Madame Ana Rodrigues, (Chercheur Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

« Biodiversity Patterns in Space and in Time »

Le 22 Mai 2015

A partir de 13h30

Amphithéâtre de la Délégation CNRS

My research focuses on the study of biodiversity patterns across space and across time, exploring their implications to conservation and investigating the processes underpinning those patterns. I am particularly interested in biodiversity patterns at large spatial scales, and how they translate into practical recommendations for conservation planning. Previous projects have for example highlighted priorities for expanding and consolidating the global network of protected areas. I have also investigated how to quantify and map the impacts human have on biodiversity, both negative (leading to biodiversity loss) and positive (conservation actions preventing biodiversity loss). More recently, I have started to focus on the ecological and evolutionary processes underpinning biodiversity patterns, including by combining analyses of empirical data with models to shed light on the processes that explain biodiversity patterns in time and space.

Composition du jury :

Frédéric JIGUET, Professeur au Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Centre des Sciences de la Conservation (UMR 7204 MNHN-CNRS-UPMC), Paris. Rapporteur.

Ophélie RONCE, Chargée de recherche CNRS, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier (UMR5554), Montpellier. Rapportrice.

Aldina FRANCO, Senior Lecturer, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.
Rapportrice.

Vincent DEVICTOR, Chargé de recherche CNRS, Institut des Sciences de l’Évolution de Montpellier (UMR5554), Montpellier. Examinateur.

Carmen BESSA-GOMES, Maitre de Conférences à AgroParisTech, Laboratoire Ecologie Systématique et Evolution (UMR 8079), Orsay. Examinatrice.

John THOMPSON, Directeur de recherche CNRS, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR5175), Montpellier, Examinateur.

Delphine Sicard

UMR Sciences pour l’oenologie, INRA Montpellier, France

Le vendredi 22 mai 2015 - Grande salle de réunion du CEFE - 11h30

Different organisms have independently and recurrently evolved similar phenotypic traits at different points throughout history. This phenotypic convergence may be caused by genotypic convergence and constrained by historical contingency. We investigate how convergence may be driven by selection in a particular environment and constrained by history using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system. We used two approaches, i) the analysis of life-history traits variation in strains coming from different environments ii) experimental evolution of genetically distant strains in four environments. We found that yeast population converged towards different life-history strategy depending on the environment. Phenotypic convergence can be partly explained by genotypic convergence. The evolution of most traits, as well as the occurrence of some mutations, are significantly influenced by the ancestor. However, this effect cannot be easily predicted from ancestors’ phylogeny or past-selection. All together, our data demonstrate that phenotypic and its underlying genotypic convergence depends on a complex interplay between the evolutionary environment, pleiotropy and the evolutionary history of the population but are not straightforwardly predicable.

Recent publications:

Spor A., Kvitek D.J., Nidelet T., Martin J., Legrand J. Dillmann C., Bourgais A., de Vienne D., Sherlock G. & Sicard D. 2014. Phenotypic and genotypic convergences are influenced by historical contingency and environment in yeast. Evolution, 68, 772-790

Blein-Nicolas M, Albertin W, Valot B, Marullo P, Sicard D, Giraud C, Huet S, Bourgais A, Dillmann C, de Vienne D, Zivy M. 2013. Yeast Proteome Variations Reveal Different Adaptive Responses to Grape Must Fermentation. Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi: 10.1093/molbev/mst050

Albertin W., Marullo P., Aigle M., Dillmann C., de Vienne D. Bely M. and Sicard D. 2011. Population size drives the industrial yeast alcoholic fermentation and is under genetic control, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 77(8):2772-84

 Contact à Montpellier:  Renaud VitalisCette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.

Patrick N. Halpin

Le jeudi 7 mai 2015 - Grande salle de réunion du CEFE - 11h30

Forecasting the distribution and density of marine animals requires accurate characterization of dynamic oceanographic habitats. The characterization of these habitats often relies on development of environmental covariates from remotely sensed earth observing data. The development of environmental covariates raises many considerations concerning the appropriate oceanographic indices to be developed and the spatial and temporal scales of assessment. These considerations include the appropriate use of contemporaneous versus climatological covariates in the development of explanatory models. This presentation will discuss this topic using a broad range of cases as well as a focus on the choices and implications considered in the development of environmental covariates for the prediction of cetacean species along the US Atlantic coast. Many highly migratory marine animals in this region are vulnerable to human interactions such as ship strikes, fishing gear entanglement, and ocean noise habitat disruption. We combine times series of remotely sensed earth observing data with ship and aircraft observer data to create temporally dynamic forecasting models of species distributions and densities. In this presentation we depict the process from data collection, data aggregation, oceanographic feature development to forecast modeling.

Recent publications:

LaBrecque, Curtice, Harrison, Van Parijs, Halpin (2015) Biologically Important Areas for Cetaceans Within US Waters–East Coast Region Aquatic Mammals 41, 17-29

P Tepsich, M Rosso, PN Halpin, A Moulins (2014) Habitat preferences of two deep-diving cetacean species in the northern Ligurian Sea. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 508, 247-260

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Monsieur Simon Chamaillé-Jammes, (Chercheur Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

« Entre ressource et risque de prédation, les ajustements de l'utilisation de l'espace par les grands herbivores »

Le 18 Mai 2015

A partir de 14h

Grande salle de réunion du Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive

Campus CNRS – 1919, route de Mende

L'étude de l'utilisation de l'espace par les individus peut révéler les compromis qu'ils réalisent, entre acquisition des ressources et évitement des risques, et ainsi mettre en lumière les stratégies comportementales adaptatives. Elle peut également indiquer et aider à prédire là où l'individu interagit avec son environnement: en cela elle est nécessaire pour comprendre le fonctionnement des écosystèmes et éventuellement développer des mesures pour leur gestion. Mes travaux se placent dans ce cadre de travail, en utilisant les grands mammifères herbivores comme modèle d'étude. J'ai par exemple exploré comment les individus gèrent l'acquisition de ressources distribuées de manière hétérogène dans le paysage, interogeant la notion de complémentarité de paysage. Je me suis intéressé à la manière dont la perception du risque de prédation modifie l'utilisation de l'espace, mettant en lumière comment cette réponse est par nature multiéchelle et d'un extrême dynamisme même à des échelles temporelles courtes. Ces travaux améliorent notre compréhension de l'interaction entre l'individu et son environnement, et ils offrent quelquefois des clés pour comprendre les comment les changements environnementaux, provoqués ou non, influencent les individus, les populations, et les interactions trophiques.

Composition du jury :

Mme. Anne Loison, Directrice de Recherche CNRS, UMR LECA, Chambery, rapportrice

Mme. Sonia Saïd, Chargée de Recherche, Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage, Birieux, examinatrice

Mr. Daniel Fortin, Professeur, Université Laval, Quebec, Canada, rapporteur

Mr. Olivier Pays, Maître de Conférence, Université d'Angers, Angers, examinateur

Mr. Olivier Gimenez, Directeur de Recherche CNRS, UMR CEFE, Montpellier, examinateur

(Absent: Mr. David Grémillet, Directeur de Recherche CNRS, UMR CEFE, Montpellier, rapporteur)

Heath Smith

Le mercredi 13 mai 2015 - Grande salle de réunion du CEFE - 11h30

Some of the most pressing conservation issues require scientists to distinguish between multiple, concurrent pressures faced by wildlife over large geographic ranges.The Conservation Canines program addresses this need by combining the precision and efficiency of detection dogs to readily locate wildlife scat (feces) samples, from which can be extracted a wide variety of genetic, physiological, toxicological and dietary indicators. These indicators enable us to ascertain species abundance, distribution, resource use, and physiological health in relation to the environmental pressures the species is encountering. The Center for Conservation Biology has been using detection dogs since 1997 to non-invasively monitor a very diverse array of threatened and endangered wildlife species around the world (including bears, owls, mice, salamanders, sea turtles, bats, snakes, orcas, etc…) as well as to detect invasive plants. The Center’s lead trainer, Heath Smith, will look back over the past 14 years to discuss the many benefits and hidden hurdles of employing dogs in conservation efforts.

Recent publications:

SK Wasser, L Hayward, J Hartman, R Booth, K Broms, J Berg, E Seely, L Lewis, H Smith. 2012. Using Detection Dogs to Conduct Simultaneous Surveys of Northern Spotted (Strix occidentalis caurina) and Barred Owls (Strix varia). PLoS ONE 7(8): e42892.

SK Wasser, JL Keim, ML Taper, SR Lele. 2011. The influences of wolf predation, habitat loss, and human activity on caribou and moose in the Alberta oil sands. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 9: 546–551.

C Vynne et al. 2010. Effectiveness of scat-detection dogs in determining species presence in a tropical savanna landscape. Conservation Biology 25(1): 154-162.

SK Wasser, H Smith, L Madden, N Marks, C Vynne. 2009. Scent Matching Dogs Determine Number of Unique Individuals from Scat. Journal of Wildlife Management 73(7): 1233-1240.

Contact à Montpellier:  Nathalie Espuno Cette adresse e-mail est protégée contre les robots spammeurs. Vous devez activer le JavaScript pour la visualiser.

Brent C. Emerson

Le vendredi 10 avril 2015 - Grande salle de réunion du CEFE - 11h30

Soil organisms have been estimated to represent perhaps as much as 25% of all described living species worldwide. Thus it is not surprising that soil has been referred as the poor man’s tropical rainforest, or the third frontier after oceanic abysses and tropical forest diversity. In this talk, Brent Emerson will focus on one particular animal group that is characteristic of soils, the Collembola (springtails). The Collembola have been the subject of recent evolutionary genetic analyses that shed light on why, despite having a worldwide distribution, the class Collembola is represented by very few species, many of which have very large geographic distributions when compared to other flightless arthropod groups. Brent's research results pose a number of challenges for future investigations, and he will address how these challenges might be tackled in his talk.

Recent publications:

Cicconardi, Fanciulli & Emerson (2013) Collembola, the biological species concept and the underestimation of global species richness. Molecular Ecology 22: 5382–96

Emerson, Cicconardi, Fanciulli & Shaw (2011) Phylogeny, phylogeography, phylobetadiversity and the molecular analysis of biological communities. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 366: 2391–402

Cicconardi, Nardi, Emerson, Frati, Fanciulli (2010) Deep phylogeographic divisions and long-term persistence of forest invertebrates (Hexapoda: Collembola) in the North-Western Mediterranean basin. Molecular Ecology 19: 386–400