Institut de Recherche pour le Développement

Revealing archaeological olive diversity: insights from stone geometric morphometrics, experimental charring, and varietal identification (Port-la-Nautique, France, Roman period)

The cultivated olive tree, domesticated in the Levant by the mid-5th millennium BCE, spread westward across the Mediterranean to reach southern France by 600 BCE. Although geometric morphometrics applied to archaeological olive stones has provided insights into this diffusion, mo...

Adolescents’ exposure to unhealthy foods and beverages in and around schools in urban Comoros: a cross-sectional mixed-methods study

Abstract Background In Comoros, undernutrition among adolescents persists while overweight and obesity are increasing, particularly in urban settings. Although schools are recognized as key platforms for promoting healthy eating behaviors, school food environment (SFE) remain poo...

OpenAlea.HydroRoot: A modelling framework to dissect, predict and phenotype branched root hydraulic architecture

Abstract Drought is a significant factor in agricultural losses, making it imperative to understand how root system architecture (RSA) adapts to environmental condition like water deficit. HydroRoot is a functional-structural plant model (FSPM) aimed at analyzing and simulating h...

Magnetic insights into the aqueous alteration of CM chondrites

CM chondrites are the archetypal group of aqueously altered meteorites, preserving records of water-rock interactions on planetesimals. Here, we couple rock magnetic properties with modal mineralogy measured from 48 CM chondrites to explore aqueous alteration through its influenc...

Evidence of hydrodynamic control of phytoplankton seasonality in a tropical urban estuary

Tropical urban estuaries receive year-round nutrient loads, yet their strongest phytoplankton blooms often occur in the dry season. The proximate control on this seasonality remains unresolved in wastewater-impacted tropical systems. Here we apply a transient one-dimensional Carb...

Shipping noise may trigger valve closure responses in exploited scallop beds of the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Shipping noise is a pervasive form of underwater noise pollution, yet its effects on benthic invertebrates remain poorly integrated into spatial risk assessments. The Atlantic sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus), a benthic bivalve supporting the world's largest wild pectinid f...

Hydraulic function of medullary bundles in a tropical root climber

Abstract Premise Medullary bundles, which are vascular bundles in the pith, have evolved multiple times. However, their functional significance remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated how medullary bundles are involved in the vascular architecture and hydraulic function...

Multiomics reprogramming reverses disease susceptibility in Magallana gigas during aging

Aging is a progressive and irreversible biological process that typically increases susceptibility to infectious diseases. However, unexpectedly, the opposite outcome was observed in oysters: older oysters exhibit increased tolerance to Pacific oyster mortality syndrome (POMS), a...

Valorization of Beach-Cast Biomass from the Invasive Seaweed Rugulopteryx okamurae on the Moroccan Coast: A Comparative Assessment of Extraction Conditions for Sodium Alginate Recovery

Rugulopteryx okamurae is an aggressively invasive seaweed whose proliferation along the Moroccan coastline represents both an ecological problem and an underexploited source of biomass. This work highlights the isolation of sodium alginate from R. okamurae under four combinations...

Widespread circulation of West Nile and Usutu viruses in sedentary and migratory avifauna: A two-year study (2024–2025) of active surveillance in South of France

Abstract West Nile virus (WNV) and Usutu virus (USUV) are neurotropic Orthoflaviviruses sharing a similar enzootic transmission cycle primarily involving Culex pipiens mosquitoes as vectors and birds as amplifying hosts. First identified in Africa, both viruses established endemi...

Learning behaviour is consistent across time and tasks in Formica fusca ants

Abstract Research on interindividual behavioural and cognitive variability has gained momentum over the last few decades. Most studies focused on vertebrates, revealing that individual cognitive performance can be stable across time and tasks and linked to other behavioural trait...

Measurement of binding antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 variants elicited by natural infection and COVID-19 vaccines in a sub-Saharan African population

Abstract Data on immune responses to COVID-19 vaccination in West and Central Africa remain limited, particularly with respect to antibody (Ab) binding across SARS-CoV-2 variants and for different types of vaccine platforms. We assessed anti-spike (anti-S) antibody binding to nin...

Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstruction in the Western Mediterranean during the Late Early Pleistocene

Abstract. The major climate change recorded during the Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition (1.4–0.4 Ma) is characterized by an increase in the length of climatic cycles from 41 to 100 ka. During this period, the Mediterranean climate underwent aridification associated with a drop...

An energetic perspective on the impact of the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability on the West African Monsoon

Abstract. This study explores mechanisms by which the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV) drives multidecadal changes in the West African Monsoon (WAM), with a focus on Sahel rainfall. We investigate this connection through an energetic perspective using atmosphere-ocean coup...

A Causal Examination of the Solar Influence on Holocene Climate

Abstract Variations in Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) have long been hypothesized to influence global mean surface temperature (GMST) on multidecadal to millennial timescales, but empirical evidence has remained elusive. Here, we explore the link between solar variability and clima...

Thermal signature of Sargassum aggregations from Landsat 9 observations.

Since 2011, Sargassum blooms in the Tropical Atlantic have led to massive strandings along coastlines, posing significant ecological, economic, and public health threats. A key research challenge is to improve our understanding of the environmental factors influencing Sargassum g...

Multiple orthoflaviviruses secrete sfRNA in mosquito saliva to promote transmission by inhibiting MDA5-mediated early interferon response

Abstract Numerous orthoflaviviruses transmitted through the bites of different mosquito species infect more than 500 million people annually. Skin infection at the bite site represents a critical and conserved step in transmission and a deeper understanding of this process will p...

Optimising bat-friendly curtailment algorithms for wind turbines

Wind turbines worldwide cause high mortality in long-lived bats through collisions. To mitigate these impacts, operators commonly apply blanket curtailment by stopping turbine blades under low wind speed and mild temperature, when bat activity is often high and energy production...

Impact of living and training at low altitude for several years on endurance performance at higher altitude: Myth or reality

Abstract The physiological adaptations of long‐term high‐altitude residents without high‐altitude genetic ancestry remain poorly characterized. This study investigated whether permanent residence at low altitude (1200 m) influences performance at higher altitude (2500 m). We comp...

Detectability of Forced ENSO Changes Under Global Warming: Insights From the Recharge Oscillator

Abstract We use perfect‐model, large‐ensemble nonlinear Recharge Oscillator (RO) simulations to quantify ENSO internal variability and the detectability of forced changes in ENSO characteristics. Fixed‐parameter simulations show that linear trends in ENSO standard deviation, peri...