It is expected that 70% of the world population will be urban by 2050. Therefore, guaranteeing the quality of life of urban populations is a crucial challenge for the upcoming decades. Since their settlement, cities have drastically changed and they are one of the environments where global changes are the fastest and most pronounced. Indeed, urban environments are perceived as an ecological desert, and this lack of wildlife is of particular concern for humans because contact with “nature” is crucial for the health and well-being of humans. Despite these constraints, some animals are able to inhabit in cities and studying these sentinel species can help us to better understand the impacts of urbanization on wild vertebrates, and thus, help us to improve the quality of life of human populations. In this context, URBASTRESS proposes to focus on a human-commensal species, the house sparrow, to investigate the costs and benefits of urbanization. This species is especially relevant because it will allow us to evaluate the impact of ongoing and emerging urban constraints on one of the only wild vertebrate that is supposed to be well adapted to an urban lifestyle. Moreover, this project is timely because several European populations of sparrows have been declining in the past decades. To reach our aim, we will use an original approach that integrates methods and concepts of demography, physiology, ecology, and environmental health. To investigate the proximate causes of urban population trends of the house sparrow, this innovative project will span several scales of investigation from modifications of physiological performances at an individual level up to demographic processes. We will specifically study allostasis-related physiological mechanisms to assess the constraints of living in an urban environment, but also to test whether the physiology of this wild vertebrate species is flexible enough to allow them to adjust to these constraints. This project will specifically focus on the physiological mechanisms (stress response, immune and metabolic responses) that are likely to constrain and/or determine the ability of individuals to adjust to 3 environmental variables of interest (noise, pathogens, food shortage). Such approach is necessary to better assess (1) the relative impact of urban-related environmental factors on performances (costs and benefits); (2) the ability of individuals to adjust their phenotype to maximize the benefits of living in an urban environment while limiting its costs; (3) the potential of urbanization to mediate an ecological trap for urban dwellers. To reach these objectives, we will first establish a large scale demographic survey to evaluate the environmental characteristics of the urban environment and to test their impact on the demography of sparrows. Second, we will evaluate the physiological constraints of the urban habitat and we will examine how urban individuals may physiologically cope with urban challenges (stress, pathogens, energetic constraints). Finally, we will assess the impact of these environmental and physiological constraints on individual fitness. For all these steps, we will use an experimental approach to test our working hypotheses. The success of this project will be guaranteed not only by the expertise of this young and productive team, but also by promising preliminary results. This project will be of interest to a wide public because it targets a key societal question – the biological sustainability of an urban lifestyle – with complementary, relevant perspectives (ecology, physiology, demography) and actors (scientists, students, local government, volunteers, managers, citizens). To conclude, URBASTRESS will improve our knowledge of the urban constraints and will enable us to understand the way our closest urban vertebrate neighbors may cope with them. Therefore, URBASTRESS will allow us to advise policy-makers on how to improve the management of urban biodiversity.

Given the large-scale challenges related to climate change and biodiversity collapse, calls are made for societies to implement transformative approaches of their social-ecological systems. However, although this idea of transformation has become more prominent, there is no clear consensus as to what it means in practice, and it raises major methodological challenges. ENACT aims to implement an innovative intervention research to develop, test and monitor practical levers to enhance agri-food system stakeholders’ transformative capacity, focusing on food consumers. It will be conducted in a Long-Term Social-Ecological Research (LTSER) site, the “Zone Atelier Plaine & Val de Sèvre” (Western France). Its main research question is: How to enhance consumers’ individual and collective design capacity in order to increase their capacity to transform their agri-food system? It tackles major potential obstacles such as consumers’ fixation effect and lack of agency. ENACT is organised in 4 work packages: WP1: Map food consumers’ fixation effect and test cognitive levers to increase their capacity of idea generation; WP2: Test the opportunity to increase consumers’ transformative capacity with innovative design workshops; WP3: Co-design and test levers to develop consumer leadership, agency and reflexivity; and WP4: Build a conceptual framework linking consumers’ transformative capacity and agri-food system transformation. ENACT will allow the principal investigator, Elsa Berthet, to strengthen her research leadership and consolidate the interdisciplinary collaborations she has set up with researchers from the CEBC (INRAE, CNRS; ecology), LaPsyDé (La Sorbonne; psychology), CGS (Mines Paristech; management and design science) and SADAPT/IDEAS (INRAE; agronomy and design science), as well as facilitators and local stakeholders.

Depredation by toothed whales of Patagonian toothfish on demersal longline and tuna and swordfish on pelagic longlines is a growing problem internationally and the main problem exposed the French longline fisheries operated from Reunion Island. Pelagic and demersal longline fishery operated from Réunion Island is the first French fishery in terms of economic value and the second merchant economic sector of Réunion Island (100 M d'€/yr). These fisheries are highly affected by this depredation with an estimated financial loss of € 65 million over the 2003-2013 period. The observed depredation levels raise both economic and conservation issues. Indeed the artificial supply of food helps in creating an imbalance between these populations of cetaceans and their natural resources. Longlining is one of the fishing methods with the lowest environmental effect. The objectives of OrcaDepred are firstly to better understand the depredation behaviour of and ecology of cetacean species involved to offer fishing companies operational and technological solutions to depredation. Technological approaches tested to this day, namely the use of pots, acoustic repellents are ineffective. Under the OrcaDepred four Work Packages (WP) will be implemented to study and solve the depredation issue. - WP1 aims at better understanding the natural feeding and interaction behaviours with the fishery cetaceans interacting with the lines, and in the case of pelagic longlines identify the cetacean species involves. For this two dimensions tracking movements (tracks and dives) of these cetaceans will be studied using i) a new generation of satellite tags processing on-board the pressure and acceleration data and ii) by passive acoustic monitoring using hydrophones deployed along pelagic longline or a dedicated acoustic vertical array to the demersal fishery. The interactions of cetaceans with the lines will be studied using an experimental line on which the hooks are equipped with accelerometers to assess when fish are caught and depredated. - WP2 is devoted to assessments of the bio-economic consequences of depredation through an ecological economic for sustainable management of these fisheries taking into-account depredation. Finally, ecosystem modelling based on trophic links between species will be carried out to assess the ecological consequences of fishing-depredation at the ecosystem level. - WP3 will consider whether changes in levels of interaction between cetaceans and ships are related to fishing practice differences between captains and/or vessel characteristics, with a special focus on acoustic noise generated. These analyses are essential to guide the fishing companies in their strategic choices: training their fishing captains and/or conducting technical changes on their vessels. - WP4 will implement a technological approach to remove depredation. In partnership with industry, new prototypes of fish protection devices on the lines and not harmful to cetaceans and possibly limiting the levels of accessory catch such as skate on demersal long line will be tested and operational systems will be patented. OrcaDepred federates the complete French scientific community currently involved in addressing the longline depredation issue. Other fisheries at both national and international levels should benefit directly from the OrcaDepred as this problem is expending worldwide. Orcadepred outcomes will lead to mitigation solutions and should generate a strong national and international audience.

Ecological intensification relies on ecosystem services to substitute external inputs in agriculture and has been proposed as a way to achieve high yielding, stable and sustainable crop production, while allowing us to reach other societal targets such as nature conservation or human health. Pollination and natural pest control are key ecosystem services that can lower pesticide use and increase crop yield quantity and quality. Organisms delivering these services depend to a large extent on non-crop habitats, or "green infrastructure" in the landscape, as cropland is not well suited as a habitat all year round. ECODEAL is a European research project assessing the impacts of green infrastructure on the delivery of ecosystem services and consequences for individual farmers and the whole society. How much green infrastructure do we need to maintain stable communities of ecosystem service providers, and a high flow and stability of the services to the crop? Since establishing non-crop habitat comes at a cost, which densities of green infrastructure will enhance crop yield and populations of conservation relevant species while providing net increases in crop productivity as well as net economic benefits to the farmer? ECODEAL will answer these questions. A sound scientific basis now links increased densities of different elements of green infrastructure in the landscape to increased local biodiversity. Further work is needed to understand how increases in green infrastructure at different scales can be translated to benefits in terms of enhanced crop production, in particular in a context in which variability in climate and agricultural prices will differentially affect crop growth, the populations of pests and beneficial organisms, and the costs of converting productive land to green infrastructure. ECODEAL will (1) disentangle the linkages between density of green infrastructure and the structure and stability of the interaction networks linking the crop and the non-crop habitats communities over multiple years, (2) quantify increases in crop productivity mediated by pollination and natural pest control under different densities of agricultural non-crop habitats at different scales, as an essential step towards assessing costs and benefits, and (3) assess costs and benefits for the farmer and the wider society of enhancing the density of green infrastructure, and quantify possible trade-offs between enhancing green infrastructure for ecological intensification of agriculture as opposed to supporting conservation-relevant species. ECODEAL synthesizes large existing databases to model the relationship between density of green infrastructure and the distributions of functional traits and the structure of the ecological interaction networks that underlie pollination and natural pest control. Cases studies from established study areas covering economically important field crops will be used to fill the gaps in the existing data, and will be used to validate and update the ecosystem service models derived from the synthesis work. Cooperation with land owners and managers, institutions and organisations designing and implementing agri-environment schemes, advising farmers, managing protected areas, and developing agricultural and environmental policy, ensures that the ECODEAL assessment of the question "how much green infrastructure do we need for enhanced, stable ecosystem services in crops?" finds ownership among key stakeholders.

Poly and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are surface-active agents used in in a multitude of manufactured products including firefighting foam, waterproof clothing, non-stick cookware, food packaging, personal care products, electronics and metal plating and even pesticides. Transported over long distances, via atmospheric and oceanic transport, these highly persistent, bioaccumulative pollutants are now ubiquitous. In humans and in laboratory models, PFAS can cause cancer, affect immunocompetence and disrupt the endocrine system. However, the consequences of PFAS exposure remain poorly investigated in wildlife. Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) has been included under the Stockholm Convention on POPs. However, PFAS cover more than 4,700 substances and the vast majority of PFASs are not regulated yet and some are increasingly detected in biota. Furthermore, development and manufacturing of alternative PFAS which are largely uncharacterized in terms of risks, remains ongoing, despite recent evidences of their environmental occurrence in wildlife tissues. Exposure assessments focused only on legacy substances (PFOS, PFOA) may severely underestimate overall exposure in wildlife. Evaluating exposure and effects of PFAS on wildlife is thus an environmental priority. As apex predators, seabirds are relevant bioindicators for marine pollution and there is an urgent need to monitor PFAS across a large range of habitats. To improve our understanding of the global distribution of PFAS and their effects on wildlife, we propose the ToxSeabird project which aim at providing a comprehensive and unprecedented study of the occurrence and toxicity of legacy and emerging PFAS in seabird species along a unique geographical gradient encompassing Antarctic, subantarctic, subtropical, tropical, temperate and subarctic areas, from overseas and metropolitan France. Overseas and metropolitan France holds millions of seabirds including rare endemics and is therefore responsible for a significant part of the marine biodiversity. ToxSeabird involves five partners: Centre d’Etude Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC); Environnements et Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux (EPOC); Littoral Environnement et Sociétés (LIENSs), Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (PhyMA), and Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert CURIEN (IPHC). The ToxSeabird project aims to: 1) Document the occurrence of legacy and emerging PFASs in 40 seabird species from overseas and metropolitan France, along Antarctic, tropical, temperate and subarctic areas; 2) Interpret patterns of PFAS contamination through trophic ecology (stable isotopes) and biologging; 3) Experimentally investigate effects of PFAS on key physiological mechanisms (hormones, oxidative stress, telomeres); 4) Relate PFAS contamination to demographic parameters using ongoing long-term ringing studies. Our project should give new insight into the exposome of seabirds across an unprecedented latitudinal gradient and provide innovative information about the poorly explored effects of PFAS on wildlife.