Les Boudragues ou la nuisance à venir

Image d’ouverture. Scène de prédation sur une route. Des Éphippigères adultes dévorant un congénère écrasé, juin 2009 © René Celse Comment évolue sa perception des insectes lorsque l’homme est confronté à leur prolifération ? À quelles explications se livre-t-il face à la présence des insectes les plus invasifs et « nuisibles » ? La présente étude tend à démontrer que si les pullulations d’insectes impressionnent, elles suscitent également, chez ceux qui cohabitent avec lui, un intérêt certa..

Les Boudragues ou la nuisance à venir. Vivre avec les Insectes dans l’anthropocène

Le massif des Maures (Var) et ses pourtours dans lesquels naissent et circulent les « Boudragues » – de grosses sauterelles considérées comme des ravageurs de cultures – sont largement modifiés par ses habitants (activités économiques et pastoralisme hier, agriculture et rurbanisation aujourd’hui), comme par les incendies périodiques. Ces transformations des milieux favorisent la présence ou l’absence d’espèces végétales et animales telles que les chênes-lièges (Amandier 2004) et probablement les boudragues. Comment le regard des habitants change quand les insectes prolifèrent ? Quelles explications donnent-ils à la présence des insectes les plus invasifs et « nuisibles » ? L’article montre que si les pullulations d’insectes impressionnent durablement les personnes qui les vivent, elles suscitent aussi un certain intérêt pour l’insecte lui-même et son écologie, certains habitants élargissant leur réflexion aux raisons de leur présence et plus largement à la responsabilité de l’homme dans les changements environnementaux observés. Partant du constat que les hommes et les insectes partagent plus que jamais les mêmes territoires, pour le meilleur comme pour le pire, et qu’il est vain de les exterminer, notre conclusion suggère de reconnaître les dynamiques socioécologiques de nos environnements et d’accepter la coexistence avec les insectes.The Massif des Maures (Var) and its surroundings, in which "Boudragues" – large grasshoppers considered to be crop pests – grow and circulate are being greatly modified by its inhabitants (economic activities and grazing in the past, agriculture and rurbanisation today) as well as by periodic fires. These transformations of the natural environment favour the presence or absence of plant and animal species such as cork-oak trees (Amandier 2004) and probably Boudragues. How does the inhabitants’ view change when insects proliferate ? What explanations do they give for the presence of the most invasive and "harmful" insects ?The article shows that while insect outbreaks leave a lasting impression on the people who experience them, they also arouse some interest in the insect itself and its behaviour, some people extending their reflection to the reasons for insect presence and more broadly to the responsibility of humans in the observed environmental changes. Since humans and insects share the same territories more than ever before, for better or worse, and that it is pointless to exterminate them, our conclusion suggests acknowledging the socio-ecological dynamics of our environments and accepting coexistence with insects

Wasp mimicry among Palaeocene reduviid bug from Svalbard

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.app.pan.pl/article/item/app20110202.htmlThe enigmatic Svalbard Palaeocene fossil taxon Hymenopterites deperditus is revised, and is neither a wasp nor a plant seed, but turns out to be a bug hemelytra corresponding to the oldest described reduviid bug. It can be attributable to the “emesine−saicine clade”. The presence in the Svalbard Palaeocene of this insectivorous bug, showing possible mimicry of a wasp model, confirms the presence of diverse entomofauna and of rather warm palaeoclimatic conditions

Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera, Pentatomidae): ten years after in Europe

We describe the situation of the invasion of Halyomorpha halys (HH) in Europe, since its discovery in Switzerland in 2007, but with effective presence since 2004. After a relative stagnation for many years, the dispersal of H. halys seems to increase, probably due to growing populations and passive transport by human activities. We suppose that it is not possible to stop the invasion of this species in Europe due to global warming but mostly to ecological characteristics such as high dispersal capability especially with human assistance , a broad host spectrum, a high female fecundity, and a high overwintering survival. The particularly mild winter 2013-2014 in France and Western Europe may further contribute to its progressive dispersal. It is likely that H. halys is already much wider distributed than previously assumed because it is easily confused with the native species, Raphigaster nebulosa. Most recently H. halys was recorded from Hungary, which is nearly 1,000 km east of its centre of distribution in Switzerland. In France, H. halys was first recorded in the Alsace in 2012, but in fall 2013 it was also discovered 400 km further west in Paris and Ile de France. The ongoing dispersal in western France will be monitored and prevention methods will be investigated. After the first occurrence in 2012, a “citizen-science” type of survey allowed to detect many specimens of H. halys in different areas of Northern Italy, with a bigger nucleus centred in the territory of first detection, in the Emilia Romagna region. As this region has extended areas cultivated with high value fruit crops, field monitoring is currently being performed to verify H. halys presence and damage

A new family of Coreoidea from the Lower Cretaceous Lebanese amber (Hemiptera: Pentatomomorpha)

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://www.degruyter.com.A new genus and species, Yuripopovina magnifica, belonging to a new coreoid family, Yuripopovinidae (Hemiptera: Pentatomomorpha), is described and illustrated from the Lower Cretaceous amber of Lebanon. The species represents the first definitive Mesozoic record for the Coreoidea. A cladistic analysis of Coreoidea, including the new family, is undertaken

Benefits of ICU admission in critically ill patients: Whether instrumental variable methods or propensity scores should be used

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The assessment of the causal effect of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission generally involves usual observational designs and thus requires controlling for confounding variables. Instrumental variable analysis is an econometric technique that allows causal inferences of the effectiveness of some treatments during situations to be made when a randomized trial has not been or cannot be conducted. This technique relies on the existence of one variable or "instrument" that is supposed to achieve similar observations with a different treatment for "arbitrary" reasons, thus inducing substantial variation in the treatment decision with no direct effect on the outcome. The objective of the study was to assess the benefit in terms of hospital mortality of ICU admission in a cohort of patients proposed for ICU admission (ELDICUS cohort).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using this cohort of 8,201 patients triaged for ICU (including 6,752 (82.3%) patients admitted), the benefit of ICU admission was evaluated using 3 different approaches: instrumental variables, standard regression and propensity score matched analyses. We further evaluated the results obtained using different instrumental variable methods that have been proposed for dichotomous outcomes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The physician's main specialization was found to be the best instrument. All instrumental variable models adequately reduced baseline imbalances, but failed to show a significant effect of ICU admission on hospital mortality, with confidence intervals far higher than those obtained in standard or propensity-based analyses.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Instrumental variable methods offer an appealing alternative to handle the selection bias related to nonrandomized designs, especially when the presence of significant unmeasured confounding is suspected. Applied to the ELDICUS database, this analysis failed to show any significant beneficial effect of ICU admission on hospital mortality. This result could be due to the lack of statistical power of these methods.</p

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

Impacts écologiques de la riziculture dans la région de la Basse-Mana et conservation des écosystèmes littoraux

In northwestern French Guiana, the coastal area presents highly diverse wetland ecosystems supporting a biodiversity, notably endangered species, of international significance not only for the marine turtle species, but also as regards natural resources for the population. Single-crop farming on an industrial scale over the last fifteen years has interfered with conservation management in this area, but coexistence may be feasible by applying integrated management.Au nord-ouest de la Guyane, la région de la Basse-Mana présente des écosystèmes très variés et d'importance biologique de niveau international, non seulement pour l'avifaune aquatique et les tortues marines, mais également vis-à-vis des ressources naturelles liées aux milieux humides littoraux d'intérêt économique ou culturel. Comment intégrer l'activité et les impacts d'une monoculture à grande échelle, dans une optique de développement durable, à proximité de zones orientées vers une gestion intégrée, incluant une gestion conservatoire ?Garrouste R. Impacts écologiques de la riziculture dans la région de la Basse-Mana et conservation des écosystèmes littoraux. In: Journal d'agriculture traditionnelle et de botanique appliquée, 40ᵉ année, bulletin n°1-2,1998. Conserver, gérer la biodiversité : quelle stratégie pour la Guyane ? sous la direction de Marie Fleury et Odile Poncy. pp. 137-146

Alaskan Palaeogene insects: a challenge for a better knowledge of the Beringian 'route' (Odonata: Aeshnidae, Dysagrionidae)

International audienceFour ‘routes’, Beringian, De Geer, Thulean and Turgai Strait, are currently considered to explain Cenozoic continental interchanges between Eurasia and North America. These ‘routes’ had a crucial importance for vertebrates and insects. While vertebrates are not infrequent in these zones, there is very little direct evidence of insects to date the migrations and justify particular ‘routes’. A ‘route’ is generally chosen on the basis of indirect evidence, such as molecular dating of clades. Alaska, on the Beringian ‘route’, is especially poor in fossil insects. Here we describe the first two Paleocene–Eocene insects from the Chickaloon Formation in Alaska, viz. Basiaeschna alaskaensis sp. nov., the first accurate fossil of this extant Nearctic aeshnid genus, and a representative of the extinct damselfly family Dysagrionidae, distributed in the Palaeogene of Eurasia and North America. These fossils provide direct evidence of the role of Beringia as a land bridge for insects during the Palaeogene. They are also evidence for a warm temperate climate in Alaska during this period of global warmth