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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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Ver plat - Diversibipalium_multilineatum#/media/Fichier:Figure_11_(PeerJ_4672)_-_Diversibipalium_multilineatum wikipedia

The invasion of hammerhead flatworms is not over yet

In the the last years, predatory land flatworms have been introduced in many locations because of the trade of exotic plants. In this article published in Diversity and Distributions, a collaboration between iEES Paris, the National Museum of Natural History and James Cook University aimed to model the global invasion risk of these species. It turns out that they have not colonised all regions at risk yet, which demonstrates a need for increased vigilance in these areas.

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papillon

Habitat fragmentation prevents species from tracking climate change

Climate changeaffectsbiodiversity globally, by forcing species to shift their distribution to track the changes in temperature. An international collaboration between scientists from France, Sweden, the Netherlands and Finland shows, in an article published in the journal Ecology Letters,that habitat fragmentation caused by human activity affects distribution shifts in butterfly species and, hence, their capacity to cope with climate change.

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Syrphe porte-plume (Sphaerophoria scripta), un visiteur assidu de la moutarde blanche (Sinapis alba) du printemps à l’automne. (©Benoît Geslin)

No off-season for insect pollinators in the city!

In the city, the seasonal patterns of activity of insect pollinators could be disturbed by the urban microclimate as well as by the presence of ornamental flora. To study this phenomenon, Vincent Zaninotto and his collaborators monitored the activity of insect pollinators in Paris and in the natural environment, from late winter to autumn. In […]

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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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