ICTV virus taxonomy profile: Bromoviridae

Bromoviridae is a family of plant viruses with tri-segmented, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA genomes of about 8 kb in total. Genomic RNAs are packaged in separate virions that may also contain subgenomic, defective or satellite RNAs. Virions are variable in morphology (spherical or bacilliform) and are transmitted between hosts mechanically, in/on the pollen and non-persistently by insect vectors. Members of the family are responsible for major disease epidemics in fruit, vegetable and fodder crops such as tomato, cucurbits, bananas, fruit trees and alfalfa. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on the family Bromoviridae, which is available at www.ictv.global/report/bromoviridae

Modélisation du grenaillage de précontrainte via l'analyse dimensionnelle : du profil de contrainte vers la pièce déformé

Le Grenaillage est un procédé de traitement mécaniquede surface, qui consiste à bombarder la surface du matériau avec des billes projetées à différentes vitesses.L’impact provoque une déformation plastique et donc des contraintes résiduelles de compression en surface. L’objectif de cette étude est l’amélioration de la maîtrise du procède de grenaillage et de prévoir la distribution de contraintes résiduelles après grenaillageà l’aide d’un modèle conçu grâce à l’analyse dimensionnelle. Les contraintes résiduelles dépendent des propriétés physiques des billes et du matériau traité, des conditions du procédé etc, et ces paramètres sont prisen compte dans le modèle. Une comparaison entre les profils de contrainte modélisés et des profils expérimentaux est proposée afin de tester leur fiabilité. Pour simuler le grenaillage sur des pièces complexes nous proposons de calculer le profil de contrainte avec le modèle et de l’introduire ensuite dans un modèle éléments finis de la pièce complexe qui fournira, après calcul, l’état de contraintes et déformations sur toute la pièce. La possibilité d’utiliser un modèle dynamique des billes qui permet de simuler le grenaillage ultrason (GUS) et de fournir la distribution des vitesses d’impact permet l’utilisation de ce modèle pour le GUS. La prise en compte du profil de contrainte résiduelle dans le dimensionnement d’une pièce est extrêmement importante. L’avantage du modèle proposé est sa rapidité d’exécution, et la simplicité du passage entre les profils de contrainte modélisés à la pièce déformé à l’aide d’un code FEM et avec un calcul de rééquilibrage statique. Les futures développements concernentles méthodes d’introduction des contraintes afin d’effectuer des calculs sur des pièces à géométrie de plus en plus complexes

One year after on Tyrrhenian coasts: The ban of cotton buds does not reduce their dominance in beach litter composition

In January 2019, Italy banned the sale of plastic cotton buds, which is one of the most abundant litter items entering the sea and then washing ashore. However, since the ban came into force, no studies have been carried out to assess whether the measure has actually led to the reduction of plastic cotton buds accumulating on Italian coasts. Here we aim at evaluating the effectiveness of the ban in reducing the amount of cotton buds reaching sandy beaches of the Tyrrhenian coast. Specifically, we monitored the accumulation of beach litter for one year since the ban came into force. By surveying eight coastal sites from winter 2019 to winter 2020, we collected a total of 52,824 items mostly constituted by plastic debris (97.6%). We found that cotton buds were the most abundant item (42.3% of total litter), followed by plastic (28.5%) and polystyrene (5.43%) fragments. Our preliminary assessment suggests that the ban has so far not led to a sensible reduction in the amount of cotton buds entering the marine ecosystem. This was to be expected since implementation strategies are still lacking (i.e. no economic sanctions can be imposed in case of non-compliance) and bans are differently implemented among countries facing the Mediterranean Sea, calling for law enforcement and implementation at the national and international levels

Airborne Microalgae: Insights, Opportunities and Challenges

Airborne dispersal of microalgae has largely been a blind spot in environmental biological studies because of their low concentration in the atmosphere and the technical limitations in investigating microalgae from air samples. Recent studies show that airborne microalgae can survive air transportation and interact with the environment and possibly influence their deposition rates. This minireview presents a summary of these studies and traces the possible route, step-by-step, from established ecosystems to new habitats through air transportation over a variety of geographic scales. Emission, transportation, deposition and adaptation to atmospheric stress are discussed, as well as the consequences of their dispersal on health and environment, and the state-of-the-art techniques to detect and model airborne microalgae dispersal. More detailed studies on microalgae atmospheric-cycle, including for instance ice nucleation activity and transport simulations, are crucial for improving our understanding of microalgae ecology, identifying their interactions with the environment and preventing unwanted sanitary events or invasions

Is the meiofauna a good indicator for climate change and anthropogenic impacts?

Our planet is changing, and one of the most pressing challenges facing the scientific community revolves around understanding how ecological communities respond to global changes. From coastal to deep-sea ecosystems, ecologists are exploring new areas of research to find model organisms that help predict the future of life on our planet. Among the different categories of organisms, meiofauna offer several advantages for the study of marine benthic ecosystems. This paper reviews the advances in the study of meiofauna with regard to climate change and anthropogenic impacts. Four taxonomic groups are valuable for predicting global changes: foraminifers (especially calcareous forms), nematodes, copepods and ostracods. Environmental variables are fundamental in the interpretation of meiofaunal patterns and multistressor experiments are more informative than single stressor ones, revealing complex ecological and biological interactions. Global change has a general negative effect on meiofauna, with important consequences on benthic food webs. However, some meiofaunal species can be favoured by the extreme conditions induced by global change, as they can exhibit remarkable physiological adaptations. This review highlights the need to incorporate studies on taxonomy, genetics and function of meiofaunal taxa into global change impact research