Climate change and ecosystems dynamics over the last 6000 years in the Middle Atlas, Morocco
The present study aims at reconstructing past climate changes and their environmental impacts on plant ecosystems during the last 6000 years in the Middle Atlas, Morocco. Mean January temperature (Tjan), annual precipitation (Pann), winter (Pw) and summer (Ps) precipitation, and a seasonal index (SI) have all been quantified from a fossil pollen record. Several bio- and geo-chemical elements have also been analysed to evaluate the links between past climate, landscape, and ecosystem changes. Over the last 6000 years, climate has changed within a low temperature and precipitation range with a trend of aridity and warming towards the present. Tjan has varied within a ca. 2 °C range, and Pann within less than 100 mm yr-1. The long-term changes reconstructed in our record between 6 ka cal BP and today are consistent with the aridity trend observed in the Mediterranean basin. Despite the overall limited range of climate fluctuation, we observe major changes in the ecosystem composition, the carbon isotopic contents of organic matter (δ13C), the total organic carbon and nitrogen amount, and the carbon to nitrogen ratio (C / N) after ca. 3750 cal BP. The main ecosystem changes correspond to a noticeable transition in the conifer forest between the Atlas cedar, which expanded after 3750 cal BP, and the pine forest. These vegetation changes impacted the sedimentation type and its composition in the lake. Between 5500 and 5000 cal BP, we observe an abrupt change in all proxies which is coherent with a decrease in Tjan without a significant change in the overall amount of precipitation.
(Climate of the Past. vol. 12, n° 1814-9324, pp. 1029-1042, 25/10/2026)
URAC 45, UCD, LGR, UCA, UMR ISEM, Cirad, IRD, EPHE, PSL, UM, CNRS, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS
Etude à haute résolution temporelle de la Terminaison I dans l’Atlantique Nord-Est : Apport des proxies basés sur les foraminifères benthiques
(25/10/2026)
LPG-ANGERS, LPG, UA, UN UFR ST, UN, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, GM, IFREMER, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, LSCE, UVSQ, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, DRF (CEA), CEA, PALEOCEAN, LSCE, UVSQ, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, DRF (CEA), CEA
Extreme storms during the last 6500 years from lagoonal sedimentary archives in the Mar Menor (SE Spain)
Storms and tsunamis, which may seriously endanger human society, are amongst the most devastating marine catastrophes that can occur in coastal areas. Many such events are known and have been reported for the Mediterranean, a region where high-frequency occurrences of these extreme events coincides with some of the most densely populated coastal areas in the world. In a sediment core from the Mar Menor (SE Spain), we discovered eight coarse-grained layers which document marine incursions during periods of intense storm activity or tsunami events. Based on radiocarbon dating, these extreme events occurred around 5250, 4000, 3600, 3010, 2300, 1350, 650, and 80 years cal BP. No comparable events have been observed during the 20th and 21st centuries. The results indicate little likelihood of a tsunami origin for these coarse-grained layers, although historical tsunami events are recorded in this region. These periods of surge events seem to coincide with the coldest periods in Europe during the late Holocene, suggesting a control by a climatic mechanism for periods of increased storm activity. Spectral analyses performed on the sand percentage revealed four major periodicities of 1228 ± 327, 732 ± 80, 562 ± 58, and 319 ± 16 years. Amongst the well-known proxies that have revealed a millennial-scale climate variability during the Holocene, the ice-rafted debris (IRD) indices in the North Atlantic developed by Bond et al. (1997, 2001) present a cyclicity of 1470 ± 500 years, which matches the 1228 ± 327-year periodicity evidenced in the Mar Menor, considering the respective uncertainties in the periodicities. Thus, an in-phase storm activity in the western Mediterranean is found with the coldest periods in Europe and with the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation. However, further investigations, such as additional coring and high-resolution coastal imagery, are needed to better constrain the main cause of these multiple events.
(Climate of the Past. vol. 12, n° 1814-9324, pp. 1389-1400, 25/10/2026)
INSU - CNRS, UM, CNRS, UA, ASM, UPVM, CNRS, MC, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, LSCE, UVSQ, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, DRF (CEA), CEA, GEOTRAC, LSCE, UVSQ, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, DRF (CEA), CEA, GLACCIOS, LSCE, UVSQ, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, DRF (CEA), CEA
To boldly climb: behavioural and cognitive differences in migrating European glass eels
European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is a catadromous fish species that received substantial attention as its population has markedly declined in the last three decades. The possible causes of this decline include habitat fragmentation factors such as dams and weirs. In some cases, these obstacles are equipped with fish friendly passage devices that may select young eels according to their climbing behaviour. We tested how individual climbing tendency was related to the event of fishway passage experienced in the field and classified fish climbing profiles as climbing ‘leaders', ‘followers', ‘finishers' and ‘no climbers'. Moreover, we analysed the brain transcription level of genes related to neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity and compared it to climbing profiles.We found that fish from the upstream segments of an impounded river had a higher climbing propensity. Their behaviour was also more repeatable throughout the whole test than the obstacle-naive fish from the downstream segment. Moreover, we found that boldly climbing ‘leaders' had lower levels of transcription of synapse-related genes than the climbing ‘followers'. These differences could be related to coping styles of fish, where proactive ‘leaders' express a routine and risky behaviour, whereas reactive fish need an environmental assessment before exploratory behaviour. Our study showed that differences in climbing propensity exist in glass eels separated by water obstacles. Moreover, eels could adopt climbing different strategies according to the way they deal with environmental stress and to the cognitive abilities they possess.
(Royal Society Open Science. vol. 3, n° 2054-5703, pp. 150665, 25/10/2026)
UR EABX, IRSTEA, SETE, UT3, Comue de Toulouse, CNRS, EDF R&D STEP, EDF R&D, EDF [E.D.F.], EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS
Chronostratigraphie et paléoenvironnements du Pléistocène supérieur sur la bordure sud-Atlantique du Maroc. Les séquences de l'oued supérieur.
(pp. 206-227, 25/10/2026)
UPVD, LAMPEA, AMU, CNRS, MC, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, LSCE, UVSQ, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, DRF (CEA), CEA, GEOTRAC, LSCE, UVSQ, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, DRF (CEA), CEA, OCEANIS, LSCE, UVSQ, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, DRF (CEA), CEA
Monuments vus du ciel. Les apports de la photographie aérienne à l’urbanisme de Tritium Autrigonum (Monasterio de Rodilla, Burgos)
(pp. 327-343, 25/10/2026)
LIENSs, INSU - CNRS, ULR, CNRS, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS
Groenland. Climat, Ecologie, Société
(pp. 300, 25/10/2026)
LSCE, UVSQ, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, DRF (CEA), CEA, LCE, CNRS, UMLP, CEFE, UPVM, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro, EPHE, PSL, UM, CNRS, IRD [Occitanie], IRD, Montpellier SupAgro, CEARC, UVSQ, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS
Potential exposure routes and accumulation kinetics for poly- and perfluorinated alkyl compounds for a freshwater amphipod: Gammarus spp. (Crustacea)
Gammarids were exposed to sediments from a deposition site located on the Rh^one River (France) downstream of a fluoropolymer manufacturing plant. Gammarids accumulated to various extents four long-chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) from C9 to C13, one sulfonate, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and three of its precursors (the perflurooctane sulfonamide (FOSA), the N-methyl perfluorooctane sulfonamidoacetic acid (MeFOSAA), the N-ethyl perfluorooctane sulfonamidoacetic acid (EtFOSAA) and the 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonic acid (6:2 FTSA). Whatever the compound, the steady state was not achieved after a 3-week exposure; elimination was almost complete after a 3-week depuration period for perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), PFOS, the three precursors and the 6:2FTSA. However, this was not the case for long-chain PFCAs, whose elimination rates decreased with increasing chain length. PFAS accumulation in gammarids occurred via the trophic and respiratory pathways, in proportions varying with the carbon chain length and the terminal moiety.
(Chemosphere. vol. 155, n° 0045-6535, pp. 380-387, 25/10/2026)
UR MALY, IRSTEA, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS
The expansion of Central and Northern European Neolithic populations was associated with a multi-century warm winter and wetter climate
It is still debated whether climate changes had an impact on the emergence, spread, and disappearance of early production-based (Neolithic) adaptations. To date, and despite the incorporation of various paleoclimatic proxies, there exists no spatial reconstruction of the regional impact of the North Atlantic cooling events on Central-Western European climate and environments during the early Holocene. In order to address these two issues, we estimated seasonal and annual temperature and precipitation from a marine pollen record from Trondheimsfjord (central Norway) along with 68 pollen records distributed across Central-Western Europe for the time period associated with the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) cultural tradition, 7600-6900 yr cal. BP. Two distinct vegetation-derived rapid, <100 years, climate changes, contemporaneous with reduced warm Atlantic water (AW) inflow and winter storminess in the northern North Atlantic, bracket the expansion of the LBK. The geographic expansion of LBK populations appears to coincide with winter warming by ca. 2.5 degrees C on average, and an increase in summer and winter precipitation, while its decline is associated with decreases in winter temperature, by similar to 1.5 degrees C on average, and summer rainfall. Our results confirm that LBK subsistence practices were well-adapted to wet and relatively warm winters and cool summers, which are favorable to some cultigens, such as einkorn. This is in contrast to the hypothesis that cooler and wetter climatic conditions would induce increased instability of agricultural communities leading to the decline of LBK populations.
(The Holocene. vol. 26, n° 0959-6836, pp. 1188--1199, 25/10/2026)
EPHE, PSL, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS, PACEA, UB, CNRS, CReAAH, UM, UR, UR2, CNRS, UFR HHAA, UN, MC, MCC
Les brusques périodes de réchauffement qui ont affecté le Saalien Supérieur entre 130 et 190 ka n'étaient certainement pas liées au bilan carbone des Néandertaliens
(pp. 31-32, 25/10/2026)
CReAAH, UM, UR, UR2, CNRS, UFR HHAA, UN, MC, EPOC, EPHE, PSL, UB, INSU - CNRS, CNRS