Résumé: Tetraodontiformes fishes play a critical role in benthic and demersal communities and are facing threats due to anthropogenic impacts and climate change. However, they are poorly studied worldwide. To improve knowledge on the socio-ecological significance and conservation of Tetraodontiformes a review of literature addressing the diversity, ecology, use and trade, conservation, and main threats of Tetraodontiformes combined with a comprehensive in situ dataset from two broad-range multidisciplinary oceanographic surveys performed along the Tropical Brazilian Continental Shelf was undertaken. Twenty-nine species were identified, being primarily found on coral reefs and algal ecosystems. At these habitats, tetraodontids present highly diversified trophic categories and might play an important role by balancing the marine food web Coral reef ecosystems, especially those near to the shelf break, seem to be the most important areas of Tetraodontiformes fishes, concentrating the highest values of species richness, relative abundance and the uncommon and Near Threatened species. Ninety per cent of species are commonly caught as bycatch, being also used in the ornamental trade (69%) and as food (52%), serving as an important source of income for artisanal local fisheries. Tetraodontiformes are threatened by unregulated fisheries, overexploitation, bycatch, and habitat loss due to coral reef degradation and the potential effects of climate change. These factors are more broadly impacting global biodiversity, food security, and other related ecosystem functions upon which humans and many other organisms rely. We recommend the following steps that could improve the conservation of Tetraodontiformes along the tropical Brazilian Continental shelf and elsewhere: (i) data collection of the commercial, incidental, ornamental and recreational catches; (ii) improvement of the current legislation directed at the marine ornamental harvesting; (iii) increase efforts focused on the education and conservation awareness in coastal tourism and communities; and, most important, (iv) creation of marine reserves networks in priority areas of conservation, protecting either the species and key habitats for its survival.

Résumé: Climate change can affect the habitat resources available to species by changing habitat quantity, suitability and spatial configuration, which largely determine population persistence in the landscape. In this context, dispersal is a central process for species to track their niche. Assessments of the amount of reachable habitat (ARH) using static snap-shots do not account, however, for the temporal overlap of habitat patches that may enhance stepping-stone effects. Here, we quantified the impacts of climate change on the ARH using a spatio-temporal connectivity model. We first explored the importance of spatio-temporal connectivity relative to purely spatial connectivity in a changing climate by generating virtual species distributions and analyzed the relative effects of changes in habitat quantity, suitability and configuration. Then, we studied the importance of spatio-temporal connectivity in three vertebrate species with divergent responses to climate change in North America (grey wolf, Canadian lynx and white-tailed deer). We found that the spatio-temporal connectivity could enhance the stepping-stone effect for species predicted to experience range contractions, and the relative importance of the spatio-temporal connectivity increased with the reduction in habitat quantity and suitability. Conversely, for species that are likely to expand their ranges, spatio-temporal connectivity had no additional contribution to improve the ARH. We also found that changes in habitat amount (quantity and suitability) were more influential than changes in habitat configuration in determining the relative importance of spatio-temporal connectivity. We conclude that spatio-temporal connectivity may provide less biased and more realistic estimates of habitat connectivity than purely spatial connectivity.

Résumé: This study provides information about the feeding habits, population aspects and spatial distribution of the spotted goatfish, Pseudupeneus maculatus, along the coast of the tropical Brazilian continental shelf. Distribution patterns are described using length frequencies and catch rates. Stable isotope ratios of carbon (delta C-13) and nitrogen (delta N-15), along with stomach contents, were analysed to determine the diet of the spotted goatfish. Multivariate analysis and numerical indicators of the diet, such as numerical frequency. frequency of occurrence and weight percentage, were computed to evaluate the diet composition. The mean trophic position was defined using both stable isotope ratios and stomach content analysis. The length at first maturity for the species was determined as 13.7 cm. A slight pattern in size distribution was observed, with mean size increasing with depth along the shelf. The diet was mainly composed of crustaceans, teleosts and Polychaeta. No clear dietary difference was found between habitat types, water depth or latitude. Both trophic positions estimated by stable isotopes and stomach contents analysis ranged between levels 3 and 4. P. maculatus was found to be feeding on many rare and infrequent prey items, classifying it as a generalist zoobenthivorous predator, probably due to its efficient search strategy.

Résumé: Because telomere length and dynamics relate to individual growth, reproductive investment and survival, telomeres have emerged as possible markers of individual quality. Here, we tested the hypothesis that, in species with parental care, parental telomere length can be a marker of parental quality that predicts offspring phenotype and survival. In king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus), we experimentally swapped the single egg of 66 breeding pairs just after egg laying to disentangle the contribution of prelaying parental quality (e.g., genetics, investment in the egg) and/or postlaying parental quality (e.g., incubation, postnatal feeding rate) on offspring growth, telomere length and survival. Parental quality was estimated through the joint effects of biological and foster parent telomere length on offspring traits, both soon after hatching (day 10) and at the end of the prewinter growth period (day 105). We expected that offspring traits would be mostly related to the telomere lengths (i.e., quality) of biological parents at day 10 and to the telomere lengths of foster parents at day 105. Results show that chick survival up to 10 days was negatively related to biological fathers' telomere length, whereas survival up to 105 days was positively related to foster fathers' telomere lengths. Chick growth was not related to either biological or foster parents' telomere length. Chick telomere length was positively related to foster mothers' telomere length at both 10 and 105 days. Overall, our study shows that, in a species with biparental care, parents' telomere length is foremost a proxy of postlaying parental care quality, supporting the “telomere – parental quality hypothesis.”

Résumé: Aim To investigate biotic and abiotic correlates of reef-fish species richness across multiple spatial scales. Location Tropical reefs around the globe, including 485 sites in 109 sub-provinces spread across 14 biogeographic provinces. Time period Present. Major taxa studied 2,523 species of reef fish. Methods We compiled a database encompassing 13,050 visual transects. We used hierarchical linear Bayesian models to investigate whether fish body size, reef area, isolation, temperature, and anthropogenic impacts correlate with reef-fish species richness at each spatial scale (i.e., sites, sub-provinces, provinces). Richness was estimated using coverage-based rarefaction. We also tested whether species packing (i.e., transect-level species richness/m(2)) is correlated with province-level richness. Results Body size had the strongest effect on species richness across all three spatial scales. Reef area and temperature were both positively correlated with richness at all spatial scales. At the site scale only, richness decreased with reef isolation. Species richness was not correlated with proxies of human impacts. Species packing was correlated with species richness at the province level following a sub-linear power function. Province-level differences in species richness were also mirrored by patterns of body size distribution at the site scale. Species-rich provinces exhibited heterogeneous assemblages of small-bodied species with small range sizes, whereas species-poor provinces encompassed homogeneous assemblages composed by larger species with greater dispersal capacity. Main conclusions Our findings suggest that body size distribution, reef area and temperature are major predictors of species richness and accumulation across scales, consistent with recent theories linking home range to species-area relationships as well as metabolic effects on speciation rates. Based on our results, we hypothesize that in less diverse areas, species are larger and likely more dispersive, leading to larger range sizes and less turnover between sites. Our results indicate that changes in province-level (i.e., regional) richness should leave a tractable fingerprint in local assemblages, and that detailed studies on local-scale assemblage composition may be informative of responses occurring at larger scales.

Résumé: The change of animal biometrics (body mass and body size) can reveal important information about their living environment as well as determine the survival potential and reproductive success of individuals and thus the persistence of populations. However, weighing individuals like marine turtles in the field presents important logistical difficulties. In this context, estimating body mass (BM) based on body size is a crucial issue. Furthermore, the determinants of the variability of the parameters for this relationship can provide information about the quality of the environment and the manner in which individuals exploit the available resources. This is of particular importance in young individuals where growth quality might be a determinant of adult fitness. Our study aimed to validate the use of different body measurements to estimate BM, which can be difficult to obtain in the field, and explore the determinants of the relationship between BM and size in juvenile green turtles. Juvenile green turtles were caught, measured, and weighed over 6 years (2011 2012; 2015 2018) at six bays to the west of Martinique Island (Lesser Antilles). Using different datasets from this global database, we were able to show that the BM of individuals can be predicted from body measurements with an error of less than 2%. We built several datasets including different morphological and time-location information to test the accuracy of the mass prediction. We show a yearly and north – south pattern for the relationship between BM and body measurements. The year effect for the relationship of BM and size is strongly correlated with net primary production but not with sea surface temperature or cyclonic events. We also found that if the bay locations and year effects were removed from the analysis, the mass prediction degraded slightly but was still less than 3% on average. Further investigations of the feeding habitats in Martinique turtles are still needed to better understand these effects and to link them with geographic and oceanographic conditions.

Résumé: The spatial and temporal variation of phytoplankton communities including HAB species in relation to the environmental characteristics was investigated in the protected meso-oligotrophic Mellah lagoon located in the South Western Mediterranean. During 2016, a biweekly monitoring of phytoplankton assemblages and the main abiotic factors were realized at three representative stations. Taxonomic composition, abundance, and diversity index were determined. In total, 227 phytoplankton species (160 diatoms and 53 dinoflagellates) were inventoried. There was a clear dominance of diatoms (62.9%) compared with dinoflagellates (36.8%). Diatoms dominated in spring and dinoflagellates developed in summer and early autumn in Mellah showing a marked seasonal trend. Data showed that the dynamic of the phytoplankton taxa evolving in the lagoon was mainly driven by temperature and salinity. For the first time, a number of potentially toxic species have been identified, including 2 diatoms (Pseudo-nitzschia group delicatissima, Pseudo-nitzschia group seriata) and 5 dinoflagellates (Alexandrium minutum, Alexandrium tamarense/catenella, Dinophysis acuminata, Dinophysis sacculus, Prorocentrum lima). These harmful species could threat the functioning of the Mellah lagoon and human health and require the establishment of a monitoring network. Finally, our study suggests that the observed decrease of the phytoplankton diversity between 2001 and 2016 could result from the reduction in water exchanges between the lagoon and the adjacent coast following the gradual clogging of the channel.

Résumé: Thanks to the availability of the MEDITS survey data, a standardized picture of the occurrence and abundance of demersal Chondrichthyes in the northern Mediterranean has been obtained. During the spring-summer period between 2012 and 2015, 41 Chondrichthyes, including 18 sharks (5 orders and 11 families). 22 batoids (3 orders and 4 families) and 1 chimaera, were detected from several geographical sub-areas (GSAs) established by the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean. Batoids had a preferential distribution on the continental shelf (10-200 m depth). while shark species were more frequent on the slope (200-800 m depth). Only three species, the Carcharhiniformes Galeus melastomus and Scyliorhinus canicida and the Torpediniformes Torpedo matmorata were caught in all GSAs studied. On the continental shelf, the Rajidae family was the most abundant, being represented in primis by Raja clavaia and then by R. miraleius, R. polystigma and R. asterias. The slope was characterized by the prevalence of G. melastomus in all GSAs, followed by S. canictda, E. spinax and Squalus blainville. Areas under higher fishing pressure, such as the Adriatic Sea and the Spanish coast (with the exception of the Balearic Islands), show a low abundance of chondrichthyans, but other areas with a high level of fishing pressure, such as southwestern Sicily, show a high abundance, suggesting that other environmental drivers work together with fishing pressure to shape their distribution. Results of generalized additive models highlighted that depth is one of the most important environmental drivers influencing the distribution of both batoid and shark species, although temperature also showed a significant influence on their distribution. The approach explored in this work shows the possibility of producing maps modelling the distribution of demersal chondrichthyans in the Mediterranean that are useful for the management and conservation of these species at a regional scale. However, because of the vulnerability of these species to fishing exploitation, fishing pressure should be further incorporated in these models in addition to these environmental drivers.

Résumé: The relative contribution of ecological processes in shaping metacommunity dynamics in heavily managed landscapes is still unclear. Here we used two complementary approaches to disentangle the role of environment and spatial effect in farmland bird community assembly in an intensive agro-ecosystem. We hypothesized that the interaction between habitat patches and dispersal should play a major role in such unstable and unpredictable environments. First, we used a metacommunity patterns analysis to characterize species co-occurrences and identify the main drivers of community assembly; secondly, variation partitioning was used to disentangle environmental and geographical factors (such as dispersal limitation) on community structure and composition. We used high spatial resolution data on bird community structure and composition distributed among 260 plots in an agricultural landscape. Species were partitioned into functional classes, and point count stations were classified according to landscape characteristics before applying metacommunity and partitioning analyses within each. Overall we could explain around 20% of the variance in species composition in our system, revealing that stochasticity remains very important at this scale. However, this proportion varies depending on the scale of analysis, and reveals potentially important contributions of environmental filtering and dispersal. These conclusions are further reinforced when the analysis was deconstructed by bird functional classes or by landscape habitat classes, underlining trait-related filters, thus reinforcing the idea that wooded areas in these agroecosystems may represent important sources for a specific group of bird species. Our analysis shows that deconstructing the species assemblages into separate functional groups and types of landscapes, along with a combination of analysis strategies, can help in understanding the mechanisms driving community assembly.

Résumé: The recent discovery of Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas (also known as Magallana gigas) spatfields in a Mediterranean lagoon intensely exploited for shellfish farming (Thau lagoon) revealed significant contrasts in spatial patterns of recruitment. We evaluated the processes that drive spatial patterns in oyster recruitment by comparing observed recruitment, simulated hydrodynamic connectivity and ecological variables. We hypothesized that spatial variability of recruitment depends on (1) hydrodynamic connectivity and (2) the ecology of the larval supply, settlement, metamorphosis, survival and biotic environmental parameters. We assessed recruitment at 6-8 experimental sites by larval sampling and spat collection inside and outside oyster farming areas and on an east-west gradient, from 2012-2014. Hydrodynamic connectivity was simulated using a numerical 3D transport model assessed with a Eulerian indicator. The supply of large umbo larvae did not differ significantly inside and outside oyster farming areas, whereas the supply of pediveligers to sites outside shellfish farms was structured by hydrodynamic connectivity. Inside shellfish farming zones, unfavorable conditions due to trophic competition with filter-feeders jeopardized their settlement. In this case, our results suggest loss of settlement competence by oyster larvae. This confirms our hypothesis of top-down trophic control by the oysters inside farming zones of Thau lagoon in summer that fails to meet the ecological requirements of these areas as oyster nurseries. Knowledge of oyster dispersal, connectivity and recruitment in coastal lagoons will help local development of sustainable natural spat collection. On a global scale, our method could be transposed to other basins or used for other species such as mussels, clams or scallops, to better understand the spatial patterns of bivalve recruitment. Management of the oyster industry based on natural spat collection will help develop a sustainable activity, based on locally adapted oyster strains but also by reducing the risks of transferring pathogens between basins and the global carbon footprint of this industry.

Résumé: Since the 1950s, industrial fisheries have expanded globally, as fishing vessels are required to travel further afield for fishing opportunities. Technological advancements and fishery subsidies have granted ever-increasing access to populations of sharks, tunas, billfishes, and other predators. Wilderness refuges, defined here as areas beyond the detectable range of human influence, are therefore increasingly rare. In order to achieve marine resources sustainability, large no-take marine protected areas (MPAs) with pelagic components are being implemented. However, such conservation efforts require knowledge of the critical habitats for predators, both across shallow reefs and the deeper ocean. Here, we fill this gap in knowledge across the Indo-Pacific by using 1,041 midwater baited videos to survey sharks and other pelagic predators such as rainbow runner (Elagatis bipinnulata), mahimahi (Coryphaena hippurus), and black marlin (Istiompax indica). We modeled three key predator community attributes: vertebrate species richness, mean maximum body size, and shark abundance as a function of geomorphology, environmental conditions, and human pressures. All attributes were primarily driven by geomorphology (35%-62% variance explained) and environmental conditions (14%-49%). While human pressures had no influence on species richness, both body size and shark abundance responded strongly to distance to human markets (12%-20%). Refuges were identified at more than 1,250 km from human markets for body size and for shark abundance. These refuges were identified as remote and shallow seabed features, such as seamounts, submerged banks, and reefs. Worryingly, hotpots of large individuals and of shark abundance are presently under-represented within no-take MPAs that aim to effectively protect marine predators, such as the British Indian Ocean Territory. Population recovery of predators is unlikely to occur without strategic placement and effective enforcement of large no-take MPAs in both coastal and remote locations.

Résumé: Using the most comprehensive fish occurrence database, we evaluated the importance of ecological and historical drivers in diversity patterns of subdrainage basins across the Amazon system. Linear models reveal the influence of climatic conditions, habitat size and sub-basin isolation on species diversity. Unexpectedly, the species richness model also highlighted a negative upriver-downriver gradient, contrary to predictions of increasing richness at more downriver locations along fluvial gradients. This reverse gradient may be linked to the history of the Amazon drainage network, which, after isolation as western and eastern basins throughout the Miocene, only began flowing eastward 1-9 million years (Ma) ago. Our results suggest that the main center of fish diversity was located westward, with fish dispersal progressing eastward after the basins were united and the Amazon River assumed its modern course toward the Atlantic. This dispersal process seems not yet achieved, suggesting a recent formation of the current Amazon system.

Résumé: Diverging semi-isolated lineages either meet in narrow clinal hybrid zones, or have a mosaic distribution associated with environmental variation. Intrinsic reproductive isolation is often emphasized in the former and local adaptation in the latter, although both reduce gene flow between groups. Rarely are these two patterns of spatial distribution reported in the same study system. Here, we report that the long-snouted seahorse Hippocampus guttulatus is subdivided into discrete panmictic entities by both types of hybrid zones. Along the European Atlantic coasts, a northern and a southern lineage meet in the southwest of France where they coexist in sympatryi.e., in the same geographical zonewith little hybridization. In the Mediterranean Sea, two lineages have a mosaic distribution, associated with lagoon-like and marine habitats. A fifth lineage was identified in the Black Sea. Genetic homogeneity over large spatial scales contrasts with isolation maintained in sympatry or close parapatry at a fine scale. A high variation in locus-specific introgression rates provides additional evidence that partial reproductive isolation must be maintaining the divergence. We find that fixed differences between lagoon and marine populations in the Mediterranean Sea belong to the most differentiated SNPs between the two Atlantic lineages, against the genome-wide pattern of structure that mostly follow geography. These parallel outlier SNPs cluster on a single chromosome-wide island of differentiation. Since Atlantic lineages do not map to lagoon-sea habitat variation, genetic parallelism at the genomic island suggests a shared genetic barrier contributes to reproductive isolation in contrasting contexts-i.e., spatial versus ecological. We discuss how a genomic hotspot of parallel differentiation could have evolved and become associated both with space and with a patchy environment in a single study system.

Résumé: Groups or aggregations of animals can result from individuals being attracted to a common resource or because of synchronised patterns of daily or seasonal activity. Although mostly solitary throughout its distribution, white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) seasonally aggregate at a number of sites worldwide to feed on calorie-rich pinnipeds. At the Neptune Islands, South Australia, large numbers of white sharks can be sighted throughout the year, including during periods of low seal abundance. We use a combination of photo-identification and network analysis based on co-occurrence of individuals visiting the site on the same day to elucidate the population structure and aggregatory behaviour of Australia's largest aggregation of sub-adult and adult white sharks. We photo-identified 282 sharks (183 males, 97 females, 2 unknown) over a 4.5-year period (June 2010-November 2014) and found that white sharks did not randomly co-occur with their conspecifics, but formed four distinct communities. Tendency to co-occur varied across months with males co-occurring with more individuals than females. Sex-dependent patterns of visitation at the Neptune Islands and resulting intraspecific competition likely drive the observed community structure and temporal variability in co-occurrences. This study provides new insights into the aggregatory behaviour of white sharks at a seal colony and shows for the first time that white shark co-occurrence can be non-random.

Résumé: Aim The aim was to analyse the morphological diversity of the world freshwater fish fauna. We tested to which extent the distributions of morphological traits are supported by extreme morphologies and how those extreme morphologies are distributed among realms and affect the functional vulnerability. We also analysed the contribution of between- and within-order morphological variability to the morphological differences between realms. Major taxa studied Freshwater fish. Location Global. Time period 1960s-2010s. Methods We used a global database of freshwater fishes from the six realms. Ten morphological traits were measured on 9,150 species, that is, 75% of the ca. 13,000 freshwater fish species. A principal components analysis was conducted to combine the 10 traits into a multidimensional space. We used Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests to compare the difference in morphological diversity between the six realms and between and within the major fish orders. We then identified the morphologically extreme species and quantified their contributions to the morphological range to assess the functional vulnerability and redundancy of fish faunas in the six biogeographical realms for freshwater ecosystems. Results We report a strong morphological variability among freshwater fishes of the world, with significant morphological differences among realm fish faunas, caused by an interplay between taxonomic composition of the realm faunas and morphological differences within orders among the realms. Morphologically extreme species accounted for a large percentage of the filling of the global morphological space and are distributed throughout the world. Main conclusions Fish morphological diversity is largely supported by a few species with extreme trait combinations, indicating that functional vulnerability exists throughout the world. Our results suggest that more attention should be paid to these morphologically extreme species and that they should be protected to ensure the sustainability of functions they support.

Résumé: Aim: The importance of quantifying the contribution of historical processes in shaping current biodiversity patterns is now recognized, but quantitative approaches that explicitly link speciation, extinction and dispersal processes to palaeo-environmental changes are currently lacking. Here, we propose a spatial diversification model of lineages through time (SPLIT) based on the reconstruction of palaeo-environments. We illustrate our approach using mangroves as a case study and evaluate whether habitat changes caused by plate tectonics explain the current biodiversity patterns of this group. Innovations: The SPLIT model allows one to simulate the evolutionary dynamics of species ranges by spatially linking speciation, extinction and dispersal processes to habitat changes over geological time periods. The SPLIT model provides a mechanistic expectation of speciation and extinction assuming that species are ecologically identical and not interacting. The likelihood of speciation and extinction is equivalent across species and depends on two dispersal parameters interacting with habitat dynamics (d a maximum dispersal distance and ds a distance threshold beyond which gene flow is absent). Beyond classical correlative approaches, this model tracks biodiversity dynamics under palaeo-environmental changes and provides multiple expectations (i.e., alpha-, beta-diversity, phylogenies) that can be compared to empirical patterns. Main conclusions: The SPLIT model allows a better understanding of the origin of biodiversity by explicitly accounting for habitat changes over geological times. The simulations applied to the mangrove case study reproduced the observed longitudinal gradient in species richness, the empirical pattern of beta-diversity and also provided inference on diversification rates. Future developments may include niche evolution and species interactions to evaluate the importance of non-neutral mechanisms. The method is fully implemented in the InsideDNA platform for bioinformatics analyses, and all modelling results can be accessed via interactive web links.

Résumé: Understanding the environmental drivers of interactions between predators and humans is critical for public safety and management purposes. In the marine environment, this issue is exemplified by shark-human interactions. The annual shark bite incidence rate (SBIR) in La Reunion (Indian Ocean) is among the highest in the world (up to 1 event per 24,000 hours of surfing) and has experienced a 23-fold increase over the 2005-2016 period. Since 1988, 86% of shark bite events on ocean-users involved surfers off the leeward coast, where 96% of surfing activities took place. We modeled the SBIR as a function of environmental variables, including benthic substrate, sea temperature and period of day. The SBIR peaked in winter, during the afternoon and dramatically increased on coral substrate since the mid-2000s. Seasonal patterns of increasing SBIR followed similar fluctuations of large coastal shark occurrences (particularly the bull shark Carcharhinus leucas), consistent with the hypothesis that higher shark presence may result in an increasing likelihood of shark bite events. Potential contributing factors and adaptation of ocean-users to the increasing shark bite hazard are discussed. This interdisciplinary research contributes to a better understanding of shark-human interactions. The modeling method is relevant for wildlife hazard management in general.

Résumé: In the face of the biodiversity crisis, it is argued that we should prioritize species in order to capture high functional diversity (FD). Because species traits often reflect shared evolutionary history, many researchers have assumed that maximizing phylogenetic diversity (PD) should indirectly capture FD, a hypothesis that we name the “phylogenetic gambit”. Here, we empirically test this gambit using data on ecologically relevant traits from >15,000 vertebrate species. Specifically, we estimate a measure of surrogacy of PD for FD. We find that maximizing PD results in an average gain of 18% of FD relative to random choice. However, this average gain obscures the fact that in over one-third of the comparisons, maximum PD sets contain less FD than randomly chosen sets of species. These results suggest that, while maximizing PD protection can help to protect FD, it represents a risky conservation strategy.

Résumé: Latitudinal gradients in species interactions are widely cited as potential causes or consequences of global patterns of biodiversity. However, mechanistic studies documenting changes in interactions across broad geographic ranges are limited. We surveyed predation intensity on common prey (live amphipods and gastropods) in communities of eelgrass (Zostera marina) at 48 sites across its Northern Hemisphere range, encompassing over 37 degrees of latitude and four continental coastlines. Predation on amphipods declined with latitude on all coasts but declined more strongly along western ocean margins where temperature gradients are steeper. Whereas insitu water temperature at the time of the experiments was uncorrelated with predation, mean annual temperature strongly positively predicted predation, suggesting a more complex mechanism than simply increased metabolic activity at the time of predation. This large-scale biogeographic pattern was modified by local habitat characteristics; predation declined with higher shoot density both among and within sites. Predation rates on gastropods, by contrast, were uniformly low and varied little among sites. The high replication and geographic extent of our study not only provides additional evidence to support biogeographic variation in predation intensity, but also insight into the mechanisms that relate temperature and biogeographic gradients in species interactions.

Résumé: Sea turtle stranding events provide an opportunity to study drivers of mortality, but causes of strandings are poorly understood. A general sea turtle carcass oceanographic drift model was developed to estimate likely mortality locations from coastal sea turtle stranding records. Key model advancements include realistic direct wind forcing on carcasses, temperature driven carcass decomposition and the development of mortality location predictions for individual strandings. We applied this model to 2009-2014 stranding events within the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia. Predicted origin of vessel strike strandings were compared to commercial vessel data, and potential hazardous turtle-vessel interactions were identified in the southeastern Bay and James River. Commercial fishing activity of gear types with known sea turtle interactions were compared to predicted mortality locations for stranded turtles with suggested fisheries-induced mortality. Probable mortality locations for these strandings varied seasonally, with two distinct areas in the southwest and southeast portions of the lower Bay. Spatial overlap was noted between potential mortality locations and gillnet, seine, pot, and pound net fisheries, providing important information for focusing future research on mitigating conflict between sea turtles and human activities. Our ability to quantitatively assess spatial and temporal overlap between sea turtle mortality and human uses of the habitat were hindered by the low resolution of human use datasets, especially those for recreational vessel and commercial fishing gear distributions. This study highlights the importance of addressing these data gaps and provides a meaningful conservation tool that can be applied to stranding data of sea turtles and other marine megafauna worldwide.

Résumé: 1. Trait-based approaches have the potential to reveal general and predictive relationships between organisms and ecosystem functioning. However, the mechanisms underlying the functional structure of communities are still unclear. Within terrestrial ecosystems, several studies have shown that many ecological processes are controlled by the interacting above-and belowground compartments. However, few studies have used traits to reveal the functional relationships between plants and soil fauna. Mostly, research combining plants and soil fauna solely used the traits of one assemblage in predictive studies. 2. Above-ground (plants) and below-ground (Collembola) compartments were sampled over a flooding gradient in northern France along the Seine River. First, we measured the effect of flooding on functional and taxonomic assembly within both communities. We then considered the linkages between plant and Collembolan species richness, community traits and assessed whether traits of both compartments converged at high flooding intensity (abiotic filtering) and diverged when this constraint is released (biotic filtering). 3. Species richness of both taxa followed the same bell-shaped pattern along the gradient, while a similar significant pattern of functional richness was only observed for plants. Further analyses revealed a progressive shift from trait convergence to divergence for plants, but not for Collembola, as constraints intensity decreased. Instead, our results highlighted that Collembola traits were mainly linked to the variations in plant traits. This leads, within Collembola assemblages, to convergence of a subset of perception and habitat-related traits for which the relationship with plant traits was assessed. 4. Synthesis. Using a trait-based approach, our study highlighted that functional relationships occur between above-and below-ground compartments. We underlined that functional composition of plant communities plays a key role in structuring Collembola assemblages in addition to the role of abiotic variables. Our study clearly shows that functional diversity provides a new approach to link the above-and below-ground compartments and might, therefore, be further considered when studying ecological processes at the interface between both compartments.

Résumé: AimIn interaction with past climate changes, it is likely that plate tectonics contributed to the shaping of current global species diversity, but so far this has not been statistically quantified at the global level. Here, we tested whether plate tectonics since the breakup of Gondwana left an imprint on current patterns of species richness of amphibians, birds and mammals. LocationGlobal. MethodsWe reconstructed the absolute positions of continental plates since the Early Cretaceous and used this information to derive variables of latitudinal shifts and potential exchanges among landmasses that could have modulated species richness. Using a multi-model inference approach combining both contemporary and historical variables, we quantified the relative importance of variables related to plate tectonics in explaining the spatial variation of the richness of amphibians, birds and mammals. Next, we employed a moving window approach to test whether plate tectonics left a more marked imprint in specific regions. ResultsPlatetectonics left an imprint on current patterns of vertebrate species richness in geologically singular regions, especially in the Indo-Australian Archipelago and the region comprising eastern Africa and Madagascar. For birds and mammals, but not amphibians, we found a marked contrast in species richness across Australia and Southeast Asia and eastern Africa and Madagascar associated with plate tectonics. Moreover, the relationship between species richness and plate tectonics varied across taxonomic orders for birds and mammals. Main conclusionsWhile no general imprint of plate tectonics was detected at the global scale, our regional analysis highlighted a substantial role of geodynamics in shaping current patterns of vertebrate species richness in Southeast Asia and Madagascar. Future studies should integrate the full range of processes associated with plate tectonics, including orogeny, not considered here.

Résumé: The Theory of Island Biogeography (TIB) predicts how area and isolation influence species richness equilibrium on insular habitats. However, the TIB remains silent about functional trait composition and provides no information on the scaling of functional diversity with area, an observation that is now documented in many systems. To fill this gap, we develop a probabilistic approach to predict the distribution of a trait as a function of habitat area and isolation, extending the TIB beyond the traditional species-area relationship. We compare model predictions to the body-size distribution of piscivorous and herbivorous fishes found on tropical reefs worldwide. We find that small and isolated reefs have a higher proportion of large-sized species than large and connected reefs. We also find that knowledge of species body-size and trophic position improves the predictions of fish occupancy on tropical reefs, supporting both the allometric and trophic theory of island biogeography. The integration of functional ecology to island biogeography is broadly applicable to any functional traits and provides a general probabilistic approach to study the scaling of trait distribution with habitat area and isolation.

Résumé: Coral reefs and their associated fauna are largely impacted by ongoing climate change. Unravelling species responses to past climatic variations might provide clues on the consequence of ongoing changes. Here, we tested the relationship between changes in sea surface temperature and sea levels during the Quaternary and present-day distributions of coral reef fish species. We investigated whether species-specific responses are associated with life-history traits. We collected a database of coral reef fish distribution together with life-history traits for the Indo-Pacific Ocean. We ran species distribution models (SDMs) on 3,725 tropical reef fish species using contemporary environmental factors together with a variable describing isolation from stable coral reef areas during the Quaternary. We quantified the variance explained independently by isolation from stable areas in the SDMs and related it to a set of species traits including body size and mobility. The variance purely explained by isolation from stable coral reef areas on the distribution of extant coral reef fish species largely varied across species. We observed a triangular relationship between the contribution of isolation from stable areas in the SDMs and body size. Species, whose distribution is more associated with historical changes, occurred predominantly in the Indo-Australian archipelago, where the mean size of fish assemblages is the lowest. Our results suggest that the legacy of habitat changes of the Quaternary is still detectable in the extant distribution of many fish species, especially those with small body size and the most sedentary. Because they were the least able to colonize distant habitats in the past, fish species with smaller body size might have the most pronounced lags in tracking ongoing climate change.

Résumé: Accurate knowledge on fish trophic ecology and its modifications is crucial for understanding the impact of global change on ecosystems. In this context, we investigated the value of the delta C-13 and delta N-15 of otolith soluble organic matter (SOM) for identifying temporal diet shifts in American silver perch Bairdiella chrysoura over a 30-yr period characterized by strong changes in its population size and habitats within the Terminos Lagoon (Mexico). We first compared the otolith SOM isotopic signatures from present-clay adults to those of muscle and the main local prey. Our results suggest that otolith SOM can be confidently extracted and analyzed for both present and past otoliths of this species. The mean otolith SOM signatures obtained (-15.92 +/- 1.35%, for delta C-13 and 9.38 +/- 0.93%, for delta N-15) were consistent with those of the diet as 85% of the individual signatures were included within the prey isotopic niche area. Moreover, this study supports a trophic enrichment factor between diet and otolith (TEFdiet-otolith) close to 0 for delta N-15, while for delta C-13, the TEFololith-muscle of +0.02% warrants further investigation. Then, we compared past and contemporary otolith SOM signatures to investigate temporal diet shifts in B. chrysoura. This showed that 613C and delta N-15 differed significantly between the past and present period even if the temporal shift remained relatively small (respectively +1.17%, and 0.55%). The present study substantiates the use of otolith SOM delta C-13 and delta N-15 as a proxy of fish present and past trophic position, opening the possibility for major progress in studies of temporal changes in food web ecology.

Résumé: The Coral Triangle in the Indo-Pacific is a region renowned for exceptional marine biodiversity. The area could have acted as a 'centre of origin' where speciation has been prolific or a 'centre of survival' by providing refuge during major environmental shifts such as sea-level changes. The region could also have acted as a 'centre of accumulation' for species with origins outside of the Coral Triangle, owing to it being at a central position between the Indian and Pacific oceans. Here, we investigated support for these hypotheses using population-level DNA sequence-based reconstructions of the range evolution of 45 species (314 populations) of Indo-Pacific reef-associated organisms. Our results show that populations undergoing the most ancient establishment were significantly more likely to be closer to the centre of the Coral Triangle than to peripheral locations. The data are consistent with the Coral Triangle being a net source of coral-reef biodiversity for the Indo-Pacific region, suggesting that the region has acted primarily as a centre of survival, a centre of origin or both. These results provide evidence of how a key location can influence the large-scale distributions of biodiversity over evolutionary timescales.

Résumé: The tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvier (Carcharhinidae) is a large elasmobranch suspected to have, as other apex predators, a keystone function in marine ecosystems and is currently considered Near Threatened (Red list IUCN). Knowledge on its ecology, which is crucial to design proper conservation and management plans, is very scarce. Here we describe the isolation of eight polymorphic microsatellite loci using 454 GS-FLX Titanium pyrosequencing of enriched DNA libraries. Their characteristics were tested on a population of tiger shark (n = 101) from Reunion Island (South-Western Indian Ocean). All loci were polymorphic with a number of alleles ranging from two to eight. No null alleles were detected and no linkage disequilibrium was detected after Bonferroni correction. Observed and expected heterozygosities ranged from 0.03 to 0.76 and from 0.03 to 0.77, respectively. No locus deviated from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and the global F-IS of the population was of 0.04(NS). Some of the eight loci developed here successfully cross-amplified in the bull shark Carcharhinus leucas (one locus), the spinner shark Carcharhinus brevi pi n n a (four loci), the sandbar shark Carcharhinus plumbeus (five loci) and the scalloped hammerhead shark Sphyrna lewini (two loci). We also designed primers to amplify and sequence a mitochondrial marker, the control region. We sequenced 862 bp and found a low genetic diversity, with four polymorphic sites, a haplotype diversity of 0.15 and a nucleotide diversity of 2 x 10(-4).

Résumé: Understanding the spatiotemporal behavior of fishermen at the fleet scale is key for defining effective strategies for fisheries management. Here we classify the spatial patterns exhibited by fishing trip trajectories in the world's largest monospecific fishery, the Peruvian anchovy fishery. Our goal is to identify spatial strategies and their possible changes over 2000–2009. The data comprise more than 350,000 fishing trips, recorded using a vessel monitoring system. On-board observers monitored a small fraction of those trips (>2000), providing data for inferring the type of activity (fishing, searching, and cruising) from the position records, for use in a state-space model. Each fishing trip was characterized by its duration, maximum distance to the coast, geographical extension, and time spent fishing, searching and cruising. Using clustering techniques, we identified four types of fishing trips, associated with differences in management among regions, fleet segments, and skippers’ behavior. The methodology could be used to investigate fishing spatial strategies using VMS trajectories in other fisheries.

Résumé: In the present study we investigated the biogeography of macrozooplankton and fish biomass in the Bay of Biscay. In this region, we defined six different landscapes based on the hydrogeographical characteristics observed in spring 2009. We then related landscape's characteristics and environmental parameters such as light attenuation depth and chlorophyll-a with macrozooplankton and fish acoustic biomass. Hydrodynamic structures together with coastal influences (river discharges, predation pressure and depth preference) and vertical thermohaline structure/mixing (feeding modes and ability to stay in preferred layers) appeared as the main factors determining the biological distribution. Besides, variance partitioning was used to assess the respective roles played by the hydrological environment, the geographical space and the biological environment alone, and their interactions. Results revealed that: (i) macrozooplankton and fish have a preference for different hydrogeographical landscapes; (ii) the association between hydrological conditions and geographical features, i.e. the spatial structure of the hydrological environment, plays a key role in the distribution of macrozooplankton; and (iii) prey-predator relationships have to be taken into account to provide a comprehensive characterization of habitat suitability.

Résumé: Beyond the loss of species richness [1-3], human activities may also deplete the breadth of evolutionary history (phylogenetic diversity) and the diversity of roles (functional diversity) carried out by species within communities, two overlooked components of biodiversity. Both are, however, essential to sustain ecosystem functioning and the associated provision of ecosystem services, particularly under fluctuating environmental conditions [1-7]. We quantified the effect of human activities on the taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity of fish communities in coral reefs, while teasing apart the influence of biogeography and habitat along a gradient of human pressure across the Pacific Ocean. We detected nonlinear relationships with significant breaking points in the impact of human population density on phylogenetic and functional diversity of parrot-fishes, at 25 and 15 inhabitants/km(2), respectively, while parrot-fish species richness decreased linearly along the same population gradient. Over the whole range, species richness decreased by 11.7%, while phylogenetic and functional diversity dropped by 35.8% and 46.6%, respectively. Our results call for caution when using species richness as a benchmark for measuring the status of ecosystems since it appears to be less responsive to variation in human population densities than its phylogenetic and functional counterparts, potentially imperiling the functioning of coral reef ecosystems.

Résumé: Current developments in urban ecology include very few studies focused on pond ecosystems, though ponds are recognized as biodiversity hotspots. Using Odonata as an indicator model, we explored changes in species composition in ponds localized along an urban gradient of a megacity (Paris, France). We then assessed the relative importance of local- and landscape-scale variables in shaping Odonata alpha-diversity patterns using a model-averaging approach. Analyses were performed for adult (A) and adult plus exuviae (AE) census data. At 26 ponds, we recorded 657 adults and 815 exuviae belonging to 17 Odonata species. The results showed that the Odonata species assemblage composition was not determined by pond localization along the urban gradient. Similarly, pond characteristics were found to be similar among urban, suburban and periurban ponds. The analyses of AE census data revealed that fine-scale urbanization (i.e., increased density of buildings surrounding ponds) negatively affects Odonata alpha-diversity. In contrast, pond localization along the urban gradient weakly explained the alpha-diversity patterns. Several local-scale variables, such as the coverage of submerged macrophytes, were found to be significant drivers of Odonata alpha-diversity. Together, these results show that the degree of urbanization around ponds must be considered instead of pond localization along the urban gradient when assessing the potential impacts of urbanization on Odonata species diversity This work also indicates the importance of exuviae sampling in understanding the response of Odonata to urbanization. (C) 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Résumé: Aim To define biome-scale hotspots of phylogenetic and functional mammalian biodiversity (PD and FD, respectively) and compare them with 'classical' hotspots based on species richness (SR) alone. Location Global. Methods SR, PD and FD were computed for 782 terrestrial ecoregions using the distribution ranges of 4616 mammalian species. We used a set of comprehensive diversity indices unified by a recent framework incorporating the relative species coverage in each ecoregion. We built large-scale multifaceted diversity-area relationships to rank ecoregions according to their levels of biodiversity while accounting for the effect of area on each facet of diversity. Finally we defined hotspots as the top-ranked ecoregions. Results While ignoring relative species coverage led to a fairly good congruence between biome-scale top ranked SR, PD and FD hotspots, ecoregions harbouring a rich and abundantly represented evolutionary history and FD did not match with the top-ranked ecoregions defined by SR. More importantly PD and FD hotspots showed important spatial mismatches. We also found that FD and PD generally reached their maximum values faster than SR as a function of area. Main conclusions The fact that PD/FD reach their maximum value faster than SR could suggest that the two former facets might be less vulnerable to habitat loss than the latter. While this point is expected, it is the first time that it has been quantified at a global scale and should have important consequences for conservation. Incorporating relative species coverage into the delineation of multifaceted hotspots of diversity led to weak congruence between SR, PD and FD hotspots. This means that maximizing species number may fail to preserve those nodes (in the phylogenetic or functional tree) that are relatively abundant in the ecoregion. As a consequence it may be of prime importance to adopt a multifaceted biodiversity perspective to inform conservation strategies at a global scale.

Résumé: A 22-group Ecopath model representing the southern Humboldt (SH) upwelling system in the year 1970 is constructed. The model is projected forward in time and fitted to available time series of relative biomass, catch and fishing mortality for the main fishery resources. The time series cover the period 1970 to 2004 and the fitting is conducted using the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) software version 5.1. The aim is to explore the relative importance of internal (trophic control) and external (fishing, physical variability) forcing on the dynamics of commercial stocks and the Southern Chilean food web. Wide decadal oscillations are observed in the biomass of commercial stocks during the analyzed period. Fishing mortality explains 21% of the variability in the time series, whereas vulnerability (v) parameters estimated using EwE explain an additional 20%. When a function affecting primary production (PP) is calculated by Ecosim to minimize the sum of squares of the time series, a further 28% of variability is explained. The best fit is obtained by using the fishing mortality time series and by searching for the best combination of v parameters and the PP function simultaneously, accounting for 69% of total variability in the time series. The PP function obtained from the best fit significantly correlates with independent time series of an upwelling index (UI; rho = 0.47, p<0.05) and sea surface temperature (SST; rho = -0.45, p<0.05), representing environmental conditions in the study area during the same period of time. These results suggest that the SH ecosystem experienced at least two different environmentally distinct periods in the last three decades: (i) from 1970 to 1985 a relatively warm period with low levels of upwelling and PP, and (ii) from 1985 to 2004 a relatively cold period with increased upwelling and PP. This environmental variability can explain some of the changes in the food webs. Fishing (catch rate) and the environment (bottom-up anomaly in PP) appear to have affected the SH both at the stock and at the food web level between 1970 and 2004. The vulnerability setting indicates that the effects of external forcing factors may have been mediated by trophic controls operating in the food web.

Résumé: The impact of anthropogenic activity on ecosystems has highlighted the need to move beyond the biogeographical delineation of species richness patterns to understanding the vulnerability of species assemblages, including the functional components that are linked to the processes they support. We developed a decision theory framework to quantitatively assess the global taxonomic and functional vulnerability of fish assemblages on tropical reefs using a combination of sensitivity to species loss, exposure to threats and extent of protection. Fish assemblages with high taxonomic and functional sensitivity are often exposed to threats but are largely missed by the global network of marine protected areas. We found that areas of high species richness spatially mismatch areas of high taxonomic and functional vulnerability. Nevertheless, there is strong spatial match between taxonomic and functional vulnerabilities suggesting a potential win-win conservation-ecosystem service strategy if more protection is set in these locations.

Résumé: In this paper, one-dimensional (1-D) geophysical time series are regarded as series of significant time-scale events. We combine a wavelet-based analysis with a Gaussian mixture model to extract characteristic time-scales of 486 144 detected events in the Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly (SSTA) observed from satellite at global scale from 1985 to 2009. We retrieve four low-frequency characteristic time-scales of Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the 1.5- to 7-year range and show their spatial distribution. High-frequency (HF) SSTA event spatial distribution shows a dependency to the ENSO regimes, pointing out that the ENSO signal also involves specific signatures at these time-scales. These fine-scale signatures can hardly be retrieved from global EOF approaches, which tend to exhibit uppermost the low-frequency influence of ENSO onto the SSTA. In particular, we observe at global scale a major increase by 11% of the number of SSTA HF events during Nino periods, with a local maximum of 80% in Europe. The methodology is also used to highlight an ENSO-induced frequency shift during the major 1997-2000 ENSO event in the intertropical Pacific. We observe a clear shift from the high frequencies toward the 3.36-year scale with a maximum shift occurring 2 months before the ENSO maximum of energy at 3.36-year scale.

Résumé: AimThe delineation of regions is a critical procedure in biogeography, but there is still no consensus about the best approach. Traditionally, a compositional dissimilarity index and a clustering algorithm are used to partition locations into regions. However, the choice of index and algorithm may have a profound impact on the final result, particularly when locations display different levels of species richness and when they are nested within each other. Our objective was to estimate the influence of species nestedness among locations on the delineation of biogeographical regions. LocationAs a case study, we used coral reef fishes (families Chaetodontidae, Pomacentridae and Labridae) from the Indo-Pacific, where a large richness gradient extends, often as a series of nested assemblages, from the species-rich Indo-Australian Archipelago (Coral Triangle) to species-poor peripheral locations. MethodsWe used the turnover and nestedness components of the SOrensen and Jaccard dissimilarity indices to estimate the effect of nestedness on the delineation of biogeographical regions. In addition, we compared the results with those obtained using a parsimony analysis of endemicity (PAE). ResultsLow Mantel correlation values revealed that the PAE method assembled locations in a very different way than methods based on dissimilarity indices for Indo-Pacific coral reef fishes. We also found that nestedness mattered when delineating biogeographical units because, for both the SOrensen and the Jaccard indices, reef fish assemblages were grouped differently depending on whether we used the turnover component of each index or the complete index, including the nestedness component. The turnover component ignored variation in species richness attributable to differences in habitat area between locations, and permitted a delineation based solely on species replacement. Main conclusionsWe demonstrate that the choice of the component used to measure dissimilarity between species assemblages is critical, because it may strongly influence regional delineations, at least for Indo-Pacific coral reef fishes. We conclude that the two components of the dissimilarity indices can reveal complementary insights into the role that history may have played in shaping extant patterns of biodiversity.

Résumé: Aim The large-scale description of ecosystem complexity, including the structure of interaction networks, has been largely overlooked although it is known to underpin species co-occurrences and their robustness to climatic or anthropogenic disturbances. Here, we investigated whether the various components of mammalflea interaction networks (richness of fleas, richness of mammals and the richness of mammalflea associations) are spatially congruent and follow the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG). Location Sixteen regions, world-wide. Methods We first took into account the effect of area on diversity by determining the position of regions with respect to speciesarea relationships. We then investigated the spatial congruence between the regional richness of each component of mammalflea interaction networks as well as their latitudinal gradients. We further investigated patterns for fleahost associations by testing for relationships between mammalflea interaction richness and (1) flea niche breadth and (2) host carrying capacity. Results We report divergent LDGs for the different components of mammalflea interaction networks: our data agree with a canonical LDG for mammals, but reveal that the diversity of fleas and mammalflea associations do not follow such a classical gradient. Our results suggest that host carrying capacity is more likely than flea niche breadth to modulate the number of links in hostparasite interaction networks. Main conclusions The complex interplay between geographic variation in host diversity and both host and parasite traits can lead to unexpected spatial patterns such as the invalidation of expected parasites and links in hostparasite web LDGs. Beyond our focus on hostparasite interactions, our study is among the first in the emerging field of interaction network macroecology and paves the way for other components of ecological networks to be investigated across space and time.

Résumé: Although environmental filtering has been observed to influence the biodiversity patterns of marine bacterial communities, it was restricted to the regional scale and to the species level, leaving the main drivers unknown at large biogeographic scales and higher taxonomic levels. Bacterial communities with different species compositions may nevertheless share phylogenetic lineages, and phylogenetic turnover (PT) among those communities may be surprisingly low along any biogeographic or environmental gradient. Here, we investigated the relative influence of environmental filtering and geographical distance on the PT between marine bacterial communities living more than 8000 km apart in contrasted abiotic conditions. PT was high between communities and was more structured by local environmental factors than by geographical distance, suggesting the predominance of a lineage filtering process. Strong phenotype-environment mismatches observed in the ocean may surpass high connectivity between marine microbial communities.