Search

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]

Studies the distribution of phytoplankton pigments in European estuaries. Use of liquid chromatography; Maximum turbidity zone; Region for heterotrophic phytoplankton degradation.

In the Gironde Estuary, most part of phytoplanktonic material carried by the rivers is mineralised in the maximum turbidity zone (MTZ). In order to follow the degradation of the phytoplanktonic material into the MTZ, we developed an in vitro approach based on the monitoring of phytoplanktonic pigments. Algal material from two chlorophytes (Scenedesmus suspicatus Chaudat and Chlamydomonas sp.) was incubated in the dark during 28 days into water samples from the Gironde estuary MTZ, at variable suspended solid concentrations (SPM) as well as in a sterilised turbid sample. First order decay constants of chlorophylls a and b and lutein increased by a factor 3 to 5 between SPM of 0 and 3 g l−1. The production of pheophytin a in the presence of particles and the lack of degradation in the sterilised turbid sample confirmed the effect of attached bacteria on the particles. To cite this article: E. Lemaire et al., C. R. Geoscience 334 (2002) 251–258. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The ANR Agrobiosphère program (2011-2013) aimed to support and fund research projects addressing the issue of transition towards sustainable production systems. It followed in the steps of the ADD (2005-2006) and Systerra (2008-2010) programs and of Adage, a prospective workshop on the impacts of climate change and new adaptation strategies. Priority was given to issues related to the long-term evolutionary trajectories of systems, to the design of agro-ecological innovations at the territorial and sector levels, also including the notions of transition, sustainability and resilience in situations of change. This paper gives the main points of a final review conference organized in November 2016, at which the results generated by the projects were discussed within five sessions: adaptation to global changes; biogeochemical cycles; functional biodiversity; territorial modeling and support to actors; relations between natural environments and economic systems. We show that the program succeeded in building bridges between different scientific communities in an innovative way. It facilitated the development of new forms of interdisciplinarity and inter-institutional collaboration, leading to a significant increase in the contribution of scientific teams in ecology and social sciences to the project, and thus opening a space in agronomic research for the various dimensions of sustainable development. The program has proved crucial in stabilizing the concept of agroecology, which has now became a very concrete component of French public policy. The lessons learnt from Agrobiosphère are a strong argument for thematic programs to support targeted research on emergent issues. [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]

Investigates the occurrence of alkylated volatile iodide and selenide species in water, sediments and overlying atmosphere of three major European estuaries. Salinity gradient; Algae's biomass turnover; Seasonal variation of surface water concentrations; Estuarine mass balance.