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Allelopathy has been recently suggested as a mechanism by which macroalgae may outcompete corals in damaged reefs. Members of the brown algal genus Lobophora are commonly observed in close contact with scleractinian corals and have been considered responsible for negative effects of macroalgae to scleractinian corals. Recent field assays have suggested the potential role of chemical mediators in this interaction. We performed in situ bioassays testing the allelopathy of crude extracts and isolated compounds of several Lobophora species, naturally associated or not with corals, against four corals in New Caledonia. Our results showed that, regardless of their natural association with corals, organic extracts from species of the genus Lobophora are intrinsically capable of bleaching some coral species upon direct contact. Additionally, three new C21 polyunsaturated alcohols named lobophorenols A–C (1–3) were isolated and identified. Significant allelopathic effects against Acropora muricata were identified for these compounds. In situ observations in New Caledonia, however, indicated that while allelopathic interactions are likely to occur at the macroalgal-coral interface, Lobophora spp. rarely bleached their coral hosts. These findings are important toward our understanding of the importance of allelopathy versus other processes such as herbivory in the interaction between macroalgae and corals in reef ecosystems. International audience

Summary Understanding the environmental determinants of forests deciduousness i.e. proportion of deciduous trees in a forest stand, is of great importance when predicting the impact of ongoing global climate change on forests. In this study, we examine (i) how forest deciduousness varies in relation to rainfall and geology, and (ii) whether the influence of geology on deciduousness could be related to differences in soil fertility and water content between geological substrates. The study was conducted in mixed moist semi‐deciduous forests in the northern part of the Congo basin. We modelled the response of forest deciduousness to the severity of the dry season across four contrasting geological substrates (sandstone, alluvium, metamorphic and basic rocks). For this, we combined information on forest composition at genus level based on commercial forest inventories (62 624 0.5 ha plots scattered over 6 million of ha), leaf habit, and rainfall and geological maps. We further examined whether substrates differ in soil fertility and water‐holding capacity using soil data from 37 pits in an area that was, at the time, relatively unexplored. Forest deciduousness increased with the severity of the dry season, and this increase strongly varied with the geological substrate. Geology was found to be three times more important than the rainfall regime in explaining the total variation in deciduousness. The four substrates differed in soil properties, with higher fertility and water‐holding capacity on metamorphic and basic rocks than on sandstone and alluvium. The increase in forest deciduousness was stronger on the substrates that formed resource‐rich clay soils (metamorphic and basic rocks) than on substrates that formed resource‐poor sandy soils (sandstone and alluvium). Synthesis. We found evidence that tropical forest deciduousness is the result of both the competitive advantage of deciduous species in climates with high rainfall seasonality, and the persistence of evergreen species on resource‐poor soils. Our findings offer a clear illustration of well‐known theoretical leaf carbon economy models, explaining the patterns in the dominance of evergreen versus deciduous species. And, this large‐scale assessment of the interaction between climate and geology in determining forest deciduousness may help to improve future predictions of vegetation distribution under climate change scenarios. In central Africa, forest is likely to respond differently to variation in rainfall and/or evapotranspiration depending on the geological substrate.

Global spread of non-native species profoundly changed the world biodiversity patterns, but how it translates into functional changes remains unanswered at the world scale. We here show that while in two centuries the number of fish species per river increased on average by 15% in 1569 basins worldwide, the diversity of their functional attributes (i.e. functional richness) increased on average by 150%. The inflation of functional richness was paired with changes in the functional structure of assemblages, with shifts of species position toward the border of the functional space of assemblages (i.e. increased functional divergence). Non-native species moreover caused shifts in functional identity toward higher body sized and less elongated species for most of assemblages throughout the world. Although varying between rivers and biogeographic realms, such changes in the different facets of functional diversity might still increase in the future through increasing species invasion and may further modify ecosystem functioning. International audience

Since 2008, a severe decrease in size and body condition together with a demographic truncation has been observed in the sardine (secondarily in anchovy) population of the Gulf of Lions (NW Mediterranean Sea). In parallel, sprat biomass, which was negligible before, has increased tenfold. All of these changes have strongly affected the regional fisheries. Using trophic and isotopic data from contrasting periods of low versus high growth and condition, we investigated potential changes in diet and interspecific feeding interactions through time. Evidence of resource partitioning was found between sprat and both anchovy and sardine in 2004 and 2005. Since 2010, the isotopic niches of the 3 species have tended to overlap, suggesting higher risk of competition for food resources. Moreover, the wider trophic niche of sprat indicates higher variability in individual diets. Anchovy and sardine diet varied through time, with a high proportion of large copepods or cladocerans in periods of high growth and condition (1994 and 2007, respectively) versus a dominance of small copepods in the present (2011-2012). Furthermore, an important reduction in prey diversity was also identified in the diet of both anchovy and sardine during the most recent period. Our results support the hypothesis that changes in small pelagic fish growth, size and body condition and ultimately biomass could be due to bottom-up control characterized by changes in food availability and increasing potential trophic competition.

AbstractAimSpecies inhabiting fresh waters are severely affected by climate change and other anthropogenic stressors. Effective management and conservation plans require advances in the accuracy and reliability of species distribution forecasts. Here, we forecast distribution shifts of Salmo trutta based on environmental predictors and examine the effect of using different statistical techniques and varying geographical extents on the performance and extrapolation of the models obtained.LocationWatercourses of Ebro, Elbe and Danube river basins (c. 1,041,000 km2; Mediterranean and temperate climates, Europe).MethodsThe occurrence of S. trutta and variables of climate, land cover and stream topography were assigned to stream reaches. Data obtained were used to build correlative species distribution models (SDMs) and forecasts for future decades (2020s, 2050s and 2080s) under the A1b emissions scenario, using four statistical techniques (generalised linear models, generalised additive models, random forest, and multivariate adaptive regression).ResultsThe SDMs showed an excellent performance. Climate was a better predictor than stream topography, while land cover characteristics were not necessary to improve performance. Forecasts predict the distribution of S. trutta to become increasingly restricted over time. The geographical extent of data had a weak impact on model performance and gain/loss values, but better species response curves were generated using data from all three basins collectively. By 2080, 64% of the stream reaches sampled will be unsuitable habitats for S. trutta, with Elbe basin being the most affected, and virtually no new habitats will be gained in any basin.Main conclusionsMore reliable predictions are obtained when the geographical data used for modelling approximate the environmental range where the species is present. Future research incorporating both correlative and mechanistic approaches may increase robustness and accuracy of predictions.

The management and conservation of large pelagic fish commonly rely on fisheries data and thus crucially depend on our understanding of the fish response to the fishing gear. Stock assessment of both tropical and temperate tuna strongly leans on the catch statistics derived from pelagic longline fisheries. However, the role of the spatial distribution of catches of tuna and bycatch species over the gear, which can affect the estimated tuna abundance, is still neglected. In this study, we analyzed data obtained from 147 instrumented pelagic longline sets equipped with hook timers and temperature depth recorders to characterize the distribution of hooking contacts and success at a fine temporal and spatial scale. Scientific surveys were carried out in the Central–South Pacific Ocean (French Polynesia), targeting tropical (Thunnus albacares, Thunnus obesus) and temperate (Thunnus alalunga) tuna. Data analysis based on spatial point processes and stochastic modeling demonstrate the presence of spatio-temporal clusters for both hooking contacts and hooking success. The comparative analysis of the observed spatio-temporal patterns for different oceanographic zones revealed the persistent structure of the clusters, suggesting that they are neither related to local environmental conditions nor to the spatial distribution of prey species.

The pre-industrial millennium is among the periods selected by the Paleoclimate Model Intercomparison Project (PMIP) for experiments contributing to the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) and the fourth phase of the PMIP (PMIP4). The past1000 transient simulations serve to investigate the response to (mainly) natural forcing under background conditions not too different from today, and to discriminate between forced and internally generated variability on interannual to centennial timescales. This paper describes the motivation and the experimental set-ups for the PMIP4-CMIP6 past1000 simulations, and discusses the forcing agents orbital, solar, volcanic, and land use/land cover changes, and variations in greenhouse gas concentrations. The past1000 simulations covering the pre-industrial millennium from 850 Common Era (CE) to 1849 CE have to be complemented by historical simulations (1850 to 2014 CE) following the CMIP6 protocol. The external forcings for the past1000 experiments have been adapted to provide a seamless transition across these time periods. Protocols for the past1000 simulations have been divided into three tiers. A default forcing data set has been defined for the Tier 1 (the CMIP6 past1000) experiment. However, the PMIP community has maintained the flexibility to conduct coordinated sensitivity experiments to explore uncertainty in forcing reconstructions as well as parameter uncertainty in dedicated Tier 2 simulations. Additional experiments (Tier 3) are defined to foster collaborative model experiments focusing on the early instrumental period and to extend the temporal range and the scope of the simulations. This paper outlines current and future research foci and common analyses for collaborative work between the PMIP and the observational communities (reconstructions, instrumental data). Geoscientific Model Development, 10 (11) ISSN:1991-9603 ISSN:1991-959X