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To achieve its energy transition, the French government is planning to install floating wind farms in the Mediterranean Sea in the Gulf of Lion. In order to study the effects of such installations on the ecosystem, A trophicmodel was developed to study the evolution of biomass and ecological network indicators (ENA). Four scenarios were designed in order to simulate 1/the "reef effect" caused by the new hard substrate created by the wind farm structure, 2/the association of the reef effect with the reserve effect caused by the closure of the wind farm to fishing, 3/the impact of regular harvesting of sessile organisms from the hard substrate by fishermen and, 4/ the impact of the transfer of these organisms to the seafloor. Our study suggests changes in the ecosystem structure and functioning after the introduction of a wind farm, where low trophic level groups became more important in the functioning of the trophic web, the ecosystem maturity decreased, and the overall activity and diversity increased. The biomass of some pelagic and demersal groups increased. Overall, the introduction of large wind farm platforms will transform the local ecosystem, enhancing the overall production which will likely provide benefits to local fisheries focused on higher trophic level groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three main estuaries in the French Atlantic coast – the Seine, Loire and Gironde, all with high tidal regimes – are interfaces between the continental and the coastal ecosystems. The Seine and Gironde are highly contaminated, whereas the Loire remains in a more natural state. Both the Seine and Gironde have suffered from harbour construction, and as a result, their biological units are extremely compartmentalized. Benthic species and communities have adapted to tolerate temporal physical and chemical changes ( e.g. salinity, substrata, depth, and levels of fine particles and oxygen) and human activities ( e.g. dredging, shipping traffic, and habitat reduction). Although numerous bio-indicators and indices are used to define the ecological quality status (EcoQS) of coastal waters, very few of them were developed specifically for environments with a mosaic of conditions and salinity levels, including freshwater. The main problem appears to be that all the indices for determining anthropogenic stress examine the abundances of stress-tolerant species, which may also be able to tolerate natural stressors such as those occurring in estuaries. This paper takes a look at the development status of the benthic indicators and index approaches used in the three main estuaries along the French Atlantic coast. In addition, it examines the adaptation of the different benthic indicators to the taxonomic sufficiency principle, and the adaptation of the Benthic Opportunistic Polychaetes Amphipods index (BOPA) and the Benthic Opportunistic Annelida Amphipod index (BO2A) for use in the freshwater zones of transitional waters ( i.e. up to the upper limit of the tidal range). Several perspectives are discussed in light of the diverse disturbances and the heterogeneity of such stressed zones, such as the use of multimetric and scoring approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture and forestry cover more than 75% of Europe, and invertebrate pests are a costly challenge for these two economic sectors. Landscape management is increasingly promoted as a solution to enhance biological pest control, but little is known on its effects on adjacent crop fields and woodlands. This study aims to explore the effect of the proportion of woodlands and permanent grasslands as well as crop diversity on biological pest control simultaneously in cereals fields and woodland patches, in south-western France. We used different types of sentinel prey as well as bird and carabid community metrics to assess biological pest control potential in these two ecosystems. We first show that land cover variables influence biological pest control both in cereal fields and woodland patches, but have antagonistic effects in the two ecosystems. Although results vary according to the biological control indicator considered, we show that increasing landscape heterogeneity represents a valuable solution to manage trade-offs and promote higher average predation rates across forests and cereal fields. Our study therefore calls for more integrative studies to identify landscape management strategies that enable nature-based solutions across ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an approach for assessing the effectiveness of those agri-environmental schemes and rural development measures aimed at enhancing the natural value of farmland and, more generally, aimed at releasing the pressure on the environment due to agriculture. First, based on fine scale data, indicators derived from the High Nature Value farmland concept are tested at different scales, resolutions and situations: LAU2 for The Netherlands and LAU1 for France. The effect of rural development measures on the evolution of these indicators is then explored. Significant cause-effect relationships are found in the French cases, while only relationships of correlations are observed from the Dutch case study, obviously caused by a lack of data. Using fine scale data on rural development measures related to both 2000–2006 and 2007–2013 programming periods of the Common Agricultural Policy, a spatial econometrics methodology is applied to France, at national level on the one hand, and at a selected NUTS2 level on the other. The results indicate that agri-environmental schemes and specific rural development measures affect the changes in the indicators, and that the spatial scale of the analyses matters. In particular, results indicate that trends observed at the national scale do not necessarily apply at the regional scale (e.g. impacts of conversion to organic farming, the grassland premium, payments for water and biodiversity protection) underlining the importance of multi-scale assessments. Interestingly, delayed effects of the measures implemented in the 2000–2006 programming period, such as machinery investment aids and less-favoured area payments, are detectable. As regards the 2007–2013 rural development measures, the most significant positive effects on the farm nature value indicator are found, at the national level, for locally targeted agri-environmental schemes focused on biodiversity and water issues and, at the NUTS2 level, for supporting organic farming schemes. Given that the farm nature value indicator is built from three different indices (addressing crop diversity, grassland share, and wooded and afforested farmland) the effect of rural development measures on each of these individual indices is also explored. This enables the main structure and the magnitude of policy impacts to be captured and helps with the understanding of why certain objectives were not met. Key findings are relevant in the context of policy monitoring and evaluation, while the methodology proposed, that incorporates spatial effects, is an important contribution to the implementation of the Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework by Member States to account for national, regional or local characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is concerned with the physical impacts of flood-mitigation structures on 'humanised' and 'natural' floodplain ecosystems. The former constitute fertile, well drained and developed surfaces. The latter are mainly degraded wetland areas located in the backwater zones of wide, low-lying floodplains. Three rivers are investigated: the Hawkesbury–Nepean and the Macleay Rivers in New South Wales, Australia and the Durance River in southern France. Their floodplains, flood-mitigation works and floodplain ecosystems are analysed, together with site- and time-dependent differences in their floodplains, their exploitation and their degradation. Conservation of floodplains seeks to reverse wetland degradation, and to increase biodiversity and sustainability, as well as preserving developed floodplains. This study discusses gaps in our biophysical knowledge of ecosystems and the absence of ecological indicators of degradation. It also considers the lack of data on socio-economic values for what are unique, site- and time-specific, biophysical systems. Only when such inadequacies are addressed will the values of ecosystems be fully understood. Then cost-effective management might be possible. These knowledge gaps contribute to the many problems of floodplain management, which are likely to increase when the additional impacts of population increase and global warming become apparent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Decision on biodiversity management at regional level must often be based on both ecological and socio-economic measures. For these last ones, many social, economic and political issues must be taken into account in the same time, and many stakeholders’ interests may be concerned by the decisions to be taken based on the measures chosen. In some cases, only monetary evaluations of biodiversity changes are proposed, which exclusively favor economic considerations, whereas social and governance problems might also be involved. Our paper presents a method based on the “principle of representative diversity”, allowing to obtain a reduced set of indicators equitably distributed among the different stakeholders and the different focal areas for biodiversity management. We have successfully applied this method to a case study, in the Ile-de-France region, in France, for drafting socio-economic indicators for the Regional Strategy for Biodiversity. Biodiversity stakeholders in the region have been invited to participate to three working groups, each of which is representative for a class of ecological services, i.e., “Regulation services”, “Provisioning services” and “Cultural services”. In a first meeting, stakeholders discussed the major stakes for the relationships between biodiversity and socio-economic activities in the region (i.e., Regional Focal Areas). Based on extensive literature study of indicators describing relationships between biodiversity and humans, we drafted a list of “candidate indicators”, which we distributed among the focal areas validated by the working groups. Stakeholders met a second time for choosing, among these indicators, the most representative 5 ones for each focal area. Finally, the principle of representative diversity allowed us to select a final set of 27 indicators, balanced between the different focal areas and the different stakeholders. After an introductory section presenting the literature background of our approach and describing the specific indicator needs of the Ile-de-France region, Section describes the method. Section presents the results of its application, going into detail for two examples of use of the principle of representative diversity. The last section discusses the results and concludes on the usefulness of the method, both theoretically and for the Ile-de-France region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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Population sizes of many birds are declining alarmingly and methods for estimating fluctuations in species' abundances at a large spatial scale are needed. The possibility to derive indicators from the tendency of specific species to co‐occur with others has been overlooked. Here, we tested whether the abundance of resident titmice can act as a general ecological indicator of forest bird density in European forests. Titmice species are easily identifiable and have a wide distribution, which makes them potentially useful ecological indicators. Migratory birds often use information on the density of resident birds, such as titmice, as a cue for habitat selection. Thus, the density of residents may potentially affect community dynamics. We examined spatio‐temporal variation in titmouse abundance and total bird abundance, each measured as biomass, by using long‐term citizen science data on breeding forest birds in Finland and France. We analyzed the variation in observed forest bird density (excluding titmice) in relation to titmouse abundance. In Finland, forest bird density linearly increased with titmouse abundance. In France, forest bird density nonlinearly increased with titmouse abundance, the association weakening toward high titmouse abundance. We then analyzed whether the abundance (measured as biomass) of random species sets could predict forest bird density better than titmouse abundance. Random species sets outperformed titmice as an indicator of forest bird density only in 4.4% and 24.2% of the random draws, in Finland and France, respectively. Overall, the results suggest that titmice could act as an indicator of bird density in Northern European forest bird communities, encouraging the use of titmice observations by even less‐experienced observers in citizen science monitoring of general forest bird density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iodine-129 is routinely released in the gaseous and liquid low-level radioactive effluents of nuclear spent fuel reprocessing plants. Environmental impact assessment of these discharges are performed based on monitoring samples of different types of natural indicators. Thyroid is considered as a relevant organ to monitor radioactive iodine isotopes. In this study, bovine thyroids were collected in herds located in the Cotentin area under the influence of authorized low level gaseous effluents of the La Hague nuclear fuel-reprocessing plant. For low level 129I/127I ratios, characteristic of environmental samples (10−12 to 10−7), RNAA or SMA that includes important radiochemical preparation steps are used. This paper demonstrates the interest of direct γ-X spectrometry to measure 129I activities, associated to INAA to measure 127I to attain higher ratios levels (10−6 to 10−4). This study shows the interest of monitoring bovine thyroids considered as sentinel organs to characterize the dispersion in space and time of 129I discharged in low level radioactive gaseous effluents by the La Hague reprocessing plant. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

One of the important tools to evaluate the ecological quality of surface water is the Macrophytes indices based on the bioindication capacity of aquatic plants. In Mediterranean rivers (France, Spain, and Portugal), the development of some macrophytes indices like l'Indice Biologique Macrophytes Rivières (IBMR), the biological metric score (BMS), as well as the Fluvial Macrophyte Index (IMF) are founded on the determination of the indicator values of the floristic reference lists. The aim of this study was to test the impact of the eco-Mediterranean differences (from one country to another) on the indicator taxa by comparing the indicator values of the Euro- Mediterranean macrophyte indices. With this in mind, we explore the possibility of the introduction of the Euro-Mediterranean macrophytes-based indices in Morocco (i.e. the hydrological basin of Sebou (HBS)) as a part of a preliminary attempt to develop the first Afro-Mediterranean macrophyte index. We confirm that the ecological amplitude and species optima vary between Mediterranean ecoregions, and indicator taxa differ between countries: There are medium to small correlations between Mediterranean indices: IBMR/BMS (p = 0.000, R² = 0.57), IMF/BMS (p = 0.000, R² = 0.34), and IBMR/IMF (p = 0.000, R² = 0.30). Five species exhibit major differences in indicator values: Zannichellia palustris and Potamogeton pectinatus have more eutrophic indicator values in France (IBMR) than in Spain (IMF). Potamogeton nodosus, Amblystegium riparium and Lycopus europaeus have broader ecological amplitudes in Portugal (BMS) than in France (IBMR) and in Spain (IMF), where it is restricted to eutrophic conditions. Furthermore, the three indicator systems include different indicator-taxon numbers. The comparison of the HBS elaborated list with the Euro-Mediterranean indices revealed the low level of common taxa approximately 6.76% of all indicator species used in the French index (IBMR), 10.48% in the Portuguese index (IMF) and 12.38% in the Spanish index (BMS). These results show the inadequacy of the trophic indices approach with the HBS conditions and thus the need for the development of an index based on biotic indices approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The River Luzou flows through a sandy substrate in the South West of France. According to the results of two assessment surveys, the Water Agency appraised that this river may not achieve the good ecological status by 2015 as required by the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC). This ecosystem is impacted by industrial effluents (organic matter, metals and aromatic compounds). In order to assess and characterize the impact, this study aimed to combine a set of taxonomic and non-taxonomic metrics for diatoms, macrophytes, macroinvertebrates and fish along the up- to downstream gradient of the river. Diversity metrics, biological indices, biological and ecological traits were determined for the four biological quality elements (BQE). Various quantitative metrics (biomass estimates) were also calculated for diatom communities. The results were compared to physicochemical analysis. Biological measurements were more informative than physicochemical analysis, in the context of the study. Biological responses indicated both the contamination of water and its intensity. Diversity metrics and biological indices strongly decreased with pollution for all BQE but diatoms. Convergent trait selection with pollution was observed among BQE: reproduction, colonization strategies, or trophic regime were clearly modified at impaired sites. Taxon size and relation to the substrate diverged among biological compartments. Multiple anthropogenic pollution calls for alternate assessment methods of rivers' health. Our study exemplifies the fact that, in the case of complex contaminations, biological indicators can be more informative for environmental risk, than a wide screening of contaminants by chemical analysis alone. The combination of diverse biological compartments provided a refined diagnostic about the nature (general mode of action) and intensity of the contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The frequency of occurrence and relative concentration of 44 pesticides in apicultural ( Apis mellifera) matrices collected from five French locations (24 apiaries) were assessed from 2002 to 2005. The number and nature of the pesticides investigated varied with the matrices examined-living honeybees, pollen loads, honey, and beeswax. Pollen loads and beeswax had the highest frequency of pesticide occurrence among the apiary matrices examined in the present study, whereas honey samples had the lowest. The imidacloprid group and the fipronil group were detected in sufficient amounts in all matrices to allow statistical comparisons. Some seasonal variation was shown when residues were identified in pollen loads. Given the results (highest frequency of presence) and practical aspects (easy to collect; matrix with no turnover, unlike with bees that are naturally renewed), pollen loads were the best matrix for assessing the presence of pesticide residues in the environment in our given conditions. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2011;30:103-111. © 2010 SETAC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmland biodiversity continues to decline mainly because of agricultural intensification and land abandonment. Agri-environment schemes can be designed to halt this loss by favouring extensification of agricultural practices and through sympathetic management of field boundaries and fallow land. In Europe, High Nature Value (HNV) farmland is defined as low-intensity farmland supporting or associated with a high rate of biodiversity, in terms of species richness or habitat diversity and therefore plays a crucial role in the maintenance of European biodiversity. However, no large-scale analysis has explored the role of these areas in achieving conservation goals. We analysed information from widely used indicators in order to describe the impact of low-intensity agriculture on farmland biodiversity in France. We used the HNV farmland indicator, based on agricultural statistics such as the Farm Structure Survey and the grassland survey, and common bird indicators, i.e. the Farmland Bird Indicator (FBI), the Community Specialization Index (CSI) and species richness indexes, based on the French Breeding Bird Survey. Temporal trends in the farmland bird indicator showed that populations of farmland birds were more likely to increase inside HNV areas compared to non-HNV areas. Although species richness is not higher within HNV farmland, bird communities are composed by more specialist species than in non-HNV areas. In addition, these specialist bird species are significantly more abundant in HNV areas. Synthesis and applications. Further farmland biodiversity decline is potentially reversible through an appropriate management of HNV areas. Existing and future agri-environment schemes should focus on preserving and extending HNV farmland, by favouring the maintenance of low-intensity agriculture and landscape complexity. Priority should be given to preserving diversity at the community level, with the help of adequate indicators, such as the ones presented here. The role of HNV farmland or similar concepts in combining agriculture and biodiversity goals should be further analysed and further used as large-scale conservation tools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distribution of Characeae vegetation from the Pays-de-la-Loire region was studied in ponds and standing waters (e.g. gravel pits, quarries, oxbows) in relation to water quality, other existing algae or macrophyte competition, and human activities. The potential of using stoneworts to characterise the type of biotope is presented and stoneworts show some possibility for use as general bioindicators of trophic quality in ponds and other still waters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]