Estimating the global conservation status of more than 15,000 Amazonian tree species

Estimates of extinction risk for Amazonian plant and animal species are rare and not often incorporated into land-use policy and conservation planning. We overlay spatial distribution models with historical and projected deforestation to show that at least 36% and up to 57% of all Amazonian tree species are likely to qualify as globally threatened under International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. If confirmed, these results would increase the number of threatened plant species on Earth by 22%. We show that the trends observed in Amazonia apply to trees throughout the tropics, and we predict thatmost of the world’s >40,000 tropical tree species now qualify as globally threatened. A gap analysis suggests that existing Amazonian protected areas and indigenous territories will protect viable populations of most threatened species if these areas suffer no further degradation, highlighting the key roles that protected areas, indigenous peoples, and improved governance can play in preventing large-scale extinctions in the tropics in this century

Unraveling Amazon tree community assembly using Maximum Information Entropy: a quantitative analysis of tropical forest ecology

In a time of rapid global change, the question of what determines patterns in species abundance distribution remains a priority for understanding the complex dynamics of ecosystems. The constrained maximization of information entropy provides a framework for the understanding of such complex systems dynamics by a quantitative analysis of important constraints via predictions using least biased probability distributions. We apply it to over two thousand hectares of Amazonian tree inventories across seven forest types and thirteen functional traits, representing major global axes of plant strategies. Results show that constraints formed by regional relative abundances of genera explain eight times more of local relative abundances than constraints based on directional selection for specific functional traits, although the latter does show clear signals of environmental dependency. These results provide a quantitative insight by inference from large-scale data using cross-disciplinary methods, furthering our understanding of ecological dynamics

Unraveling Amazon tree community assembly using Maximum Information Entropy: a quantitative analysis of tropical forest ecology

In a time of rapid global change, the question of what determines patterns in species abundance distribution remains a priority for understanding the complex dynamics of ecosystems. The constrained maximization of information entropy provides a framework for the understanding of such complex systems dynamics by a quantitative analysis of important constraints via predictions using least biased probability distributions. We apply it to over two thousand hectares of Amazonian tree inventories across seven forest types and thirteen functional traits, representing major global axes of plant strategies. Results show that constraints formed by regional relative abundances of genera explain eight times more of local relative abundances than constraints based on directional selection for specific functional traits, although the latter does show clear signals of environmental dependency. These results provide a quantitative insight by inference from large-scale data using cross-disciplinary methods, furthering our understanding of ecological dynamics

Vascular structure and function and their relationship with health-related quality of life in the MARK study

[ENG]Background: There is limited evidence concerning the relationship between vascular disease and health-related quality of life (HRQL). We investigated the relationship between vascular structure and function with health-related quality of life in a population with intermediate cardiovascular risk. Methods: This study analyzed 303 subjects with ankle-brachial index (ABI) values ranging from 0.9 to 1.4 who were included in the MARK study (age 35 to 74 years; mean:60.5 ±8.5), of which 50.2 % were women. Measurements included: ABI, brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (ba-PWV), and cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI), all measured using the VaSera device. The central augmentation index was adjusted to 75 lpm (AIx_75) using the Mobil-O-Graph device. HRQL was assessed by the Spanish version of the SF-12, version2. The highest obtained CAVI and ba-PWV values and the lowest ABI values were considered for the study. Results: The cohort was composed of21 % smokers, 76 % hypertensive patients, and 24 % diabetic patients. The ABI mean was 1.09±0.07,the ba-PWV mean was 14.64±2.55 m/s with a 12.9 % of subjects higher than 17.5 m/s, AIx_75 26.46 ± 14.05, and CAVI 8.61 ± 1.08 with a 36.6 % of subjects higher than 9. Men scored higher than women in the HRQL measurements for physical (PSC-12; 49.9 vs. 46.9, p = 0.004) and mental (MSC-12) domains (51.2 vs. 47.7, p=0.003). Age was positively correlated with CAVI (r = 0.547), ba-PWV (r = 0.469), AIx_75 (r = 0.255, p < 0.01), and the MSC-12 (r =0.147, p<0.05), but not the PSC-12. In the adjusted multiple linear regression analysis, the positive association of ABI and CAVI with the PSC-12 was maintained. Conclusions: The ABI in the normal range has a positive association with the PSC-12 of HRQL evaluated with the SF-12. The CAVI also showed a positive association with the PSC-12 of HRQL. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01428934

Habitats, mobiliers et groupes régionaux à l’âge du fer

Traditionnellement, les colloques de l’A.F.E.A.F. se découpent en deux parties : la première fait le point de l’actualité de la recherche régionale et la seconde aborde un thème plus transversal et spécialisé. Colmar n’a pas échappé à cette règle et le lecteur lira d’abord dans les Actes ce qui appartient à la zone rhénane de Bâle à Karlsruhe, et ensuite ce qui concerne l’apport des habitats et des mobiliers domestiques à la définition des groupes régionaux de l’Âge du Fer. Le lecteur verra en réalité que thème régional et thème spécialisé s’entrecroisent, ce qui fonde l’unité d’un ouvrage dans lequel les questions d’ordre territorial sont essentielles. La première partie s’ouvre par une introduction de J.-P. Millotte sur la géographie de la vallée du Rhin supérieur, les incidences de l’environnement sur l’activité humaine et le rôle décisif du fossé rhénan comme voie de passage et point de fixation de peuplement. Par la suite, plusieurs articles reprennent cette problématique fondamentale de l’interaction hommes/milieux. L’ensemble des communications fait part des conditions de découvertes, le plus souvent associées à des opérations préventives et de sauvetage, et aux moyens mis en œuvre. Les communications sur le thème spécialisé du colloque ont pour objectif de définir des groupes régionaux par le biais des habitats et du cadre domestique. Elles proposent successivement une réflexion générale sur les critères à prendre en compte, sur le comment et le pourquoi d’une telle approche ; puis une analyse des formes de l’habitat (analyse typologique, fonctionnelle et chronologique), ainsi qu’une réflexion à partir des catégories matérielles. Il conviendra donc pour l’avenir de prendre en compte des sites de nature différente (fermes, hameaux, oppida...) et de mesurer leurs relations à l’échelle des terroirs

Unraveling Amazon tree community assembly using Maximum Information Entropy: a quantitative analysis of tropical forest ecology

International audienceIn a time of rapid global change, the question of what determines patterns in species abundance distribution remains a priority for understanding the complex dynamics of ecosystems. The constrained maximization of information entropy provides a framework for the understanding of such complex systems dynamics by a quantitative analysis of important constraints via predictions using least biased probability distributions. We apply it to over two thousand hectares of Amazonian tree inventories across seven forest types and thirteen functional traits, representing major global axes of plant strategies. Results show that constraints formed by regional relative abundances of genera explain eight times more of local relative abundances than constraints based on directional selection for specific functional traits, although the latter does show clear signals of environmental dependency. These results provide a quantitative insight by inference from large-scale data using cross-disciplinary methods, furthering our understanding of ecological dynamics

Unraveling Amazon tree community assembly using Maximum Information Entropy: a quantitative analysis of tropical forest ecology

International audienceIn a time of rapid global change, the question of what determines patterns in species abundance distribution remains a priority for understanding the complex dynamics of ecosystems. The constrained maximization of information entropy provides a framework for the understanding of such complex systems dynamics by a quantitative analysis of important constraints via predictions using least biased probability distributions. We apply it to over two thousand hectares of Amazonian tree inventories across seven forest types and thirteen functional traits, representing major global axes of plant strategies. Results show that constraints formed by regional relative abundances of genera explain eight times more of local relative abundances than constraints based on directional selection for specific functional traits, although the latter does show clear signals of environmental dependency. These results provide a quantitative insight by inference from large-scale data using cross-disciplinary methods, furthering our understanding of ecological dynamics