Jean-François Ponge

Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle · Adaptations du Vivant

Sampling of Collembola was achieved over the widest possible array of ecological conditions where springtails were living: deciduous and coniferous forests stands, both on calcareous and acidic soils, pathways, clearings, meadows, agricultural crops, both inside and outside the forest area, ponds, springs, ditches, sphagnum bogs. Soil and litter ho...

Sampling of Collembola was achieved over the widest possible array of ecological conditions where springtails were living: deciduous and coniferous forests stands, both on calcareous and acidic soils, pathways, clearings, meadows, agricultural crops, both inside and outside the forest area, ponds, springs, ditches, sphagnum bogs. Soil and litter ho...

Sampling of Collembola was achieved over the widest possible array of ecological conditions where springtails were living: deciduous and coniferous forests stands, both on calcareous and acidic soils, pathways, clearings, meadows, agricultural crops, both inside and outside the forest area, ponds, springs, ditches, sphagnum bogs. Soil and litter ho...

Sampling of Collembola was achieved over the widest possible array of ecological conditions where springtails were living: deciduous and coniferous forests stands, both on calcareous and acidic soils, pathways, clearings, meadows, agricultural crops, both inside and outside the forest area, ponds, springs, ditches, sphagnum bogs. Soil and litter ho...

Sampling of Collembola was achieved over the widest possible array of ecological conditions where springtails were living: deciduous and coniferous forests stands, both on calcareous and acidic soils, pathways, clearings, meadows, agricultural crops, both inside and outside the forest area, ponds, springs, ditches, sphagnum bogs. Soil and litter ho...

Does humus exist or is it just a view of the mind as some authors claimed it? I suggest, based on the observation of the activity of soil organisms, that humus should be considered as the 'dark side' of life and not as an intractable chemical component of soil organic matter. Most properties humus confers to the soil ecosystem are linked to high su...

It was time to take stock. We modified the humipedon classification key published in 2018 to make it easier and more practical. This morpho-functional taxonomy of the topsoil (humipedon) was only available in English; we also translated it into French and Italian. A standardized morpho-functional classification of humipedons (roughly the top 30–40...

It was time to take stock. We modified the humipedon classification key published in 2018 to make it easier and more practical. This morpho-functional taxonomy of the topsoil (humipedon) was only available in English; we also translated it into French and Italian. A standardized morpho-functional classification of humipedons (roughly the top 30–40...

It was time to take stock. We modified the humipedons classification key published in 2018, to make it easier and more practical. This morpho-functional taxonomy of the topsoil (humipedon) was only available in English: we also translated it into French and Italian. A standardized morpho-functional classification of humipedon (roughly the top 30-40...

Pages 10 to 14 of the Volume I of the FAO-Unesco Soil Map of the World. Using an electronic tool, it is easy to enlarge the quoted parts and read them. Otherwise, just open the site http://www.fao.org/soils-portal/soil-survey/soil-maps-and-databases/faounesco-soil-map-of-the-world/en/ and download the whole volume.

Quotation from Waksman, S. A. (1936). HUMUS. Origin, chemical composition and importance in nature. The Williams & Wilkins Company. The whole “outlook” of the authors can be found here: https://soilcarboncoalition.org/files/Waksman-Humus.pdf, particularly at pages 397-398.

Quotation from Waksman, S. A. (1936). HUMUS. Origin, chemical composition and importance in nature. The Williams & Wilkins Company. The whole “outlook” of the authors can be found here: https://soilcarboncoalition.org/files/Waksman-Humus.pdf, particularly at pages 397-398.

Soils and crops are particularly vulnerable to climate change and environmental stresses. In many agrosystems, soil biodiversity and ecosystem services provided by soils are under threat from a range of natural and human drivers. Agricultural soils are often subject to agronomic practices that disrupt soil trophic networks and make soils less produ...

Pages 10 to 14 of the Volume I of the FAO-Unesco Soil Map of the World. Using an electronic tool, it is easy to enlarge the quoted parts and read them. Otherwise, just open the site http://www.fao.org/soils-portal/soil-survey/soil-maps-and-databases/faounesco-soil-map-of-the-world/en/ and download the whole volume.

1. The capacity to forecast the effects of climate change on biodiversity largely rely on identifying traits capturing mechanistic relationships with the environment through standardized field experiments distributed across relevant spatial scales. The effects of short-term experimental manipulations on local communities, may overlap with regional...

Le présent article tente, à travers une présentation rapide de l'évolution des connaissances acquises sur la biodiversité du sol depuis les travaux fondateurs de Charles Darwin et Louis Pasteur, de montrer que le sol est une des frontières avancées de la science, tant dans le domaine de l'écologie que dans celui de l'évolution. Les développements m...

Le présent article tente, à travers une présentation rapide de l'évolution des connaissances acquises sur la biodiversité du sol depuis les travaux fondateurs de Charles Darwin et Louis Pasteur, de montrer que le sol est une des frontières avancées de la science, tant dans le domaine de l'écologie que dans celui de l'évolution. Les développements m...

Le présent article tente, à travers une présentation rapide de l’évolution des connaissances acquises sur la biodiversité du sol depuis les travaux fondateurs de Charles Darwin et Louis Pasteur, de montrer que le sol est une des frontières avancées de la science, tant dans le domaine de l’écologie que de l’évolution. Les développements méthodologiq...

Does humus exist or is it just a view of the mind as some authors claimed it? I suggest, based on the observation of the activity of soil organisms, that humus should be considered as the 'dark side' of life and not as an intractable chemical component of soil organic matter. Most properties humus confers to the soil ecosystem are linked to high su...

Soil life supports the functioning and biodiversity of terrestrial ecosystems. Springtails (Collembola) are among the most abundant soil animals regulating soil fertility and flow of energy through above- and belowground food webs. However, the global distribution of springtail diversity and density, and how these relate to energy fluxes remains un...

Soils and crops are nowadays particularly vulnerable to climate change and environmental stresses. In many agrosystems, soil biodiversity and the ecosystem services soil provides are under threat from a range of natural and manmade drivers. Agricultural soils are often subjected to agronomic practices that disrupt soil trophic networks to a large e...

Habitants du sol et de ses annexes, présents également à la surface des mares et dans les tourbières, les collemboles semblent invisibles à nos yeux mais sont pourtant au centre de nombreux processus indispensables à la vie des écosystèmes. Ce texte, illustré par Philippe Lebeaux et accompagné de deux vidéos, fait partie d'un blog "Défi écologique"...

Communities are shaped by the activity of ecosystem engineers, which modify their environment to their benefit and that of subordinate species within their functional domain. Communities are defined as embedded assemblages of interactions, from cells to landscapes. They are threatened by present‐day global changes which trigger the invasive nature...

Supplementary material for the article "Responses of Collembola communities to mixtures of wheat varieties: a trait-based approach". Note that Table S2 is provided as a separate Excel file.

Table S2. Abundances of Collembola species in three pooled samples of 104 plots of the Wheatamix project nbvar: number of wheat varieties; nbclu: number of clusters (wheat functional groups) See table 3 for the name of Collembola species

The genetic diversity of cultivated crops has decreased continuously since the beginning of the 20th century, because of the gradual replacement of genetically heterogeneous traditional varieties by new genetically homogenous varieties, grown in monospecific stands. The resulting agro-ecosystems are now considered as unsustainable. Increasing withi...

Communities are shaped by the activity of ecosystem engineers, which modify their environment to their benefit and that of subordinate species within their functional domain. Communities are defined as embedded assemblages of interactions, from cells to landscapes. They are threatened by present-day global changes which trigger the invasive nature...

Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provid...

Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provid...

Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provid...

Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provid...

Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provid...

Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provid...

Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provid...

Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large spatial scales, despite the availability of considerable amounts of local-scale data. Earthworm diversity data, obtained from the primary literature or provid...

Quotation from Waksman, S. A. (1936). HUMUS. Origin, chemical composition and importance in nature. The Williams & Wilkins Company. The whole “outlook” of the authors can be found here: https://soilcarboncoalition.org/files/Waksman-Humus.pdf, particularly at pages 397-398.

Pages 10 to 14 of the Volume I of the FAO-Unesco Soil Map of the World. Using an electronic tool, it is easy to enlarge the quoted parts and read them. Otherwise, just open the site http://www.fao.org/soils-portal/soil-survey/soil-maps-and-databases/faounesco-soil-map-of-the-world/en/ and download the whole volume.

Les arbres "vieux" fixent autant sinon plus de carbone que les arbres jeunes, contrairement à la croyance répandue parmi les forestiers, qui continuent à "rajeunir" les peuplements sous prétexte qu’ils fixent plus de carbone atmosphérique et donc luttent contre l’effet de serre. Il faut différencier l’appréciation du bilan carbone au niveau de l’ar...

Collembola are among the most abundant and diverse soil microarthropods, which are found in almost all (semi)terrestrial environments and often serve as model organisms in empirical studies. Diverse data collected on the biology and ecology of Collembola over the last century are waiting for synthesis studies, while developing technologies may faci...

At the end of October 2018, a storm of unprecedented strength severely damaged the forests of the eastern sector of the Italian Alps. The affected forest area covers 42,500 ha. The president of one of the damaged regions asked for help from the University of Padua. After eight months of discussion, the authors of this article wrote a consensus text...

At the end of October 2018, a storm of unprecedented strength severely damaged the forests of the eastern sector of the Italian Alps. The affected forest area covers 42,500 ha. The president of one of the damaged regions asked for help from the University of Padua. After eight months of discussion, the authors of this article wrote a consensus text...

The authors regret that the original published version of the above article contained an error at the beginning of the subsection "Sex pheromones" (page 428 of the published version) within the section "The use of pheromones, allomones and kairomones by Collembola". The original two sentences, “Sex pheromones can be produced by females, conditionin...

The authors regret that the original published version of the above article contained an error at the beginning of the subsection "Sex pheromones" (page 428 of the published version) within the section "The use of pheromones, allomones and kairomones by Collembola". The original two sentences, “Sex pheromones can be produced by females, conditionin...

The present opinion paper suggests that springtails, which can live above- and/or belowground according to species requirements, have two strategies at their disposal to face environmental hazards, called ‘move’ or ‘change’. Species with poor dispersal capacity, often parthenogenetic, and living mainly in a confined environment, have to adapt thems...

Il gruppo SETA (Scienze e tecnologie agrarie) ha inviato una lettera al Parlamento italiano in cui consigliava di non adottare una misura legislativa a favore dell'agricoltura biologica e biodinamica rispetto a quella convenzionale. Un altro gruppo di scienziati ritiene invece che il governo italiano debba favorire l'agricoltura biologica e biodina...

The SETA group (Agricultural Science and Technology) sent a letter to the Italian Parliament advising them not to adopt a legislative measure that favors organic and biodynamic agriculture compared to the conventional one. Another group of scientists thinks instead that the Italian government should favor organic and biodynamic agriculture and expl...

The SETA group (Agricultural Science and Technology) sent a letter to the Italian Parliament advising them not to adopt a legislative measure that favors organic and biodynamic agriculture compared to the conventional one. Another group of scientists thinks instead that the Italian government should favor organic and biodynamic agriculture and expl...

The SETA group (Agricultural Science and Technology) sent a letter to the Italian Parliament advising them not to adopt a legislative measure that favors organic and biodynamic agriculture compared to the conventional one. Another group of scientists thinks instead that the Italian government should favor organic and biodynamic agriculture and expl...

The name TerrHum comes from the abbreviation of the words Terrestrial (not hydromorphic, not submerged soils) and Humipedon (superficial part of a soil, richer in organic matter and composed of organic and organo-mineral soil horizons). This application allows classifying all forest topsoils except submerged ones. The app is built on the indication...

The forests of 473 Italian Alpine municipalities were severely damaged by a strong wind at the end of October 2018. The affected forest area covers 42,500 ha. The president of one of the damaged regions asked for help from the TESAF department of the University of Padua. 26 international scientists (listed: 25; anonymous: 1) responded to the appeal...

Cover photo

Soil organisms, including earthworms, are a key component of terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about their diversity, their distribution, and the threats affecting them. We compiled a global dataset of sampled earthworm communities from 6928 sites in 57 countries as a basis for predicting patterns in earthworm diversity, abundance, a...

Soil organisms, including earthworms, are a key component of terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about their diversity, their distribution, and the threats affecting them. We compiled a global dataset of sampled earthworm communities from 6928 sites in 57 countries as a basis for predicting patterns in earthworm diversity, abundance, a...

This PDF file includes: Materials and Methods Supplementary Text Figs. S1 to S6 Tables S1 to S4 References

Soil organisms, including earthworms, are a key component of terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about their diversity, their distribution, and the threats affecting them. We compiled a global dataset of sampled earthworm communities from 6928 sites in 57 countries as a basis for predicting patterns in earthworm diversity, abundance, a...

Soil organisms, including earthworms, are a key component of terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about their diversity, their distribution, and the threats affecting them. We compiled a global dataset of sampled earthworm communities from 6928 sites in 57 countries as a basis for predicting patterns in earthworm diversity, abundance, a...

This PDF file includes: Materials and Methods Supplementary Text Figs. S1 to S6 Tables S1 to S4 References

This PDF file includes: Materials and Methods Supplementary Text Figs. S1 to S6 Tables S1 to S4 References

This PDF file includes: Materials and Methods Supplementary Text Figs. S1 to S6 Tables S1 to S4 References

This PDF file includes: Materials and Methods Supplementary Text Figs. S1 to S6 Tables S1 to S4 References

An overview of a novel, extended classification of humus forms, with explanation of basic concepts and numerous examples taken from the fields of sylviculture and agriculture.

The present knowledge on chemical communication in springtails (Collembola), one of the two most abundant invertebrate groups living in soil and environments in tight contact with soil (e.g. plant litter, moss), is reviewed here. Chemical communication in an environment where light is absent or dimmed becomes a prominent driver of trophic and non-t...

Soil organisms provide crucial ecosystem services that support human life. However, little is known about their diversity, distribution, and the threats affecting them. Here, we compiled a global dataset of sampled earthworm communities from over 7000 sites in 56 countries to predict patterns in earthworm diversity, abundance, and biomass. We ident...

The name TerrHum is an abbreviation of the words “Terrestrial” (not hydromorphic, not submerged) and “Humipedon” (organic and organic-mineral humus horizons). With this application, it is possible to describe and classify ,terrestrial forest and grassland topsoils in a system published as a Special Issue entitled “Humusica 1– Terrestrial Natural Hu...

Ce document est paru en ligne le 29 mai 2019 dans la rubrique "Regards" sur le site internet de la Société Française d'Écologie: https://www.sfecologie.org/regard/r86-mai-2019-jf-ponge-foret-et-sols/

Industrial activities have led to the discharge of a wide range of hazardous chemicals in soils, such as coal tars which are always composed of hundreds of organic compounds (PAHs, BTEX,…), but also of some inorganic compounds. Environmental hazard assessment of soils contaminated with coal tar are generally investigated by a multidisciplinary appr...

Disentangling the multiple factors controlling species diversity is a major challenge in ecology. Island biogeography and environmental filtering are two influential theories emphasizing respectively island size and isolation, and the abiotic environment, as key drivers of species richness. However, few attempts have been made to quantify their rel...

Soil fauna play a fundamental role on key ecosystem functions like organic matter decomposition, although how local assemblages are responding to climate change and whether these changes may have consequences to ecosystem functioning is less clear. Previous studies have revealed that a continued environmental stress may result in poorer communities...

A bioassay battery-integrated index was applied to different soils sampled from a former coke factory, with the aim to evaluate the discriminating capacity of the Ecoscore system (ES) to assess the environmental hazard of PAH-polluted soils. Two soils from a former coke factory, polluted with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), were evaluated...

The knowledge of a little number of specific terms is necessary to investigate and describe forest topsoils: diagnostic features lead to the designation of diagnostic organic and organic-mineral horizons. The vertical arrangement of diagnostic horizons defines humus systems each of them subdivided humus forms. Below you find the description of a iO...

Born in Trento (Italy, 2003) for the purpose of standardising vocabulary and units of humus form classification, after publishing a first synthetic classification e-book (Zanella et al. 2011) they do not cover all site conditions in the European area. Although having basic concepts and general lines, the European (and North American, Canadian, the...

Note de lecture

Natural recolonization of disturbed environments is a key issue for the maintenance of biodiversity, especially in a context of habitats threatened by exotic species. Recolonization by collembola of habitats destroyed by lava flows has never been documented. These soil-dwelling arthropods provide an essential basis for the functioning of terrestria...