Gomes, V. H. F., IJff, S. D., Raes, N., Amaral, I. L., Salomão, R. P., de Souza Coelho, L., et al. (2018). Species Distribution Modelling: Contrasting presence-only models with plot abundance data. Sci. Rep., 8, 1003.
Abstract: Species distribution models (SDMs) are widely used in ecology and conservation. Presence-only SDMs such as MaxEnt frequently use natural history collections (NHCs) as occurrence data, given their huge numbers and accessibility. NHCs are often spatially biased which may generate inaccuracies in SDMs. Here, we test how the distribution of NHCs and MaxEnt predictions relates to a spatial abundance model, based on a large plot dataset for Amazonian tree species, using inverse distance weighting (IDW). We also propose a new pipeline to deal with inconsistencies in NHCs and to limit the area of occupancy of the species. We found a significant but weak positive relationship between the distribution of NHCs and IDW for 66% of the species. The relationship between SDMs and IDW was also significant but weakly positive for 95% of the species, and sensitivity for both analyses was high. Furthermore, the pipeline removed half of the NHCs records. Presence-only SDM applications should consider this limitation, especially for large biodiversity assessments projects, when they are automatically generated without subsequent checking. Our pipeline provides a conservative estimate of a species’ area of occupancy, within an area slightly larger than its extent of occurrence, compatible to e.g. IUCN red list assessments.
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Fontaine, S., Stahl, C., Klumpp, K., Picon-Cochard, C., Grise, M. M., Dezécache, C., et al. (2018). Response to Editor to the comment by Schipper and Smith to our paper entitled 'Continuous soil carbon storage of old permanent pastures in Amazonia'. Global Change Biology, 24(3), e732–e733.
Keywords: chronosequence study; continuous C accumulation; deep soil C; eddy covariance; grassland
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Epelboin, L., Bourhy, P., Le Turnier, P., Schaub, R., Mosnier, E., Berlioz-Arthaud, A., et al. (2017). La leptospirose en Guyane française et sur le bouclier des Guyanes. État des connaissances en 2016. Bulletin de la Société de pathologie exotique, 110(3), 165–179.
Abstract: La leptospirose est une zoonose cosmopolite causée par les bactéries du genre Leptospira. Si sa répartition est vaste sur le globe, le climat chaud et humide de la zone intertropicale est particulièrement propice à son expansion. Dans la plupart des départements et territoires français d’outremer, la leptospirose est considérée comme un problème de santé publique. En Guyane, département français situé au nord-est de la forêt amazonienne, elle est considérée comme rare. L’objectif de cette revue est de faire l’état des lieux des connaissances sur la leptospirose humaine et animale en Guyane française et dans les pays environnants. Une recherche exhaustive a été conduite, à travers la littérature médicale indexée et informelle en français, anglais, espagnol et portugais. Ainsi, respectivement dix et quatre publications ont pu être identifiées sur la leptospirose humaine et animale en Guyane, publiées entre 1940 et 1995, sous formes de cas cliniques ou de séries de cas. Les publications concernant cette maladie dans les autres pays du plateau des Guyanes, Venezuela oriental, Guyana, Suriname, et État brésilien de l’Amapá, étaient également rares voire inexistantes. En revanche, les données récentes du centre national de la leptospirose français ont montré une augmentation récente et brutale du nombre de cas dans le département, probablement en partie due à la mise en place d’outils diagnostiques tels que la sérologie IgM Elisa. Il est en fait probable que la leptospirose soit une maladie négligée dans la région, du fait de l’absence d’outils diagnostiques rapidement disponibles, de la méconnaissance des cliniciens de cette pathologie et de l’existence de nombreux autres pathogènes à présentation clinique similaire (paludisme, arboviroses, fièvre Q, toxoplasmose amazonienne). La mise en place d’études de plus grande ampleur sur la leptospirose animale et humaine est nécessaire et urgente pour connaître le véritable poids de cette maladie dans notre région.
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Dejean, A., Petitclerc, F., Azémar, F., Pélozuelo, L., Talaga, S., Leponce, M., et al. (2018). Aquatic life in Neotropical rainforest canopies: Techniques using artificial phytotelmata to study the invertebrate communities inhabiting therein. Comptes Rendus – Biologies, 341(1), 20–27.
Abstract: In Neotropical rainforest canopies, phytotelmata (“plant-held waters”) shelter diverse aquatic macroinvertebrate communities, including vectors of animal diseases. Studying these communities is difficult because phytotelmata are widely dispersed, hard to find from the ground and often inaccessible. We propose here a method for placing in tree crowns “artificial phytotelmata” whose size and shape can be tailored to different research targets. The efficacy of this method was shown while comparing the patterns of community diversity of three forest formations. We noted a difference between a riparian forest and a rainforest, whereas trees alongside a dirt road cutting through that rainforest corresponded to a subset of the latter. Because rarefied species richness was significantly lower when the phytotelmata were left for three weeks rather than for six or nine weeks, we recommend leaving the phytotelmata for twelve weeks to permit predators and phoretic species to fully establish themselves.
Keywords: Artificial phytotelmata; Epiphytes; French Guiana; Invertebrate diversity; Neotropical rainforests
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Dejean, A., Azémar, F., Libert, M., Compin, A., Herault, B., Orivel, J., et al. (2017). Ant-lepidopteran associations along African forest edges. The Science of Nature, 104(1), 7.
Abstract: Working along forest edges, we aimed to determine how some caterpillars can co-exist with territorially dominant arboreal ants (TDAAs) in tropical Africa. We recorded caterpillars from 22 lepidopteran species living in the presence of five TDAA species. Among the defoliator and/or nectarivorous caterpillars that live on tree foliage, the Pyralidae and Nymphalidae use their silk to protect themselves from ant attacks. The Notodontidae and lycaenid Polyommatinae and Theclinae live in direct contact with ants; the Theclinae even reward ants with abundant secretions from their Newcomer gland. Lichen feeders (lycaenid; Poritiinae), protected by long bristles, also live among ants. Some lycaenid Miletinae caterpillars feed on ant-attended membracids, including in the shelters where the ants attend them; Lachnocnema caterpillars use their forelegs to obtain trophallaxis from their host ants. Caterpillars from other species live inside weaver ant nests. Those of the genus Euliphyra (Miletinae) feed on ant prey and brood and can obtain trophallaxis, while those from an Eberidae species only prey on host ant eggs. Eublemma albifascia (Erebidae) caterpillars use their thoracic legs to obtain trophallaxis and trophic eggs from ants. Through transfer bioassays of last instars, we noted that herbivorous caterpillars living in contact with ants were always accepted by alien conspecific ants; this is likely due to an intrinsic appeasing odor. Yet, caterpillars living in ant shelters or ant nests probably acquire cues from their host colonies because they were considered aliens and killed. We conclude that co-evolution with ants occurred similarly in the Heterocera and Rhopalocera.
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Craine, J. M., Elmore, A. J., Wang, L., Aranibar, J., Bauters, M., Boeckx, P., et al. (2018). Isotopic evidence for oligotrophication of terrestrial ecosystems. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2(11), 1735–1744.
Abstract: Human societies depend on an Earth system that operates within a constrained range of nutrient availability, yet the recent trajectory of terrestrial nitrogen (N) availability is uncertain. Examining patterns of foliar N concentrations and isotope ratios (delta15N) from more than 43,000 samples acquired over 37 years, here we show that foliar N concentration declined by 9% and foliar delta15N declined by 0.6–1.6 per thousand. Examining patterns across different climate spaces, foliar delta15N declined across the entire range of mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation tested. These results suggest declines in N supply relative to plant demand at the global scale. In all, there are now multiple lines of evidence of declining N availability in many unfertilized terrestrial ecosystems, including declines in delta15N of tree rings and leaves from herbarium samples over the past 75–150 years. These patterns are consistent with the proposed consequences of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide and longer growing seasons. These declines will limit future terrestrial carbon uptake and increase nutritional stress for herbivores.
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Courtois, E. A., Stahl, C., Van den Berge, J., Bréchet, L., Van Langenhove, L., Richter, A., et al. (2018). Spatial Variation of Soil CO2, CH4 and N2O Fluxes Across Topographical Positions in Tropical Forests of the Guiana Shield. Ecosystems, 21(7), 1445–1458.
Abstract: The spatial variation of soil greenhouse gas fluxes (GHG; carbon dioxide—CO2, methane—CH4 and nitrous oxide—N2O) remains poorly understood in highly complex ecosystems such as tropical forests. We used 240 individual flux measurements of these three GHGs from different soil types, at three topographical positions and in two extreme hydric conditions in the tropical forests of the Guiana Shield (French Guiana, South America) to (1) test the effect of topographical positions on GHG fluxes and (2) identify the soil characteristics driving flux variation in these nutrient-poor tropical soils. Surprisingly, none of the three GHG flux rates differed with topographical position. CO2 effluxes covaried with soil pH, soil water content (SWC), available nitrogen and total phosphorus. The CH4 fluxes were best explained by variation in SWC, with soils acting as a sink under drier conditions and as a source under wetter conditions. Unexpectedly, our study areas were generally sinks for N2O and N2O fluxes were partly explained by total phosphorus and available nitrogen concentrations. This first study describing the spatial variation of soil fluxes of the three main GHGs measured simultaneously in forests of the Guiana Shield lays the foundation for specific studies of the processes underlying the observed patterns.
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Chang, S. - S., Quignard, F., & Clair, B. (2017). The effect of sectioning and ultrasonication on the mesoporosity of poplar tension wood. Wood Science and Technology, 51(3), 507–516.
Abstract: Increasing interest in understanding tension stress generation in tension wood with fibres having a gelatinous layer (G-layer) has focused attention on the specific role of this layer. To distinguish its contribution from those of other wall layers, the G-layer of wood sections was isolated by ultrasonication. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of sectioning and of the ultrasonic treatment on the mesoporosity of tension wood using nitrogen adsorption–desorption analysis. The results showed that the process of isolating the G-layer using ultrasonication strongly affects its mesoporosity. Most damage was found to occur during sectioning rather than as a result of the 15-min ultrasonic treatment.
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Bruelheide, H., Dengler, J., Purschke, O., Lenoir, J., Jiménez-Alfaro, B., Hennekens, S. M., et al. (2018). Global trait–environment relationships of plant communities. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2(12), 1906–1917.
Abstract: Plant functional traits directly affect ecosystem functions. At the species level, trait combinations depend on trade-offs representing different ecological strategies, but at the community level trait combinations are expected to be decoupled from these trade-offs because different strategies can facilitate co-existence within communities. A key question is to what extent community-level trait composition is globally filtered and how well it is related to global versus local environmental drivers. Here, we perform a global, plot-level analysis of trait–environment relationships, using a database with more than 1.1 million vegetation plots and 26,632 plant species with trait information. Although we found a strong filtering of 17 functional traits, similar climate and soil conditions support communities differing greatly in mean trait values. The two main community trait axes that capture half of the global trait variation (plant stature and resource acquisitiveness) reflect the trade-offs at the species level but are weakly associated with climate and soil conditions at the global scale. Similarly, within-plot trait variation does not vary systematically with macro-environment. Our results indicate that, at fine spatial grain, macro-environmental drivers are much less important for functional trait composition than has been assumed from floristic analyses restricted to co-occurrence in large grid cells. Instead, trait combinations seem to be predominantly filtered by local-scale factors such as disturbance, fine-scale soil conditions, niche partitioning and biotic interactions.
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Bossu, J., Lehnebach, R., Corn, S., Regazzi, A., Beauchene, J., & Clair, B. (2018). Interlocked grain and density patterns in Bagassa guianensis: changes with ontogeny and mechanical consequences for trees. Trees, 32(6), 1643–1655.
Abstract: Interlocked grain and basic density increase from pith to bark in Bagassa guianensis and greatly improve trunk torsional stiffness and wood tenacity in the radial plane.
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