Mate choice for neutral and MHC genetic characteristics in Alpine marmots : different targets in different contexts?

We warmly thank all students and Earthwatch volunteers involved in catching the marmots and the authorities of the Vanoise National Park for granting us permission to work in the Grande Sassière Nature Reserve. We thank M. Harrington for English editing and Dr. E. Rajon for helpful discussions on the manuscript. This work was supported by the "Agence Nationale de la Recherche" (ANR, project ANR-08-BLAN-0214-03, ANR-13-JSV7-0005), the "Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique" (CNRS), the "FR41 BioEnvironnement et Santé de l'Université de Lyon" and the "Earthwatch Institute", the scholarship for postgraduate studies "Obra Social Fundació La Caixa" and Vetagro-Sup.Sexual selection through female mate choice for genetic characteristics has been suggested to be an important evolutionary force maintaining genetic variation in animal populations. However, the genetic targets of female mate choice are not clearly identified and whether female mate choice is based on neutral genetic characteristics or on particular functional loci remains an open question. Here, we investigated the genetic targets of female mate choice in Alpine marmots (Marmota marmota), a socially monogamous mammal where extra-pair paternity (EPP) occurs. We used 16 microsatellites to describe neutral genetic characteristics and two MHC loci belonging to MHC class I and II as functional genetic characteristics. Our results reveal that (1) neutral and MHC genetic characteristics convey different information in this species, (2) social pairs show a higher MHC class II dissimilarity than expected under random mate choice, and (3) the occurrence of EPP increases when social pairs present a high neutral genetic similarity or dissimilarity but also when they present low MHC class II dissimilarity. Thus, female mate choice is based on both neutral and MHC genetic characteristics, and the genetic characteristics targeted seem to be context dependent (i.e., the genes involved in social mate choice and genetic mate choice differ). We emphasize the need for empirical studies of mate choice in the wild using both neutral and MHC genetic characteristics because whether neutral and functional genetic characteristics convey similar information is not universal

Biodiversity Informatics: An interactive computer- aided identification and knowledge base on tree species of Lao PDR

International audienceObjectives • To enrich the existing knowledge base (BIOTIK project*) on a major "hot spot" of biodiversity: the rain forests of Annamite Mountain range of Lao PDR, in the framework of the Inventory of biodiversity of forest canopies conducted in 2012 in Lao PDR under F. Hallé scientific direction, and also to participate to broader initiatives such as Pl@ntNet project**. • To translate the identification tool in the Lao language in order to contribute to the capacity-building in plant taxonomy in the country. • To transfer the identification system to touch pads, enabling plant identification and entering data directly in the field

Contribution to the knowledge of tree species of Lao PDR with IDAO system

The implementation of biodiversity conservation actions depends on our capacity to measure and mapping their components. To achieve this important work it is necessary to know the identity of the species in order to organize their inventory. With the aim to contribute to reducing the "taxonomic impediment", we use the interactive computer-aided identification system called IDAO. Within the framework of the Forest Biodiversity Inventory in Lao PDR (Opération Canopée, Hallé et al.), we enrich an existing knowledge base. In this study, we focused on the Phou Hin Poun National Park, Khammouane province. This location offers a variety of contrasting sites in a karstic valley. Thus, among more than 300 trees samples, 115 where analyzed, 104 were identified at species level and 11 at genus level. Our results show a high trees species diversity of which more than 10% would be new for the country. Making available such results of the widest audience with a simple and efficient identification tools is one condition for the protection of tropical forest resources and particularly trees. In this sense, IDAO system allows a non-expert user to identify species in the field. In effect, it was designed for training purposes and to help non-botanists in the identification process. Unique in its kind, this identification system is completely graphic. It built a theoretical plant following botanical characters selected by the user. It differs from classical dichotomous keys offering a multi-entry system, allows identification of incomplete samples and certain level of observational errors. IDAO enables users to make determinations of taxa by an algorithm, generating rules as required at any stage of identification, as the way by which experts do. We emphasize the needs for more plant collecting and identification work in this region to improve training and capacity building in plant taxonomy through IDAO approach. (Résumé d'auteur

Pistes pour l'étude des fragments araméens du Livre d'Hénoch : l'apport des perspectives narratives et énonciatives de l'Hénoch éthiopien

L’étude du Livre d’Hénoch souffre d’importantes lacunes au niveau diachronique. Cette situation est attribuable en partie à une erreur de perspective. Comme on connaît peu les traditions dont il est question, on cherche à mieux les cerner à partir du dernier état du texte. On oublie alors que le texte qui nous est parvenu constitue le point d’arrivée de ces traditions, et non la source. Ainsi, à défaut de posséder des témoins étendus des versions antérieures ou des traditions auxquelles l’œuvre réfère, on peine à situer correctement les récits mythiques et eschatologiques qui sont évoqués dans l’Hénoch éthiopien. À cet égard, les fragments araméens du Livre d’Hénoch ouvrent une fenêtre sur cet univers de traditions. Cette nouvelle étude peut d’ailleurs tirer parti des photographies couleur multispectrales qui sont maintenant disponibles en ligne. L’état fragmentaire des manuscrits commande cependant l’emploi d’une méthode appropriée de façon à ce que la comparaison des sources conduise à des résultats significatifs. La seule comparaison des mots ne suffit pas. Les récits qu’ils composent dans l’Hénoch éthiopien sont fondés sur quelques principes directeurs. À leur tour, ces récits sont regroupés dans des livres selon une certaine logique qui a guidé la mise en forme du pentateuque hénochéen. Ce sont autant d’indices dont il faut vérifier la présence dans le texte araméen. Mener à bien une recherche diachronique sur cet écrit pseudépigraphe requiert donc de mieux connaître l’Hénoch éthiopien et le sens qu’il génère, en l’étudiant de façon synchronique. Dans la présente étude, nous entendons dégager quelques pistes de recherche qui permettront de lire les fragments araméens, de manière à comprendre ce qu’ils laissent entrevoir du passé. Seront explorés successivement le motif de la transmission à Mathusalem dans les 3e et 4e livres, le rôle attribué aux justes dans le 5e et enfin, la structure du mythe dans le Livre des Veilleurs.The diachronic research on the Book of Enoch seems to rest in idle mode. Looking back at the past decades, one realizes that the new evidence provided by the Dead Sea Scrolls has not changed the way we see the Book of Enoch today. Although fragments from a so-called Book of Giants have been discovered, Milik’s edition of the manuscripts relies on the assumption that the aramaic text is the archetype of the version that we know in Ethiopic (and in greek to some extent). In other words, we still don’t know much about the formation of the Book of Enoch, despite the discovery of Enoch’s fragments among the scrolls. There is a need to change the approach to those manuscripts. To improve our knowledge, we need to take a step back, and read those fragments with a fresh look. A new study can take advantage of the multispectral scans that are now available. But this reading must be conducted using an appropriate method for interpreting the results. The manuscripts unearthed from the cave 4 reveal to be extremely fragmentary. Word by word comparison of the aramaic text with the Ethiopic witnesses cannot provide sufficient clues to support a diachronic study. Literary analysis provides criteria to discriminate between meaningless differences and those that can shed light on the form the book once had in aramaic. In the course of this study, we will first determine if the 3rd and the 4th books were combined the same way as they are in Ethiopic. Afterwards, the study will focus on the figure of the Righteous in the 5th book. Then, the narrative of the fallen angels will be considered anew

Embracing Im/possibility: A Black Feminist Exploration of Tau Lewis’ T.A.U.B.I.S. (2020)

This thesis explores the paradox of what it means to live Blackness within a world founded upon its destruction through a critical art historical analysis of Jamaican-Canadian artist Tau Lewis’ exhibition Triumphant Alliance of the Ubiquitous Blossoms of Incarnate Souls (T.A.U.B.I.S.) (2020). Adopting a Black feminist framework rooted in methods of opacity, I interrogate the racist visual, cultural, and social economies that have continuously objectified and dehumanized Black people since the transatlantic slave trade. In doing so, I illuminate how Lewis’ work navigates structures of anti-Black violence and reimagines Black diasporic life beyond white supremacist patriarchal capitalist impositions of negation. Drawing from Black studies scholar Saidiya Hartman’s notion of the afterlife of slavery, I establish Lewis’ work within a larger legacy of Black diasporic practices of Black refusal, care, relation, and radical imagination that grapples towards liberatory ends. At the same time, I consider how T.A.U.B.I.S.’ interdisciplinary nature—which includes poetry, speculative fiction, and hand-sewn textile sculptures which represent imagined Black motherly ancestors—emerges as an expansive site of Black diasporic possibility that transcends reductive constructs of biological determinism. Ultimately, this thesis argues that with T.A.U.B.I.S., Lewis not only tends to present-day Black diasporic subjectivities, but further prompts vital strategies for knowing and living Blackness otherwise in the still unfolding aftermaths of slavery

An experimental study of how variation in deer density affects vegetation and songbird assemblages of recently harvested boreal forests

Intense browsing by abundant large herbivores can threaten the ecological integrity of ecosystems by inducing modifications in the structure and composition of vegetation that trigger trophic cascades affecting plant and animal communities. We investigated the relationships between density of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann, 1780)), forest succession after clear-cut, and songbird communities on Anticosti Island, Quebec, Canada. We hypothesized that lower deer densities would alter the trajectory of forest succession after clear-cutting and lead to a rapid recovery of habitat attributes favorable to songbirds associated with a dense complex shrub layer. Six years after establishing a controlled browsing experiment (0, 7.5, 15, and >27 deer·km–2) in recent clearcuts, reducing deer densities ≤7.5 deer·km–2 initiated the restoration of balsam fir (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) forests and increased the regeneration of paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marshall). Increasing birch ground cover from 10% to 20% increased songbird total abundance, species richness, and diversity by 17%, 39%, and 31%, respectively. Alder Flycatcher (Empidonax alnorum Brewster, 1895) was only present at ≤7.5 deer·km–2 and strongly associated with birch regeneration. The regeneration of browse-resistant plants such as white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) in some areas at high deer density favored the maintenance of many shrub-dependent songbirds but also species usually associated with forest canopy. Active management of deer populations in Canadian harvested boreal forests will mitigate losses in vegetation and songbirds caused by over-browsing.Le broutement intensif par de nombreux grands herbivores peut menacer l’intégrité écologique d’écosystèmes en induisant des modifications de la structure et de la composition de la végétation qui déclenchent des cascades trophiques ayant des incidences sur les communautés végétales et animales. Nous nous sommes penchés sur les liens entre la densité du cerf de Virginie (Odocoileus virginianus (Zimmermann, 1780)), la succession forestière après la coupe à blanc et les communautés d’oiseaux chanteurs sur l’île d’Anticosti (Québec, Canada). Nous avons émis l’hypothèse que de plus faibles densités de cerfs modifieraient la trajectoire de succession forestière après une coupe à blanc et mèneraient au rétablissement rapide des attributs d’habitat favorables aux oiseaux chanteurs associés à une strate arbustive complexe et dense. Six ans après l’établissement d’une expérience de broutement contrôlé (0, 7,5, 15 et >27 cerfs·km–2) dans des coupes récentes, la réduction des densités de cerfs à ≤7,5 cerfs·km–2 s’est traduite par le début du rétablissement des forêts de sapin baumier (Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.) et une régénération accrue du bouleau à papier (Betula papyrifera Marshall). Un passage de la couverture de bouleau de 10 % à 20 % s’est traduit par des augmentations de l’abondance totale d’oiseaux chanteurs, de la richesse spécifique et de la diversité de 17 %, 39 % et 31 %, respectivement. Le moucherolle des aulnes (Empidonax alnorum Brewster, 1895) n’était présent qu’à des densités ≤7,5 cerfs·km–2 et était fortement associé à la régénération du bouleau. La régénération de plantes résistantes au broutement, telles que l’épinette blanche (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) dans certaines zones à forte densité de cerfs a favorisé le maintien de nombreux oiseaux chanteurs dépendants des arbustes, mais également d’espèces généralement associées à la canopée. La gestion active des populations de cerfs dans les forêts boréales canadiennes exploitées atténuera les pertes de végétation et d’oiseaux chanteurs causées par le surbroutemen