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Paysage sahélien, région de Bambey, Sénégal, en septembre 2022

Persistence and success of the Sahel desertification narrative

When the Sahel is mentioned today, this semi-arid African region between the Sahara and Sudanian Africa is often associated with the notion of desertification. But what do the latest advances in environmental science tell us about this desertification? To what extent is the “narrative” of Sahel desertification based on scientific results, or on other mechanisms, of a more political nature?

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Juvénile de Zootoca vivipara

Lizards from warm and declining populations are born with extremely short telomeres

This study unraveled the impacts of accelerated aging pace as a corollary of climate-driven population decline. We found transgenerational accumulation of telomere shortening implying that offspring were already born “old”. We suggest that this process may exacerbate across generations, leading to an aging loop in the population. This model posits that telomere dynamics should represent a molecular biomarker of extirpation, and likely a central cause and promising solution for future biodiversity managing actions.

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spatial heterogeneity

Persistence of soil organic carbon caused by functional complexity

Soil carbon persistence can be understood through the lens of decomposers as a result of functional complexity derived from the interplay between spatial and temporal variation of molecular diversity and composition. For example, co-location alone can determine whether a molecule is decomposed, with rapid changes in moisture leading to transport of organic matter and constraining the fitness of the microbial community, while greater molecular diversity may increase the metabolic demand of, and thus potentially limit, decomposition.

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protistes

Environmental pulse disturbances disproportionately affect large body size species

Smaller organisms are typically more abundant than larger ones, which is a fundamental characteristic of ecological communities. How environmental pulse disturbances affect these « abundance pyramids » remains poorly understood. In a study recently published in Ecology Letters, researchers from iEES Paris and the University of Zürich showed that disturbances which are not size-selective still […]

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