Article
Plant Sciences
Kevin Hardouin, Romain Bouyer, Hugo Pliego-Cortes, Timothee Le Men, Stephane Cerantola, Christel Marty, Philippe Douzenel, Gilles Bedoux, Nathalie Bourgougnon
Summary: Polyopes lancifolius, an introduced species of Halymeniales, was biochemically described in this study. The analysis of the algal raw material revealed similar levels of sugars, proteins, lipids, and ash compared to other Halymeniales species. The presence of various amino acids and polysaccharides was also determined. This study provided new insights into the composition of P. lancifolius.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Iwan Le Berre, Catherine Meur-Ferec, Veronique Cuq, Elisabeth Guillou, Thibaud Lami, Nicolas Le Dantec, Pauline Letortu, Caroline Lummert, Manuelle Philippe, Mathias Rouan, Camille Nous, Alain Henaff
Summary: The attractiveness of coasts increases their exposure to erosion and flooding risks, which are further intensified by climate change and sea level rise. To understand and mitigate the vulnerability of coastal areas, it is crucial to develop, share, and maintain relevant knowledge on risks. This article presents the establishment of a coastal risks observatory in Brittany, France, using a conceptual approach based on hazards, assets, management, and social representations. The approach successfully engaged scientific and operational stakeholders to diagnose the vulnerability of coastal territories.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
(2022)
Article
Geography, Physical
Takuto Ando, Ken Sawada, Kazuki Okano, Reishi Takashima, Hiroshi Nishi
Summary: In sediments from the Goguel level of the Vocontian Basin in southeastern France, it was found that 2-methylhopanoid producers, prasinophyte algae, and other marine organisms played key ecological roles during OAE 1a, with low production potentially leading to anoxia.
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY PALAEOCLIMATOLOGY PALAEOECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Nicolas Guillou, George Lavidas, Bahareh Kamranzad
Summary: Refined numerical wave energy resource assessments are necessary for reducing uncertainties in power evaluation. This study used a 27-year hindcast database with fine spatial resolution to evaluate wave energy converters in different water depths around Brittany, France. The results showed the potential of western Brittany for offshore energy exploitation and ranked the devices, promoting the interests of Oceantec in offshore waters, Wave Dragon in intermediate waters, and Oyster and WaveStar C6 in shallow waters.
Article
Ecology
Sarah C. Donelan, A. Whitman Miller, Jim R. Muirhead, Gregory M. Ruiz
Summary: The introduction of nonindigenous species poses a threat to global ecosystems, and the variability in reproductive responses across species and transit routes is an important driver of species invasions. Integrating reproductive potential into management strategies is crucial for limiting the spread of nonindigenous species.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Naomi Lejeune, Fabien Mercier, Cecile Chevrier, Nathalie Bonvallot, Barbara Le Bot
Summary: This study aimed to assess the exposure of pregnant women in Brittany to pesticides, and results show the detection of organophosphate and pyrethroid residues, providing valuable insights into the exposure situation.
JOURNAL OF EXPOSURE SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Daniele De Luca, Roberta Piredda, Diana Sarno, Wiebe H. C. F. Kooistra
Summary: Marine protists have traditionally been considered low in diversity and widespread, but recent studies have shown the presence of cryptic species complexes. Overcoming sampling and methodological limitations, global metabarcoding data analysis reveals geographic and ecological differentiation driving speciation among marine protists.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hanen Smii, Carla Leite, Joao Pinto, Bruno Henriques, Hamouda Beyrem, Amadeu M. V. M. Soares, Mohamed Dellali, Eduarda Pereira, Rosa Freitas
Summary: Due to the wide use of Titanium (Ti) compounds, Ti and Ti nanoparticles (nTi) are released into aquatic environments, causing varying degrees of toxicity on aquatic fauna. Green macroalgae Ulva lactuca is capable of accumulating trace elements and has been extensively studied as a universal sorbent. This study aimed to evaluate the toxicity of Ti and nTi in bivalves and the remediation properties of U. lactuca. Results showed cellular damage in bivalves exposed to Ti and nTi, and the presence of U. lactuca limited the damage, possibly due to changes in water quality induced by the algae.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Bernard Davoust, Patrick Guerin, Nicolas Orain, Camille Fligny, Fabien Flirden, Florence Fenollar, Oleg Mediannikov, Sophie Edouard
Summary: During the first half of 2021, seropositivity for SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 15.6% of 33 wild mustelids tested in the Brittany region of France. Western blot and ELISA techniques were used to detect the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG in the animals. Although qPCR tests were negative, this study provides preliminary evidence of unknown sources of infection.
TRANSBOUNDARY AND EMERGING DISEASES
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Sylvestre Njakou Djomo, Igor Staritsky, Berien Elbersen, Bert (E. ) Annevelink, Benoit Gabrielle
Summary: Growing energy crops on marginal lands is a potential solution for increasing bioresources without impacting the food supply. However, there is limited understanding of marginal lands and the effects of growing energy crops on them.
RENEWABLE & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Charles-Francois Boudouresque, Michele Perret-Boudouresque, Aurelie Blanfune
Summary: The Port-Cros National Park encompasses both land and sea areas, with a diverse range of reported macrophyte taxa. The research effort has fluctuated over time, and the extensive available database provides a basis for critical analysis of biodiversity concepts.
Review
Environmental Sciences
Bilal Mghili, Gabriel Enrique De-la-Torre, Mustapha Aksissou
Summary: The introduction and transport of marine invasive species into new environments pose a significant threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services, leading to potential economic consequences. The main routes and mechanisms for the transportation and dispersion of alien species include shipping, waterways, and aquaculture. Plastic pollution, which enters the ocean in huge quantities each year, provides a substrate for marine organisms and facilitates the transport of alien species. Plastic appears to be a more efficient vector for the spread of alien species compared to natural means. It is important to further research the role of plastics in the introduction of alien species and develop strategies to mitigate this issue.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Mar Roca, Martha Bonnet Dunbar, Alejandro Roman, Isabel Caballero, Maria Laura Zoffoli, Pierre Gernez, Gabriel Navarro
Summary: This study demonstrates the usefulness of multispectral remote sensing techniques and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in monitoring the invasive macroalgae R. okamurae in coastal areas. The study successfully detected the presence of R. okamurae using multispectral images and highlighted the importance of early warnings generated by satellite data.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Agronomy
Romane Mettauer, Lukas Beule, Zita Bednar, Margaux Malige, Olivier Godinot, Edith Le Cadre
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the effect of different silvopastoral agroforestry systems on soil nitrification potential. The results showed that nitrification potential differed between the two agroforestry systems and among the positions in relation to the trees. Nitrification potential was strongly correlated with soil pH, whereas no correlation was observed between nitrification potential and community size of soil nitrifiers.
Article
Food Science & Technology
Stephanie Watier-Grillot, Sebastien Larreche, Christelle Mazuet, Frederic Baudouin, Cecile Feraudet-Tarisse, Lise Holterbach, Aissata Dia, Christelle Tong, Laure Bourget, Sophie Hery, Emmanuel Pottier, Olivier Bouilland, Marc Tanti, Audrey Merens, Stephanie Simon, Laure Diancourt, Aurelie Chesnay, Vincent Pommier de Santi
Summary: On July 6, 2018, an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis occurred among customers of a dining facility at a military base in Brittany, France, with a total of 200 reported cases out of a population of 1700. The outbreak was attributed to chili con carne served at lunch on July 5, which contained high levels of phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) due to undercooked kidney beans. This study emphasizes the importance of routine testing for plant toxins in food matrices to prevent food-borne illnesses caused by plant toxins.
Article
Plant Sciences
Conxi Rodriguez-Prieto, Olivier De Clerck, Michael D. Guiry, Showe-Mei Lin
Summary: The classification of the genera Grateloupia, Phyllymenia, and Prionitis remains controversial and relies on the anatomy of female reproductive structures and phylogenetic reconstructions. A new species of Prionitis was discovered in Taiwan, revealing common characteristics of female reproductive structures among related species and supporting a monophyletic relationship based on combined rbcL and LSU rDNA sequence analyses. Further reinvestigation into the female reproductive structures of Grateloupia sensu lato species closely related to Prionitis and Phyllymenia is needed for resolving the systematics of the Halymeniaceae.
JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Luna M. van der Loos, Sofie D'hondt, Aschwin H. Engelen, Henrik Pavia, Gunilla B. Toth, Anne Willems, Florian Weinberger, Olivier De Clerck, Sophie Steinhagen
Summary: This study investigated the stability and variability of seaweed-associated bacteria across the Atlantic-Baltic Sea salinity gradient. Results showed that bacterial composition was strongly influenced by salinity and host species, with distinct communities in low and high salinity regions. A small taxonomic core community was identified, contributing to 14% of reads per sample, and core taxa followed a gradient model, facilitating host adaptation across the environmental gradient.
Article
Plant Sciences
Christophe Vieira, Tom Schils, Hiroshi Kawai, Sofie D'hondt, Monica O. Paiano, Alison R. Sherwood, Olivier De Clerck, Mayalen Zubia
Summary: The calcified encrusting brown algal genus Newhousia is reported from three new archipelagos in the Pacific, with five distinct evolutionary lineages identified. The lineage from Guam, showing genetic variation from previously known species, is described as a new species.
Review
Plant Sciences
Kenny Arthur Bogaert, Jonas Blomme, Tom Beeckman, Olivier De Clerck
Summary: Auxin plays a crucial role in the development of land plants and brown seaweeds, and the PIN and PILS transporter families may have evolved prior to the canonical auxin response pathway. The conservation of PILS-mediated auxin transport and the existence of auxin function in unicellular algae suggest that auxin function predates multicellularity.
TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Plant Sciences
Christophe Vieira, Olivier De Clerck, Antoine De Ramon N'Yeurt, Sofie D'hondt, Laurent Millet, Myung Sook Kim, Claude Payri, Mayalen Zubia
Summary: In this study, we used an integrative taxonomic approach to re-evaluate the diversity of Lobophora. Our findings show that French Polynesia has at least 37 Lobophora species, with over half of them being endemic. French Polynesia shares a high biogeographic affinity with the Melanesian Islands and has connections to the western Indian Ocean and the Atlantic. We propose that Lobophora species in French Polynesia mainly evolved from colonizers originating from the Central Indo-Pacific, resulting in high endemism in remote archipelagos.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Razy Hoffman, Olivier De Clerck, Frederik Leliaert
Summary: We provide an account of two newly recorded non-indigenous tropical seaweed species, Siphonocladus tropicus and Caulerpa integerrima, found in the Levantine Mediterranean Sea. Morphological and molecular evidence supports the reports, which also indicate the possible origin and pathways of introduction for these species.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Pilar Diaz-Tapia, Ivan Rodriguez-Bujan, Christine A. Maggs, Heroen Verbruggen
Summary: This study combines molecular and morphological analyses to study red algal taxa. It finds that populations of Symphyocladiella parasitica from northern and southern Europe represent different species. A new species, Symphyocladiella arecina sp. nov., is proposed for samples from southern Europe, and a new genus, Deltalsia, is proposed for the British samples.
JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Lan-Anh T Tran, Frederik Leliaert, Christophe Vieira, Tien V Tran, Tu V Nguyen, Tien D Dam, Olivier De Clerck
Summary: The species diversity of Ulva in Vietnam was investigated using genetic markers, resulting in the identification of 19 species. Seven species were recorded for the first time in Vietnam, and some genetic clusters could not be matched with species names. The study also found that the species composition in Vietnam is similar to adjacent countries and highlights the importance of molecular data in assessing Ulva diversity. Additionally, the research suggests that there may be undiscovered diversity in tropical regions.
PHYCOLOGICAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Evolutionary Biology
Quinten Bafort, Tian Wu, Annelore Natran, Olivier De Clerck, Yves Van de Peer
Summary: The immediate effects of plant polyploidization contribute to polyploid establishment through morphological, physiological, developmental, and phenological changes. However, studies on the relationship between the immediate effects of whole-genome duplication and the environment are limited but suggest that stressful conditions can alter these effects. In this study, a common garden experiment on the greater duckweed Spirodela polyrhiza was conducted to test whether the immediate effects of WGD can facilitate tetraploid duckweed establishment under two environmental stressors. The results indicate that WGD can confer a fitness advantage under stressful conditions, and the effects of the environment on ploidy-induced changes are strain-specific.
Article
Plant Sciences
Soria Delva, Camino Fernandez de la Hoz, Quinten Bafort, Sofie D'hondt, Soha Shabaka, Sarah Hamdy Rashedy, Alison R. Sherwood, Tamar Guy-Haim, Alvaro Israel, Olivier De Clerck
Summary: In this study, we investigate the introduction of Dictyota acutiloba in the Mediterranean Sea and provided an updated distribution of this species, which was believed to be limited to the Pacific Ocean. Genetic analysis and ecological niche models confirmed the presence of D. acutiloba in Indo-Pacific regions and along the Israeli coastline in the southeastern Mediterranean Sea. The close genetic relationship between introduced specimens and those from the Red Sea suggests an introduction through the Suez Canal. The further spread of D. acutiloba in the eastern Mediterranean is likely, with possible extension into the western Mediterranean Sea, depending on climate change scenarios.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Jonas Blomme, Thomas Wichard, Thomas B. Jacobs, Olivier De Clerck
Summary: Green seaweeds, particularly Ulva species, have various morphologies and ecological roles, making them important for research in carbon assimilation, bacteria interactions, life cycle, and economic benefits. Ulva mutabilis/compressa is suggested as a model species and the article highlights available molecular data and tools for further research. Exciting developments in other Ulva species are also discussed.
JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Soria Delva, Bernard De Baets, Jan M. Baetens, Olivier De Clerck, Willem Stock
Summary: This study investigated whether the thermal tolerance of the brown seaweed Dictyota dichotoma can be enhanced by adding bacteria from its natural environment. The results showed that bacterial supplementation did not affect the growth of the seaweed over the full thermal gradient, suggesting that ecological bacterial rescue may not play a role in mitigating the effects of ocean warming on this brown seaweed.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Francesco Paolo Mancuso, Kathryn Lee Morrissey, Olivier De Clerck, Laura Airoldi
Summary: Warming and nutrient enrichment have significant effects on the physiology and survival of foundation species in both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects and the role of microbial communities have been overlooked in experiments. This study examined the impacts of air warming and nutrient enrichment on a seaweed species and its associated bacterial communities. The results showed that the two stressors had additive, antagonistic, and synergistic interactions on the abundance of bacterial taxa, and they mainly affected metabolic pathways associated with seaweed disease, degradation of cell-wall polymers, and algicidal processes. These findings highlight the dysregulation of seaweed microbiomes by warming and nutrient enrichment, providing a potential mechanism for their ongoing loss.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Kevin R. Thiele, Wendy L. Applequist, Susanne S. Renner, Tom W. May, Ali A. Donmez, Quentin Groom, Samuli Lehtonen, Christine A. Maggs, Valery Malecot, Hwan Su Yoon
Summary: The Special-purpose Committee was established at the XIX International Botanical Congress in 2017 to investigate the possibility of using DNA sequences as types in the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants. This paper provides background information, explores key issues related to typification, discusses the pros and cons of allowing DNA sequences as types, and suggests options for future discussion and recommendations.
Article
Biology
Christophe Vieira, Myung Sook Kim, Antoine De Ramon N'Yeurt, Claude Payri, Sofie D'Hondt, Olivier De Clerck, Mayalen Zubia
Summary: This study utilized DNA barcoding to revise the species diversity of French Polynesian marine flora, resulting in the identification of a total of 702 species, including 119 Chlorophyta, 169 Cyanobacteria, 92 Ochrophyta, 320 Rhodophyta, and 2 seagrass species. This research also provides a valuable DNA barcode reference library for identification purposes and future taxonomic and conservation studies.