Is the meiofauna a good indicator for climate change and anthropogenic impacts?

Our planet is changing, and one of the most pressing challenges facing the scientific community revolves around understanding how ecological communities respond to global changes. From coastal to deep-sea ecosystems, ecologists are exploring new areas of research to find model organisms that help predict the future of life on our planet. Among the different categories of organisms, meiofauna offer several advantages for the study of marine benthic ecosystems. This paper reviews the advances in the study of meiofauna with regard to climate change and anthropogenic impacts. Four taxonomic groups are valuable for predicting global changes: foraminifers (especially calcareous forms), nematodes, copepods and ostracods. Environmental variables are fundamental in the interpretation of meiofaunal patterns and multistressor experiments are more informative than single stressor ones, revealing complex ecological and biological interactions. Global change has a general negative effect on meiofauna, with important consequences on benthic food webs. However, some meiofaunal species can be favoured by the extreme conditions induced by global change, as they can exhibit remarkable physiological adaptations. This review highlights the need to incorporate studies on taxonomy, genetics and function of meiofaunal taxa into global change impact research

Haploblocks contribute to parallel climate adaptation following global invasion of a cosmopolitan plant

The role of rapid adaptation during species invasions has historically been minimized with the assumption that introductions consist of few colonists and limited genetic diversity. While overwhelming evidence suggests that rapid adaptation is more prevalent than originally assumed, the demographic and adaptive processes underlying successful invasions remain unresolved. Here we leverage a large whole-genome sequence dataset to investigate the relative roles of colonization history and adaptation during the worldwide invasion of the forage crop, Trifolium repens (Fabaceae). We show that introduced populations encompass high levels of genetic variation with little evidence of bottlenecks. Independent colonization histories on different continents are evident from genome-wide population structure. Five haploblocks—large haplotypes with limited recombination—on three chromosomes exist as standing genetic variation within the native and introduced ranges and exhibit strong signatures of parallel climate-associated adaptation across continents. Field experiments in the native and introduced ranges demonstrate that three of the haploblocks strongly affect fitness and exhibit patterns of selection consistent with local adaptation across each range. Our results provide strong evidence that large-effect structural variants contribute substantially to rapid and parallel adaptation of an introduced species throughout the world

Conceptualizing and measuring strategy implementation – a multi-dimensional view

Through quantitative methodological approaches for studying the strategic management and planning process, analysis of data from 208 senior managers involved in strategy processes within ten UK industrial sectors provides evidence on the measurement properties of a multi-dimensional instrument that assesses ten dimensions of strategy implementation. Using exploratory factor analysis, results indicate the sub-constructs (the ten dimensions) are uni-dimensional factors with acceptable reliability and validity; whilst using three additional measures, and correlation and hierarchical regression analysis, the nomological validity for the multi-dimensional strategy implementation construct was established. Relative importance of ten strategy implementation dimensions (activities) for practicing managers is highlighted, with the mutually and combinative effects drawing conclusion that senior management involvement leads the way among the ten key identified activities vital for successful strategy implementation

The Mouse Tumor Biology Database: integrated access to mouse cancer biology data.

Mice have long been used as models for the study of human cancer. The National Cancer Institute has included among its research areas of extraordinary opportunity the development of new mouse genetic models of human cancer and the exploration of cancer imaging as a research tool. Because of the volume and interconnectedness of relevant data, the creation and maintenance of bioinformatics resources of mouse tumor biology is necessary to facilitate current and future cancer research. The Mouse Tumor Biology (MTB) Database provides electronic access to data generated through the study of spontaneous and induced tumors in genetically defined mice (inbred, hybrid, spontaneous and induced mutant, and genetically engineered strains of mice)

P16 - Point sur les projets de normalisation « air des lieux de travail » relatifs aux agents biologiques aux niveaux européen et français

International audienceThe presentation provides an overview of the standardisation work carried out at European and French level over the 2018-2021 period and specifies the directions that have been given after 2022. The standards EN 13098, EN 14031 and EN 14583 relative to biological agents have been revised by the working group CEN/TC 137/WG5 "Measurement of biological agents". The same group is proposing draft standards for the measurement of mycotoxins, viruses in air and biological agents by molecular techniques. It also proposes to increase the promotion of research to support standardisation and networking. At the French level, the AFNOR X43C/GE1 mirror group is following this work and has initiated work on the measurement strategy. The standardisation work has created a new and unifying dynamic on the issue of biological risks and has made it possible to disseminate the culture and the prevention approach.La présentation fait un état des lieux des travaux de normalisation menés aux niveaux européen et français sur la période 2018-2021 et précise les orientations prévues après 2022. Les normes EN 13098, EN 14031 et EN 14583 sur les agents biologiques ont été révisées par le groupe de travail CEN/TC 137/WG5 « Mesurage des agents biologiques ». Ce même groupe propose des projets de normes concernant les mesures des mycotoxines, des virus dans l'air et des agents biologiques par les techniques de biologie moléculaire. Il propose aussi d'accentuer la promotion de la recherche pour accompagner la normalisation et le travail en réseau. Au niveau français, le groupe miroir AFNOR X43C/GE1 suit ces travaux et a engagé un travail sur la stratégie de mesure. Les travaux de normalisation ont créé une dynamique nouvelle et fédératrice sur le thème des risques biologiques et permettent de diffuser la culture et la démarche de prévention

One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants

Data availability: Raw reads of genetic data are deposited at the NCBI under project ID PRJNA1145159, with SRA IDs and all data supporting the results of the study indicated for each sample in Supplementary Table 1. Reference genomes, genetic variation data and phylogenetic analyses used for producing the results of the study are available at Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11506545). We also used the following datasets from the orthoDB database (https://www.orthodb.org/): hymenoptera_odb10 (https://busco-data.ezlab.org/v5/data/lineages/hymenoptera_odb10.2024-01-08.tar.gz) and metazoa_odb10 (https://busco-data.ezlab.org/v5/data/lineages/metazoa_odb10.2024-01-08.tar.gz).Code availability: Scripts used for producing the results of the study are available at Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11506545).International audienceLiving organisms are assumed to produce same-species offspring. Here, we report a shift from this norm in Messor ibericus , an ant that lays individuals from two distinct species. In this life cycle, females must clone males of another species because they require their sperm to produce the worker caste. As a result, males from the same mother exhibit distinct genomes and morphologies, as they belong to species that diverged over 5 million years ago. The evolutionary history of this system appears as sexual parasitism that evolved into a natural case of cross-species cloning, resulting in the maintenance of a male-only lineage cloned through distinct species’ ova. We term females exhibiting this reproductive mode as xenoparous, meaning they give birth to other species as part of their life cycle