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Le programme Agrobiosphère de l'ANR (2011-2013) visait à étudier les transitions vers des systèmes productifs durables dans un contexte de changement global. Il faisait suite aux programmes ADD (2005-2006) et Systerra (2008-2010) ainsi qu'à l'atelier de réflexion prospective Adage, sur les impacts du changement climatique et les nouvelles stratégies d'adaptation. Il affichait comme prioritaires les questions relatives aux trajectoires d'évolution à long terme des systèmes, à la conception des innovations agroécologiques aux niveaux des territoires et des filières, en interrogeant également les notions de transition, de viabilité et de résilience dans des situations de changement. Nous présentons ici les faits marquants du colloque bilan de ce programme, organisé en novembre 2016, au cours duquel les résultats obtenus par les projets ont été discutés autour de cinq thèmes émergents : adaptation aux changements globaux ; cycles biogéochimiques ; biodiversité fonctionnelle ; modélisation territoriale et accompagnement des acteurs ; relations milieux-systèmes économiques. Ce bilan du programme Agrobiosphère montre que celui-ci a facilité la construction de nouvelles formes de collaborations interdisciplinaires et interinstitutionnelles et a entraîné une participation accrue, par rapport aux programmes précédents, des équipes en écologie et en sciences sociales aux projets, ouvrant ainsi l'espace des recherches agronomiques aux différentes dimensions du développement durable. Il a été fondamental pour approfondir le concept d'agroécologie. L'expérience du programme Agrobiosphère montre l'importance de la programmation thématique pour soutenir une recherche orientée et finalisée.

The occurrence of multiple health-related catastrophes in the last 30 years has left a long-lasting imprint in people's minds, resulting in the public becoming more aware of the risks surrounding them. As a consequence, a rise in claims relating to the fear of contracting a future disease has mirrored the public's concern for their health in different EU Member States. In this paper, the author compares the judicial treatment of claims for fear of future illness in English and French Law and concludes that neither of the approaches is satisfactory to protect the interests of the parties involved. French courts have shown a flexible approach, stretching the functions of tort law to its limits, while English courts have taken an extremely rigid position on these claims, reducing the ambit of tort law to almost nothing. To reach this conclusion, the author analyses the key cases in both legal systems. Based on this analysis, the author then tries to find a compromise approach, setting out a basic framework which could limit legal uncertainty while protecting the interests of both claimants and defendants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We experimentally simulated the temporality of the interactions between intertidal seagrasses and phytoplankton in the context of nutrient enrichment from continental origin. Phytoplankton development was retarded after 1-day exposure to intertidal Zostera noltii Hornemann vegetation samples, with respect to control treatments. This was not explained by resource competition and we hypothesized a direct interference between seagrass leaves and phytoplankton. After separation from the vegetation in 5-day incubations, the final yield of large phytoplankton, mainly diatoms and haptophytes, was determined by nutrient loading. In contrast, Synechococcus-like cells (SYN), phototrophic picoeukaryotes and nanophytoplankton decreased after day 3, most likely due to grazing control. A second experiment was designed to test the pelagos-benthos coupling in more detail. Therefore, we compared the effect of aboveground biomass of Z. noltii alone with the effect of the entire vegetation including the sediment. This experiment did not provide unequivocal support for our initial hypothesis on direct interference competition between Z. noltii leaves and phytoplankton. Surprisingly, we found a spectacular decrease of SYN, phototrophic picoeukaryotes and nanophytoplankton in treatments with Z. noltii vegetation including the sediment, which could be attributed to benthic grazing by suspension feeders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]