La protection des milieux aquatiques – Vulnérabilité et sensibilité fonctionnelle des communautés de poissons

National audienceThe European Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/CE) requires from all Member States to set up monitoring and evaluation of ecological quality, with the aim of preserving and restoring the quality of aquatic environments. Diagnostics of the ecological state are thus regularly operated to identify the water bodies on which restoration measures should be initiated to reach a "good” ecological status. However, the current indices only provide a partial view of the functional changes induced by human disturbances. New approaches in functional ecology, aiming at describing the processes underlying biodiversity and ecosystems functioning, are now opening up new perspectives in the field of ecological diagnosis. These functional indices can already be used to detect changes in the functional structure of communities in response to environmental changes or anthropogenic disturbances. For example, functional redundancy is one of the criteria assessing the functional sensitivity of communities to species loss. It thus provides a quantitative measure of the potential impact of diversity decline on the ecosystem functioning. In addition to the usual criteria, the integration of such indices can provide a valuable resource for defining management plans or for prioritizing sites that should be protected against environmental disturbances, by focusing on ecosystem processes.La directive cadre sur l’eau (DCE, 2000/60/CE) impose aux États membres la mise en place de suivis et d’évaluation de la qualité écologique, avec pour objectif la préservation et la restauration de la qualité des milieux aquatiques. Des diagnostics de l’état écologique des milieux sont ainsi réalisés afin d’identifier les masses d’eau sur lesquelles des mesures de restauration doivent être entreprises pour qu’elles atteignent un « bon état ». Néanmoins, les indices actuellement développés ne donnent qu’un aperçu partiel des changements fonctionnels induits par les perturbations humaines. Les approches en écologie fonctionnelle, visant à décrire les processus sous-jacent à la biodiversité et au fonctionnement des écosystèmes, ouvrent aujourd’hui de nouvelles perspectives dans le domaine du diagnostic écologique. Les indices développés dans ce cadre peuvent d’ores et déjà être utilisés pour détecter des modifications dans la structure fonctionnelle des communautés en réponse à des changements environnementaux ou à des perturbations anthropiques. Par exemple, la redondance fonctionnelle est un des critères permettant d’évaluer la sensibilité fonctionnelle des communautés à la perte d'espèces et donc de mesurer l'influence d’un déclin potentiel de diversité sur le fonctionnement de l'écosystème. L’intégration de ce type d’indice, en complément des critères habituels, peut alors s’avérer une ressource précieuse lors de la définition de plans de gestion ou pour prioriser les sites à protéger face à des perturbations environnementales, en se concentrant sur les processus écosystémiques

Visual deprivation independent shift of ocular dominance induced by cross-modal plasticity.

There is convincing evidence that the deprivation of one sense can lead to adaptive neuronal changes in spared primary sensory cortices. However, the repercussions of late-onset sensory deprivations on functionality of the remaining sensory cortices are poorly understood. Using repeated intrinsic signal imaging we investigated the effects of whisker or auditory deprivation (WD or AD, respectively) on responsiveness of the binocular primary visual cortex (V1) in fully adult mice. The binocular zone of mice is innervated by both eyes, with the contralateral eye always dominating V1 input over ipsilateral eye input, the normal ocular dominance (OD) ratio. Strikingly, we found that 3 days of WD or AD induced a transient shift of OD, which was mediated by a potentiation of V1 input through the ipsilateral eye. This cross-modal effect was accompanied by strengthening of layer 4 synapses in V1, required visual experience through the ipsilateral eye and was mediated by an increase of the excitation/inhibition ratio in V1. Finally, we demonstrate that both WD and AD induced a long-lasting improvement of visual performance. Our data provide evidence that the deprivation of a non-visual sensory modality cross-modally induces experience dependent V1 plasticity and improves visual behavior, even in adult mice

Concomitant chronic venous insufficiency in patients with peripheral artery disease: insights from MR angiography

Objectives!#!The clinical presentation of peripheral artery disease (PAD) and chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) can overlap and the conditions may co-exist. The purpose of our study was to investigate the prevalence and clinical significance of concomitant CVI in patients with PAD examined with run-off MR angiography (MRA).!##!Methods!#!We analysed 180 patients (median age 69 years, range 27 to 91) with known or suspected PAD who underwent MRA at our institution between 2012 and 2018. MRA datasets were re-evaluated for manifestations of CVI. Electronic charts were reviewed to analyse whether diagnosis of CVI was documented and to determine Fontaine stage of PAD.!##!Results!#!Evidence of possible CVI on MRA was found in 38 (21%) patients. Only seven (18%) of these patients had a documented diagnosis of CVI. Patients with co-existing PAD and CVI were more likely obese (median BMI 29.7 vs. 26.3 kg/m!##!Conclusions!#!Signs of possible concomitant CVI can be seen in approximately one-fifth of patients with known or suspected PAD examined with run-off MRA. If present, these findings should be reported since CVI may mimic or contribute to symptoms attributed to PAD.!##!Key points!#!• In total, 21% of patients with PAD patients examined with MR angiography show signs of possible co-existing CVI. • Patients with co-existing CVI were 1.7-fold more likely to have a clinical diagnosis of stage IV PAD. • Our data also showed that co-existing chronic venous insufficiency is under-diagnosed in patients with PAD

Livrable 5.4 : Rapport sur la comparaison de la sensibilité des métriques poisson à des stress multiples dans les rivières, les lacs et les eaux de transition

Aquatic ecosystems facing multiple stressors lead to challenging conditions for their management, as stressors can have additive, but also interactive effects on organisms, populations and communities. Accounting for these interactions is important in the assessment of the stressor’s impacts and to implement good restoration measures. Using a comparable modelling approach and large environmental and fish databases, the combined effect of water quality problems and hydrological stressors were assessed, based on characteristics of fish assemblages observed in rivers, lakes, reservoirs and estuaries of Europe. The effects of nonnative species in interaction with eutrophication and alteration of hydromorphology were also tested for fish assemblages of natural lakes and reservoirs. We show that for all the water body types, water quality problems are a major threat that impacts fish assemblages. Similarly, alteration of the hydro-morphology explains a large part of the composition of river and estuarine fish assemblages. Conversely, we fail to demonstrate an effect of this stressor on the fish community of lakes and reservoirs, as sufficient data are not available yet. However, in these standing waters the introduction of non-native species can explain the variability of some characteristics of fish assemblages. In a second step, we analysed the interactive effect of various stressors. Without interaction, the effect of two stressors on a fish assemblage characteristic corresponds to the sum of the individual effects. This additive effect was compared with the effects really observed in the assemblages to determine the type of interaction. The comparison was done for each fish assemblage characteristic impacted by stressors in each water body type. A large variability of multi-stressor impacts was observed, leading to higher or lower effects than expected in absence of interactions. These results suggest to consider all potential stressors and interactions in the development of fishbased tools dedicated to ecological status assessment or restoration monitoring whatever the water body type is

Krisenmanagement - Lehrbuch für den Öffentlichen Gesundheitsdienst

Das Lehrbuch soll Mitarbeitern/innen in Gesundheitsämtern, aber auch aus anderen Einrichtungen des ÖGD, praktische Hinweise geben, wie sie sich zielgerecht auf die Gefahrenabwehr in Krisensituationen vorbereiten können, und Grundlagen des Krisenmanagements vermitteln. Neben fachlichen Gesichtspunkten werden insbesondere Handlungsempfehlungen für die Einsatzplanung und Stabsarbeit gegeben. Checklisten ergänzen das Lehrbuch als praktische Hilfsmittel.Die in diesem einzigartigen Lehrbuch zusammengefassten Inhalte beruhen auf jahrelanger theoretischer Auseinandersetzung und praktischer Erfahrung der Autoren/innen im ÖGD