Le pouvoir de la biodiversité : néolibéralisation de la nature dans les pays émergents

Depuis vingt ans, la communauté internationale promeut le développement de contrats d'accès aux ressources génétiques afin d'assurer une exploitation durable et équitable de la biodiversité. On constate cependant que les impacts de telles politiques sont limités, en termes de conservation de la nature comme de justice environnementale ou de retombées financières pour les populations locales. Leur influence sur les agendas et les positionnements des gouvernements des pays émergents et de certains scientifiques est en revanche manifeste. Une grande partie de ces derniers a en effet été convertie aux instruments économiques de mise en valeur de la biodiversité : filières de produits naturels, projets d'écotourisme, paiements pour services environnementaux... Les formes de savoirs et de pouvoirs construits sur la biodiversité et les services écosystémiques témoignent de ce ralliement. Le pari de cet ouvrage est ainsi d'analyser le « pouvoir de la biodiversité » en termes d'économie politique, à partir de l'examen des régimes de propriété industrielle sur le vivant dans trois pays émergents - le Vietnam, le Brésil et le Mexique - et d'études de cas sur la mobilisation des savoirs de communautés autochtones et locales dans ces pays. Les notions de biodiversité et de services écosystémiques et leur diffusion ne seraient-elles pas avant tout les marqueurs d'une néolibéralisation des politiques de conservation de la nature ?

Conservation banking and the economization of nature : an institutional analysis

During the last decade, conservation banking mechanisms have emerged in the environmental discourse as new market instruments to promote biodiversity conservation. Compensation was already provided for in environmental law in many countries, as the last step of the mitigation hierarchy. The institutional arrangements developed in this context have been redefined and reshaped as market-based instruments (MBIs). As such, they are discursively disentangled from the complex legal-economic nexus they are part of. Monetary transactions are given prominence and tend to be presented as stand alone agreements, whereas they take place in the context of prescriptive regulations. The pro-market narrative featuring conservation banking systems as market-like arrangements as well as their denunciation as instances of nature commodification tend to obscure their actual characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to describe the latter, adopting an explicitly analytical stance on these complex institutional arrangements and their performative dimensions. Beyond the discourse supporting them and notwithstanding the diversity of national policies and regulatory frameworks for compensation, the constitutive force of these mechanisms probably lies in their ability to redefine control, power and the distribution of costs and in their impacts in terms of land use rather than in their efficiency.

Simultaneous determination of gross alpha, gross beta and Ra-226 in natural water by liquid scintillation counting.

The determination of gross alpha, gross beta and 226Ra activity in natural waters is useful in a wide range of environmental studies. Furthermore, gross alpha and gross beta parameters are included in international legislation on the quality of drinking water [Council Directive 98/83/EC].1 In this work, a low-background liquid scintillation counter (Wallac, Quantulus 1220) was used to simultaneously determine gross alpha, gross beta and 226Ra activity in natural water samples. Sample preparation involved evaporation to remove 222Rn and its short-lived decay daughters. The evaporation process concentrated the sample ten-fold. Afterwards, a sample aliquot of 8 mL was mixed with 12 mL of Ultima Gold AB scintillation cocktail in low-diffusion vials. In this study, a theoretical mathematical model based on secular equilibrium conditions between 226Ra and its short-lived decay daughters is presented. The proposed model makes it possible to determine 226Ra activity from two measurements. These measurements also allow determining gross alpha and gross beta simultaneously. To validate the proposed model, spiked samples with different activity levels for each parameter were analysed. Additionally, to evaluate the model's applicability in natural water, eight natural water samples from different parts of Spain were analysed. The eight natural water samples were also characterised by alpha spectrometry for the naturally occurring isotopes of uranium (234U, 235U and 238U), radium (224Ra and 226Ra), 210Po and 232Th. The results for gross alpha and 226Ra activity were compared with alpha spectrometry characterization, and an acceptable concordance was obtained.

Asymmetrical nature of the Trollius-Chiastocheta interaction: insights into the evolution of nursery pollination systems

The mutualistic versus antagonistic nature of an interaction is defined by costs and benefits of each partner, which may vary depending on the environment. Contrasting with this dynamic view, several pollination interactions are considered as strictly obligate and mutualistic. Here, we focus on the interaction between Trollius europaeus and Chiastocheta flies, considered as a specialized and obligate nursery pollination system - the flies are thought to be exclusive pollinators of the plant and their larvae develop only in T.europaeus fruits. In this system, features such as the globelike flower shape are claimed to have evolved in a coevolutionary context. We examine the specificity of this pollination system and measure traits related to offspring fitness in isolated T.europaeus populations, in some of which Chiastocheta flies have gone extinct. We hypothesize that if this interaction is specific and obligate, the plant should experience dramatic drop in its relative fitness in the absence of Chiastocheta. Contrasting with this hypothesis, T.europaeus populations without flies demonstrate a similar relative fitness to those with the flies present, contradicting the putative obligatory nature of this pollination system. It also agrees with our observation that many other insects also visit and carry pollen among T.europaeus flowers. We propose that the interaction could have evolved through maximization of by-product benefits of the Chiastocheta visits, through the male flower function, and selection on floral traits by the most effective pollinator. We argue this mechanism is also central in the evolution of other nursery pollination systems.

Tracing the associations between sex, the atypical and the combined atypical-melancholic depression subtypes: A path analysis.

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have examined determinants leading to preponderance of women in major depressive disorder (MDD), which is particularly accentuated for the atypical depression subtype. It is thus of interest to explore the specific indirect effects influencing the association between sex and established depression subtypes. METHODS: The data of 1624 subjects with a lifetime diagnosis of MDD derived from the population-based PsyCoLaus data were used. An atypical (n=256), a melancholic (n=422), a combined atypical and melancholic features subtype (n=198), and an unspecified MDD group (n=748) were constructed according to the DSM-IV specifiers. Path models with direct and indirect effects were applied to the data. RESULTS: Partial mediation of the female-related atypical and combined atypical-melancholic depression subtypes was found. Early anxiety disorders and high emotion-orientated coping acted as mediating variables between sex and the atypical depression subtype. In contrast, high Body Mass Index (BMI) served as a suppression variable, also concerning the association between sex and the combined atypical-melancholic subtype. The latter association was additionally mediated by an early age of MDD onset and early/late anxiety disorders. LIMITATIONS: The use of cross-sectional data does not allow causal conclusions. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study that provides evidence for a differentiation of the general mechanisms explaining sex differences of overall MDD by depression subtypes. Determinants affecting the pathways begin early in life. Since some of them are primarily of behavioral nature, the present findings could be a valuable target in mental health care.

Timing and nature of alluvial fan and strath terrace formation in the Eastern Precordillera of Argentina

Sixty-eight 10Be terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) surface exposure ages are presented to define the timing of alluvial fan and strath terrace formation in the hyper-arid San Juan region of the Argentine Precordillera. This region is tectonically active, and numerous fault scarps traverse Quaternary landforms. The three study sites, Marquesado strath complex, Loma Negra alluvial fan and Carpintería strath complex reveal a history of alluvial fan and strath terrace development over the past w225 ka. The Marquesado complex Q3m surface dates to w17 3 ka, whereas the Loma Negra Q1ln, Q2ln, Q3ln, Q4ln, and Q5ln surfaces date to w24 3 ka, w48 2 ka, w65 13 ka, w105 21 ka, and w181 29 ka, respectively. The Carpintería complex comprises eight surfaces that have been dated and include the Q1c (w23 3 ka), Q2c (w5 5 ka), Q3ac (w25 12 ka), Q3bc (w29 15 ka), Q4c (w61 12 ka), Q5c (w98 18 ka), Q6c (w93 18 ka), and Q7c (w212 37 ka). 10Be TCN depth profile data for the Loma Negra alluvial fan complex and Carpintería strath terrace complex, as well as OSL ages on some Carpintería deposits, aid in refining surface ages for comparison with local and global climate proxies, and additionally offer insights into inheritance and erosion rate values for TCNs (w10 104 10Be atoms/g of SiO2 and w5 m Ma 1, respectively). Comparison with other alluvial fan studies in the region show that less dynamic and older preserved surfaces occur in the Carpintería and Loma Negra areas with only younger alluvial fan surfaces preserved both to the north and south. These data in combination with that of other studies illustrate broad regional agreement between alluvial fan and strath terrace ages, which suggests that climate is the dominant forcing agent in the timing of terrace formation in this region.

Avancées sur la source, la taille et la nature des particules microbiennes aéroportées présentes dans l'environnement intérieur

L'exposition à certaines particules fongiques et bactéries présentes dans les aérosols de l'environnement intérieur a été associée au développement ou à l'exacerbation d'affections respiratoires telles que l'asthme, la rhinite allergique ou encore l'aspergillose (1-4). Le réservoir principal identifié dans cet environnement pour les bactéries aéroportées est constitué par les habitants eux-mêmes, alors que celui des particules fongiques est l'environnement extérieur, ou, lorsque les conditions sont réunies, l'environnement intérieur (5-7). Néanmoins, la nature et la taille de ces particules fongiques, ainsi que l'impact de l'occupation humaine sur ces paramètres n'ont été que peu explorés. Les articles de cette note s'intéressent justement à ces aspects et illustrent l'importance de leur prise en compte dans l'évaluation du risque d'exposition aux microorganismes dans l'environnement intérieur. L'étude de Hospodsky et coll. (2014) apporte une information quantitative sur le niveau d'émission de bactéries et particules fongiques résultant d'une occupation humaine dans des environnements intérieurs sains. Alors que l'étude de Afanou et coll. (2014) montre la complexité des particules fongiques qui peuvent être générées dans l'environnement intérieur, différentes espèces de moisissures pouvant participer en proportions différentes au nombre de particules submicroniques1 grâce à leurs fragments de spores ou hyphes.

Analysis of a Plant Complex Resistance Gene Locus Underlying Immune-Related Hybrid Incompatibility and Its Occurrence in Nature

Mechanisms underlying speciation in plants include detrimental (incompatible) genetic interactions between parental alleles that incur a fitness cost in hybrids. We reported on recessive hybrid incompatibility between an Arabidopsis thaliana strain from Poland, Landsberg erecta (Ler), and many Central Asian A. thaliana strains. The incompatible interaction is determined by a polymorphic cluster of Toll/interleukin-1 receptor-nucleotide binding-leucine rich repeat (TNL) RPP1 (Recognition of Peronospora parasitica1)-like genes in Ler and alleles of the receptor-like kinase Strubbelig Receptor Family 3 (SRF3) in Central Asian strains Kas-2 or Kond, causing temperature-dependent autoimmunity and loss of growth and reproductive fitness. Here, we genetically dissected the RPP1-like Ler locus to determine contributions of individual RPP1-like Ler (R1R8) genes to the incompatibility. In a neutral background, expression of most RPP1-like Ler genes, except R3, has no effect on growth or pathogen resistance. Incompatibility involves increased R3 expression and engineered R3 overexpression in a neutral background induces dwarfism and sterility. However, no individual RPP1-like Ler gene is sufficient for incompatibility between Ler and Kas-2 or Kond, suggesting that co-action of at least two RPP1-like members underlies this epistatic interaction. We find that the RPP1-like Ler haplotype is frequent and occurs with other Ler RPP1-like alleles in a local population in Gorzów Wielkopolski (Poland). Only Gorzów individuals carrying the RPP1-like Ler haplotype are incompatible with Kas-2 and Kond, whereas other RPP1-like alleles in the population are compatible. Therefore, the RPP1-like Ler haplotype has been maintained in genetically different individuals at a single site, allowing exploration of forces shaping the evolution of RPP1-like genes at local and regional population scales.

Psykoutopioita

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

THE CONCEPT OF 'NATURE' IN ARISTOTLE, AVICENNA AND AVERROES

This study is concerned with 'nature' specifically as the subject-matter of physics, or natural science, as described by Aristotle in his "Physics". It also discusses the definitions of nature, and more specifically physical nature, provided by Avicenna (d. 1037) and Averroes (d. 1198) in their commentaries on Aristotle's "Physics". Avicenna and Averroes share Aristotle's conception of nature as a principle of motion and rest. While according to Aristotle the subject matter of physics appears to be nature, or what exists by nature, Avicenna believes that it is the natural body, and Averroes holds that the subject matter of physics or natural science consists in the natural things, in what constitutes a slight shift in focus.

BRUNO BAUCH AND THE COMPREHENSIBILITY OF NATURE

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to discuss how Bruno Bauch deals with the problem of the coordination between empirical concepts and spatiotemporal objects. We shall argue that Bauch reformulates the Kantian distinction between concepts and intuitions by means of a philosophical consideration of differential calculus and that he thereby explains the possibility of such coordination, avoiding certain difficulties of the Kantian doctrine.