ILEE brings together expertise in fundamental and applied sciences, guaranteeing a significant contribution to a better understanding of the evolution of life and current and future environmental challenges, as well as the search for sustainable solutions, from ecological, technological, socio-economic and historical/cultural perspectives. In this context, ILEE studies the evolution of human populations, organisms, agro and ecosystems and is involved in the search for sustainable solutions, with ecological perspectives.

Notre institut se consacre à l'avancement de la recherche fondamentale et appliquée en vue d'une meilleure compréhension des processus sous-jacents qui régulent la vie sur terre, à la caractérisation des pressions anthropogéniques sur l'environnement et vice versa, et à la recherche d'alternatives durables pour gérer les ressources naturelles, réduire la pollution, conserver et restaurer la biodiversité. 

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Our researchers in the World's Top 2% Scientists list

Ranking

Stanford University has published a prestigious ranking that highlights the most influential researchers in a wide range of scientific fields. The list, based on bibliographic criteria, aims to provide a standardized means of identifying the world's scientific leaders. It is one criterion among others for assessing the quality of scientific research. Twelve researchers from the University of Namur are among them!

Top 2% scientists

This list, created by Stanford University and published in August 2024 is compiled in collaboration with Elsevier's ICST lab from Scopus data, aims to provide a standardized means of identifying the world's best scientists and recognizing those scientists who have had a significant impact on their respective fields.

While this list has been adopted by many institutions as a reliable measure of research impact, it is not the only way to evaluate research. Based strictly on bibliometric data, it is also subject to criticism.

Since September 2023, the University of Namur has been strengthening its commitment to the implementation of research assessment reform with the signing of the "Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) "agreement.

This agreement commits the institution to a series of principles, including taking into account career diversity and emphasizing qualitative research criteria rather than relying solely on bibliometric (and therefore quantitative) data.

Namur University researchers honored

The list is updated every year, with data on the whole career and impacts on a single year, for the sake of transparency and relevance.

The measurement criteria used

A variety of bibliometric measures are taken into account to ensure a fair and balanced representation of researchers' work.

  • The C-score: this composite score is based on various bibliometric factors, including the total number of citations.
  • The h-index: this impact indicator takes into account the number of a researcher's publications as well as the number of their citations.
  • The percentiles of fields and subfields : scientists are classified into 22 major fields and 176 subfields. Only those who rank in the top 2% of their subfield are taken into account.
  • Career-wide or single-year impact: rankings are available for both career-wide impact and single-year performance, providing a better understanding of long-term contribution and recent achievements.

Research excellence

Figuring among this top 2% of scientists is therefore a prestigious recognition of an individual's contribution to science and demonstrates the excellence of their research, enhancing their reputation in academia and industry.

The ranking offers visibility across all disciplines, drawing attention to work that might otherwise remain in a niche or be under-appreciated. It also serves as a benchmark for institutions and governments to assess the influence of their research programs.

Many institutions use the ranking to measure the success of their faculty, or other entity, which can also enhance credibility within the academic community.

This list encourages scientists to focus on producing high-quality, impactful research rather than chasing quantity.

By compiling data from all scientific fields and offering a fair, metrics-based approach, this ranking not only celebrates individual achievements, but also highlights the importance of impactful research in advancing knowledge. However, it must be qualified, as it only takes into account quantitative data, which are not necessarily representative of the full diversity of research.

According to another database, that of UNESCO, the number of researchers in the world is increasing by 300,000 per year, reaching 9 million today. The Top 2% comprises 200,000 names, including twelve researchers from the University of Namur.

Congratulations to them for their excellent research and for this prestigious worldwide recognition!

Mapping life

Biology
Durable

In 2021, the European Union has embarked on a titanic project to safeguard the genomes of all eukaryotic species in Europe. In other words, all living organisms, with the exception of bacteria and archaea (micro-organisms). Called ERGA, for European Reference Genome Atlas, and in which UNamur is participating thanks to Professor Alice Dennis, this project hopes to help safeguard biodiversity, at a time when a fifth of European species are in danger of extinction.

.
Abeilles projet ERGA

This article is taken from the "Eureka" section of the June 2024 issue of Omalius magazine.

In each of our cells, compacted in the heart of the nucleus, are the chromosomes, the seat of our DNA. DNA is made up of a long chain of molecules, each named A, T, C or G. In all, our genome comprises 3.4 billion of these "letters". By way of comparison, Victor Hugo's river novel Les Misérables has "only" 2.66 million characters, or 1,000 times fewer. And don't be fooled into thinking that our genetic code is the largest in the living world - far from it! The genetic code of corn has 5 billion letters, and that of the Paris japonica flower is 50 times larger than that of a human being.

Unfortunately, few genomes have been fully sequenced, with the exception of the human genome and a few species. And that's because of the difficulty involved. "We've long known how to extract short DNA sequences, corresponding, for example, to a gene", explains Professor Alice Dennis, a researcher at UNamur's Environmental and Evolutionary Biology Research Unit.

Alice Dennis

"And recently, with the evolution of techniques, we can also obtain long sequences, but only a few state-of-the-art laboratories in the world are capable of sequencing a genome in its entirety. Most researchers therefore end up with incomplete genetic codes, fragmented into thousands of pieces. By attempting to preserve the DNA of all European eukaryotes, ERGA will help to considerably improve genome sequencing standards throughout Europe, in order to obtain reference genomes, i.e. of the highest quality."

Genomes, your papers!

A Herculean task, given that Europe is home to almost 200,000 species, a fifth of which are threatened with extinction due to global warming and the collapse of biodiversity, among other factors. "It's important to understand that there are many steps involved in obtaining a single genome", adds Alice Dennis. "For each species, you need to obtain quality biological samples, which can be difficult when it's a rare or endangered species. Then comes the genome sequencing and assembly stage, which involves arranging all the DNA fragments obtained. And then we can move on to annotation, before proceeding to analysis."

Annotation, a crucial and "soften neglected" step, is carried out by a committee under the responsibility of the UNamur biologist. "My job is to determine which part of the DNA corresponds to what: such and such a sequence corresponds to a gene, such and such is a regulatory sequence, etc.", Alice Dennis details. "Unfortunately, it's a job that few people know how to do, partly due to the fact that there are few good tools to check the quality of your work."

According to the researcher, the creation of reference genomes will provide invaluable help in preserving biodiversity in Europe. "A single genome provides a great deal of information", she believes. "In most organisms, each chromosome is duplicated. By comparing them, you can already get an idea of an individual's genetic diversity. If this is low, it means that the population is showing signs of inbreeding."

The reference genomes therefore function as Rosetta stones for future studies. "It's much easier and much cheaper to compare a few DNA sequences from many individuals to an original, than to create the latter,"judges Alice Dennis. "This makes it possible to track populations, to identify those that are most at risk. We can also study genes that are subject to strong evolutionary pressures, and likely to mutate over the years."

Group work

Beyond Alice Dennis, over 1,000 researchers across Europe are involved in the ERGA project. And the latter is, in fact, the European part of an even larger project, the Earth Biogenome Project, which aims to sequence the entire living world over a 10-year period. ERGA also includes prestigious members such as the Darwin Tree of Life, in the UK, or the ATLASEA project in France, which aims to sequence the DNA of marine life.

But for Alice Dennis, the ERGA initiative goes much further than these major partners: "ERGA places particular emphasis on creating a decentralized network, and a science that aims to be inclusive. These large partners may have the means to sequence any genome, but this would be to the detriment of less well-endowed countries. There are many biodiversity hotspots in Europe to which these large laboratories do not have access. Relying on local expertise, and allowing everyone to participate and develop their skills will ensure that as many species as possible are present in this Atlas. This is also why all the data produced will be available as open access."

After an initial declaration of intent, the researchers behind ERGA set up a pilot project, which closed in 2023, and which removed a number of difficulties. "We tried to coordinate our action even before we received any funding", recalls Alice Dennis. "Each country came with one or two organisms whose DNA they wanted to sequence, and it was all done through a sharing of the resources each had available, and donations from certain companies. This enabled us to identify a number of problems, such as the difficulty of getting samples to travel in good conditions, in order to preserve the genetic material."

All in all, this testing phase has already established 1,213 reference genomes. And the pace is accelerating, thanks in particular to funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe program. The second phase of the project, which starts this year and will run for 5 years, aims to sequence 150,000 genomes, with priority given to the most endangered species.

Logos Europe et projet ERGA

ERGA is supported by Horizon Europe as part of the Biodiversity, Circular Economy and Environment program (REA.B.3, BGE 101059492).

This article is taken from the "Eureka" section of Omalius magazine #33 (June 2024).

Couverture Omalius#33

Biodiversity and the value of nature: geographer Nicolas Dendoncker co-authors a major international publication

Biodiversity
Geography
Publication

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has just published a study in the prestigious journal Nature, listing and assessing the different values we place on nature. Nicolas Dendoncker, professor in the Department of Geography and member of the ILEE Institute at UNamur, is one of the co-authors.

Nicolas Dendoncker

Cet article fait suite à la publication, en juillet 2022, du rapport d'évaluation des valeurs, approuvé par les 139 États membres de l'IPBES. Il synthétise et met en évidence les principaux résultats de l'évaluation, qui reposent sur l'examen de plus de 50 000 publications scientifiques, documents politiques et sources de connaissances autochtones et locales.

Partout dans le monde, les gens apprécient la nature de manière diverse et profonde, bien au-delà de l'usage économique. Mais cette diversité des valeurs n'est pas correctement reflétée dans les grandes décisions politiques et économiques. La nouvelle étude publiée dans Nature montre que la sous-évaluation de la nature est à l'origine de la crise environnementale à laquelle nous sommes confrontés. La "crise des valeurs" décrit la domination continue d'un ensemble étroit de valeurs qui se sont avérées inaptes à résoudre la double urgence de la biodiversité et du climat. L'étude identifie également quatre "approches centrées sur les valeurs" qui peuvent favoriser les conditions nécessaires à un changement transformateur pour parvenir à un avenir plus juste et plus durable : reconnaître la diversité des valeurs relatives à la nature, intégrer ces diverses valeurs dans la prise de décision, réformer les politiques et stimuler le changement institutionnel, et modifier les normes et les objectifs au niveau de la société pour soutenir les valeurs alignées sur la durabilité dans tous les secteurs.

Professeur de géographie à l’UNamur, Nicolas Dendoncker axe ses recherches sur les services écosystémiques, l’agriculture durable, le changement d’affectation des terres et la biodiversité. Il est l’un des deux scientifiques belges participant à l’élaboration de ce rapport de l’IPBES et est co-auteur de l’étude publiée dans Nature.

L’IPBES

Souvent décrit comme le « GIEC de la biodiversité », l’IPBES est un organisme intergouvernemental indépendant comprenant 143 États membres. Mis en place par les gouvernements en 2012, il fournit aux décideurs des évaluations scientifiques objectives de l’état des connaissances sur la biodiversité de la planète, les écosystèmes et les contributions qu’ils apportent aux populations, ainsi que les outils et les méthodes permettant de protéger et d’utiliser durablement ces atouts naturels vitaux. En savoir plus : https://www.ipbes.net/

ILEE, un institut pour anticiper les défis environnementaux

L'institut ILEE (Institute of Life, Earth and Environment) rassemble des chercheurs qui ont un large éventail de compétences en sciences fondamentales et appliquées, permettant une contribution significative à la compréhension de l'évolution de la vie et des défis environnementaux actuels et futurs, ainsi qu'à l'amélioration de la qualité de vie, et la recherche de solutions durables, d'un point de vue écologique, technologique, socio-économique et historique/culturel.

From the Namur snail to the Galapagos snail, there is only one step!

Biodiversity
Publication

An international team of researchers, including Prof Frederik De Laender, from the University of Namur, publish in Nature Communications. The editor highlights that the authors use theoretical models and field data to show how eco-evolutionary processes can force species to develop more similar characteristic traits in more species-rich communities to avoid competition. Which goes against what we intuitively perceive.

Escargot

Si on vous demande de prédire ce qui va se passer au niveau d’une communauté de plantes ou d’animaux en présence d’autres espèces, votre intuition vous dira que plus il y aura d’individus, plus il y aura de diversité.  Par exemple, plus il va y avoir des espèces de plantes dans un champs, plus les fleurs vont être différentes.  Et pourtant, si cette théorie est correcte sur une échelle de temps limitée de quelques générations, la tendance s’inverse lorsqu’il s’agit du long terme. Pourquoi ? Parce que l’évolution entre en jeux.

Une théorie, plusieurs modèles

La théorie de l'évolution suggère que toutes les espèces vivantes sont en perpétuelle transformation et subissent au fil du temps et des générations des modifications morphologiques et génétiques. Ce concept a été présenté par Charles Darwin en 1859.

Des « caracoles » aux Galapagos

C’est justement sur les Iles Darwin, isolées depuis plusieurs siècles, que les chercheurs ont choisi un exemple pour confirmer leur théorie.  C’est l’escargot terrestre des Galapagos.  Quoi de mieux en effet que d’observer une espèce qui ne subit pas ou très peu d’influences dans son environnement naturel.  Et petit clin d’œil à Namur et à son symbole !  Dans cette recherche, l’équipe du Professeur Frederik De Laender (Instituts ILEE et naXys), s’est chargée d’établir le modèle théorique.  Grâce à ce modèle et aux observations sur le terrain, les chercheurs ont pu démontrer que plus on combine les populations d’individus, plus les individus d’une même population vont se ressembler, pour mieux se différencier des autres.

Pour comprendre, il faut se familiariser avec le concept de diversité fonctionnelle.  C’est l’ensemble et la variété des réponses que les espèces d’un écosystème apportent aux changements qui touchent leur environnement. Pour reprendre l’exemple des fleurs, leur forme, leur couleur, la longueur de leurs pétales et d’autres traits jouent un rôle dans la pollinisation entre autres.  Pour l’escargot, ce sera par exemple la morphologie de sa coquille.

De l'importance de la diversité

La diversité joue un rôle important dans la croissance d’une population, donc dans le fonctionnement de l’écosystème et la production de biomasse. Mais il semblerait que l’évolution ne change rien à ce processus.

Dans un environnement diversifié, la course à l’évolution entraîne une compétition tellement forte qu’au sein d’une même espèce parmi les autres, les individus vont chercher à se démarquer.  Et pour y arriver, ils vont évoluer de telle manière à ce que les individus de cette espèce soient les plus similaires possibles.  La relation entre la diversité des espèces et la diversité fonctionnelle peut donc être négative.  Cela implique que les données sur les traits des communautés pauvres en espèces peuvent mal évaluer la diversité fonctionnelle des communautés riches en espèces, et vice versa.

Cet article a été réalisé dans le cadre du projet ARC « DIVERSE » : Does Intraspecific Variability modulate the impact of EnviRonmental Change on biodiversity and Ecosystem function.  Les Actions de Recherche Concertées, ou ARC, sont des projets de 4 ou 5 ans financés par la Communauté française de Belgique, visant au développement de centres universitaires ou interuniversitaires d'excellence pratiquant de manière intégrée la recherche fondamentale et la recherche appliquée dans des domaines considérés comme prioritaires.

Cet article a été produit dans le cadre du projet ARC "DIVERSE" : La variabilité intraspécifique module-t-elle l'impact des changements environnementaux sur la biodiversité et les fonctions des écosystèmes ?

Les Actions Concertées de Recherche, ou ARCs, sont des projets de 4 ou 5 ans financés par la Communauté française de Belgique visant à développer des centres d'excellence universitaires ou inter-universitaires menant des recherches fondamentales et appliquées de manière intégrée dans des domaines considérés comme prioritaires.

Our researchers in the World's Top 2% Scientists list

Ranking

Stanford University has published a prestigious ranking that highlights the most influential researchers in a wide range of scientific fields. The list, based on bibliographic criteria, aims to provide a standardized means of identifying the world's scientific leaders. It is one criterion among others for assessing the quality of scientific research. Twelve researchers from the University of Namur are among them!

Top 2% scientists

This list, created by Stanford University and published in August 2024 is compiled in collaboration with Elsevier's ICST lab from Scopus data, aims to provide a standardized means of identifying the world's best scientists and recognizing those scientists who have had a significant impact on their respective fields.

While this list has been adopted by many institutions as a reliable measure of research impact, it is not the only way to evaluate research. Based strictly on bibliometric data, it is also subject to criticism.

Since September 2023, the University of Namur has been strengthening its commitment to the implementation of research assessment reform with the signing of the "Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) "agreement.

This agreement commits the institution to a series of principles, including taking into account career diversity and emphasizing qualitative research criteria rather than relying solely on bibliometric (and therefore quantitative) data.

Namur University researchers honored

The list is updated every year, with data on the whole career and impacts on a single year, for the sake of transparency and relevance.

The measurement criteria used

A variety of bibliometric measures are taken into account to ensure a fair and balanced representation of researchers' work.

  • The C-score: this composite score is based on various bibliometric factors, including the total number of citations.
  • The h-index: this impact indicator takes into account the number of a researcher's publications as well as the number of their citations.
  • The percentiles of fields and subfields : scientists are classified into 22 major fields and 176 subfields. Only those who rank in the top 2% of their subfield are taken into account.
  • Career-wide or single-year impact: rankings are available for both career-wide impact and single-year performance, providing a better understanding of long-term contribution and recent achievements.

Research excellence

Figuring among this top 2% of scientists is therefore a prestigious recognition of an individual's contribution to science and demonstrates the excellence of their research, enhancing their reputation in academia and industry.

The ranking offers visibility across all disciplines, drawing attention to work that might otherwise remain in a niche or be under-appreciated. It also serves as a benchmark for institutions and governments to assess the influence of their research programs.

Many institutions use the ranking to measure the success of their faculty, or other entity, which can also enhance credibility within the academic community.

This list encourages scientists to focus on producing high-quality, impactful research rather than chasing quantity.

By compiling data from all scientific fields and offering a fair, metrics-based approach, this ranking not only celebrates individual achievements, but also highlights the importance of impactful research in advancing knowledge. However, it must be qualified, as it only takes into account quantitative data, which are not necessarily representative of the full diversity of research.

According to another database, that of UNESCO, the number of researchers in the world is increasing by 300,000 per year, reaching 9 million today. The Top 2% comprises 200,000 names, including twelve researchers from the University of Namur.

Congratulations to them for their excellent research and for this prestigious worldwide recognition!

Mapping life

Biology
Durable

In 2021, the European Union has embarked on a titanic project to safeguard the genomes of all eukaryotic species in Europe. In other words, all living organisms, with the exception of bacteria and archaea (micro-organisms). Called ERGA, for European Reference Genome Atlas, and in which UNamur is participating thanks to Professor Alice Dennis, this project hopes to help safeguard biodiversity, at a time when a fifth of European species are in danger of extinction.

.
Abeilles projet ERGA

This article is taken from the "Eureka" section of the June 2024 issue of Omalius magazine.

In each of our cells, compacted in the heart of the nucleus, are the chromosomes, the seat of our DNA. DNA is made up of a long chain of molecules, each named A, T, C or G. In all, our genome comprises 3.4 billion of these "letters". By way of comparison, Victor Hugo's river novel Les Misérables has "only" 2.66 million characters, or 1,000 times fewer. And don't be fooled into thinking that our genetic code is the largest in the living world - far from it! The genetic code of corn has 5 billion letters, and that of the Paris japonica flower is 50 times larger than that of a human being.

Unfortunately, few genomes have been fully sequenced, with the exception of the human genome and a few species. And that's because of the difficulty involved. "We've long known how to extract short DNA sequences, corresponding, for example, to a gene", explains Professor Alice Dennis, a researcher at UNamur's Environmental and Evolutionary Biology Research Unit.

Alice Dennis

"And recently, with the evolution of techniques, we can also obtain long sequences, but only a few state-of-the-art laboratories in the world are capable of sequencing a genome in its entirety. Most researchers therefore end up with incomplete genetic codes, fragmented into thousands of pieces. By attempting to preserve the DNA of all European eukaryotes, ERGA will help to considerably improve genome sequencing standards throughout Europe, in order to obtain reference genomes, i.e. of the highest quality."

Genomes, your papers!

A Herculean task, given that Europe is home to almost 200,000 species, a fifth of which are threatened with extinction due to global warming and the collapse of biodiversity, among other factors. "It's important to understand that there are many steps involved in obtaining a single genome", adds Alice Dennis. "For each species, you need to obtain quality biological samples, which can be difficult when it's a rare or endangered species. Then comes the genome sequencing and assembly stage, which involves arranging all the DNA fragments obtained. And then we can move on to annotation, before proceeding to analysis."

Annotation, a crucial and "soften neglected" step, is carried out by a committee under the responsibility of the UNamur biologist. "My job is to determine which part of the DNA corresponds to what: such and such a sequence corresponds to a gene, such and such is a regulatory sequence, etc.", Alice Dennis details. "Unfortunately, it's a job that few people know how to do, partly due to the fact that there are few good tools to check the quality of your work."

According to the researcher, the creation of reference genomes will provide invaluable help in preserving biodiversity in Europe. "A single genome provides a great deal of information", she believes. "In most organisms, each chromosome is duplicated. By comparing them, you can already get an idea of an individual's genetic diversity. If this is low, it means that the population is showing signs of inbreeding."

The reference genomes therefore function as Rosetta stones for future studies. "It's much easier and much cheaper to compare a few DNA sequences from many individuals to an original, than to create the latter,"judges Alice Dennis. "This makes it possible to track populations, to identify those that are most at risk. We can also study genes that are subject to strong evolutionary pressures, and likely to mutate over the years."

Group work

Beyond Alice Dennis, over 1,000 researchers across Europe are involved in the ERGA project. And the latter is, in fact, the European part of an even larger project, the Earth Biogenome Project, which aims to sequence the entire living world over a 10-year period. ERGA also includes prestigious members such as the Darwin Tree of Life, in the UK, or the ATLASEA project in France, which aims to sequence the DNA of marine life.

But for Alice Dennis, the ERGA initiative goes much further than these major partners: "ERGA places particular emphasis on creating a decentralized network, and a science that aims to be inclusive. These large partners may have the means to sequence any genome, but this would be to the detriment of less well-endowed countries. There are many biodiversity hotspots in Europe to which these large laboratories do not have access. Relying on local expertise, and allowing everyone to participate and develop their skills will ensure that as many species as possible are present in this Atlas. This is also why all the data produced will be available as open access."

After an initial declaration of intent, the researchers behind ERGA set up a pilot project, which closed in 2023, and which removed a number of difficulties. "We tried to coordinate our action even before we received any funding", recalls Alice Dennis. "Each country came with one or two organisms whose DNA they wanted to sequence, and it was all done through a sharing of the resources each had available, and donations from certain companies. This enabled us to identify a number of problems, such as the difficulty of getting samples to travel in good conditions, in order to preserve the genetic material."

All in all, this testing phase has already established 1,213 reference genomes. And the pace is accelerating, thanks in particular to funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe program. The second phase of the project, which starts this year and will run for 5 years, aims to sequence 150,000 genomes, with priority given to the most endangered species.

Logos Europe et projet ERGA

ERGA is supported by Horizon Europe as part of the Biodiversity, Circular Economy and Environment program (REA.B.3, BGE 101059492).

This article is taken from the "Eureka" section of Omalius magazine #33 (June 2024).

Couverture Omalius#33

Biodiversity and the value of nature: geographer Nicolas Dendoncker co-authors a major international publication

Biodiversity
Geography
Publication

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has just published a study in the prestigious journal Nature, listing and assessing the different values we place on nature. Nicolas Dendoncker, professor in the Department of Geography and member of the ILEE Institute at UNamur, is one of the co-authors.

Nicolas Dendoncker

Cet article fait suite à la publication, en juillet 2022, du rapport d'évaluation des valeurs, approuvé par les 139 États membres de l'IPBES. Il synthétise et met en évidence les principaux résultats de l'évaluation, qui reposent sur l'examen de plus de 50 000 publications scientifiques, documents politiques et sources de connaissances autochtones et locales.

Partout dans le monde, les gens apprécient la nature de manière diverse et profonde, bien au-delà de l'usage économique. Mais cette diversité des valeurs n'est pas correctement reflétée dans les grandes décisions politiques et économiques. La nouvelle étude publiée dans Nature montre que la sous-évaluation de la nature est à l'origine de la crise environnementale à laquelle nous sommes confrontés. La "crise des valeurs" décrit la domination continue d'un ensemble étroit de valeurs qui se sont avérées inaptes à résoudre la double urgence de la biodiversité et du climat. L'étude identifie également quatre "approches centrées sur les valeurs" qui peuvent favoriser les conditions nécessaires à un changement transformateur pour parvenir à un avenir plus juste et plus durable : reconnaître la diversité des valeurs relatives à la nature, intégrer ces diverses valeurs dans la prise de décision, réformer les politiques et stimuler le changement institutionnel, et modifier les normes et les objectifs au niveau de la société pour soutenir les valeurs alignées sur la durabilité dans tous les secteurs.

Professeur de géographie à l’UNamur, Nicolas Dendoncker axe ses recherches sur les services écosystémiques, l’agriculture durable, le changement d’affectation des terres et la biodiversité. Il est l’un des deux scientifiques belges participant à l’élaboration de ce rapport de l’IPBES et est co-auteur de l’étude publiée dans Nature.

L’IPBES

Souvent décrit comme le « GIEC de la biodiversité », l’IPBES est un organisme intergouvernemental indépendant comprenant 143 États membres. Mis en place par les gouvernements en 2012, il fournit aux décideurs des évaluations scientifiques objectives de l’état des connaissances sur la biodiversité de la planète, les écosystèmes et les contributions qu’ils apportent aux populations, ainsi que les outils et les méthodes permettant de protéger et d’utiliser durablement ces atouts naturels vitaux. En savoir plus : https://www.ipbes.net/

ILEE, un institut pour anticiper les défis environnementaux

L'institut ILEE (Institute of Life, Earth and Environment) rassemble des chercheurs qui ont un large éventail de compétences en sciences fondamentales et appliquées, permettant une contribution significative à la compréhension de l'évolution de la vie et des défis environnementaux actuels et futurs, ainsi qu'à l'amélioration de la qualité de vie, et la recherche de solutions durables, d'un point de vue écologique, technologique, socio-économique et historique/culturel.

From the Namur snail to the Galapagos snail, there is only one step!

Biodiversity
Publication

An international team of researchers, including Prof Frederik De Laender, from the University of Namur, publish in Nature Communications. The editor highlights that the authors use theoretical models and field data to show how eco-evolutionary processes can force species to develop more similar characteristic traits in more species-rich communities to avoid competition. Which goes against what we intuitively perceive.

Escargot

Si on vous demande de prédire ce qui va se passer au niveau d’une communauté de plantes ou d’animaux en présence d’autres espèces, votre intuition vous dira que plus il y aura d’individus, plus il y aura de diversité.  Par exemple, plus il va y avoir des espèces de plantes dans un champs, plus les fleurs vont être différentes.  Et pourtant, si cette théorie est correcte sur une échelle de temps limitée de quelques générations, la tendance s’inverse lorsqu’il s’agit du long terme. Pourquoi ? Parce que l’évolution entre en jeux.

Une théorie, plusieurs modèles

La théorie de l'évolution suggère que toutes les espèces vivantes sont en perpétuelle transformation et subissent au fil du temps et des générations des modifications morphologiques et génétiques. Ce concept a été présenté par Charles Darwin en 1859.

Des « caracoles » aux Galapagos

C’est justement sur les Iles Darwin, isolées depuis plusieurs siècles, que les chercheurs ont choisi un exemple pour confirmer leur théorie.  C’est l’escargot terrestre des Galapagos.  Quoi de mieux en effet que d’observer une espèce qui ne subit pas ou très peu d’influences dans son environnement naturel.  Et petit clin d’œil à Namur et à son symbole !  Dans cette recherche, l’équipe du Professeur Frederik De Laender (Instituts ILEE et naXys), s’est chargée d’établir le modèle théorique.  Grâce à ce modèle et aux observations sur le terrain, les chercheurs ont pu démontrer que plus on combine les populations d’individus, plus les individus d’une même population vont se ressembler, pour mieux se différencier des autres.

Pour comprendre, il faut se familiariser avec le concept de diversité fonctionnelle.  C’est l’ensemble et la variété des réponses que les espèces d’un écosystème apportent aux changements qui touchent leur environnement. Pour reprendre l’exemple des fleurs, leur forme, leur couleur, la longueur de leurs pétales et d’autres traits jouent un rôle dans la pollinisation entre autres.  Pour l’escargot, ce sera par exemple la morphologie de sa coquille.

De l'importance de la diversité

La diversité joue un rôle important dans la croissance d’une population, donc dans le fonctionnement de l’écosystème et la production de biomasse. Mais il semblerait que l’évolution ne change rien à ce processus.

Dans un environnement diversifié, la course à l’évolution entraîne une compétition tellement forte qu’au sein d’une même espèce parmi les autres, les individus vont chercher à se démarquer.  Et pour y arriver, ils vont évoluer de telle manière à ce que les individus de cette espèce soient les plus similaires possibles.  La relation entre la diversité des espèces et la diversité fonctionnelle peut donc être négative.  Cela implique que les données sur les traits des communautés pauvres en espèces peuvent mal évaluer la diversité fonctionnelle des communautés riches en espèces, et vice versa.

Cet article a été réalisé dans le cadre du projet ARC « DIVERSE » : Does Intraspecific Variability modulate the impact of EnviRonmental Change on biodiversity and Ecosystem function.  Les Actions de Recherche Concertées, ou ARC, sont des projets de 4 ou 5 ans financés par la Communauté française de Belgique, visant au développement de centres universitaires ou interuniversitaires d'excellence pratiquant de manière intégrée la recherche fondamentale et la recherche appliquée dans des domaines considérés comme prioritaires.

Cet article a été produit dans le cadre du projet ARC "DIVERSE" : La variabilité intraspécifique module-t-elle l'impact des changements environnementaux sur la biodiversité et les fonctions des écosystèmes ?

Les Actions Concertées de Recherche, ou ARCs, sont des projets de 4 ou 5 ans financés par la Communauté française de Belgique visant à développer des centres d'excellence universitaires ou inter-universitaires menant des recherches fondamentales et appliquées de manière intégrée dans des domaines considérés comme prioritaires.

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