Located in southern France and bordering Spanish Catalonia, the Massane beech forest is one of the last old-growth forest of the Mediterranean basin and represents one of the southern populations of the European beech Fagus sylvatica in Western Europe. As such, it deserved special attention and a fine monitoring of its dynamics appeared especially relevant in the context of the ongoing climate change. As the team responsible for managing the Massane National Nature Reserve, we initiated a comprehensive inventory of its unmanaged forest stands in late 1998. This article aimed at presenting the methodology and monitored traits in order to shed light on this exhaustive and long-term monitoring approach. This survey encompassed all standing trees-both living and dead-as well as fallen dead wood within a 9.4 hectares area known as the integral reserve. The study extended along a 5.25 km stretch of the Massane River, covering an additional 19.4 hectares. The primary objective was to establish a detailed baseline of the forest composition, predominantly consisting of European beech (Fagus sylvatica). Collected data included dendrometric measurements, phenological stages, health assessments, and the presence and characteristics of various tree-related microhabitats (TreMs). These data were systematically stored in a Geographic Information System (GIS) and are regularly updated-semi-annually for tree decline and approximately every 12 years for dendrometric data. To date, 70,794 items have been cataloged across the 28.8 hectares study area, comprising 61,532 standing trees (alive or dead) and 9,262 pieces of fallen dead wood. This extensive data collection provides valuable insights into forest structure, dynamics (such as growth, intra-and interspecific competition, regeneration and decay), and the presence of parasitic and saprophytic fungi. It also allows for a nuanced understanding of dead wood distribution and various TreMs, including cavities and brown rot. By correlating these observations with data from the on-site weather station, we can finely assess the impacts of climatic related events, such as drought stress and phenological anomalies. The weather station, operational since 1959, has documented a nearly 2 degrees C increase in mean temperatures and a significant decline in precipitations since 2021, which may explain the changes observed in the stands, such as the decline of many trees. This ongoing monitoring initiative, underpinned by a robust cartographic database, forms the core of a unique forest observatory. The choice to conduct comprehensive inventories over substantial areas ensures a thorough representation of the forest's richness and complexity. Although initially labor-intensive, the endeavor has yielded significant results, fostering numerous scientific collaborations and encouraging continued commitment to this invaluable research.
climate change is rapidly driving species towards extinction, especially in vulnerable habitats like mountain regions such as the Pyrenees. With each degree of temperature rise, the threat accelerates, endangering diverse plant species. Due to their patrimonial importance and the susceptibility of mountainous species to climate and land-use changes, the conservation of endemic species in the Pyrenees is a crucial issue. Local populations of Pedicularis comosa in the Eastern Pyrenees provide an interesting biological model for studying climate change effects on mountain plant biodiversity. Here, an endemic pink-flowered morphotype described as Pedicularis comosa subsp. asparagoides coexists with the widely distributed, yellow-flowered Pedicularis comosa subsp. comosa. Because of its local-endemism, P. c. subsp. asparagoides is threatened as it is known to occur sporadically from a restricted number of sites in the Alb & egrave;res, the Salines Massif and the Canig & oacute; Massif. Our study highlights that climate change is a serious threat to P. c. subsp. asparagoides. Using Ecological Niche Modelling (ENM), we found that its current habitat could become unsuitable within less than two decades, outpacing the species' natural dispersal ability to newly suitable areas. Therefore, our findings suggest that conservation measures, such as assisted migration, are necessary to protect this unique morphotype.
Advancements in soil analytical techniques offer new insights into ecosystem structure, functions, and dynamics. Metabolomics has the potential to serve as a unique and efficient way to characterize the soil "chemical landscape." Thirty-three soil samples were collected from the Massane old-growth forest reserve, a UNESCO world heritage site located in the Eastern piedmont of the French Pyrenees. The study sites aimed to investigate three types of forest stands, namely beech forests, beech/oak stands, and mixed forest stands, subsets being also defined within stand types based on forest facies. We hypothesized that soil chemical heterogeneity would reflect forest spatial heterogeneity. Non-targeted metabolomics using liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS/ MS) and molecular network analyses were employed to map the chemical diversity across the sampled sites. This approach unveiled the presence of various compounds, including lipids (fatty acids and their derivatives, sphingolipids, prenol lipids, steroids), terpenoids (triterpenoids and sesquiterpenes), coumarins, and oligopeptides and lipopeptides. Along with the presence of a rich core metabolome, some heterogeneity was also underscored, suggesting unique chemical structures associated with specific types of sampling sites, notably mature beech stands. These results call for a deeper investigation into these specific compounds, with regards to their biological origin and the diversity and heterogeneity of soil microbial communities.
Semi-natural grasslands are threatened throughout Europe and conservation measures as well as monitoring are urgently needed. Leafhoppers (Auchenorrhyncha), a functionally important taxon with a close host plant connection and rapid reaction to changes in management, have increasingly received attention as bioindicators. We here present a case study in a Mediterranean mountain ecosystem, the R & eacute;serve Naturelle Nationale de la For & ecirc;t de la Massane, aiming to compile an inventory of its leafhopper species and to study the effects of cattle grazing on Mediterranean leafhopper communities. Leafhoppers were sampled in 2022 on 21 transects covering all of the habitats present in the reserve. A direct comparison was made between intensively grazed pastures and rocky outcrops inaccessible to cattle (12 and 4 transects respectively).The inventory increased the number of leafhopper species known in the reserve from 72 to 129. Species richness and abundance were significantly higher in the ungrazed areas. Grazed and ungrazed transects differed in their species composition with rare and in part endemic species only occurring on the ungrazed rocky outcrops. We conclude that a reduction of the grazing intensity in combination with shrub removal measures to keep the pastures open would have a positive effect of the leafhoppers and other invertebrates in the reserve and the surrounding Massif des Alb & egrave;res, where grazing pressure is similarly high.
Rivers transport a wide variety of materials, ranging from submillimeter-sized sediment particles to entire trees. The transported wood, constituting a vital component of wooded river ecosystems, constantly alters the morphology of watercourses and influences river flow. Given the inherently complex and varied nature of river systems, a thorough exploration of their diversity is justified to identify recurring trends in the dynamics of wood transport. This need becomes imperative in regions already facing prolonged episodes of drought, frequent heatwaves, and an increase in extreme precipitation events. In the specific context of the Massane River, a small Mediterranean mountain river, our study aimed to lay the groundwork for a long-term monitoring of in-stream wood transport by the watercourse. We began by inventorying the wood present in the riverbed in the upper part of the watercourse. This inventory involved measuring, identifying the species, assessing the state of degradation, and geolocating all the pieces of wood present. To estimate the transport, we introduced pieces of wood representative of the fraction of the stock that was potentially mobilizable, marked with RFID tags. The results indicate that wood was present almost throughout the considered section of the watercourse. About one-third of the total volume of the wood stock could be transported during a bankfull flood. RFID tracking revealed that a moderate rise in water level could move such pieces nearly 4 kilometers downstream. This work marks the initiation of a long-term monitoring effort to trace the movement of in-stream wood from the river's source to its estuary and examine the relationship between flood event types and the extent of wood transport.
Freshwater ecosystems are vital oases for biodiversity across Mediterranean landscapes. Acquiring basic knowledge on how aquatic biodiversity is distributed across Mediterranean landscapes is pivotal to anticipate how aquatic ecosystems are responding to various stressors, such as drought intensification. Fungi-a very diverse group-are involved in important ecosystem functions and services, such as organic matter decomposition. Aquatic hyphomycetes (a polyphyletic group of fungi) are particularly relevant to forested aquatic ecosystems because of their capacity to decompose wood and leaf litter. So far, this group received little attention outside of their preferred habitat, known as oxygenated forest streams. In the Massane forest, an old-growth beech forest in southwestern France, we explored the patterns of alpha, beta and gamma diversity of aquatic hyphomycetes in a mosaic of two main freshwater habitats (water-filled tree holes-so called dendrotelmata-, and streams). Dendrotelmata harboured locally-rich communities of aquatic hyphomycetes (sometimes as much as adjacent streams), but their composition (beta diversity) was more heterogeneous in comparison to streams. The spatially discrete nature of dendrotelmata across a forested landscape (compared to vectorised, dendritic networks of permanent streams), and/or the environmental singularity of each dendrotelmata, might explain why beta diversity was higher in dendrotelmata than streams. Differences in community composition between stream and dendrotelmata habitats were as high as the differences between the two main types of dendrotelmata (pan vs. rot holes). A considerable proportion of species occurred in both dendrotelmata and streams (29 %) which, in addition to the strong environmental differences observed in both habitats, suggests that a considerable proportion of species we identified may have broad ecological niches. The high beta diversity of aquatic hyphomycetes among dendrotelmata could foster fine-scale monitoring of dendrotelmata communities at the individual-tree level rather than at the forest plot level, offering new opportunities to improve current management and conservation of old-growth forests and their biodiversity. Our study suggests that we need to expand our knowledge on the distribution of aquatic hyphomycetes outside their preferred habitat to fully understand their biodiversity and ecological roles.
We report the results of a faunistic survey of bdelloid rotifers in the Massane forest reserve, France, covering 47 samples from aquatic and limno-terrestrial habitats. In total, 41 species were found, of which 22 represented new records for continental France. All species are widespread and their occurrence in the various habitats follows what was already known for them. No differences were found in species richness for each sample between aquatic and limno-terrestrial habitats, but community composition was significantly different between the two habitats, with no species found in both aquatic and limno-terrestrial habitats.
This field philosophy reflection attempts to initiate a dialogue between the conservation decisions of the French Massane forest and some of the ideas of the German philosopher Walter Benjamin (1892-1940). It begins by justifying the choice of Benjamin as a relevant thinker for this endeavour in field philosophy. It then connects two of his reflections to the different issues relating to the conservation of the Massane Reserve. Firstly, the article considers the relevance of Benjamin's conception of history set forth in his essay On the Concept of History (2005 [1942]) in order to shed light on the management choices of the Massane Reserve. Secondly, the article draws on some of his aesthetic reflections presented in his famous essay entitled The Work of Art by the Age of its Technological Reproducibility (2008 [1935] to reflect on the testimonial value of this reserve, as the reserve's management strategy is based on a non-interventionist approach. This article also shares a few critical perspectives offered by Benjamin's ideas with respect to the management choices used in other reserves that rely on genetic assistance for conservation purposes.
ecosystem crisis and ecological fragmentation reflect the levelling of our aesthetics, the isolation of various hyper-specialized and compartmentalized fields of research. "Inhabiting the border" asserts the importance of links, of interdisciplinary and interspecies relations, insofar as they preserve the primordial poetics of the living, this relationship of belonging to multiple singularities. The frontier is the place where worlds meet, and this space is a fertile refuge. This article emerges from a one-week stay from May 2nd to 11th, 2023 in the For & ecirc;t de la Massane National Nature Reserve, as a SACRe-PSL doctoral student and artist photographer. Deeply moved and inspired by the subtlety and richness of the ecosystem of this primary forest, I developed a new aesthetic technique that aims to translate the complexity of living things and the multiplicity of their intricacies: photographic assemblage. Different photographic fragments are selected or duplicated and bonded/assembled together, despite their differences, to (re)constitute a polyphonic, hybrid nature, whose shapes intertwine or not, in an alliance of opposites-which can ultimately be viewed as being very similar. The aesthetic is organic, the image vital. It evokes both art nouveau and virtual reality, and is the place where naturalistic photography meets pictorial inventiveness.
Water scarcity threatens crops, in particular, durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.), in the world's drought regions. As the water-stress wheat cultivars in the middle east of Algeria are poorly investigated, the present study was, therefore devoted to exploring the effect of water deficiency and, the possible attenuative role of exogenous hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in S & eacute;mito, a commonly cultivated durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) variety in the middle eastern regions of Algeria. Here, Water-stressed durum wheat seeds received sufficient water for 48 hours to allow for uniform seed germination and then were subjected to cease the watering phase. The attenuation of water stress severity was examined in water-stressed wheat seeds treated with two different concentrations of H2O2 (20 and 50 mM). Water stress significantly reduced mean root number (MRN), mean root length (MRL), and germination percentage (G %), in addition to a marked decline in total protein content, and increased level of proline content and catalase activity compared to control plants. Moreover, H2O2 co-treatment enhanced the catalase activity, and promoted the accumulation of proline and protein contents, contributing to osmotic adjustment under water stress conditions. Our findings suggest that exogenous H2O2 application ameliorates water stress-induced physiological and biochemical changes in durum wheat, highlighting its potential as a promising strategy to enhance drought tolerance in this economically important crop species.
Eleginops maclovinus is an important resource for artisanal fisheries in South America (ca. 20200 tons per year) Therefore, biological and ecological studies are necessary for the conservation of this species for fishing purposes. In this context, the accompanying fish fauna of E. maclovinus, their monthly and tidal abundance (both daytime and night), and their feeding behaviour were analysed. The study was conducted in the intertidal of Rio Gallegos estuary (Argentina) using a gill net, from December 2020 to May 2021. A total of 788 fish individuals were counted, corresponding to 9 spp. E. maclovinus were the most abundant (ca. 81 % of total specimens), registering a mean value of 4-7 individuals per day from December to April, and the lowest in May (1 individual per day). The comparison of tidal regimes established that E. maclovinus recorded higher abundances during night (4 individuals per day) than daytime tides (2 individuals per day). Feeding analysis showed a total of 11 food items, being the bivalve Darina solenoides the most frequent prey. This study suggests that E. maclovinus is the dominant species in the intertidal zone, feeding on most abundant and available benthic organisms. The present work provides important information for the implementation of sustainable artisanal fisheries in the area.
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) pollution has been found to be toxic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, teratogenic, and immunotoxicogenic. Naphthalene, Anthracene, and Fluorene are among the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are frequently detected in wastewater from biomass gasification and refineries. In this study, industrial waste water samples were collected from three sites located in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate, Egypt and showed presence of PAHs in different concentration varying from 0.42 to 253.1 ppb. This study's findings included the isolation and identification of Enterobacter asburiae the most proficient bacterial isolate capable of biodegrading PAHs among other 7 studied bacterial isolates. Enterobacter asburiae strain No. 1 showed the ability to biologically degrade approximately 79 %, 89.7 % and 82.8 % of Naphthalene, Fluorene and Anthracene active ingredients respectively. The results of toxicity assessment showed that PAHs byproducts after 14 days of incubation had no toxicity; consequently, there was no antibacterial activity detected against B. subtilis as a test organism. Such biological approaches used in this study can be further applied in various polluted sites to get rid of ubiquitous organic pollutants.
. - Waste-water treatment plants (WWTPs) are still little explored in their ecological role. This work reports data obtained from standardized sampling for the two largest Italian WWTPs, to obtain seasonal patterns (late winter, spring, and autumn) of univariate diversity metrics in bird communities. The ecological conditions, linked above all to the high availability of water, with the presence of mud and trophic resources, and heterogeneous features (buildings, trees, and hedges), allow the presence of water-related and synanthropic bird species, using the site as a seasonal stopover and wintering sites. The large availability of biomass of invertebrates, linked to the sludge from the water-waste treatment plants, can provide an important trophic resource during spring migration. The richness, diversity and evenness did not differ significantly between the two plants analysed, both having comparable size and heterogeneity. The highest Simpson dominance values were recorded in autumn with species frequency concentrated in a few abundant species. Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) shows a close association between the autumn period and the dominant Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus), in both treatment plants, with possible implication on the spreading on zoonosis.
Engineer species, such as gorgonians, provide several ecosystem services and play a significant role in the maintenance of biodiversity. We tested an ecological niche modelling approach using a unique dataset of spatialized inventories on a regular grid (< 800 m) replicated in 2013 and 2020 along 450 km of coastline for five gorgonian species commonly found in the Mediterranean shallow habitats (10-50 m deep). Ten non-correlated environmental predictors derived from the most advanced geomorphological and hydrological data were used to assess the ecological niche of the five species using maximum entropy (Maxent). The model confirmed that different combinations of depth, rugosity, sea surface and bottom temperature, bottom flow speed and turbidity explain the different gorgonian’s distribution. The reduction of the number of presence observations did not alter the quality of the prediction as long as the observation points were spread over the entire variability range of predictors. The latter can be achieved by only including presence observations from highly protected zones of the marine protected areas of the region. Our results provide a greater understanding of the factors shaping the distribution of five gorgnian species commonly found in Mediterranean shallow areas.
accurate way to estimate the planktonic food web topology is to consider biomass and flows. However, measurements of flows, as production and grazing rate, are time-consuming. In this paper, we retrace food web topology based on three different degrees of information: input flows (production), internal flows (grazing rate) and plankton biomass in freshwater marshes. For that, a meta-analysis of datasets from 4 freshwater marshes of the Charente-Maritime (French Atlantic coast) were used, corresponding to 47 stations/dates and thus to different geographical and temporal situations. The main results were that, globally, the biomass can yield good results in terms of characterization of the contrasted topology of food web, as the herbivorous food web, the microbial food web and the multivorous food web. However, in order to properly distinguish weak, 'normal' multivorous and strong multivorous food web, the only measure of biomass did not appear to be sufficient. To better separate these different types of multivorous food webs, measurements of primary productions or heterotrophic prokaryote biomass, which correlated well with primary productions, appear interesting. This approach can be applied in all aquatic ecosystems.
Caligus turkiyensis n. sp. is described from the body surface and fins of the flathead grey mullet, Mugil cephalus Linnaeus, 1758, collected in the Sea of Marmara in Turkey. The new species is easily distinguished from its congeners by the ratio of genital complex length/ abdomen length, number of segments in abdomen, length of tines in the sternal furca, number of teeth on the mandible, position of the posterolateral corners of the genital complex relative to the abdomen, status of the recurved terminal claw of the antenna and postantennal process, ratio of length and anterior margin of the maxillule endopodite, process on myxal surface of maxilliped, ratio of first/third spine on fourth leg and existence of denticles on first spine of fourth leg in the female; total body length, process on myxal surface of maxilliped, number of plates and spine at terminal segment of antenna in the male. This study also includes records of Caligus apodus (Brian 1924) and Caligus pageti Russel, 1925 on two mugilid species from the Sea of Marmara, Turkey. The Sea of Marmara is considered as a new locality for C. pageti.
The potential distribution of one the most venomous snake species of Iran, the endemic Macrovipera razii, has been studied. A total of 54 occurrence records with four informative environmental variables, including temperature seasonality (bio4), annual precipitation (bio12), precipitation seasonality (bio15), and precipitation of driest quarter (bio17) for present and future periods were used for identifying suitable habitat. Annual precipitation (bio12) was the most important driving factor with 48 % of permutation importance, followed by precipitation seasonality (bio15) with 42.7 % of contribution to the modeling. According to our results and literature, the most suitable habitats of the species are in highland and mountainous regions. Western and southwestern regions of Iran are highly suitable areas for M. razii according to current conditions, which are highly compatible with its known distribution, with the exception of the predicted suitability in a small patchy region of northeastern Iran where another related taxon, Macrovipera lebetina subsp. cernovi, is present. Future predictions reveal a similar potential distribution. Further research on M. razii is crucial and should encompass various aspects such as the analysis of venom components, field studies, and comprehensive molecular investigations. These efforts are necessary to determine the taxonomic status of M. razii, understand its distribution patterns, and develop effective anti-venom treatments.
A novel mesophilic chemoheterotrophic bacterial strain designated LMB275(T), that grows under aerobic/microaerophilic conditions, was isolated from the thermal spring water of a deep aquifer in France. Cells were oxidase-positive and catalase-negative, with a polar flagellum. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences suggested that strain LMB275(T) belongs to the genus Aquabacterium, and most closely related to Aquabacterium parvum B6(T) ( 99.1 %), Aquabacterium commune B8(T) (97.9 %) and Aquabacterium citratiphilum B4(T) (97.0 %). The DNA-DNA relatedness between strain LMB275(T) and A. parvum was below 70.0 %. The DNA G+C content was 66 mol %. The fatty acid composition differed from all other species of the genus with the dominance of C-18:omega 9c. The polar lipids consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine as the major component, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol and several uncharacterized phospholipids. The strain was not able to assimilate all the carbohydrates tested and used different inorganic electron acceptors. Based on the physiological, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic analyses, and the low level of DNA relatedness with the closest phylogenetic relative A. parvum, it can be concluded that the strain LMB275(T) represents a new species of the genus Aquabacterium, for which the name Aquabacterium silicae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain of A. silicae is LMB275(T) (CNCM I-5858).
Synthetic aminophosphates are a class of organophosphorus compounds com-monly used for protecting crops, however, the toxic effects on terrestrial and aquatic non-target organisms limit their uses. Freshwater protozoan ciliate, Paramecium tetraurelia was used as an alternative cellular model to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of aminophosphates. The present study was therefore, aimed to compare the toxic effects of two newly synthesized aminophos-phates (Ap1 at 30 & 60mM and Ap2 at 40 & 60mM) and glyphosate (0.66mM), a commercial-ized pesticide in Algeria, on growth and major cellular antioxidant makers (GSH, GST, and CAT) in Paramecium tetraurelia. The median lethal concentration (LC50) values of Ap1, Ap2, and glyphosate were preliminarily determined. The test chemicals caused marked disruption in Paramecium kinetic growth and the cellular behavior including the trajectory and motility velocity and decreased percentage of response. In addition, the GSH level, and the enzymatic activity of GAT and GST were significantly decreased in treated cells. The observed adverse effects were less pronounced in Ap1 and Ap2 as compared with glyphosate-treated cells. Con-clusively, the Ap1 and Ap2 proved to be promising lesser toxic and safer compounds than gly-phosate on protozoan ciliate, Paramecium tetraurelia.
Attempts are underway for large-scale industrial mining for rare earth elements on the ocean floor. Using data from marine meiofauna, we examine whether communities disturbed or destroyed by localized mining will recover and re-establish the original equilibria. Studies of beach meiofauna are more detailed than comparable studies of deep-sea meiofauna, permitting the conclusion that many meiofaunal species do not produce many offspring fast nor disperse widely. Cosmopolitan species are rare. Previous studies have shown an enormous species diversity and the presence of many new taxa. Detailed surveys are necessary of more beach and deep-sea habitats including biological observations. Environmental DNA studies of deep-sea sediments are essential but cannot replace taxonomic studies using morphology and DNA analysis of species. Discovery rates of new species are not a reliable measure for completeness of estimates in largely unexplored biomes. Since we do not even know the taxonomic composi-tion of the benthic fauna, it is impossible to determine whether habitats are in equilibrium or not. However, high endemicity and limited dispersal suggest that equilibrium conditions are uncommon. Therefore, it is illusory to expect that habitats will return to an equilibrium after mining. Industrial exploitation on the ocean floor should be preceded by detailed and long-term taxonomic and biological studies.
