Clipperton: La flore marine du complexe récifal et quelques aspects de la biodiversité et de la géomorphologie de l’île

The marine flora of the reef flats and outer slopes of Clipperton were studied by SCUBA from the surface down to a depth of 60m and reef walks on 18 sites distributed around the island. About 100 samples of algae have been collected and pressed as herbarium specimens which will be deposited at the MNHN in Paris. Sixty one species have been identified, increasing the number of species recorded from Clipperton to 83 .The results of morphological analyses confirm that the algal flora of Clipperton belongs to the Indo-Pacific biogeographical area with 75% of the species widely distributed in the West and Central Pacific and 4% species from the East Pacific side. About 14% of the species are not yet identified and could be species new science or endemic

Analyse écorégionale marine de Nouvelle-Calédonie : atelier d'identification des aires de conservation prioritaires

Dans le cadre de l'initiative pour les récifs coralliens du Pacifique sud (CRISP), le WWF-France a souhaité développer un projet pour la protection des récifs et des lagons néo-calédoniens. L'atelier, qui s'est déroulé les 10 et 11 août à Nouméa, avait pour objectif de rassembler les scientifiques et les experts du lagon néocalédonien pour identifier, sur la base de leur connaissance experte, les zones les plus remarquables du lagon (richesse, endémisme, originalité des faunes et flores, espèces emblématiques, zones d'intérêt fonctionnel) sur lesquelles doivent porter en priorité les efforts de conservation. Il a permis d'identifier 20 aires prioritaires pour la conservation, parmi lesquelles 6 ont un intérêt mondial, 4 ont un intérêt sur le plan régional, les autres ayant un intérêt local

Multi-taxa coral reef community structure in relation to habitats in the Baa Atoll Man and Biosphere UNESCO Reserve (Maldives), and implications for its conservation

The distribution of species in their environment is largely defined by habitat characteristics. Both species and habitat distributions can be used to define conservation areas, especially in highly diversified ecosystems like coral reefs where biodiversity inventories are lacking. The main objective of this study was to test the relationship between multi-taxa community structure (defined by richness, species lists, and taxonomic distinctness) and habitat typology in the Man and Biosphere UNESCO Reserve of Baa Atoll (Maldives). Species richness per taxon was described at 18 stations located on different habitats mapped using high resolution satellite imagery. A total of 1012 species were described including 178 macroalgae, 173 corals, 121 hydroids, 351 fish and 189 (other) macro-invertebrates. Rarity was extremely high for macro-invertebrates, algae and hydrozoans. The results highlighted a marked difference in species composition between stations for macro-algae and corals but not for other groups (hydroids, fish and macro-invertebrates). These distribution patterns were not strongly correlated to differences in habitat characteristics, which created a weak spatial structure of communities between habitats probably caused by differential exposure of atolls to monsoons and the 1998 bleaching event. Community differences between stations were often due to rarity. Therefore, identifying a network of protected areas that includes occurrences of all species may pose challenges. This is overcome by conservation planning scenarios using medium-size (of the order of 1 km²) management units

Exoplanetary Atmospheres—Chemistry, Formation Conditions, and Habitability

Characterizing the atmospheres of extrasolar planets is the new frontier in exoplanetary science. The last two decades of exoplanet discoveries have revealed that exoplanets are very common and extremely diverse in their orbital and bulk properties. We now enter a new era as we begin to investigate the chemical diversity of exoplanets, their atmospheric and interior processes, and their formation conditions. Recent developments in the field have led to unprecedented advancements in our understanding of atmospheric chemistry of exoplanets and the implications for their formation conditions. We review these developments in the present work. We review in detail the theory of atmospheric chemistry in all classes of exoplanets discovered to date, from highly irradiated gas giants, ice giants, and super-Earths, to directly imaged giant planets at large orbital separations. We then review the observational detections of chemical species in exoplanetary atmospheres of these various types using different methods, including transit spectroscopy, Doppler spectroscopy, and direct imaging. In addition to chemical detections, we discuss the advances in determining chemical abundances in these atmospheres and how such abundances are being used to constrain exoplanetary formation conditions and migration mechanisms. Finally, we review recent theoretical work on the atmospheres of habitable exoplanets, followed by a discussion of future outlook of the field.M. Agúndez acknowledges funding support from Spanish MINECO through grants CSD2009-00038, AYA2009-07304, and AYA2012-32032 and from the European Research Council (ERC Grant 610256: NANOCOSMOS). J. Moses thanks the NASA Exoplanet Research program NNX15AN82G for support. Y. Hu is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China 435 (NSFC) under grants 41375072 and 41530423