Corruption, accountability and governance: understanding the nature and perception of corruption in Guinea- Bissau

Corruption in Guinea-Bissau is a widespread problem. Today we see efforts to tackle both petty and grand corruption in the country. An important question then is to look at whether this is the correct response. This study is looking at how corruption, and specifically the perception of corruption, influence people's beliefs about the future and views on current economic conditions in the country. The findings show that grand corruption is the main driver to explain decreased beliefs about the future of the country

Living yeast-based biostimulants: different genes for the same results?

Nowadays, many products are available in the plant biostimulants market. Among them, living yeast-based biostimulants are also commercialized. Given the living aspect of these last products, the reproducibility of their effects should be investigated to ensure end-users’ confidence. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the effects of a living yeast-based biostimulant between two different soybean cultures. These two cultures named C1 and C2 were conducted on the same variety and soil but in different locations and dates until the VC developmental stage (unifoliate leaves unrolled), with Bradyrhizobium japonicum (control and Bs condition) and with and without biostimulant coating seed treatment. The foliar transcriptomic analysis done first showed a high gene expression difference between the two cultures. Despite this first result, a secondary analysis seemed to show that this biostimulant led to a similar pathway enhancement in plants and with common genes even if the expressed genes were different between the two cultures. The pathways which seem to be reproducibly impacted by this living yeast-based biostimulant are abiotic stress tolerance and cell wall/carbohydrate synthesis. Impacting these pathways may protect the plant from abiotic stresses and maintain a higher level of sugars in plant

Long-term evolution (1988-2008) of Zostera spp. meadows in Arcachon Bay (Bay of Biscay)

The spatial variability of seagrass meadows in Arcachon Bay, was studied between 1988 and 2008 using a combination of mapping techniques based on aerial photographs for intertidal dwarf-grass (Zostera noltti) beds and acoustic sonar for permanently submerged eelgrass (Zostera marina) populations. The results show a severe decline over the period for both species, as well as an acceleration of the decline since 2005 for Z. noltii. The total surface regression over the studied period is estimated to be 22.8 km(2) for Z. noltii and 2.7 km(2) for Z. marina, which represent declines of 33 and 74% respectively. Environmental data time series spanning the same period were investigated in order to seek the causes for such a decline. The calculated inter-annual trends for temperature, salinity, nitrate plus nitrite, ammonia, suspended sediment and chlorophyll a did not identify any clear environmental change capable of explaining the observed seagrass regression. For instance, no evident sign of eutrophication was observed over the study period. On the other hand, we suggest that the observed variations of ammonia in the inner part of the lagoon are a symptom of the seagrasses' disappearance and thus, a first sign indicating a change of the Arcachon Bay ecosystem towards more instability and vulnerability. Several hypotheses to explain the observed seagrass decay are proposed. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Corrigendum: A dataset of Zostera marina and Zostera noltei structure and functioning in four sites along the French coast over a period of 18 months

In the original article, Figure 7 has been erroneously replaced by Figure

Contribution a l'etude des herbiers de Zostera noltii dans le Bassin d'Arcachon: dynamique, production et degradation, macrofaune associee

Available from INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : T 78422 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueSIGLEFRFranc

DCE en Manche-Atlantique : Essais inter-laboratoires sur les mesures d’abondance des zostères naines (Zostera noltei)

This report presents the results of the second inter-laboratory tests (ILT) carried out in the context of the WFD on eelgrass beds (Zostera noltei) on the French Channel-Atlantic coast. The first test, also carried out as part of the work of the Aquaref consortium, highlighted a critical point concerning the estimation of the coverage of eelgrass leaves in the quadrats, as this estimation was highly variable between operators. The need for recurrent exercises on this subject had then been highlighted. The objective of this second EIL, also devoted to the “coverage estimation” part of the protocol, was to characterise the variability of the estimate by the various operators and to try to understand the causes, and to propose methodological solutions to reduce this variability, which will be integrated into an updated version of the protocol.Ce rapport présente les résultats des seconds essais inter-laboratoires (EIL) réalisés dans le contexte de la DCE sur les herbiers de zostères (Zostera noltei) des côtes françaises de Manche-Atlantique. Le premier essai, également réalisé dans le cadre des travaux du consortium Aquaref, avait permis de mettre en évidence un point critique touchant à l’estimation du recouvrement des feuilles de zostères dans les quadrats, cette estimation présentant une forte variabilité entre les opérateurs. La nécessité d’exercices récurrents à ce sujet avait alors été mise en évidence. L’objectif de ce second EIL, également consacré à ce volet « estimation du recouvrement » du protocole, visait à caractériser la variabilité de l’estimation par les différents opérateurs et à tenter d’en comprendre les causes, et de proposer des solutions méthodologiques permettant de réduire cette variabilité, qui seront ultérieurement intégrées dans une mise à jour du protocole