A new approach to optimal discretization of plant functional types in a process-based ecosystem model with forest management : a case study for temperate conifers

Aim. Dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) use a discretization of forest vegetation based on plant functional types (PFTs). The physiological and ecological parameters used to model a given PFT are usually fixed, being defined from point-based observations, while model applications are often grid-based. This rigid approach causes spatial biases in the results of DGVM-simulated productivity and biomass-related variables. We aim to overcome this limitation with a new approach that uses a hierarchical classification of forest PFT parameters from traits retrieved from the literature and from the TRY global database of plant traits. This approach is applied to temperate conifers in the ORCHIDEE-FM DGVM, which has previously been shown to produce systematic biases in the simulation of biomass and biomass increments. Location. Temperate coniferous forests in France. Methods. The five major coniferous species in France, Abies alba, Picea abies, Pinus pinaster, Pinus sylvestris and Pseudotsuga menziesii, were grouped objectively into PFTs within the ORCHIDEE-FM DGVM using a hierarchical classification based on 12 key attributes related to photosynthesis, phenology and allometric relationships. Results. We show that the single PFT covering all temperate coniferous forests used by default in ORCHIDEE-FM could be replaced by two representative subcategories defined by grouping species-level data without necessarily having to adopt a set of parameters for each species. The definition of new temperate conifer PFTs with this approach allows us to reduce the spatial heterogeneity by 40% on average in model-measurement misfit for stand volume, growth and stand density at the regional scale. Main conclusions. The proposed approach to improve the representation of PFTs in DGVMs, while keeping the number of different PFTs manageable, is promising for application to regions where a single PFT can correspond to a number of different species

Face et interface : la politesse chinoise, les termes de parenté et la conscience interculturelle

Les termes d’adresse utilisés au sein de la famille sont un des schémas les plus complexes de la langue chinoise, en raison de la dissymétrie qu’ils entretiennent avec une langue telle que le français ou l’anglais. Leur rôle dans les stratégies de face et de politesse en font un enjeu spécifique dans l’apprentissage du chinois langue seconde, et plus généralement dans l’interaction sociale, dans la perspective, pour un individu de « préserver sa face et celle de ses partenaires » (E. Goffman, 1974). Intervient notamment dans le « face work » (Brown et Levinson, 1987) avec une coloration culturelle forte qui puise son essence dans les notions confucéennes de rites (li). Les actes menaçants et flatteurs pour la face de l’autre sont au demeurant culturellement variables et spécifiques (Béal, 1998). L’origine de la politesse chinoise se confond avec l’institution de la notion de rites, valeur fondatrice de la pensée confucéenne, telle qu’on la retrouve dans le Liji, « Mémoire sur les rites » ou dans les Cinq relations qui régissent les relations interhumaines dans la tradition confucéenne. Tout se passe comme si, dans une société sans Dieu, tout le poids de la hiérarchie et de l’obéissance était reporté sur les différentes relations entre humains. Et les termes de parenté, malgré des changements linguistiques au plan diachronique, s’imprègnent encore largement de la politesse chinoise traditionnelle et du principe du li qui l’anime. Le propos final de l’article est de dessiner les grandes lignes d’un questionnement relatif à la politesse sous l’angle didactique, pragmatique, interculturel, afin de restituer à l’acquisition des termes de politesse toute son importance et sa complexité, et à la politesse chinoise son état évolutif, loin de toute approche essentialiste figée, à travers l’impact du cyberlangage sur l’usage des termes de parenté et de politesse, dans un contexte de mobilité où se croisent au prisme de l’interface interculturelle les stratégies de politesse

Do food quality schemes and net price premiums go together?

This article addresses the issue of the profitability of Food Quality Scheme (FQS) products as compared to reference products, which are defined as analogous products without quality label. We approach this question by taking into account the level of the value chain (upstream, processing, and downstream), the sector (vegetal, animal, seafood) and the type of FQS (PGI, PDO, Organic). We collected original data for several products produced in selected European countries, as well as in Thailand and Vietnam. Comparisons depending on value chain level, sector and FQS are possible by using two comparable indicators: price premium and net price premium (including cost differential). The following principal conclusions were reached: 1) Price is higher for FQS products than for the reference products, regardless of the production level, the type of FQS or the sector; 2) Price premiums generated by FQS do not differ along the value chain, nor between sectors (vegetal, animal or seafood/fish); 3) Price premium for organic products is significantly higher than for PGI products, and this conclusion holds at upstream and processing levels, taking into account the costs directly related to production; 4) All organic products and almost all PDO and PGI products analysed benefit from a positive quality rent; 5) At upstream level and processing level, the relative weight of intermediate consumption in the cost structure is lower for organic products than for reference products.Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::12 - Producció i Consum ResponsablesPostprint (published version

Sustainability Performance of Certified and Non-certified Food: Social and Economic History

Abstract The dataset Sustainability performance of certified and non-certified food (https://www.doi.org/10.15454/OP51SJ) contains 25 indicators of economic, environmental, and social performance, estimated for 27 certified food value chains and their 27 conventional reference products. The indicators are estimated at different levels of the value chain: farm level, processing level, and retail level. It also contains the raw data based on which the indicators are estimated, its source, and the completed spreadsheet calculators for the following indicators: carbon footprint and food miles. This article describes the common method and indicators used to collect data for the twenty-seven certified products and their conventional counterparts. It presents the assumptions and choices, the process of data collection, and the indicator estimation methods designed to assess the three sustainability dimensions within a reasonable time constraint. That is: three person-months for each food quality scheme and its non-certified reference product. Several prioritisations were set regarding data collection (indicator, variable, value chain level) together with a level of representativeness specific to each variable and product type (country and sector). Technical details on how relatively common variables (e.g., number of animals per hectare) are combined into indicators (e.g., carbon footprint) are provided in the full documentation of the dataset.Publishe

Are certified supply chains more socially sustainable? A bargaining power analysis

Food quality schemes (FQS: organic and geographical indication products) are often supposed to be more sustainable by their political advocates. We explore the social sustainability advantage of FQS through the lens of supply chains’ bargaining power (BP) distribution. We propose an indicator synthesizing different sources underlying BP (competition-based, transactional, institutional) and counting two dimensions (fair BP distribution and adaptation capacity), that we apply to 18 FQS supply chains and corresponding reference. FQS perform better than their reference products on both dimensions. This better performance is due to a combination of sources.Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::12 - Producció i Consum ResponsablesPostprint (published version

Lost in spatial translation - A novel tool to objectively assess spatial disorientation in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia

Spatial disorientation is a prominent feature of early Alzheimer's disease (AD) attributed to degeneration of medial temporal and parietal brain regions, including the retrosplenial cortex (RSC). By contrast, frontotemporal dementia (FTD) syndromes show generally intact spatial orientation at presentation. However, currently no clinical tasks are routinely administered to objectively assess spatial orientation in these neurodegenerative conditions. In this study we investigated spatial orientation in 58 dementia patients and 23 healthy controls using a novel virtual supermarket task as well as voxel-based morphometry (VBM). We compared performance on this task with visual and verbal memory function, which has traditionally been used to discriminate between AD and FTD. Participants viewed a series of videos from a first person perspective travelling through a virtual supermarket and were required to maintain orientation to a starting location. Analyses revealed significantly impaired spatial orientation in AD, compared to FTD patient groups. Spatial orientation performance was found to discriminate AD and FTD patient groups to a very high degree at presentation. More importantly, integrity of the RSC was identified as a key neural correlate of orientation performance. These findings confirm the notion that i) it is feasible to assess spatial orientation objectively via our novel Supermarket task; ii) impaired orientation is a prominent feature that can be applied clinically to discriminate between AD and FTD and iii) the RSC emerges as a critical biomarker to assess spatial orientation deficits in these neurodegenerative conditions

Sustainability Performance of Certified and Non-certified Food

The dataset Sustainability performance of certified and non-certified food (https://www.doi.org/10.15454/OP51SJ) contains 25 indicators of economic, environmental, and social performance, estimated for 27 certified food value chains and their 27 conventional reference products. The indicators are estimated at different levels of the value chain: farm level, processing level, and retail level. It also contains the raw data based on which the indicators are estimated, its source, and the completed spreadsheet calculators for the following indicators: carbon footprint and food miles. This article describes the common method and indicators used to collect data for the twenty-seven certified products and their conventional counterparts. It presents the assumptions and choices, the process of data collection, and the indicator estimation methods designed to assess the three sustainability dimensions within a reasonable time constraint. That is: three person-months for each food quality scheme and its non-certified reference product. Several prioritisations were set regarding data collection (indicator, variable, value chain level) together with a level of representativeness specific to each variable and product type (country and sector). Technical details on how relatively common variables (e.g., number of animals per hectare) are combined into indicators (e.g., carbon footprint) are provided in the full documentation of the dataset