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Sebbenn, A. M., Blanc-Jolivet, C., Mader, M., Meyer-Sand, B. R. V., Paredes-Villanueva, K., Honorio Coronado, E. N., et al. (2019). Nuclear and plastidial SNP and INDEL markers for genetic tracking studies of Jacaranda copaia. Conserv. Gen. Res., 11(3), 341–343.
Abstract: Nuclear and plastidial single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and INDEL markers were developed using restriction associated DNA sequencing (RADSeq) and low coverage MiSeq genome sequencing for population genetics and timber tracking purposes in the Neotropical timber species Jacaranda copaia. We used 407 nuclear SNPs, 29 chloroplast, and 31 mitochondrial loci to genotype 92 individuals from Brazil, Bolivia, French Guiana, and Peru. Based on high amplification rates and genetic differentiation among populations, 113 nuclear SNPs, 11 chloroplast, and 4 mitochondrial loci were selected, and their use validated for genetic tracking of timber origin.
Keywords: DNA fingerprints; Geographical origin; Jacaranda copaia; MassARRAY; MiSeq; RADSeq; Tropical timber
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Taureau, F., Robin, M., Proisy, C., Fromard, F., Imbert, D., & Debaine, F. (2019). Mapping the mangrove forest canopy using spectral unmixing of very high spatial resolution satellite images. Remote Sens., 11(3), 367.
Abstract: Despite the lowtree diversity and scarcity of the understory vegetation, the high morphological plasticity of mangrove trees induces, at the stand level, a very large variability of forest structures that need to be mapped for assessing the functioning of such complex ecosystems. Fully constrained linear spectral unmixing (FCLSU) of very high spatial resolution (VHSR) multispectral images was tested to fine-scale map mangrove zonations in terms of horizontal variation of forest structure. The study was carried out on three Pleiades-1A satellite images covering French island territories located in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, namely Guadeloupe, Mayotte, and New Caledonia archipelagos. In each image, FCLSU was trained from the delineation of areas exclusively related to four components including either pure vegetation, soil (ferns included), water, or shadows. It was then applied to the whole mangrove cover imaged for each island and yielded the respective contributions of those four components for each image pixel. On the forest stand scale, the results interestingly indicated a close correlation between FCLSU-derived vegetation fractions and canopy closure estimated from hemispherical photographs R 2 = 0.95) and a weak relation with the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (R 2 = 0.29). Classification of these fractions also offered the opportunity to detect and map horizontal patterns of mangrove structure in a given site. K-means classifications of fraction indeed showed a global view of mangrove structure organization in the three sites, complementary to the outputs obtained from spectral data analysis. Our findings suggest that the pixel intensity decomposition applied to VHSR multispectral satellite images can be a simple but valuable approach for (i) mangrove canopy monitoring and (ii) mangrove forest structure analysis in the perspective of assessing mangrove dynamics and productivity. As with Lidar-based surveys, these potential new mapping capabilities deserve further physically based interpretation of sunlight scattering mechanisms within forest canopy. © 2019 by the authors.
Keywords: Forest structure; Guadeloupe; Hemispherical photographs; Mangrove; Mayotte; New Caledonia; Remote sensing; Image resolution; Photography; Photomapping; Pixels; Remote sensing; Satellites; Vegetation; Forest structure; Guadeloupe; Hemispherical photographs; Mangrove; Mayotte; New Caledonia; Forestry
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Prunier, J., Maurice, L., Perez, E., Gigault, J., Pierson Wickmann, A. - C., Davranche, M., et al. (2019). Trace metals in polyethylene debris from the North Atlantic subtropical gyre. Environ. Pollut., 245, 371–379.
Abstract: Plastic pollution in the marine environment poses threats to wildlife and habitats through varied mechanisms, among which are the transport and transfer to the food web of hazardous substances. Still, very little is known about the metal content of plastic debris and about sorption/desorption processes, especially with respect to weathering. In this study, plastic debris collected from the North Atlantic subtropical gyre was analyzed for trace metals; as a comparison, new packaging materials were also analyzed. Both the new items and plastic debris showed very scattered concentrations. The new items contained significant amounts of trace metals introduced as additives, but globally, metal concentrations were higher in the plastic debris. The results provide evidence that enhanced metal concentrations increase with the plastic state of oxidation for some elements, such as As, Ti, Ni, and Cd. Transmission electron microscopy showed the presence of mineral particles on the surface of the plastic debris. This work demonstrates that marine plastic debris carries complex mixtures of heavy metals. Such materials not only behave as a source of metals resulting from intrinsic plastic additives but also are able to concentrate metals from ocean water as mineral nanoparticles or adsorbed species. Plastic debris collected from the North Atlantic subtropical gyre was analyzed for trace metals. Marine plastic debris carry complex mixtures of heavy metals but it is evidence that plastic oxidation favors their adsorption.
Keywords: metals'accumulation; Microplastic; Plastic debris; Polyethylene; Polymer
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Ruiz-González, M. X., Leroy, C., Dejean, A., Gryta, H., Jargeat, P., Carrión, A. D. A., et al. (2019). Do host plant and associated ant species affect microbial communities in myrmecophytes? Insects, 10(11), 391.
Abstract: Ant-associated microorganisms can play crucial and often overlooked roles, and given the diversity of interactions that ants have developed, the study of the associated microbiomes is of interest. We focused here on specialist plant-ant species of the genus Allomerus that grow a fungus to build galleries on their host-plant stems. Allomerus-inhabited domatia, thus, might be a rich arena for microbes associated with the ants, the plant, and the fungus. We investigated the microbial communities present in domatia colonised by four arboreal ants: Allomerus decemarticulatus, A. octoarticulatus, A. octoarticulatus var. demerarae, and the non-fungus growing plant-ant Azteca sp. cf. depilis, inhabiting Hirtella physophora or Cordia nodosa in French Guiana. We hypothesized that the microbial community will differ among these species. We isolated microorganisms from five colonies of each species, sequenced the 16S rRNA or Internal TranscribedSpacer (ITS) regions, and described both the alpha and beta diversities. We identified 69 microbial taxa, which belong to five bacterial and two fungal phyla. The most diverse phyla were Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria. The microbial community of Azteca cf. depilis and Allomerus spp. differed in composition and richness. Geographical distance affected microbial communities and richness but plant species did not. Actinobacteria were only associated with Allomerus spp.
Keywords: Allomerus decemarticulatus; Allomerus octoarticulatus; Azteca sp; Cf; Cordia nodosa; Depilis; Domatia; Hirtella physophora; Microbial diversity
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Steidinger, B. S., Crowther, T. W., Liang, J., Van Nuland, M. E., Werner, G. D. A., Reich, P. B., et al. (2019). Climatic controls of decomposition drive the global biogeography of forest-tree symbioses. Nature, 569(7756), 404–408.
Abstract: The identity of the dominant root-associated microbial symbionts in a forest determines the ability of trees to access limiting nutrients from atmospheric or soil pools 1,2 , sequester carbon 3,4 and withstand the effects of climate change 5,6 . Characterizing the global distribution of these symbioses and identifying the factors that control this distribution are thus integral to understanding the present and future functioning of forest ecosystems. Here we generate a spatially explicit global map of the symbiotic status of forests, using a database of over 1.1 million forest inventory plots that collectively contain over 28,000 tree species. Our analyses indicate that climate variables—in particular, climatically controlled variation in the rate of decomposition—are the primary drivers of the global distribution of major symbioses. We estimate that ectomycorrhizal trees, which represent only 2% of all plant species 7 , constitute approximately 60% of tree stems on Earth. Ectomycorrhizal symbiosis dominates forests in which seasonally cold and dry climates inhibit decomposition, and is the predominant form of symbiosis at high latitudes and elevation. By contrast, arbuscular mycorrhizal trees dominate in aseasonal, warm tropical forests, and occur with ectomycorrhizal trees in temperate biomes in which seasonally warm-and-wet climates enhance decomposition. Continental transitions between forests dominated by ectomycorrhizal or arbuscular mycorrhizal trees occur relatively abruptly along climate-driven decomposition gradients; these transitions are probably caused by positive feedback effects between plants and microorganisms. Symbiotic nitrogen fixers—which are insensitive to climatic controls on decomposition (compared with mycorrhizal fungi)—are most abundant in arid biomes with alkaline soils and high maximum temperatures. The climatically driven global symbiosis gradient that we document provides a spatially explicit quantitative understanding of microbial symbioses at the global scale, and demonstrates the critical role of microbial mutualisms in shaping the distribution of plant species. © 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
Keywords: Fungi
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Fichaux, M., Béchade, B., Donald, J., Weyna, A., Delabie, J. H. C., Murienne, J., et al. (2019). Habitats shape taxonomic and functional composition of Neotropical ant assemblages. Oecologia, 189(2), 501–513.
Abstract: Determining assembly rules of co-occurring species persists as a fundamental goal in community ecology. At local scales, the relative importance of environmental filtering vs. competitive exclusion remains a subject of debate. In this study, we assessed the relative importance of habitat filtering and competition in structuring understory ant communities in tropical forests of French Guiana. Leaf-litter ants were collected using pitfall and Winkler traps across swamp, slope and plateau forests near Saül, French Guiana. We used a combination of univariate and multivariate analyses to evaluate trait response of ants to habitat characteristics. Null model analyses were used to investigate the effects of habitat filtering and competitive interactions on community assembly at the scale of assemblages and sampling points, respectively. Swamp forests presented a much lower taxonomic and functional richness compared to slope and plateau forests. Furthermore, marked differences in taxonomic and functional composition were observed between swamp forests and slope or plateau forests. We found weak evidence for competitive exclusion based on null models. Nevertheless, the contrasting trait composition observed between habitats revealed differences in the ecological attributes of the species in the different forest habitats. Our analyses suggest that competitive interactions may not play an important role in structuring leaf-litter ant assemblages locally. Rather, habitats are responsible for driving both taxonomic and functional composition of ant communities.
Keywords: Formicidae; Functional diversity; Habitat filtering; Rainforest; Traits; Formicidae
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Franco, W., Ladino, N., Delabie, J. H. C., Dejean, A., Orivel, J., Fichaux, M., et al. (2019). First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa, 4674(5), 509–543.
Abstract: We provide here a checklist of the ants of French Guiana, an overseas department of France situated in northern South America, with a very low human population density and predominantly covered by old-growth tropical rainforests. Based on 165 scientific papers, specimens deposited in collections, and unpublished surveys, a total of 659 valid species and subspecies from 84 genera and 12 subfamilies is presented. Although far from complete, these numbers represent approximately 10% of the ant diversity known to occur in the Neotropical realm. Additionally, three ant genera and 119 species are reported for the first time for French Guiana. Finally, five species are recognized as erroneous records for the the department in the literature. This checklist significantly expands the basic knowledge of the ants in the Guiana Shield, one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots.
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Grossiord, C., Christoffersen, B., Alonso-Rodríguez, A. M., Anderson-Teixeira, K., Asbjornsen, H., Aparecido, L. M. T., et al. (2019). Precipitation mediates sap flux sensitivity to evaporative demand in the neotropics. Oecologia, 191(3), 519–530.
Abstract: Transpiration in humid tropical forests modulates the global water cycle and is a key driver of climate regulation. Yet, our understanding of how tropical trees regulate sap flux in response to climate variability remains elusive. With a progressively warming climate, atmospheric evaporative demand [i.e., vapor pressure deficit (VPD)] will be increasingly important for plant functioning, becoming the major control of plant water use in the twenty-first century. Using measurements in 34 tree species at seven sites across a precipitation gradient in the neotropics, we determined how the maximum sap flux velocity (vmax) and the VPD threshold at which vmax is reached (VPDmax) vary with precipitation regime [mean annual precipitation (MAP); seasonal drought intensity (PDRY)] and two functional traits related to foliar and wood economics spectra [leaf mass per area (LMA); wood specific gravity (WSG)]. We show that, even though vmax is highly variable within sites, it follows a negative trend in response to increasing MAP and PDRY across sites. LMA and WSG exerted little effect on vmax and VPDmax, suggesting that these widely used functional traits provide limited explanatory power of dynamic plant responses to environmental variation within hyper-diverse forests. This study demonstrates that long-term precipitation plays an important role in the sap flux response of humid tropical forests to VPD. Our findings suggest that under higher evaporative demand, trees growing in wetter environments in humid tropical regions may be subjected to reduced water exchange with the atmosphere relative to trees growing in drier climates. © 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
Keywords: Evapotranspiration; Plant functional traits; Transpiration; Vapor pressure deficit; drought; evapotranspiration; flux measurement; hydrological cycle; Neotropical Region; precipitation (chemistry); precipitation (climatology); tree; tropical forest; tropical region; vapor pressure; water; drought; evapotranspiration; forest; tree; vapor pressure; Droughts; Forests; Plant Transpiration; Trees; Vapor Pressure; Water
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Yguel, B., Piponiot, C., Mirabel, A., Dourdain, A., Hérault, B., Gourlet-Fleury, S., et al. (2019). Beyond species richness and biomass: Impact of selective logging and silvicultural treatments on the functional composition of a neotropical forest. Forest Ecology and Management, 433, 528–534.
Abstract: Tropical forests harbor the greatest terrestrial biodiversity and provide various ecosystem services. The increase of human activities on these forests, among which logging, makes the conservation of biodiversity and associated services strongly dependent on the sustainability of these activities. However the indicators commonly used to assess the impact of forest exploitation, namely species richness and biomass, provide a limited understanding of their sustainability. Here, we assessed the sustainability of common forest exploitation in the Guiana Shield studying the recovery of two ecosystem services i.e. carbon storage and wood stock, and an ecosystem function i.e. seed dispersal by animals. Specifically, we compared total and commercial biomass, as well as functional composition in seed size of animal-dispersed species in replicated forest plots before and 27 years after exploitation. Species richness is also studied to allow comparison. While species richness was not affected by forest exploitation, total and commercial biomass as well as seed size of animal-dispersed species decreased 27 years after exploitation, similarly to forests affected by hunting. These results show that ecosystem services and function likely did not recover even at the lowest intensity of forest exploitation studied, questioning the sustainability of the most common rotation-cycle duration applied in the tropics.
Keywords: Selective logging; Humid tropical forest; Functional composition; Seed dispersal; Carbon storage; Commercial stock; Anthropogenic pressure; Sustainability
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Zinger, L., Taberlet, P., Schimann, H., Bonin, A., Boyer, F., De Barba, M., et al. (2019). Body size determines soil community assembly in a tropical forest. Mol Ecol, 28(3), 528–543.
Abstract: Tropical forests shelter an unparalleled biological diversity. The relative influence of environmental selection (i.e., abiotic conditions, biotic interactions) and stochastic?distance-dependent neutral processes (i.e., demography, dispersal) in shaping communities has been extensively studied for various organisms, but has rarely been explored across a large range of body sizes, in particular in soil environments. We built a detailed census of the whole soil biota in a 12-ha tropical forest plot using soil DNA metabarcoding. We show that the distribution of 19 taxonomic groups (ranging from microbes to mesofauna) is primarily stochastic, suggesting that neutral processes are prominent drivers of the assembly of these communities at this scale. We also identify aluminium, topography and plant species identity as weak, yet significant drivers of soil richness and community composition of bacteria, protists and to a lesser extent fungi. Finally, we show that body size, which determines the scale at which an organism perceives its environment, predicted the community assembly across taxonomic groups, with soil mesofauna assemblages being more stochastic than microbial ones. These results suggest that the relative contribution of neutral processes and environmental selection to community assembly directly depends on body size. Body size is hence an important determinant of community assembly rules at the scale of the ecological community in tropical soils and should be accounted for in spatial models of tropical soil food webs.
Keywords: DNA metabarcoding; eDNA; French Guiana; multitaxa; neutral assembly; niche determinism; propagule size; soil diversity
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