no virus-neutralizing antibodies were found in any animal. To determine ZIKV infection in nature, the blood of a total of 2056 bats was sampled for ZIKV detection by qPCR. Most of the sampled individuals belonged to the genus Pteronotus sp. (23%), followed by the species Carollia sp. (17%), Anoura sp. (14%), and Molossus sp. (13.7%). No sample of any tested species was positive for ZIKV by qPCR. These results together suggest that bats are not efficient amplifiers or reservoirs of ZIKV and may not have an important role in ZIKV transmission dynamics

Coexistence of two sympatric cryptic bat species in French Guiana: insights from genetic, acoustic and ecological data

International audienceBackground: The distinction between lineages of neotropical bats from the Pteronotus parnellii species complex has been previously made according to mitochondrial DNA, and especially morphology and acoustics, in order to separate them into two species. In these studies, either sample sizes were too low when genetic and acoustic or morphological data were gathered on the same individuals, or genetic and other data were collected on different individuals. In this study, we intensively sampled bats in 4 caves and combined all approaches in order to analyse genetic, morphologic, and acoustic divergence between these lineages that live in the same caves in French Guiana