Claude Miaud

Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes | EPHE · Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive

Context Many graph-based studies consider just one habitat type (breeding habitat) and one ecological process (dispersal) when measuring connectivity. However, in the course of their life cycle, some species use different habitats and are particularly sensitive to their spatial arrangement. Objectives We propose a new graph modeling approach that...

Sea turtles are considered as bio-indicators for monitoring the efficiency of restoration measures to reduce marine litter impacts on health. However, the lack of extended and standardised empirical data has prevented the accurate analysis of the factors influencing litter ingestion and the relationships with individual health. Historic data collec...

Linear transport infrastructure can alter the viability of populations and wildlife passages are used to mitigate their impacts. The assessment of their outcomes is often limited to recording the use of the tunnels by a focal species. For amphibians, the effectiveness of tunnels is poorly evaluated with little information about whether certain feat...

This study aimed to evaluate the surveillance network of amphibian mortality’ events in French National Parks, using the OASIS method. The main strengths of the network were revealed by the evaluation, as well as limitations that narrow the surveillance’s efficiency. The limitations encompass structural and functional parts of the network, which de...

Environmental policies, including the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), generally rely on the measurement of indicators to assess the good environmental status (GES) and ensure the protection of marine ecosystems. However, depending on available scientific knowledge and monitoring programs in place, quantitative GES assessments a...

Comparative studies of mortality in the wild are necessary to understand the evolution of aging; yet, ectothermic tetrapods are underrepresented in this comparative landscape, despite their suitability for testing evolutionary hypotheses. We present a study of aging rates and longevity across wild tetrapod ectotherms, using data from 107 population...

The contents of the digestive tracts of 21 loggerhead turtles (20 juveniles and 1 adult) collected along the French Mediterranean coast were extracted during necropsies. Hard and soft items were collected and identified by visual observation. A 15-mL sample of the liquid from the rinsed contents of each digestive tract was collected and dietary DNA...

The alarming decline of amphibians in France: The documented example of Normandy. Amphibians are exposed to numerous pressures such as the disappearance and degradation of their terrestrial and aquatic habitats, the introduction of invasive species, diseases, and climate change, which lead to the disappearance or decline of populations. Many env...

Le Pélobate brun (Pelobates fuscus) est un anoure fouisseur, menacé en France, dont les préférences d’habitat terrestre et les capacités de déplacement sont méconnues. L’utilisation de la radio-télémétrie (20 individus) et des pigments fluorescents (91 individus) a permis le suivi des gîtes et des déplacements de cette espèce cryptique dans le Bas-...

Starting in 2010, rapid fire salamander Salamandra salamandra population declines in northwestern Europe heralded the emergence of Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (Bsal), a salamander‐pathogenic chytrid fungus. Bsal poses an imminent threat to global salamander diversity owing to its wide host range, high pathogenicity and long‐term persistence i...

This study aims to characterise the genetic structure and composition of 245 individuals of loggerhead sea turtles collected from stranding and bycatch events along the French Mediterranean coasts (Gulf of Lion, Provence and Corsica). We obtained sequences of the mitochondrial control region for two fragments (683 bp and 241 bp for 170 and 51 indiv...

Monitoring Floating Marine Macro Litter (FMML) is a global priority, stressed within international programs, and regulated for the European Seas by the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. Although some well-defined common protocols exist for the assessment of beach litter and ingested litter, methodologies for FMML monitoring still vary, leading t...

This study assesses microplastic ingestion in Boops boops at different geographical areas in the Mediterranean Sea. A total of 884 fish were caught at 20 coastal sites in Spain, France, Italy and Greece and analyzed using a common methodological protocol. Microplastics were found in 46.8% of the sampled fish, with an average number of items per ind...

Linear transport infrastructure can impact wildlife directly or indirectly, and amphibians are particularly affected. In some cases, mitigation measures – such as tunnels below the linear transport infrastructure – are implemented, but an evaluation of their effectiveness is often lacking, especially for small animals such as amphibians. Few studie...

https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1aXwzI7ECnoGb

Background Mitigating the effect of linear transport infrastructure (LTI) on fauna is a crucial issue in road ecology. Wildlife crossing structures (tunnels or overpasses) are one solution that has been implemented to restore habitat connectivity and reduce wildlife mortality. Evaluating how these crossings function for small wildlife has often bee...

The infectious chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans ( Bsal ) has been responsible for severe population declines of salamander populations in Europe. Serious population declines and loss of urodelan diversity may occur if appropriate action is not taken to mitigate against the further spread and impact of Bsal . We provide an overview o...

Actuarial senescence has been viewed for a long time as an inevitable and uniform process. However, the work on senescence has mainly focused on endotherms with deterministic growth and low regeneration capacity during the adult stage, leading to a strong taxonomic bias in the study of aging. Recent studies have highlighted that senescence could in...

The early detection and identification of pathogenic microorganisms is essential in order to deploy appropriate mitigation measures. Viruses in the Iridoviridae family, such as those in the Ranavirus genus, can infect amphibian species without resulting in mortality or clinical signs, and they can also infect other hosts than amphibian species. Dia...

The following protocol is intended to respond to the requirements set by the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directives (MSFD) for the D10C3 Criteria reported in the Commission Decision (EU), related to the amount of litter ingested by marine animals. Standardized methodologies for extracting litter items ingested from dead sea turtles a...

Actuarial senescence (hereafter 'senescence') has been viewed for a long time as an inevitable and uniform process. However, the work on senescence has mainly focused on endotherms (especially mammals) with deterministic growth and low regeneration capacity at adult stages, leading to a strong taxonomic bias in the study of aging. Recent studies ha...

The presence of marine litter is a complex, yet persistent, threat to the health and biodiversity of the marine environment, and plastic is the most abundant, and ubiquitous type of marine litter. To monitor the level of plastic waste in an area, and the prospect of it entering the food chain, bioindicator species are used extensively throughout No...

This PDF file includes: Materials and Methods - Figs. S1, S3, S4, S6, S7, and S9 to S16 - Tables S2 to S5 - Captions for figs. S2, S5, and S8 - Caption for table S1 - Captions for data S1 to S3 - References

Parasitic chytrid fungi have emerged as a signifcant threat to amphibian species worldwide, necessitating the development of techniques to isolate these pathogens into culture for research purposes. However, early methods of isolating chytrids from their hosts relied on killing amphibians. We modifed a pre-existing protocol for isolating chytrids f...

Panzootic chytrid fungus out of Asia Species in the fungal genus Batrachochytrium are responsible for severe declines in the populations of amphibians globally. The sources of these pathogens have been uncertain. O'Hanlon et al. used genomics on a panel of more than 200 isolates to trace the source of the frog pathogen B. dendrobatidis to a hyperdi...

Nowadays marine litter heavily affects the marine environment, especially in the semi enclosed Mediterranean basin. Marine mammals are amongst the most threatened indicative species. To prioritize marine conservation measures, data are needed to analyse litter impact on marine fauna and highlight the dynamic overlap between pressures and the primar...

Parasitic chytrid fungi have emerged as a significant threat to amphibian species worldwide, necessitating the development of techniques to isolate these pathogens into sterile culture for research purposes. However, early methods of isolating chytrids from their hosts relied on killing amphibians. We modified a pre-existing protocol for isolating...

The American bullfrog, native to the eastern half of North America including southern Quebec, is considered one of the most invasive species in the world. It has been introduced in America, Asia and Europe, mainly for food purposes. A study on the age and body size of this species was carried out on individuals obtained from four introduced populat...

Invasive species can be a threat to native species in several ways, including transmitting lethal infections caused by the parasites they carry. However, invasive species may also be plagued by novel and lethal infections they acquire when invading, making inferences regarding the ability of an invasive host to vector disease difficult from field o...

Pressures on freshwater biodiversity in Southeast Asia are accelerating, yet the status and conservation needs of many of the region’s iconic fish species are poorly known. The Mekong is highly species diverse and supports four of the six largest freshwater fish globally, three of which, including Mekong giant catfish (Pangasianodon gigas), are Cri...

Dispersal is a central component of life history evolution. An increasing number of studies suggest that spatiotemporally variable environments may promote the evolution of "dispersal syndromes," consisting of covariation patterns between dispersal and morphological, physiological, behavioral, and life history traits. At the interspecifc scale, the...

Because it modulates the fitness returns of possible options of energy expenditure at each ontogenetic stage, environmental stochasticity is usually considered a selective force in driving or constraining possible life histories. Divergent regimes of envi- ronmental fluctuation experienced by populations are expected to generate differences in the...

Pathogenic fungi and viruses cause mortality outbreaks in wild amphibians worldwide. In the summer of 2012, dead tadpoles and adults of the European common frog Rana temporaria were reported in alpine lakes in the southwestern Alps (Mercantour National Park, France). A preliminary investigation using molecular diagnostic techniques identified a Ran...

Weather fluctuations have been demonstrated to affect demographic traits in many species. In long-lived organisms, their impact on adult survival might be buffered by the evolution of traits that reduce variation in interannual adult survival. For example, skipping breeding is an effective behavioral mechanism that may limit yearly variation in adu...

Detection is crucial in the study and control of invasive species but it may be limited by methodological issues. In amphibians, classical survey techniques exhibit variable detection probability depending on species and are often constrained by climatic conditions often requiring several site visits. Furthermore, detection may be reduced at low de...

Sea turtles’ exposure to marine debris in French waters.

Because it modulates the fitness returns of possible options of energy expenditure at each ontogenetic stage, environmental stochasticity is usually considered a selective force in driving or constraining possible life histories. Divergent regimes of environmental fluctuation experienced by populations are expected to generate differences in the re...

Amphibians are considered to be the most threatened group of vertebrates. Among the multiple factors involved in their decline, habitat loss and alteration as a result of human activities is a major threat. At the individual level the effects of habitat alteration are potentially multiple, including a range of morphological and physiological respon...

Global biodiversity in freshwater and the oceans is declining at high rates. Reliable tools for assessing and monitoring aquatic biodiversity, especially for rare and secretive species, are important for efficient and timely management. Recent advances in DNA sequencing have provided a new tool for species detection from DNA present into the enviro...

In the Northern Hemisphere, an increase in both the frequency and magnitude of violent flooding events has been reported due to climate change. According to life history theory, one might postulate that in ‘slow’ species: (i) environmental canalisation may act as a selective force that minimises to some extent adult survival variations caused by ca...

In Western Europe, habitat loss and landscape fragmentation has led to significant population decline in various animal groups, including amphibians. The extinction of the last natural populations of the yellow-bellied toad in Belgium, Luxembourg and several regions of southern and western France suggests a widespread decline. By using site-occupan...

Developing a Good Environmental Status (Marine Strategy Framework Directive) for sea turtles in the Mediterranean Sea. State-of-art and first results.

Les estimations des densités de grands singes dans la nature ne sont généralement possibles que par des méthodes indirectes. Une des méthodes les plus courantes consiste à estimer les densités des nids qui sont ensuite converties en densités d'individus. Cette conversion entre densité des nids et nombre d’individus nécessite deux paramètres : le ta...

On the relevance of sea turtles as an indicator of debris impacts in the Mediterranean sea.

Age and size at sexual maturity are major life-history traits that affect growth rate and reproductive output. The differences in these life-history traits can be better assessed in syntopic populations of related species, where environmental variability in time and space is removed. The Spadefoot Toads (Pelobates spp.) are highly specialized burro...

Impacts of marine litter on sea turtles: through the implementation of a indicator of marine litter abundance and impacts

Variation in the environment can induce different patterns of genetic and phenotypic differentiation among populations. Both neutral processes and selection can influence phenotypic differentiation. Altitudinal phenotypic variation is of particular interest in disentangling the interplay between neutral processes and selection in the dynamics of lo...

The African clawed frog Xenopus laevis is by far the most widely used amphibian species in laboratories. In the wild, X. laevis is an asymptomatic carrier of an emerging infectious disease called chytridiomycosis. The vector is the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), which has devastating effects on wild amphibian populations around...

Iteroparity is an adaptive response to uncertainty in reproductive success. However, spreading reproductive success over multiple reproduction events during a lifetime is constrained by adult mortality and the stochasticity associated with interactions between external factors and physiological states. The acquisition of information about environme...

High-altitude lakes are vulnerable ecosystems that require protection and sustainability management, although their overallfunctioning is still poorly understood. In France protected area managers and scientists are cooperating to address this problem.Their results show the huge diversity of these altitude lakes and imply specificities in their fun...

The way animals allocate resources to growth and reproduction is of major importance in understanding life-history trade-offs. Because the investment in reproduction of the two sexes differs, comparing the costs and the reproductive strategies adopted offers an insight into the evolutionary forces that shaped them. In the Eastern Spadefoot Toad, Pe...

High-altitude lakes are vulnerable ecosystems that require protection and sustainability management, although their overall functioning is still poorly understood. In France protected area managers and scientists are cooperating to address this problem. Their results show the huge diversity of these altitude lakes and imply specificities in their f...

Recent studies suggest that many worldwide amphibian declines and die-offs could be attributed to an emerging infec-tious disease caused by the pathogenic chytrid fungus Batra-chochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Bd is widespread on all continents except Ant-arctica, where amphibian hosts do not occur. Bd infects over 350 amphibian species and has been...

1. Alien invasive species (AIS) are one of the major causes of biodiversity loss and global homogenization. Once an AIS becomes established, costs of control can be extremely high and complete eradication is not always achieved. The ability to detect a species at a low density greatly improves the success of eradication and decreases both the costs...

A general consensus that an increased logK(ow) led to an increase in xenobiotic uptake and bioaccumulation is accepted. In this study we compared the toxicokinetics of two chemically different xenobiotics, i.e. benzo[a]pyrene and fipronil in female green frogs. Surprisingly, the uptake rates and the bioconcentration factors (BCF) of the two contami...

Graph-based analysis is a promising approach for analyzing the functional and structural connectivity of landscapes. In human-shaped landscapes, species have become vulnerable to land degradation and connectivity loss between habitat patches. Movement across the landscape is a key process for species survival that needs to be further investigated f...