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Aims To test the magnitude and the direction of the effects of large-scale environmental factors (latitude and habitat type: lotic or lentic) on the intraspecific variations in multiple life-history traits, across multiple European freshwater fish species. To test the relevance of defining species traits by quantifying the magnitude of the interspecific vs. the intraspecific variability in traits. Methods We obtained estimates of eleven fish traits from published sources for 1089 populations of 25 European freshwater fish species. Traits were: longevity, maximal length, growth rate, asymptotic length, mortality rate, age and length at maturation, fecundity, egg size, gonadosomatic index and length of breeding season. We described population habitats by latitude and habitat type (lotic or lentic), when available. For each species, we tested the combined effect of latitude and habitat type on the intraspecific variation of each trait using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). We compared the intraspecific variation in traits to the variation between species using an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for each trait, all species pooled. Results We found a consistent effect in direction of latitude on six traits, but we showed that this effect is not always significant across species. Higher latitude populations often grew slower, matured later, had a longer lifespan, a higher maximal and asymptotic length and allocated more energy to reproduction than populations in lower latitude. By contrast, we noted only a slight effect of habitat type on the intraspecific variation in traits, except for Salmo trutta. All traits varied significantly between species. However, traits such as growth rate, mortality rate and length of breeding season varied more between populations than between species, whereas fecundity and traits associated with body length varied more between species. Main conclusions Latitude, in contrast to habitat type, is an important factor influencing several traits of geographically widely dispersed populations of multiple European freshwater fish species. Species traits that vary more between species than between populations are attractive variables for understanding and predicting the responses of stream fish communities to their environment.

The hypothesis of convergence takes the deterministic view that community (or assemblage) structure can be predicted from the environment, and that the environment is expected to drive evolution in a predictable direction. Here we present results of a comparative study of freshwater fish assemblages from headwater streams in four continents (Europe, North America, Africa and South America), with the general objective of testing whether these assemblages display convergent structures under comparable environmental conditions (i.e. assemblage position in the stream longitudinal continuum). We tested this hypothesis by comparing species richness and trophic guilds of those stream fish assemblages represented in available data from multiple sites on each continent. Independent of phylogenetic and historical constraints, fish assemblage richness and trophic structure in the four continents converged along the stream continua to a substantial degree. For the four continents, assemblage richness increased, the proportion of invertivorous species decreased, and the proportion of omnivorous species increased from upstream to downstream, supporting theoretical predictions of the river continuum concept. However, the herbivore/detritivore and piscivore guilds were virtually absent from our small European and North American stream sites, unlike our African and South American stream sites. This divergence can be linked to differences in energy availability between temperate and tropical systems.

Wastewater treatment plant effluents from urban area are a well-known source of chronic multiple micropollution to the downstream living organisms. In this study, ecologically relevant laboratory-bred freshwater gastropods, Lymnaea stagnalis, were exposed for 29 days to raw effluents of a wastewater treatment plant in Lyon area (France). A time-course analysis of individual markers of immunocompetence (hemocyte density and viability, hemocyte NADPH activity, phenol oxidase activity, and capacity of phagocytosis) has shown slight trends of inflammatory-like responses induced by the 100% effluents. So far, no short-term hazard for L. stagnalis can be revealed. However, over the long term, such environmental stress-stimulating immune responses could provoke deleterious life history trade-offs because the immune system is known to be highly energy-consuming.

Community convergence across biogeographically distinct regions suggests the existence of key, repeated evolutionary mechanisms relating community characteristics to the environment. However, convergence studies at the community level often involve only qualitative comparisons of the environment and may fail to identify which environmental variables drive community structure. We tested the hypothesis that the biological traits of fish communities on two continents (Europe and North America) are similarly related to environmental conditions. Specifically, from observations of individual fish made at the local scale (few m2) within French streams, we generated habitat preference models linking traits of fish species to local scale hydraulic conditions (Froude number). Using this information, we then predicted how hydraulics and geomorphology at the larger stream reaches scale (length of streams including several pool-riffle sequences) should quantitatively influence the trait composition of entire communities. Trait composition for fish in stream reaches with low Froude number at low flow or high proportion of pools was predicted as non-benthic, large, fecund, long-lived, non-streamlined, and weak swimmers. We tested our predictions in contrasting stream reaches in France (n=11) and Virginia, USA (n=76), using analyses of covariance to quantify the relative influence of continent versus physical variables on fish traits. Results indicated that trait proportions in the communities differed across continents (up to 55 % of the variance in each trait explained), but, within continents, they were also related to the hydraulic and geomorphic variables (up to 54 % of the variance within continents explained). In particular, a synthetic description of fish traits was well predicted from the Froude number independently of the continent. In addition, the effect of physical variables was comparable across continents for most traits, confirming our predictions qualitatively and quantitatively. Therefore, despite phylogenetic and historical differences between continents, fish communities of France and Virginia exhibit convergence in biological traits related to hydraulics and geomorphology. This convergence reflects morphological and behavioral adaptations to physical stress in streams. This study supports the existence of a habitat template for ecological strategies. Some key quantitative variables that define this habitat template can be identified by characterizing how individual organisms use their physical environment, and by using dimensionless physical variables which are suited to reveal common energetic properties in different systems. Overall, quantitative tests of community convergence are efficient tools to demonstrate that some community traits are predictable from environmental features.

Understanding how the variability of protein structure arises during evolution and leads to new structure-function relationships ultimately promoting evolutionary novelties is a major goal of molecular evolution and is critical for interpreting genome sequences. We addressed this issue using the ecdysone receptor (ECR), a major developmental factor that controls development and reproduction of arthropods. The functional ECR is a heterodimer of two nuclear receptors: ECR, which binds ecdysteroids, and its obligatory partner ultraspirade (USP), which is orthologous to the retinoid X receptor of vertebrates. Both genes underwent a dramatic increase of evolutionary rate in Mecopterida, the major insect terminal group containing Dipteras and Lepidopteras. We therefore questioned the implication of this event in terms of coevolution of their dimerization interface. A structural comparison revealed a 30% larger ligand-binding domain (LBD) heterodimerization surface in the Lepidoptera Heliothis when compared with basal insects, associated with a symmetrization of the interface, which is exceptional for nuclear receptors. Reconstruction of ancestral sequences and homology modeling of the ancestral Mecopterida ECR-USP reveal that this enlarged dimerization surface is a synapomorphy for Mecopterida. Furthermore, we show that the residues implicated in the new dimerization surface underwent specific evolutionary constraints in Mecopterida indicative of their new and conserved role in the dimerization interface. Most of all, the novel surface originates from a 15° torsion of a subdomain of USP LBD toward its partner ECR, which is a long-range consequence of the peculiar position of a Mecopterida-specific insertion in loop L1-3, located outside of the interaction surface, in a less crucial domain of the partner protein. These results indicate that the coevolution between ECR and USP occurred through a novel mechanism of intramolecular epistasis that will undoubtedly be generalized for other molecules because it uses flexibility of a less-constrained region of a protein to modify the structure of another, critical part of the molecule. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

Interspecies differences in contaminant sensitivity are measured to assess environmental risk based on species sensitivity distribution. The present study was intended to demonstrate the importance of studying the effects of contaminants on the life-history traits of various species. To do this, we compared the effects of ivermectin on the survival, growth, and reproduction of two cladoceran species (Daphnia magna and Ceriodaphnia dubia) and two strains of D. magna (one Japanese and one European). Ivermectin is widely used against endo- and ectoparasites in livestock and pets and is known for its high toxicity. Local aquatic ecosystems can be contaminated due to direct excretion into surface waters, but few data are available about the chronic effects of ivermectin on aquatic organisms. Adult daphnids were exposed to concentrations from 0 to 1 ng/L. Our results show a significant effect on all the life-history traits measured and reveal inter- and intraspecies differences. The no-observed-effect concentration found for growth and reproduction is 0.0003 ng/L for D. magna versus 0.001 ng/L for C. dubia, and the lowest-observed-effect concentration is 0.001 ng/L for D. magna versus 0.01 ng/L for C. dubia. C. dubia is smaller than D. magna and appeared to be less sensitive to ivermectin. The European strain of D. magna exhibited less resistance than the Japanese strain. A bias in the sex ratio was observed for all strains tested.

Conventional instream habitat models (e.g., the physical habitat simulation system) predict the impact of regulation on the habitats of freshwater taxa. They link a hydraulic model with microhabitat-suitability models for taxa to predict habitat values at various discharge rates. Their use requires considerable field effort and experience. Recent analyses performed in France suggested that comparable results could be achieved using simplified hydraulic data. We tested this approach for 99 stream reaches and nine aquatic taxa in New Zealand. The resulting generalized habitat models predict habitat values similar to those predicted by conventional models from simplified hydraulic data (depth discharge and widthdischarge relationships, average particle size, and mean annual discharge). As in France, withinreach changes in habitat values were linked to the specific discharge of reaches, while between-reach changes depended mainly on the Froude number at mean annual discharge. The generalized models perform well outside their calibration range. Models previously developed in France perform well in New Zealand. Such generalized models contribute to identifying the key hydraulic variables for freshwater taxa and should facilitate habitat studies worldwide.

The possibility of applying main AOP techniques, namely ozonation, H2O2/UV photolysis and TiO2 photocatalysis to provide a significant reduction of toxicity of pharmaceutical mixtures has been evaluated. For the preparation of the mixture six pharmaceuticals were chosen among those found at highest concentrations in Sewage Treatment Plant effluents, namely carbamazepine, clofibric acid, diclofenac, sulfamethoxazole, ofloxacin and propranolol. The blue-green alga Synechococcus leopoliensis and the rotifer Brachyonus calyciflorus were utilised to assess the toxicity of the mixtures after AOP treatments. All the toxicity tests were performed using chronic standardized bioassays. The best results were obtained with ozonation. With this type of treatment a complete removal of mixture toxicity on S. leopolensis was obtained even after the shortest time of application (1 min). The ozonation treatment leads also to removal of all the pharmaceutical mixture toxicity on B. calyciflorus, by applying the oxidizing agent for at least for 2 minutes.

A hydroelectric power plant (HPP) started operation in December 2002 on the River Lhomme, (mean annual flow: 1.78 m3 s−1; mean annual water temperature: 9.9°C). The new HPP bypasses the river over a length of 1.2 km. The minimum flow allowed in the bypassed section is currently fixed at 0.220 m3 s−1. Before the construction of the HPP, two contrasted 150-m-long reaches of the Lhomme were selected to estimate their total fish population abundance and to analyse their fish population dynamics. Electrofishing was carried out in each of these two reaches on 23 April 2002 in a natural flow situation to remove the fish. Other inventories were carried out in late April or early May in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 in minimum flow conditions. The results revealed a prompt and severe decrease in the total fish biomass (up to 81% for grayling from 2002 to 2006) combined with severe changes in the fish community structure that were not observed in a reference site. The effects of the flow reduction varied considerably depending on the size of the individuals, the species concerned and their habitat availability, which was modelled using a classical physical habitat simulation (EVHA method).

Mapped environmental classifications are defined using various procedures, but there has been little evaluation of the differences in their ability to discriminate variation in independent ecological characteristics. We tested the performance of environmental classifications of the streams and rivers of France that had been defined from the same environmental data using geographic regionalization and numerical classification of individual river valley segments. Test data comprised invertebrate assemblages, water chemistry, and hydrological indexes obtained from sites throughout France. Classification performance was measured by analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). Geometric regions defined by a regular grid and without regard to environmental variables and a posteriori classifications based on clustering the test datasets defined lower and upper bounds of performance for a given number of classes. Differences in classification performances were generally small. The ANOSIM statistics for the a posteriori classifications were around twice that of all environmental classifications, including geometrically defined regions. The hydro-ecoregions performed slightly better for the invertebrate data and the network classification performed slightly better for the chemistry and hydrological data. Our results indicate that environmental classifications that are defined using different procedures can be comparable in terms of their ability to discriminate variation of ecological characteristics and that alleged differences in performance arising from different classification procedures can be small relative to unexplained variation. We conclude that definition procedures might have little effect on the performance of large-scale environmental classifications and decisions over which procedures to use should be based primarily on pragmatic considerations.