New Insights on the Management of Wildlife Diseases Using Multi-State Recapture Models: The Case of Classical Swine Fever in Wild Boar

The understanding of host-parasite systems in wildlife is of increasing interest in relation to the risk of emerging diseases in livestock and humans. In this respect, many efforts have been dedicated to controlling classical swine fever (CSF) in the European Wild Boar. But CSF eradication has not always been achieved even though vaccination has been implemented at a large-scale. Piglets have been assumed to be the main cause of CSF persistence in the wild since they appeared to be more often infected and less often immune than older animals. However, this assumption emerged from laboratory trials or cross-sectional surveys based on the hunting bags.In the present paper we conducted a capture-mark-recapture study in free-ranging wild boar piglets that experienced both CSF infection and vaccination under natural conditions. We used multi-state capture recapture models to estimate the immunization and infection rates, and their variations according to the periods with or without vaccination. According to the model prediction, 80% of the infected piglets did not survive more than two weeks, while the other 20% quickly recovered. The probability of becoming immune did not increase significantly during the summer vaccination sessions, and the proportion of immune piglets was not higher after the autumn vaccination.Given the high lethality of CSF in piglets highlighted in our study, we consider unlikely that piglets could maintain the chain of CSF virus transmission. Our study also revealed the low efficacy of vaccination in piglets in summer and autumn, possibly due to the low palatability of baits to that age class, but also to the competition between baits and alternative food sources. Based on this new information, we discuss the prospects for the improvement of CSF control and the interest of the capture-recapture approach for improving the understanding of wildlife diseases

Synthesis, characterisation and study of magnetocaloric effects (enhanced and reduced) in manganate perovskites

The effect of the A-site dopant ionic radii on the observed magnetocaloric effect (MCE) exhibited by three different families of manganese-based perovskites was investigated using both induction heating and SQUID magnetometry measurements. The doped perovskites La1-xSrxMnO3 (LSMO), La1-xCaxMnO3 (LCMO), and La1-xBaxMnO3 (LBMO) (x = 0.25, 0.35, 0.4) were prepared using a modified peroxide sol-gel synthesis. This method has not been previously used for the synthesis of LCMO or LBMO. Structural characterisation of the agglomerates of magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) for each material was carried out using SEM, XRD and IR spectroscopy. Magnetic heating was observed for materials with larger A-site dopant radii relative to La3+; LSMO40 and LBMO40, with average SARs obtained of 51.5 Wg-1Mn and 33.8 Wg-1Mn respectively. However, reduced magnetic heating effects were observed for smaller A-site dopant radii relative to La3+ (LCMO). In fact, the calculated Specific Absorption Rate for LCMO40 of 14.72 Wg-1Mn is half that of the blank

Le mil en Afrique : diversité génétique et agro-physiologique : potentialités et contraintes pour l'amélioration et la culture

Deux cultivars de mil, résistant et sensible, ont été soumis à des contraintes hydriques en conditions contrôlées. Lors de la contrainte, l'activité de la phosphoénolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) décroît, chez les témoins arrosés, de 20 à 30 % de sa valeur initiale (effet de sénescence) et de 50 à 60 % chez les stressés. La quantité d'enzyme dosée par immunotitration décroît également. Cependant, l'activité spécifique de la PEPC rapportée à la quantité d'enzyme diminue aussi. La réhydratation est suivie d'une récupération partielle et progressive des activités et des quantités de PEPC. Le pourcentage d'inhibition de l'enzyme par le malate chute de 50 à 20 % pendant la contrainte hydrique ce qui témoigne aussi d'une modification des propriétés de l'enzyme. L'intérêt du maintien de l'activité enzymatique pour la résistance à la sécheresse en présence d'une déshydratation cellulaire est discuté en s'appuyant sur la mesure des tolérances protoplasmiques des deux cultivars et grâce à une comparaison entre le mil et le sorgho. (Résumé d'auteur

Extinct steppe-tundra fauna from Cuvier 1 and Cuvier 2 cave at Fouvent-le-Bas (Haute-Saône, France)

International audienceStudies of the fauna from the Cave « Cuvier 1 » and the various levels of the cave « Cuvier 2 » at Fouvent-le-Bas have encouraged artists and scientists to reconstruct the extinct fauna of large mammals, carnivores and microfauna that used these sites. In both caves, the fauna represents those typical of the steppe-tundra in which the woolly mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, the steppe horse and the cave hyena predominatedl. The artistic reconstructions are faithful to the results issued by researchers (taxa, size, weight, ethology of the animals) which, when placed in a past environment, help us to appreciate the coexistence and competition of the mammalian species (mainly of predator-prey dynamics) as well as the relations and interactions between Human and fauna who shared the same territories and ecosystems

30 years later…. a new start for the excavations at the Cuvier 2 cave, Fouvent-le-Bas (Haute-Saône, France),

International audienceIn the village of Fouvent-le-Bas (Haute-Saône, France), two emblematic caves were occupied by both humans and fauna during cold conditions of the Late Pleistocene. Both are located at the edge of the village on the right bank of the Vannon river. The oldest cave is "l'abri Cuvier 1" (excavation of 1825 to 1886), a world-famous archeo-palaeontological site yielding faunal bone remains. Baron Georges Cuvier used as index fossils to recognize the Woolly Mammoth (Cuvier, 1812) and to differenciate the ancient cave hyena from the extant spotted one (Cuvier, 1825). 165 years later, 20 meters away, along the same limestone escarpment, a long gallery 12 meters long and named « Cuvier 2 » was discovered yielding bone material similar to that found at “Abri Cuvier 1. From 1989 to 1992, field work (dir. D. Morin, J. Detrey, G. Huguenin) generated abundant bones remains consisting in typical steppe-tundra mammals (mammoth, rhino, horse) and carnivores (hyena and lion cave). In addition, the lithic industry reveals cores, flakes and tools which belong to the Mousterian but also in the highest levels in the upper Palaeolithic, some projectiles such as Gravette and microgravette points. In 2021, 30 years later, we reopened « Cuvier 2 » gallery and its diverticula (dir. A. Lamotte) in order to cross-reference all the data inherent in this karstic complex from « Cuvier 1 » and « Cuvier 2 » that offered shelter to fauna and human communities during the Late Pleistocene. The use of drones with 5 bands multispectral view and other new technology like photogrammetry have been key additions to this most recent episode of fieldwork. They have allowed new data to be generated from these ancient caves

30 years later…. a new start for the excavations at the Cuvier 2 cave, Fouvent-le-Bas (Haute-Saône, France),

International audienceIn the village of Fouvent-le-Bas (Haute-Saône, France), two emblematic caves were occupied by both humans and fauna during cold conditions of the Late Pleistocene. Both are located at the edge of the village on the right bank of the Vannon river. The oldest cave is "l'abri Cuvier 1" (excavation of 1825 to 1886), a world-famous archeo-palaeontological site yielding faunal bone remains. Baron Georges Cuvier used as index fossils to recognize the Woolly Mammoth (Cuvier, 1812) and to differenciate the ancient cave hyena from the extant spotted one (Cuvier, 1825). 165 years later, 20 meters away, along the same limestone escarpment, a long gallery 12 meters long and named « Cuvier 2 » was discovered yielding bone material similar to that found at “Abri Cuvier 1. From 1989 to 1992, field work (dir. D. Morin, J. Detrey, G. Huguenin) generated abundant bones remains consisting in typical steppe-tundra mammals (mammoth, rhino, horse) and carnivores (hyena and lion cave). In addition, the lithic industry reveals cores, flakes and tools which belong to the Mousterian but also in the highest levels in the upper Palaeolithic, some projectiles such as Gravette and microgravette points. In 2021, 30 years later, we reopened « Cuvier 2 » gallery and its diverticula (dir. A. Lamotte) in order to cross-reference all the data inherent in this karstic complex from « Cuvier 1 » and « Cuvier 2 » that offered shelter to fauna and human communities during the Late Pleistocene. The use of drones with 5 bands multispectral view and other new technology like photogrammetry have been key additions to this most recent episode of fieldwork. They have allowed new data to be generated from these ancient caves