L’historien, Sisyphe et les parlements

Par les décrets des 7 et 11 septembre 1790 s’achevait définitivement l’activité des parlements d’Ancien Régime et par la suite de toutes les cours souveraines du royaume. Il ne fallut pas attendre longtemps pour que les contemporains et les historiens s’intéressent aux défuntes institutions, tentent d’en expliquer les fonctions, ou d’y chercher pour certains, les responsabilités dans la chute de l’Ancien Régime. Ce dernier point, le rôle politique des parle..

Life history of the Critically Endangered largetooth sawfish: a compilation of data for population assessment and demographic modelling

© The authors 2021. Open Access under Creative Commons by Attribution Licence. Use, distribution and reproduction are un - restricted. Authors and original publication must be credited. The largetooth sawfish Pristis pristis is a Critically Endangered, once widespread shark-like ray. The species is now extinct or severely depleted in many former parts of its range and is protected in some other range states where populations persist. The likelihood of collecting substantial new biological information is now low. Here, we review all available life history information on size, age and growth, reproductive biology, and demography as a resource for population assessment and demographic modelling. We also revisit a subset of historical data from the 1970s to examine the maternal size−litter size relationship. All available information on life history is derived from the Indo-West Pacific (i.e. northern Australia) and the Western Atlantic (i.e. Lake Nicaragua-Río San Juan system in Central America) subpopulations. P. pristis reaches a maximum size of at least 705 cm total length (TL), size-at-birth is 72−90 cm TL, female size-at-maturity is reached by 300 cm TL, male size-at-maturity is 280−300 cm TL, age-at-maturity is 8−10 yr, longevity is 30−36 yr, litter size range is 1−20 (mean of 7.3 in Lake Nicaragua), and reproductive periodicity is suspected to be biennial in Lake Nicaragua (Western Atlantic) but annual in Australia (Indo-West Pacific). There was a weak relationship between litter size and maternal size in Lake Nicaragua, and lifetime reproductive output for an individual female from Lake Nicaragua was estimated as 73 pups. Future demographic models should aim to capture the variability and uncertainty in life history parameters for P. pristis and we encourage a conservative approach to any application for conservation and management

Les parlements de l’Ouest : archives, logiques et pratiques institutionnelles

« Richesse et fonctions font de cette caste de plus en plus fermée, fière et gourmée, un instrument de réaction nobiliaire et seigneuriale, bien marquée par l’esprit de ses arrêts de justice […]. La magistrature se dresse contre le courant du siècle, contre les réformes institutionnelles, contre la philosophie, dont elle fait brûler quelques ouvrages impies, contre les protestants enfin, combats d’arrière-garde où, dans quelques procès retentissants, le fan..

Image analysis to calibrate French Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) pods

In order to control the characteristics of a variety, bean breeders have to calibrate pods. This calibration is manually realized, workers have to pass pods through a sieve with holes of different diameter in it, each hole corresponding to a caliber. Pods are weighted, and a repartition in the different calibers in weight is given. This calibration is very tedious, moreover, there is an inter and intra-variability between workers, and the number of characteristics measured is limited.  A new automatic method based on image analysis has been performed, it permits in a limited time, to extract and calculate different pods’ characteristics such as the length, the diameter and the curvature, it offers the possibility to conserve images that is helpful for the traceability of products, and it requires less labor than the actual system (manual ones). Moreover, a relation between surface of pods and weight has been found, allowing the program to give directly the repartition in the different caliber in weight.  An acquisition chain as been installed, composed of a mono CCD sensor camera, manually configured, with a backlight fluorescent system of 5000°K, a tripod and a computer. Images are taken in RAW format, which contrarily to the JPEG is not compressed and avoid edges effects.  Images are pre-processed in order to eliminate the noise and converted in binary images. Then algorithms principally based on morphological mathematics, are applied in order to calculate the different characteristics.  The validation of the program has been performed on more than 150 batches of different varieties of French and butter bean pods along 2008 and 2009.  In this presentation, the image analysis system is described, results obtained with the image analysis system are explained and compared to the manual system

Lactococcus lactis strains from raw ewe’s milk samples from the PDO Ossau-Iraty cheese area: levels, genotypic and technological diversity

International audienc

Evolution of diadromy in fish: insights from a tropical genus (Kuhlia species)

Diadromous species undergo regular migration between fresh and marine waters. This behavior is found in many species, including fish, mollusks, and crustaceans, some of which are commercially valuable species. Several attempts to trace the evolution of this behavior have been made in Salmonidae and Galaxiidae, but ambiguous phylogenies and multiple character state changes prevented unequivocal conclusions. The Kuhliidae family consists of 12 fish species that inhabit tropical islands in the Indo-Pacific region. The species have marine, partially catadromous, or fully catadromous life histories (i.e., they migrate from rivers to the sea to reproduce). The evolution of migratory behavior was traced on a well-resolved phylogeny. Catadromous Kuhlia species were basal, and partially catadromous and marine species formed derived monophyletic groups. This is, to our knowledge, the first time that a clear origin and polarity for the diadromous character has been demonstrated. We propose that the relative lack of resources in tropical, inshore, marine habitats and the ephemeral and isolated nature of freshwater environments of tropical islands, combined with phenotypic plasticity of migratory traits, play key roles in driving the evolution of diadromy in the Kuhliidae and probably in other groups. This work is an important starting point to understand the role of diadromy in speciation and adaptation in unstable habitats

Accounting for kin sampling reveals genetic connectivity in Tasmanian and New Zealand school sharks, Galeorhinus galeus

Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Fishing represents a major problem for conservation of chondrichthyans, with a quarter of all species being overexploited. School sharks, Galeorhinus galeus, are targeted by commercial fisheries in Australia and New Zealand. The Australian stock has been depleted to below 20% of its virgin biomass, and the species is recorded as Conservation Dependent within Australia. Individuals are known to move between both countries, but it is disputed whether the stocks are reproductively linked. Accurate and unbiased determination of stock and population connectivity is crucial to inform effective management. In this study, we assess the genetic composition and population connectivity between Australian and New Zealand school sharks using genome-wide SNPs, while accounting for non-random kin sampling. Between 2009 and 2013, 88 neonate and juvenile individuals from Tasmanian and New Zealand nurseries were collected and genotyped. Neutral loci were analyzed to detect fine-scale signals of reproductive connectivity. Seven full-sibling groups were identified and removed for unbiased analysis. Based on 6,587 neutral SNPs, pairwise genetic differentiation from Tasmanian and New Zealand neonates was non-significant (F ST = 0.0003, CI₉₅ = [−0.0002, 0.0009], p = 0.1163; D est  = 0.0006 ± 0.0002). This pattern was supported by clustering results. In conclusion, we show a significant effect of non-random sampling of kin and identify fine-scale reproductive connectivity between Australian and New Zealand school sharks