Heart rate and behavioral responses in three phylogenetically distant aquatic model organisms exposed to environmental concentrations of carbaryl and fenitrothion.
Carbaryl and fenitrothion are two insecticides sharing a common mode of action, the inhibition of the acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity. Their use is now regulated or banned in different countries, and the environmental levels of both compounds in aquatic ecosystems have decreased to the range of pg/L to ng/L. As these concentrations are below the non-observed-adverse-effect-concentrations (NOAEC) for AChE inhibition reported for both compounds in aquatic organisms, there is a general agreement that the current levels of these two chemicals are safe for aquatic organisms. In this study we have exposed zebrafish, Japanese medaka and Daphnia magna to concentrations of carbaryl and fenitrothion under their NOAECs for 24-h, and the effects on heart rate (HR), basal locomotor activity (BLA), visual motor response (VMR), startle response (SR) and its habituation have been evaluated. Both pesticides increased the HR in the three selected model organisms, although the intensity of this effect was chemical-, concentration- and organism-dependent. The exposure to both pesticides also led to a decrease in BLA and an increase in VMR in all three species, although this effect was only significant in zebrafish larvae. For SR and its habituation, the response profile was more species- and concentration-specific. The results presented in this manuscript demonstrate that concentrations of carbaryl and fenitrothion well below their respective NOAECs induce tachycardia and the impairment of ecologically relevant behaviors in phylogenetically distinct aquatic model organisms, both vertebrates and invertebrates, emphasizing the need to include this range of concentrations in the environmental risk assessment.
(Science of the Total Environment. vol. 865, n° 0048-9697, pp. 161268, 11/04/2026)
IDAEA, CSIC, CID-CSIC, CSIC, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS
Sex-specific DNA methylation and transcription of zbtb38 and effects of gene–environment interactions on its natural antisense transcript in zebrafish
There is increasing evidence for the involvement of epigenetics in sex determination, maintenance and plasticity, from plants to humans. In our previous work we reported a transgenerational feminization of a zebrafish population for which the first generation was exposed to cadmium, a metal with endocrine disrupting effects. In this study, starting from the previously performed whole methylome analysis, we focused on the zbtb38 gene and hypothesized that it could be involved in sex differentiation and Cd-induced offspring feminization. We observed sex-specific patterns of both DNA methylation and RNA transcription levels of zbtb38. We also discovered that the non-coding exon 3 of zbtb38 encodes for a natural antisense transcript (NAT). The activity of this NAT was found to be influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. Furthermore, increasing transcription levels of this NAT in parental gametes was highly correlated with offspring sex ratios. Since zbtb38 itself encodes for a transcription factor that binds methylated DNA, our results support a non-negligible role of zbtb38 not only in orchestrating the sex-specific transcriptome (i.e. sex differentiation) but also, via its NAT, offspring sex ratios.
(Epigenetics. vol. 18, n° 1559-2294, pp. 2260963, 11/04/2026)
EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, UMS POREA, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, INRAE, CBIB, UB, GeT-PlaGe, GET, GENOTOUL, UT3, ENVT, INSERM, CNRS, Toulouse INP, INRAE, INRAE, IBGC, UB, CNRS
Physical processes matters! Recommendations for sampling microplastics in estuarine waters based on hydrodynamics
Monitoring the abundance and characteristics of microplastics in estuarine waters is crucial for understanding the fate of microplastics at the land-sea continuum, and for developing policies and legislation to mitigate associated risks. However, if protocols to monitor microplastic pollution in ocean waters or beach sediments are well established, they may not be adequate for estuarine environments, due to the complex 3D hydrodynamics. In this note, we review and discuss sampling methods and strategies in relation to the main environmental forcing, estuarine hydrodynamics, and their spatio-temporal scales of variability. We propose recommendations about when, where and how to sample microplastics to capture the most representative picture of microplastic pollution. This note opens discussions on the urgent need for standardized methods and protocols to routinely monitor microplastics in estuaries which should, at the same time, be easily adaptable to the different systems to ensure consistency and comparability of data across different studies.
(Marine Pollution Bulletin. vol. 191, n° 0025-326X, pp. 114932, 11/04/2026)
EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS
Above and belowground functional space of herbaceous serpentinicolous species
Serpentine are described as stressful ecosystems being driven by multiple constraints including lack of nutrient, shallow soils and trace elements toxicity. Therefore, functional ecology theory predicts that serpentinicolous species should exhibit attributes similar to those of species found in other harsh environments, namely short size (plant stature functional axis), and slow soil-resource acquisition corresponding to conservative species (leaf economic spectrum axis) 1,2 . Our main objective was to verify if herbaceous serpentinicolous species found in western Europe were short and conservative as expected. Additionally, we investigated acquisitive roots traits related to mycorrhizal association and roots growth 3,4 . We sampled above and below ground traits of 46 species in 6 serpentinicolous herbaceous communities in the French Massif Central and the Apennines (Italy) in 2022. Aboveground traits were positioned in the global functional space provided by large database of aboveground plant traits. Principal component analysis on all measured traits provided additional insights regarding functional variation of studied species. If serpentinicolous species had small size as expected, they showed an important variation regarding the leaf economic spectrum and were not particularly conservative compared to the rest of herbaceous species sampled worldwide. This question the way corresponding species acquire nutrients in such harsh environments. Root trait analysis showed a large variety of strategies, species from the Apennines relying more on mycorrhizal association, and species from the Massif Central having faster root growth. This might be due to the biogeographical context and in particular the occurrence of a summer drought in the Mediterranean climate of the lower Apennines. Future work should investigate the correspondence of these functional variations with another tenet of functional adaptation of sperpentinicolous species: leaf metal accumulation or exclusion.
(11/04/2026)
EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS
Continuum from microplastics to nanoplastics: effects of size and source on the estuarine bivalve Scrobicularia plana
Plastic has been largely detected in estuarine environments and represents major concern towards aquatic living organisms. The present study evaluates the impact of microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) under realistic exposure conditions. Scrobicularia plana individuals were exposed to low concentrations (0.008, 10, and 100 µg L−1) of environmental MPs and NPs as well as to standard PS NPs, as a comparison condition. The aim of this study was to understand the ecotoxicological effects of environmental plastic particles on S. plana gills and digestive glands but also to compare the effects of plastic polymers size in order to highlight if the size could induce different toxicity profiles within this model organism, at different levels of biological organization. Results showed a differential induction of detoxification enzymes (CAT, GST), immunity (AcP), DNA damage processes as well as a differential effect on behavior and condition index of animals depending upon the type of plastic, the size, the concentration tested, and the type of organ. This study underlines the necessity of testing (i) plastics collected from the environment as compared to standard ones and (ii) the effect of size using plastics coming from the same batch of macrosized plastics. This study concludes on the future need directions that plastic-based studies must take in order to be able to generate a large quantity of relevant data that could be used for future regulatory needs on the use of plastic.
(Environmental Science and Pollution Research. vol. 30, n° 0944-1344, pp. 45725–45739, 11/04/2026)
BIOSSE, UCO, GR, UR, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in surface sediments: Occurrence, patterns, spatial distribution and contribution of unattributed precursors in French aquatic environments
While perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids (PFSAs) and perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) are ubiquitous in aquatic environments, non-targeted methods have recently revealed the presence of numerous unidentified per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Besides those methods, the total oxidizable precursor (TOP) assay has proved useful to estimate the contribution of unattributed perfluoroalkyl acids precursors (pre-PFAAs). In this study, an optimized extraction method was developed to examine the spatial distribution of 36 targeted PFAS in surface sediments collected at French nationwide scale (n = 43), including neutral, anionic and zwitterionic molecules. In addition, a TOP assay procedure was implemented to estimate the contribution of unattributed pre-PFAAs in these samples. Conversion yields of targeted pre-PFAAs were determined for the first time under realistic conditions and led to differences in oxidation profiles compared to the common spiked ultra-pure water method. PFAS were detected in 86 % of samples and ∑PFAStargeted was in the range < Limit of Detection – 23 ng g−1 dry weight (dw) (median: 1.3 ng g−1 dw), with ∑pre-PFAAstargeted representing on average 29 ± 26 % of ∑PFAS. Among pre-PFAAs, compounds of emerging interest such as the fluorotelomer sulfonamidoalkyl betaines 6:2 FTAB and 8:2 FTAB were respectively detected in 38 % and 24 % of samples, with levels similar to those of L-PFOS (<0.36–2.2, <0.50–6.8 and < 0.08–5.1 ng g−1 dw, respectively). A hierarchical cluster analysis coupled with a geographic information system-based approach revealed similarities between groups of sampling sites. For instance, elevated contribution of FTABs were associated with the proximity to airport activities where betaine-based aqueous film-forming foam (AFFFs) might have been used. In addition, unattributed pre-PFAAs were strongly correlated with ∑PFAStargeted and they accounted for 58 % of ∑PFAS (median value); they were generally found in larger quantity near industrial and urban areas where the highest ∑PFAStargeted were also observed.
(Science of the Total Environment. vol. 874, n° 0048-9697, pp. 162493, 11/04/2026)
EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, INERIS, ERT, IMT, HSM, IRD, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, UM, HSM, IRD, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, UM
RecruitNet: a global database of plant recruitment networks
Plant recruitment interactions (i.e., what recruits under what) shape the composition, diversity, and structure of plant communities. Despite the huge body of knowledge on the mechanisms underlying recruitment interactions among species, we still know little about the structure of the recruitment networks emerging in ecological communities. Modeling and analyzing the community-level structure of plant recruitment interactions as a complex network can provide relevant information on ecological and evolutionary processes acting both at the species and ecosystem levels. We report a data set containing 143 plant recruitment networks in 23 countries across five continents, including temperate and tropical ecosystems. Each network identifies the species under which another species recruits. All networks report the number of recruits (i.e., individuals) per species. The data set includes >850,000 recruiting individuals involved in 118,411 paired interactions among 3318 vascular plant species across the globe. The cover of canopy species and open ground is also provided. Three sampling protocols were used: (1) The Recruitment Network (RN) protocol (106 networks) focuses on interactions among established plants (“canopy species”) and plants in their early stages of recruitment (“recruit species”). A series of plots was delimited within a locality, and all the individuals recruiting and their canopy species were identified; (2) The paired Canopy-Open (pCO) protocol (26 networks) consists in locating a potential canopy plant and identifying recruiting individuals under the canopy and in a nearby open space of the same area; (3) The Georeferenced plot (GP) protocol (11 networks) consists in using information from georeferenced individual plants in large plots to infer canopy-recruit interactions. Some networks incorporate data for both herbs and woody species, whereas others focus exclusively on woody species. The location of each study site, geographical coordinates, country, locality, responsible author, sampling dates, sampling method, and life habits of both canopy and recruit species are provided. This database will allow researchers to test ecological, biogeographical, and evolutionary hypotheses related to plant recruitment interactions. There are no copyright restrictions on the data set; please cite this data paper when using these data in publications.
(Ecology. vol. 104, n° 0012-9658, pp. e3923, 11/04/2026)
CIDE, CSIC, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, CEFE, UPVM, EPHE, PSL, CNRS, IRD [Occitanie], INRAE, Institut Agro, UM
Natural remobilization and historical evolution of a modern coastal transgressive dunefield
The vast majority of coastal dunes in Europe have been stabilized by increasing vegetation cover since the mid‐20th century. However, some systems may experience a remobilization phase, generally occurring locally and further propagating alongshore, the drivers of which remain poorly documented. This study investigates the evolutionary paths (stabilization/destabilization/remobilization) from 1945 to 2020 of a 2 km‐long modern coastal transgressive dunefield located in southwest France with a holistic approach (GPR profiles, aerial photographs and LiDAR topographic data). Results show a landward migration of the transgressive dune by approximately 233 ± 7.5 m, through two distinct stages of rapid landward migration from 10 to 23 m/yr (Stage I: 1949–1959 and Stage III: 2000–2021) separated by an approximately 40‐year stage of slow to no migration, but with substantial windward slope deflation (Stage II). The onset of Stage II is due to the fixation of vegetation by human action between 1950 and 1959. The onset of Stage III is hypothesized to be driven by long and sustained upper backshore/dune toe erosion beginning in 1968 due to a massive shoal welding that locally disturbed the longshore drift. It induced a destabilization of the dune and erosion of the vegetation cover over some decades. A non‐synchronization is therefore observed between the start of the perturbation (1968), then the migration (2000), in line with the hysteresis concept of Tsoar (2005). This study shows that almost all of the sedimentary volume of the 1945 dune has been remobilized by translation to shape the dune system in its current form. The 2.2 km dunefield has grown by approximately 673 000 ± 190 000 m 3 during the 2005–2020 period. Among this volume, there is a new foredune that was built from 2005 between the upper beach and the transgressive dune (volume in 2020 of about 394 000 ± 68 000 m 3 ).
(Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. vol. 48, n° 0197-9337, pp. 1064 - 1083, 11/04/2026)
CEFREM, UPVD, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, BRGM, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, ONF
Clogging detection and productive layers identification along boreholes using Active Distributed Temperature Sensing
Fiber-Optic Active Distributed Temperature Sensing (FO-ADTS) experiments were performed on an Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage system (ATES) site located on the university campus of Bordeaux, France. The experiments consisted in heating the steel core of the FO cable while monitoring the rate of temperature increase during the heating periods. The changes in temperature, that were monitored through time at every depth under various hydraulic conditions and in different boreholes, were used to evaluate both aquifer properties and wells conditions. A first ADTS experiment was conducted under cross borehole configuration using a pumping well and a monitoring well separated by a distance of 8.5 meters. Then, to check the reciprocity of the results, a second experiment was conducted by switching the monitoring and the pumping well. The results obtained through the use of analytical solutions for reproducing and interpreting the data lead to the following conclusions: (i) ADTS can be used to estimate both thermal conductivity and Darcy velocity distribution along boreholes, crucial properties for ATES performance. (ii) The proposed method is a promising tool to detect clogging locations in the boreholes when it occurs. This can be of great practical interest to maintain systems performance, since, once FO cables deployed, experiments could be easily repeated without opening boreholes and stop the system operation.
(Journal of Hydrology. vol. 617, n° 0022-1694, pp. 129113, 11/04/2026)
EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, GR, UR, INSU - CNRS, CNRS
U–Pb age constraints on the Carboniferous-Permian transition in continental basins of eastern equatorial Pangaea (France): implications for the depositional history and correlations across the late Variscan Belt
Intramountain late Carboniferous–Permian basins of western Europe developed during the latest orogenic stages of the Variscan Mountain Belt in eastern Pangaea, at equatorial palaeolatitudes. Their stratigraphic framework is mainly based on continental subdivisions (e.g. Stephanian and Autunian continental stages), which can be contentious due to biostratigraphic biases, resulting in long-distance diachronous subdivisions. To provide precise inter-basinal and global correlations to the internationally recognized chronostratigraphic marine stages, this study reports new U–Pb geochronology from the Aumance and Decize–La Machine basins, located in the northern French Massif Central. Zircon grains extracted from three volcanic ash-fall layers give weighted mean 206 Pb/ 238 U ages of 299.11 ± 0.35 Ma; 298.73 ± 0.36 Ma and 298.59 ± 0.35 Ma (2σ total propagated uncertainty) by the chemical abrasion–isotope dilution–thermal ionization mass spectrometry (CA-ID-TIMS) method, coinciding with the Carboniferous–Permian transition (Gzhelian and Asselian stages). These ages imply that the northern Massif Central basins developed synchronously in relatively short periods of time (<10 Myr), reflecting substantial sedimentation rates. Finally, the new chronology of infilling of these basins confirms that they were connected during the late Carboniferous and early Permian periods, improving the knowledge on the late-orogenic Variscan geodynamic setting in this area
(Journal of the Geological Society. vol. 180, pp. jgs2023-075, 11/04/2026)
GR, UR, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, UniCa, MIT, BRGM, BGS, UB, CNRS