Sommaire des documents reçus à la bibliothèque

Physical disturbance by recovering sea otter populations increases eelgrass genetic diversity
The importance of disturbance Sacha Vignieri Work in sea otters over the past few decades has transformed our understanding of the importance of specific species, or keystones, as drivers of community structure and stability. Foster et al. took the next step and tested whether otter foraging might influence genetic diversity in an eelgrass ecosystem (see the Perspective by Roman). The authors found that eelgrass genetic diversity was significantly higher where otters were present and that the impact was related to time: Longer otter presence was associated with higher genetic diversity. These results illustrate how the actions of a predator can affect the diversity of a producer in a tropic system.

Oceanography Labrador Sea drives ocean variability

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) transports warm surface water into the subpolar North Atlantic, where the cooled, dense water sinks below 1000 meters and flows southward and across the equator. Recent observations call into question the fidelity of climate models that place the sinking branch in the Labrador Sea. Yeager et al. inspected a high-resolution climate model and found that by resolving ocean eddies, this model simulates the mean circulation realistically. The twist is that even though the Labrador Sea is not the main region of sinking in the North Atlantic, it does drive a significant component of multidecadal variability in the AMOC and it does so with a time lead of a few years. This finding suggests the possibility of predicting ocean variability based on Labrador Sea conditions.

Ecology Resilience to tipping points in ecosystems

Spatial pattern formation has been proposed as an early warning signal for dangerous tipping points and imminent critical transitions in complex systems, including ecosystems. Rietkerk et al. review how ecosystems and Earth system components can actually evade catastrophic tipping through various pathways of spatial pattern formation. With mathematical and real-world examples, they argue that evading tipping and enhancing resilience could be relevant for many ecosystems and Earth system components that until now were known as tipping prone. Many of these complex systems may be more resilient than currently thought because of overlooked spatial dynamics and multiple stable states, and may thus not undergo critical or catastrophic transitions with global change.

Ce numéro se penche sur les habitats des castors, des termites, des républicains sociaux ou encore des vers de terre, en étudiant la diversité de leurs formes et de leurs fonctions. Que comprenons-nous de la manière dont les animaux vivent en observant leurs architectures ? Comment sommes-nous capables de créer, en les imitant, des conditions d’hospitalité pour la faune sauvage ?
Ce numéro s’intéresse à ce que les constructions animales nous disent de leurs manières de vivre, en famille, en société élargie et avec d’autres cohabitants, humains compris. Nous tentons de restituer, par l’éthologie, la biologie de l’évolution, l’observation naturaliste ou encore la littérature, la vie sociale et domestique des castors, des abeilles, des termites, des hirondelles, des vers de terre ou celle d’une couleuvre dans le cellier d’une maison.

Enfin, ce numéro s’intéresse aux dispositifs artificiels - nichoirs, gîtes, hôtels à insectes, etc. – dans le contexte de projets de conservation ou d’espaces agricoles. Partant de l’échelle de ces dispositifs artificiels et d’une réflexion sur leur conception, le numéro cherche à élargir la focale pour proposer une réflexion sur les conditions d’une hospitalité pour la faune sauvage dans des milieux dégradés.

pp16-23 : l'article "Cultures du sauvage " consacré à la Tour du Valat

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