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Reconstructing Late Miocene freshwater ecosystems at Toros-Menalla (Chad), through aquatic vertebrate paleocommunities study
No full textInternational audienceFreshwater environments play an essential role in shaping ecosystems, yet their reconstruction often remains secondary to terrestrial ones in paleoenvironmental studies in intertropical African sites. However, understanding freshwater ecosystems is crucial, as they intersect hydrography, climate, and biodiversity, by influencing species distribution and survival. The Toros-Menalla fossil area in northern Chad (ca. 7 Ma) provides a unique window into Late Miocene ecosystems, preserving an exceptional vertebrate assemblage, including Sahelanthropus tchadensis, the earliest known hominin. Although aquatic environments are supposed to have been abundant in Late Miocene landscapes of Toros-Menalla, detailed characterizations of its freshwater species habitats are still lacking.We investigate the diversity of freshwater environments in Toros-Menalla through the study of aquatic and semi-aquatic vertebrate assemblages (actinopterygians, crocodilians, chelonians, and hippopotamoids), from five sites selected based on consistent sampling strategies, extensively focusing on aquatic vertebrates. By examining community composition, skeletal element representation, and fossil preservation, we assess how sampling and taphonomic processes influence paleoecological interpretations. Community composition and structure were further analysed in relation to habitat preferences and ecological tolerances, providing insight into waterbodies diversity.Our results, contextualized with previously published and unpublished isotopic data, shows that each site correspond to a specific freshwater environment. They thus reveal various perilacustrine environments displayed along the margin of a Late Miocene mega lake stage, including floodplain, drying pond, and vegetated marginal environments
Widening the innovation gap? the outermost regions in the european research area
No full textInternational audienceAbstract In their quest for more resilient development models, the European Outermost Regions aim to transition into knowledge economies through a greater integration into the European Research Area. However, some view the advent of a unified research and innovation system as a cause of spatial polarization, leading to a growing “ innovation divide ” and, potentially, to the marginalization of peripheries. The spatial effects of the Framework Programmes have been a topic of ongoing debate, with several institutional publications highlighting the difficulties faced by the Outermost Regions in effectively participating in these programmes due to their geographical characteristics. In the absence of previous evaluation, this study seeks to provide a comprehensive assessment of their participation from FP7 to Horizon Europe, using available data from CORDIS, and to evaluate their performance in the programmes through interregional comparisons. Additionally, it aims to investigate the key factors influencing their participation, particularly their positioning within the networks that dominate the programmes, as well as the influence of regional policies. Against the grain of existing narratives, the study reveals a heterogeneous and surprisingly high level of participation, shedding new light on the geographic pertinence and political uses of “ultra-peripherality” and its influence on regional systems. Such uneven performance notably questions the undifferentiated approach that has so far guided EU policies regarding these regions and highlights the need to adopt both tailor-made and evidence-based interventions at the European level, and structural reforms at the regional level, to enable all Outermost territories to fully exploit the opportunities provided by the Framework Programmes and invigorate their research and innovation systems through outward-looking smart specialisation strategies
When the DRC Forgets Its Intellectuals: Reflections on National Indifference to the Death of V.Y. Mudimbe: Examining the Marginalization of Intellectual Contributions in Contemporary Congolese Society
No full texthttps://commpratique.hypotheses.org/473Dieser Beitrag analysiert das Fehlen öffentlicher Ehrungen zum Tod von V.Y. Mudimbe in der Demokratischen Republik Kongo und hebt die nationale Gleichgültigkeit gegenüber einem der bedeutendsten Intellektuellen des Landes hervor. Durch die Untersuchung der Medienberichterstattung und institutioneller Reaktionen betont der Artikel die Marginalisierung intellektueller Beiträge in der kongolesischen Öffentlichkeit. Er untersucht die sozialen, kulturellen und politischen Mechanismen, die zu dieser Unsichtbarmachung führen, und reflektiert über die Notwendigkeit, lokales Wissen zu würdigen, um das kollektive Gedächtnis zu stärken und die Anerkennung intellektueller Persönlichkeiten im Land zu fördern.This post analyzes the absence of public tribute to the death of V.Y. Mudimbe in the Democratic Republic of Congo, highlighting the national indifference toward one of its most eminent intellectuals. Through an examination of media coverage and institutional responses, the article emphasizes the marginalization of intellectual contributions in the Congolese public sphere. It explores the social, cultural, and political mechanisms that lead to this invisibilization and reflects on the need to value local knowledge to strengthen collective memory and the recognition of intellectual figures in the country.Ce billet analyse l’absence d’hommage public à la mort de V.Y. Mudimbe en République démocratique du Congo, mettant en lumière l’indifférence nationale envers l’un de ses intellectuels les plus éminents. À travers l’étude de la couverture médiatique et des réactions institutionnelles, l’article souligne la marginalisation des contributions intellectuelles dans l’espace public congolais. Il interroge les mécanismes sociaux, culturels et politiques qui conduisent à cette invisibilisation et propose une réflexion sur la nécessité de valoriser les savoirs locaux pour renforcer la mémoire collective et la reconnaissance des figures intellectuelles dans le pays
Résurgence du paludisme aux Comores : où en est-on de son élimination ?
No full textDepuis vingt ans, une lutte intensive est engagée contre le paludisme aux Comores, en Afrique australe. À terme, l’élimination de cette maladie dans ce pays n’est pas un rêve impossible, mais cet objectif demeure encore lointain. On fait le point sur la stratégie dite de « traitement de masse » mise en œuvre sur l’archipel, ses succès et ses limites.Lire plus : https://theconversation.com/resurgence-du-paludisme-aux-comores-ou-en-est-on-de-son-elimination-25996
L’« Alpha » : une didactique marginalisée, une histoire en friche
No full textInternational audienceDepuis cinquante ans, l’histoire des didactiques des LVE et du français (LM, LS, LE) a fait l’objet de nombreux travaux qui ont pu permettre de poser des jalons et de proposer des repères dans l’évolution des courants méthodologiques et des conditions idéologiques, sociales, culturelles, etc. qui les ont vu naître, notamment en France. Une didactique particulière du français est néanmoins restée à l’écart de ces investigations : celle liée aux publics adultes allophones, généralement migrants, pas ou peu scolarisés, pas ou peu francophones. Ce champ de la didactique du français, défini sous différentes appellations – “Formation Linguistique des Migrants Adultes” (FLMA), “FLI” (français langue d’intégration), “Alpha” –, en est toujours au stade de la construction. Même s’il dispose désormais d’une forte visibilité institutionnelle (Adami, 2012), il continue en effet à souffrir d’une absence de mise en perspective historique qui nuit à l’élaboration d’un cadre épistémologique structurant pour des acteurs, souvent bénévoles, désarmés face à la complexité de situations d’apprentissage de type FLE ou FLS, comportant une forte composante littéracique. Nous chercherons à comprendre pourquoi l’histoire de ce champ disciplinaire a longtemps été ignorée des didacticiens alors que “FLE” et “Alpha” sont pourtant liés par un rapport de gémellité, les “faux jumeaux didactiques” (Adami, 2005), étant finalement nés au début des années 1950 d’une même mère qui s'appelait “Français de base”, avant de devenir “Français élémentaire” puis “Français fondamental”. Le travail d’archéo-didactique conduit dans le cadre de notre HDR (Puren, 2023) nous a permis de retracer la généalogie de ce champ et de proposer quelques hypothèses sur le traitement différencié dont l’Alpha et le FLE ont pu faire l’objet au niveau de la recherche didactique initiée par le “Centre d’Étude du Français Élémentaire” puis le CREDIF. Ce sont notamment ces hypothèses que nous proposons d’aborder dans notre communication.Adami Hervé (2005) : “Français Langue Étrangère et enseignement du français aux migrants : les faux jumeaux didactiques.” Le Français dans Le Monde, n° 339, pp. 23-26.Puren Laurent (2023) : Enquêtes sociolinguistiques et didactiques sur des locuteurs et apprenants français allophones en situations de minoration. Exhumer les mémoires, interroger les politiques, discours, représentations, pratiques et outils. Dossier présenté pour l’obtention de l’HDR, sous le tutorat de Bruno Maurer. Université Montpellier 3-Paul Valéry
Engaging education: Boosting HPV vaccination through a serious game
No full textLetter to the EditorInternational audienc
Summary of taxonomy changes ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses from the Plant Viruses Subcommittee, 2025
No full textInternational audienceIn March 2025, following the annual International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) ratification vote, newly proposed taxa were added to those under the mandate of the Plant Viruses Subcommittee. In brief, 1 new order, 3 new families, 6 new genera, 2 new subgenera and 206 new species were created. Some taxa were reorganized. Genus Cytorhabdovirus in the family Rhabdoviridae was abolished and its taxa were redistributed into three new genera Alphacytorhabdovirus , Betacytorhabdovirus and Gammacytorhabdovirus . Genus Waikavirus in the family Secoviridae was reorganized into two subgenera ( Actinidivirus and Ritunrivirus ). One family and four previously unaffiliated genera were moved to the newly established order Tombendovirales . Twelve species not assigned to a genus were abolished. To comply with the ICTV mandate of a binomial format for virus species, eight species were renamed. Demarcation criteria in the absence of biological information were defined in the genus Ilarvirus (family Bromoviridae ). This article presents the updated taxonomy put forth by the Plant Viruses Subcommittee and ratified by the ICTV
Predicting coarse-grained representations of biogeochemical cycles from metabarcoding data
No full textInternational audienceTaxonomic analysis of environmental microbial communities is now routinely performed thanks to advances in DNA sequencing. Determining the role of these communities in global biogeochemical cycles requires the identification of their metabolic functions, such as hydrogen oxidation, sulfur reduction, and carbon fixation. These functions can be directly inferred from metagenomics data, but in many environmental applications metabarcoding is still the method of choice. The reconstruction of metabolic functions from metabarcoding data and their integration into coarse-grained representations of geobiochemical cycles remains a difficult bioinformatics problem today. Results We developed a pipeline, called Tabigecy, which exploits taxonomic affiliations to predict metabolic functions constituting biogeochemical cycles. In a first step, Tabigecy uses the tool EsMeCaTa to predict consensus proteomes from input affiliations. To optimise this process, we generated a precomputed database containing information about 2,404 taxa from UniProt. The consensus proteomes are searched using bigecyhmm, a newly developed Python package relying on Hidden Markov Models to identify key enzymes involved in metabolic function of biogeochemical cycles. The metabolic functions are then projected on coarse-grained representation of the cycles. We applied Tabigecy to two salt cavern datasets and validated its predictions with microbial activity and hydrochemistry measurements performed on the samples. The results highlight the utility of the approach to investigate the impact of microbial communities on geobiochemical processes
Post-composing ontology terms for efficient phenotyping in plant breeding
No full textSource Agritrop Cirad (https://agritrop.cirad.fr/612646/)International audienceOntologies are widely used in databases to standardize data, improving data quality, integration, and ease of comparison. Within ontologies tailored to diverse use cases, post-composing user-defined terms reconciles the demands for standardization on the one hand and flexibility on the other. In many instances of Breedbase, a digital ecosystem for plant breeding designed for genomic selection, the goal is to capture phenotypic data using highly curated and rigorous crop ontologies, while adapting to the specific requirements of plant breeders to record data quickly and efficiently. For example, post-composing enables users to tailor ontology terms to suit specific and granular use cases such as repeated measurements on different plant parts and special sample preparation techniques. To achieve this, we have implemented a post-composing tool based on orthogonal ontologies providing users with the ability to introduce additional levels of phenotyping granularity tailored to unique experimental designs. Post-composed terms are designed to be reused by all breeding programs within a Breedbase instance but are not exported to the crop reference ontologies. Breedbase users can post-compose terms across various categories, such as plant anatomy, treatments, temporal events, and breeding cycles, and, as a result, generate highly specific terms for more accurate phenotyping
Moult is associated with higher diversity of food items in the diet of Common Bulbuls (<i>Pycnonotus barbatus</i>) in Cameroon
No full textInternational audienceMoult is an essential part of birds' annual cycle, and requires sufficient intake of energy and nutrients, but we understand little about how such nutritional requirements are met by wild birds. Using faecal metabarcoding, we analysed the diet of moulting and non-moulting Common Bulbuls Pycnonotus barbatus, captured in Cameroon. We found that the diet of moulting birds was more diverse than that of non-moulting birds, with approximately 1.5 times more arthropod and plant taxa, plus evidence of dietary composition differences between groups. Our results provide novel insight of a likely strategy used by wild birds to fuel the essential self-maintenance task of moult