Disentangling the relative effect of light pollution,impervious surfaces and intensive agriculture on bat activity with a national-scale monitoring program

Context

Light pollution is a global change affecting a major proportion of global land surface. Although the impacts of Artificial Light At Night (ALAN) have been documented locally for many taxa, the extent of effect of ALAN at a landscape scale on biodiversity is unknown.

Objectives

We characterized the landscape-scale impacts of ALAN on 4 insectivorous bat species Pipistrellus pipistrellus, Pipistrellus kuhlii, Eptesicus serotinus, Nyctalus leisleri, and compared the extent of their effects to other major land-use pressures.

Methods

We used a French national-scale monitoring program recording bat activity among 2-km car transect surveys, and extracted landscape characteristics around transects with satellite and land cover layers. For each species, we performed multi-model averaging at 4 landscape scales (from 200 to 1000 m buffers around transects) to compare the relative effects of the average radiance, the proportion of impervious surface and the proportion of intensive agriculture.

Results

For all species, ALAN had a stronger negative effect than impervious surface at the 4 landscape scales tested. This effect was weaker than the effect of intensive agriculture. The negative effect of ALAN was significant for P. pipistrellus, P. kuhlii and E. serotinus, but not for N. leisleri. The effect of impervious surface varied among species while intensive agriculture had a significant negative effect on the 4 species.

Conclusion

Our results highlight the need to consider the impacts of ALAN on biodiversity in land-use planning and suggest that using only impervious surface as a proxy for urbanization may lead to underestimated impacts on biodiversity.

     

Jaagsiekte Sheep Retrovirus (JSRV): from virus to lung cancer in sheep

Jaagsiekte Sheep Retrovirus (JSRV) is a betaretrovirus infecting sheep. This virus is responsible for a pulmonary adenocarcinoma, by transformation of epithelial cells from the bronchioli and alveoli. This animal cancer is similar to human bronchioloalveolar cancer (BAC), a specific form of human lung cancer for which a viral aetiology has not yet been identified. JSRV interacts with target cells through the membrane receptor Hyal2. The JSRV genome is simple and contains no recognised oncogene. It is now well established that the viral envelope protein is oncogenic by itself, via the cytoplasmic domain of the transmembrane glycoprotein and some domains of the surface glycoprotein. Activation of the PI3K/Akt and MAPK pathways participates in the envelope-induced transformation. Tumour development is associated with telomerase activation. This review will focus on the induction of cancer by JSRV.     

The influence of landscape on insect pest dynamics: a case study in southeastern France

Managing the spatial distribution of crop and non-crop habitats over landscapes could be used as a means to reduce insect pest densities. In this study, we investigated whether or not landscape characteristics affected the number of codling moths in commercial orchards. To do this, we collected overwintering larvae in 2006 and 2007 in 76 orchards over a 70 km2 area in southeastern France. We analysed variations in the number of larvae using correlation tests and linear models. As independent variables, we took both characteristics of focus orchards (pear vs. apple, organic vs. conventional orchards) and of their surrounding landscape (orchard density and hedgerow network attributes) into account in buffers with widths varying from 50 to 500 m. Although the codling moth is specialised on orchards, the number of codling moths was lower in orchards within a high orchard density area. There was some indication that this effect was mostly due to the density of conventional orchards and thus to the intensity of insecticide treatments. Conversely, we found no particular effect of abandoned or organic orchards. In 2006, the number of codling moths was also significantly lower in a focus orchard when the hedgerow network acted as a protection against the prevailing wind. Finally, major effects of landscape variables on the number of codling moths were observed for distances of less than 150 m from the focus orchards, suggesting that codling moth management should be organised over areas of about 16 ha. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Effects of fire frequency on plant communities and landscape pattern in the Massif des Aspres (southern France)

Fire frequency can affect pattern and diversity in plant communities and landscapes. We had the opportunity to study changes due to recurring wildfires on the same sites over a period of 50 years in the Massif des Aspres (southern France). The study was carried out in areas occupied byQuercus suber andQ. ilex series. A comparison of historical and cartographical documents (vegetation maps covering a 50 year interval and an accurate map of major wildfires during this period) allowed us to determine the changes occurring over time with or without fire action. Plant communities were grouped into three main vegetation types: forests, treed shrublands and shrublands. The passage of three successive wildfires on the same site led to a decrease in forest areas and an increase in shrublands; however, shrublands were already present before the first fire of the period under consideration. Less frequent fire occurrence induced more complex heterogeneity and greater landscape diversity. In the study region as a whole, with or without fire action, a significant decrease in forest surfaces was recorded, whereas there was an increase of unforested communities such as treed shrublands and shrublands. In some parts of the Massif fires increased the homogeneity of the landscape, in other parts they created a greater heterogeneity and diversity of plant communities.     

Misfolding of the prion protein: linking biophysical and biological approaches

Prion diseases are a group of neurodegenerative diseases that can arise spontaneously, be inherited, or acquired by infection in mammals. The propensity of the prion protein to adopt different structures is a clue to its pathological and perhaps biological role too. While the normal monomeric PrP is well characterized, the misfolded conformations responsible for neurodegeneration remain elusive despite progress in this field. Both structural dynamics and physico-chemical approaches are thus fundamental for a better knowledge of the molecular basis of this pathology. Indeed, multiple misfolding pathways combined with extensive posttranslational modifications of PrP and probable interaction(s) with cofactors call for a combination of approaches. In this review, we outline the current physico-chemical knowledge explaining the conformational diversities of PrP in relation with postulated or putative cellular partners such as proteic or non-proteic ligands.     

Update of Meat Standards Australia and the cuts based grading scheme for beef and sheepmeat

Changing markets and evolving consumer demand present new challenges for the beef and sheep industries. In response, the industry has been investing in innovations to deliver new products and management systems to consumers. One such innovation is the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) system. This system is a Total Quality Management System, aimed at delivering an eating quality guarantee to consumers, and through this adding value to the entire supply chain. At present, it is well developed for beef and still evolving for sheepmeat. MSA has identified Critical Control Points (CCPs) in the production, pre-slaughter, processing and value-adding aspects of the supply chain that impact on consumer palatability through the large-scale taste testing of meat by untrained consumers. These CCPs are used as either (1) mandatory criteria determining eligibility for grading, and (2) inputs in a model predicting the palatability of individual combinations of muscle and different cooking methods. Through the prediction of palatability, MSA increases consumer satisfaction and is used to provide assurance for branded products and new marketing innovations in Australia and internationally. This has added significant value to the Australian beef industry, with several retail examples demonstrating consumer willingness to pay more for premium quality beef and sheepmeat products based on the MSA grading scores. This price differential at retail allows the value of the carcass to be calculated based on the eating quality as well as the volume produced, thereby delivering a financial reward for farmers producing high quality carcasses. The continuous quality scale of MSA allows producers to realise the financial gain of incremental improvements in quality, as well as the precise economic weights associated with traits such as marbling, ossification score, or breed. The use of MSA in this fashion has underpinned a new and innovative supply chain where the pricing is transparent and allows producers to make informed decisions to modify both quality and yield traits. To date, the MSA system for beef has proved to be effective in predicting beef palatability not only in Australia but also in many other countries (France, Poland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Japan, South Korea, New-Zealand, the USA and South Africa). In Europe, results of the ProSafeBeef and ProOptiBeef projects as well as other national projects demonstrate the potential to develop an MSA-like international grading system for the supply chain in the EU, despite the diverse cultures and complex beef production systems within the member states. International testing in lamb has only just begun and preliminary results are discussed here.     

Impact of feed solution flow rate on Peptide fractionation by electrodialysis with ultrafiltration membrane

Recently, processes combining an electrical field as a driving force to porous membranes have been developed for the separation of protein or peptide mixtures to obtain more purified products with higher functionality or nutritional value. The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of the flow rate on the productivity and selectivity as well as on the electrodialytic parameters of electrodialysis with an ultrafiltration membrane (EDUF) during the fractionation of peptides from a beta-lactoglobulin tryptic hydrolysate. It appeared that the feed solution flow rate had no impact on the yield of the process but induced changes in the selectivity. In fact, increases in the flow rate decreased the migration of the peptides with limited electrophoretic mobility.