Directive Cadre sur l’Eau : les pressions anthropiques et leur impact sur les indicateurs de l’état écologique des masses d’eau littorales de la façade Manche-Atlantique. Synthèse bibliographique

Within the European water framework directive (WFD), the status assessment of littoral waters is based both on the chemical quality and on the ecological quality of each water body. Quality elements enabling to assess the ecological status of a water body are, among other things, biological quality elements (phytoplankton, macroalgae, angiosperms, benthic invertebrates, fish), for each of which the member states have developed quantitative indicators. This document is one of the deliverables of a multi-annual study intended to characterize the sensitivity of these biological indicators towards the various anthropogenic pressures exerted on the French Atlantic and Channel coast: ultimately, the goal is to establish a quantitative and predictive relationship, statistically robust, between the WFD indicators used along the French channel and Atlantic coastline, and various anthropogenic pressures acting on these coasts. The aim of the WFD is indeed to restore or maintain a good chemical and biological quality of coastal waters, and thus to limit the impact of human activities potentially responsible for the degradation of ecosystems. This understanding of the linkages and interactions existing between anthropogenic pressures and ecological status of water bodies is therefore essential to identify priorities for action (challenges, substances ...), prioritize actions to implement within restoration programs (technical, fiscal, financial), but also to be able to communicate constructively and persuasively in talks between managers and the various stakeholders of coastal regions. Using the DPSIR methodology, this literature analysis has permitted to identify, for each WFD biological quality element (except fish), which pressures (or pressure types) are potentially relevant in the light of their impact on the indicators of the ecological status of water bodies. Some metrics and indicators of anthropogenic pressures used in the literature to characterize the sensitivity of the biological quality elements, within quantitative approaches, were also identified. It is also clear from this review that the biological quality elements can be particularly sensitive to intrinsic environmental conditions, and therefore to certain changes related to natural phenomena occurring at large scales (e.g. climate change, paroxysmal climate episode...). Therefore, when one is interested in the sensitivity of biological indicators to different anthropogenic pressures, two factors can complicate the analysis and are likely to weaken the resulting statistical relationships: on the one hand, the variability of biological responses depending on the natural context and, on the other hand, interactions (so called synergistic effects) between different types of anthropogenic pressures and the alterations they can generate.

Directive Cadre sur l’Eau : les pressions anthropiques et leur impact sur les indicateurs de l’état écologique des masses d’eau littorales de la façade Manche-Atlantique - Développement d’une base de données quantitatives sur les pressions anthropiques littorales

Within the European water framework directive (WFD), the status assessment of littoral waters is based both on the chemical quality and on the ecological quality of each water body. Quality elements enabling to assess the ecological status of a water body are, among other things, biological quality elements (phytoplankton, macroalgae, angiosperms, benthic invertebrates, fish), for each of which member states have developed quantitative indicators. This document compiles three deliverables of a multi-annual study intended to characterize the sensitivity of these biological indicators regarding the various anthropogenic pressures exerted on the French Atlantic and Channel coast: ultimately, the goal is to establish a quantitative and predictive relationship, statistically robust, between the WFD indicators used along the French channel and Atlantic coastline, and various anthropogenic pressures acting on these coasts. These three deliverables are the following : - The reports of various interviews performed with French national referents for the biological quality elements used within the littoral part of the WFD in Channel and Atlantic (phytoplankton, subtidal and intertidal macroalgae, opportunistic blooming macroalgae, angiosperms and benthic invertebrates). These interviews aimed to specify, for each metric constitutive of the BQE indicator (if multi-metric), the "relevant" pressures, as well as the trend of this impact, - Sheets describing the "pressure" and "environment" data available, in order to characterize spatially and quantitatively these "relevant" anthropogenic pressures acting on French Channel and Atlantic coast, - A progress report dealing with the development of a database tool, for archiving quantitative data characterizing "relevant" littoral anthropogenic pressures.

Analyse du compartiment mésozooplanctonique et écologie alimentaire printanière de la sardine, Sardina pilchardus (Walbaum, 1782), et de l’anchois, Engraulis encrasicolus (Linné, 1758) adultes dans le Golfe de Gascogne

Dietary studies of marine species constitute an important key to improve the understanding of its biology and of its role in the ecosystem. Thus, prey-predator relationships structure and determine population dynamics and the trophic network at the ecosystem scale. Among the major study sites, the marine ecosystem is submitted to natural and anthropogenic constraints. In the North-Eastern part of the Atlantic Ocean, the Bay of Biscay is a large open area surrounded South by Spain and East by France. This bay is an historic place of intense fishery activities for which the main small pelagic species targeted are the pilchard, Sardina pilchardus and the anchovy, Engraulis encrasicolus. The aim of this work is to analyze the trophic ecology of these two small pelagic fish in spring in the Bay of Biscay. To do this, a first section is devoted to their prey composed by the mesozooplanktonic compartment, through a two-fold approach: the characterization of their spatio-temporal dynamics during the decade 2003-2013 and the measurement of their energetic content in spring. For this season, it appears that all prey types are not worth energetically and that the Bay of Biscay represents a mosaic of dietary habitat. Moreover, the spring mesozooplankton community presents a strong spatial structuration, a temporal evolution marked by a major change in abundance and a control by the microphytoplankton biomass. The second section of this work is relative to a methodological approach of the trophic ecology of S. pilchardus and E. encrasicolus. Three different trophic tracers have been used: isotopic ratios of carbon and nitrogen, parasitological fauna and mercury contamination levels. To improve the use of the first of these trophic tracers, an experimental approach has been conducted with S. pilchardus to determine a trophic discrimination factor. Finally, it appears that the use of these three trophic tracers has always been permitted to highlight a temporal variability of the relative trophic ecology of these fish. However, no spatial dynamics could be identified through these three trophic tracers.

Selection et controle de modes de deplacement pour un robot mobile autonome en environnements naturels

Autonomous navigation and locomotion of a mobile robot in natural environments remain a rather open issue. Several functionalities are required to complete the usual perception/decision/action cycle. They can be divided in two main categories : navigation (perception and decision about the movement) and locomotion (movement execution). In order to be able to face the large range of possible situations in natural environments, it is essential to make use of various kinds of complementary functionalities, defining various navigation and locomotion modes. Indeed, a number of navigation and locomotion approaches have been proposed in the literature for the last years, but none can pretend being able to achieve autonomous navigation and locomotion in every situation. Thus, it seems relevant to endow an outdoor mobile robot with several complementary navigation and locomotion modes. Accordingly, the robot must also have means to select the most appropriate mode to apply. This thesis proposes the development of such a navigation/locomotion mode selection system, based on two types of data: an observation of the context to determine in what kind of situation the robot has to achieve its movement and an evaluation of the behavior of the current mode, made by monitors which influence the transitions towards other modes when the behavior of the current one is considered as non satisfying. Hence, this document introduces a probabilistic framework for the estimation of the mode to be applied, some navigation and locomotion modes used, a qualitative terrain representation method (based on the evaluation of a difficulty computed from the placement of the robot's structure on a digital elevation map), and monitors that check the behavior of the modes used (evaluation of rolling locomotion efficiency, robot's attitude and configuration watching. . .). Some experimental results obtained with those elements integrated on board two different outdoor robots are presented and discussed.

Alkane Profiles in Tropical Forages

The role of n-alkanes in animal nutrition research has recently been reviewed by Dove and Mayes (1996). The measurement of voluntary intake (VI) using the naturally occurring odd chain length alkanes C31 or C33 in conjunction with administered even chain length alkanes such as C32 and C36 provides several advantages over the more conventional methods. Much of the development work involving this technology has been carried out with sheep or dairy cattle fed predominantly temperate pasture. Laredo et al., (1991) have published alkane profiles for a number of introduced tropical pasture grasses but no alkane profiles have been published for native tropical pasture grasses. Animal production for a consuming world : proceedings of 9th Congress of the Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies [AAAP] and 23rd Biennial Conference of the Australian Society of Animal Production [ASAP] and 17th Annual Symposium of the University of Sydney, Dairy Research Foundation, [DRF]. 2-7 July 2000, Sydney, Australia.

Complementary forages – integration at a whole-farm level

A high proportion of the Australian and New Zealand dairy industry is based on a relatively simple, low input and low cost pasture feedbase. These factors enable this type of production system to remain internationally competitive. However, a key limitation of pasture-based dairy systems is periodic imbalances between herd intake requirements and pasture DM production, caused by strong seasonality and high inter-annual variation in feed supply. This disparity can be moderated to a certain degree through the strategic management of the herd through altering calving dates and stocking rates, and the feedbase by conserving excess forage and irrigating to flatten seasonal forage availability. Australasian dairy systems are experiencing emerging market and environmental challenges, which includes increased competition for land and water resources, decreasing terms of trade, a changing and variable climate, an increasing environmental focus that requires improved nutrient and water-use efficiency and lower greenhouse gas emissions. The integration of complementary forages has long been viewed as a means to manipulate the home-grown feed supply, to improve the nutritive value and DM intake of the diet, and to increase the efficiency of inputs utilised. Only recently has integrating complementary forages at the whole-farm system level received the significant attention and investment required to examine their potential benefit. Recent whole-of-farm research undertaken in both Australia and New Zealand has highlighted the importance of understanding the challenges of the current feedbase and the level of complementarity between forage types required to improve profit, manage risk and/or alleviate/mitigate against adverse outcomes. This paper reviews the most recent systems-level research into complementary forages, discusses approaches to modelling their integration at the whole-farm level and highlights the potential of complementary forages to address the major challenges currently facing pasture-based dairy systems.

Digestion of forages in the rumen is increased by the amount but not the type of protein supplement

Three polyester bag experiments were conducted with fistulated Bos indicus steers to determine the effect of the amount and type of nitrogen (N) supplement on the digestion rate of forages different in quality. In Experiment 1, test substrates were incubated in polyester bags in the rumen of steers fed ryegrass, pangola grass, speargrass and Mitchell grass hays in a 4 by 4 Latin-square design. In Experiment 2, test substrates were incubated in polyester bags in the rumen of steers fed speargrass hay supplemented with urea and ammonium sulfate (US), branched-chain amino acids with US (USAA), casein, cottonseed meal, yeast and Chlorella algae in a 7 by 3 incomplete Latin-square design. In Experiment 3, test substrates were incubated in polyester bags in the rumen of steers fed Mitchell grass hay supplemented with increasing amounts of US or Spirulina algae (Spirulina platensis). The test substrates used in all experiments were speargrass, Mitchell grass, pangola grass or ryegrass hays. Digestion rate of the ryegrass substrate was higher than that of the speargrass substrate (P < 0.05) in Experiment 1. Supplementation with various N sources increased the degradation rate and effective degradability of all incubated substrates above that apparent in Control steers (P < 0.05; Experiment 2). Supplementation of US and Spirulina increased degradation rate and effective degradability of ryegrass, pangola grass and Mitchell grass substrates above that apparent in Control steers (P < 0.05; Experiment 3). However, there was no further response on digestion rate of the substrates in increasing supplementation levels either for US or Spirulina. In conclusion, rate of digestion was affected by forage physical and anatomical properties. Supplementation with various N sources increased rate of digestion when the Control forage ration was very low in N but once a minimum level of N supplementation was reached, irrespective of form of N or other potential growth factors, there was no further increase in rate of digestion.

Catalogue des ennemis naturels des macrophytes flottants Pistia stratiotes, Salvinia molesta et Eichhornia crassipes

We identified from bibliographical review and field observations fourty two species composed essentially of molluscs and insects. These animals attack floating plants such as E. crassipes, P. stratiotes and S. molesta. They indifferently consume or destroy the aquatic plants except N. bruchi, N. eichhorniae and S. albiguttalis which specifically attack E. crassipes. N. putchellus, L. guinaicus and P. africana graze preferably P. stratiotes; C. salviniae, C. singularis and P. acuminata consume only Salvinia molesta.

Étude des impacts écologiques du dynamisme spatio-temporel des habitats naturels sur la faune menacée du Complexe Zones Humides Mahavavy-Kinkony, Madagascar.

This study of the Mahavavy-Kinkony Wetland Complex (MKWC) assesses the impacts of habitat change on the resident globally threatened fauna. Located in Boeny Region, northwest Madagascar, the Complex encompasses a range of habitats including freshwater lakes, rivers, marshes, mangrove forests, and deciduous forest. Spatial modelling and analysis tools were used to (i) identify the important habitats for selected, threatened fauna, (ii) assess their change from 1950 to 2005, (iii) detect the causes of change, (iv) simulate changes to 2050 and (v) evaluate the impacts of change. The approach for prioritising potential habitats for threatened species used ecological science techniques assisted by the decision support software Marxan. Nineteen species were analysed: nine birds, three primates, three fish, three bats and one reptile. Based on knowledge of local land use, supervised classification of Landsat images from 2005 was used to classify the land use of the Complex. Simulations of land use change to 2050 were carried out based on the Land Change Modeler module in Idrisi Andes with the neural network algorithm. Changes in land use at site level have occurred over time but they are not significant. However, reductions in the extent of reed marshes at Lake Kinkony and forests at Tsiombikibo and Marofandroboka directly threaten the species that depend on these habitats. Long term change monitoring is recommended for the Mahavavy Delta, in order to evaluate the predictions through time. The future change of Andohaomby forest is of great concern and conservation actions are recommended as a high priority. Abnormal physicochemical properties were detected in lake Kinkony due to erosion of the four watersheds to the south, therefore an anti-erosion management plan is required for these watersheds. Among the species of global conservation concern, Sakalava rail (Amaurornis olivieri), Crowned sifaka (Propithecus coronatus) and dambabe (Paretroplus dambabe) are estimated the most affected, but at the site level Decken’s sifaka (Propithecus deckeni), kotsovato (Paretroplus kieneri) and Madagascan big-headed turtle (Erymnochelys madagascariensis) are also threatened. Local enforcement of national legislation on hunting means that MKWC is among the sites where the flying fox (Pteropus rufus) and Madagascan rousette (Rousettus madagascariensis) are well protected. Ecological restoration, ecological research and actions to reduce anthropogenic pressures are recommended.