Why phylogenetic signal of traits is important in ecosystems: uniformity of a plant trait increases soil fauna, but only in a phylogenetically uniform vegetation.

Phylogenetically closely related plant species often share similar trait states (phylogenetic signal), but local assembly may favor dissimilar relatives and thereby decouple the diversity of a trait from the diversity of phylogenetic lineages. Associated fauna might either benefit from plant trait diversity, because it provides them complementary resources, or suffer from it due to dilution of preferred resources. We hence hypothesize that decoupling of trait and phylogenetic diversity weakens the relationship between the plant-trait diversity and the abundance and diversity of associated fauna.

Global data on earthworm abundance, biomass, diversity and corresponding environmental properties.

Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provided directly by authors, were collated with information on site locations, including coordinates, habitat cover, and soil properties.

A real-world implementation of a nationwide, long-term monitoring program to assess the impact of agrochemicals and agricultural practices on biodiversity.

Biodiversity has undergone a major decline throughout recent decades, particularly in farmland. Agricultural practices are recognized to be an important pressure on farmland biodiversity, and pesticides are suspected to be one of the main causes of this decline in biodiversity. As part of the national plan for reduction of pesticides use (Ecophyto), the French ministry of agriculture launched the 500 ENI (nonintended effects) monitoring program in 2012 in order to assess the unintended effects of agricultural practices, including pesticide use, on biodiversity represented by several taxonomic groups of interest for farmers.

Transdisciplinary Bioblitz: Rapid biotic and abiotic inventory allows studying environmental changes over 60 years at the Biological Field Station of Paimpont (Brittany, France) and opens new interdisciplinary research opportunities.

Background: The Biological Field Station of Paimpont (Station Biologique de Paimpont, SBP), owned by the University of Rennes and located in the Brocéliande Forest of Brittany (France), has been hosting student scientific research and field trips during the last 60 years. The study area of the SBP is a landscape mosaic of 17 ha composed of gorse moors, forests, prairies, ponds and creeks. Land use has evolved over time.

Author Correction: Soil biota in vineyards are more influenced by plants and soil quality than by tillage intensity or the surrounding landscape.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

Soil biota in vineyards are more influenced by plants and soil quality than by tillage intensity or the surrounding landscape.

Tillage is known for its adverse effects on soil biota, at least in arable agroecosystems. However, in vineyards effects might differ as tillage is often performed during dry periods or only in every other inter-row allowing species to re-colonise disturbed areas. We examined the response of earthworms (lumbricids), springtails (collembola) and litter decomposition to periodically mechanically disturbed (PMD) and permanently green covered (PGC) vineyard inter-rows and assessed whether site effects are altered by the surrounding landscape.

A thesaurus for soil invertebrate trait-based approaches.

Soil invertebrates are known to be much involved in soil behaviour and therefore in the provision of ecosystem services. Functional trait-based approaches are methodologies which can be used to understand soil invertebrates' responses to their environment. They (i) improve the predictions and (ii) are less dependent on space and time.

Balkanized research in ecological engineering revealed by a bibliometric analysis of earthworms and ecosystem services.

Energy crisis, climate changes, and biodiversity losses have reinforced the drive for more ecologically-based approaches for environmental management. Such approaches are characterized by the use of organisms rather than energy-consuming technologies. Although earthworms are believed to be potentially useful organisms for managing ecosystem services, there is actually no quantification of such a trend in literature.

Design of an integrated piggery system with recycled water, biomass production and water purification by vermiculture, macrophyte ponds and constructed wetlands.

Since 2001 the swine experimental station of Guernévez has studied biological treatment plants for nutrient recovery and water recycling, suited to the fresh liquid manure coming out of flushing systems. An integrated system with continuous recycling was set up in 2007, associated with a piggery of 30 pregnant sows. It includes a screen, a vermifilter, and macrophyte ponds alternating with constructed wetlands.

Earthworm effects on gaseous emissions during vermifiltration of pig fresh slurry.

Treatment of liquid manure can result in the production of ammonia, nitrous oxide and methane. Earthworms mix and transform nitrogen and carbon without consuming additional energy. The objective of this paper is to analyse whether earthworms modify the emissions of NH(3), N(2)O, CH(4) and CO(2) during vermifiltration of pig slurry.

Evolution of non-dissolved particulate organic matter during composting of sludge with straw.

Long term composting induces loss of C and organic matter stabilisation. These two processes may have opposite effects on long term carbon storage in soils. To check whether raw materials should be composted or not before being spread on the soil, changes in particle size fractions were quantified during composting of 9 tons of sewage sludge and straw.

Waste ecocompatibility in storage and reuse scenarios: global methodology and detailed presentation of the impact study on the recipient environments.

In 1995, the ADEME launched a research program called "Waste Ecocompatibility" in order to define a reliable methodology for measuring the impact of waste in storage or reuse scenarios. The French concept of "Ecocompatibility" is defined as the situation where the pollutant flux from waste disposed of or used in specified conditions is compatible with the environmental acceptance of the receiving environments. The chief feature of this definition is to integrate the evaluation of the three following terms: pollutants emission from the waste, transport of the pollutants from the waste to the receptor cells and the environmental acceptance of the receiving environments.

Different target specificities of phospholipid-dependent antibodies.

Phospholipid dependent antibodies are usually measured with assays for antiphospholipid/anticardiolipin antibodies (aPLA) or for lupus anticoagulant (LA) activity. Most of them are targeted to complexes of beta 2-glycoprotein I (beta 2-GPI) and anionic phospholipids (PLP) or to prothrombin for some LA. New understandings allow a better standardisation and optimisation of assays' reactivity.

Standardization of immunoassays for antiphospholipid antibodies with beta 2GPI and role of other phospholipid cofactors.

Presence of beta 2 Glycoprotein I (beta 2GPI), in addition to phospholipids, is an absolute requirement for binding APA. This binding is frequently observed with beta 2GPI coated alone, however many APA react only with beta 2GPI complexed to phospholipids, but not with phospholipids alone. We demonstrate that a subgroup of rabbit polyclonal antibodies to human beta 2GPI binds to this protein only when it is coated on a solid surface, but not if it is in solution.