
Michel Gauthier-ClercUniversity of Geneva | UNIGE · Faculty of Sciences
Michel Gauthier-Clerc
PhD, DVM, Habilitation à diriger des recherches
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188
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Introduction
Publications
Publications (188)
Introductory paragraph
Advances in medicine and food security have contributed to an increase in human lifespan ¹ . Yet, the associated rise in sedentary behaviour and in obesity 2,3 already threatens these gains ⁴ . Indeed, a growing body of evidence supports the central role of nutrient sensing and energy management pathways in regulating ageing...
Automatic monitoring of wildlife is becoming a critical tool in the field of ecology. In particular, Radio‐Frequency IDentification (RFID) is now a widespread technology to assess the phenology, breeding and survival of many species. While RFID produces massive datasets, no established fast and accurate methods are yet available for this type of da...
Automatic monitoring of wildlife is becoming a critical tool in the field of ecology. In particular, Radio-Frequency IDentification (RFID) is now a widespread technology to assess the phenology, breeding, and survival of many species. While RFID produces massive datasets, no established fast and accurate methods are yet available for this type of d...
This datasheet on Cygnus olor covers Identity, Overview, Distribution, Dispersal, Biology & Ecology, Impacts, Uses, Prevention/Control, Further Information.
This datasheet on Bubulcus ibis covers Identity, Overview, Distribution, Dispersal, Diagnosis, Biology & Ecology, Impacts, Uses, Further Information.
The European Birds Directive (EBD) prevents hunting during spring migration, primarily to facilitate birds' use of habitats before and during the prenuptial journey. In line with the EBD requirements, the hunting season for waterfowl in southern France was shortened by two months during February-March since the mid-1950s. However, consequences of s...
• Population time series analysis is an integral part of conservation biology in the current context of global changes. To quantify changes in population size, wildlife counts only provide estimates because of various sources of error. When unaccounted for, such errors can obscure important ecological patterns and reduce confidence in the derived t...
Rencontre avec des animaux exceptionnels
Populaires parmi le grand public, les manchots intéressent également les scientifiques en raison de leur impressionnante panoplie d'adaptations qui défient les limites de résistance d'un organisme. Certains sont capables de plonger à plus de 400 mètres de profondeur pour attraper des proies dans l'obscurité...
Strong pressure exists on wetlands as a consequence of urbanisation, agriculture, fish farming, industry, hunting, recreation, forestry or military activities. As a result, the birds breeding sites are regularly destroyed or abandoned. However, new colonies can potentially emerge to compensate lost ones. As such, we can identify four critical aspec...
La biodiversité évolue sans cesse et celle que l’on observe de nos jours
n’est qu’un instantané d’un très long processus en cours sur la flèche du temps.
Nous n’avons donc qu’une vision très restreinte de la biodiversité qui nous entoure
et de ce qu’elle a été avant nous. Cette vision se réduit souvent à nos souvenirs
et aux discussions avec la gén...
Rice plants have a high silica content, which prevents rice straw from being used as a compostable biproduct in the same way as that from wheat and many other crops. The most common post-harvest practice in rice fields in France is to burn and then plough the fields. Flooding harvestedfields during winter may create agronomical and environmental ad...
The spread of antimicrobial resistance is of major concern for human health and leads to growing economic costs. While it is increasingly hypothesized that wildlife could play an important role in antimicrobial‐resistant bacteria dynamics, empirical data remain scarce.
The present work builds on a systematic review of the available data in order to...
1. The spread of antimicrobial resistance is of major concern for human health and leads togrowing economic costs. While it is increasingly hypothesized that wildlife could play animportant role in antimicrobial-resistant bacteria dynamics, empirical data remain scarce.2. The present work builds on a systematic review of the available data in order...
Découverte de la Decticelle marbrée Antaxius pedestris en Franche-Comté : statut dans le massif jurassien et perspectives de découvertes. Matériaux orthoptériques et entomocénotiques, 2015, 20 : 107-108
Winter-flooding of ricefields provides foraging habitat to waterfowl, which in return may bring agronomic benefits to farmers. Our study experimentally tested the effect of mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) on the standing stalks and weed seed bank in the Camargue (France), both of which present major challenges for farmers. Three duck densities were t...
SUMMARY Understanding patterns of influenza spread and persistence is crucial for pandemic preparedness. The H1N1pdm09 virus caused the first influenza pandemic of the 21st century which resulted in at least 18500 deaths. Based on laboratory-confirmed primary-care case reports we investigated the role of weather conditions and socio-demographic var...
picomplexan blood parasites Plasmodium and Haemoproteus (together termed “Avian malaria”) and Leucocytozoon are widespread, diverse vector-transmitted blood parasites of birds, and conditions associated with colonial nesting in herons (Ardeidae) and other waterbirds appear perfect for their transmission. Despite studies in other locations reporting...
Most studies analyzing the effects of global warming on wild populations focus on gradual temperature changes, yet it is also important to understand the impact of extreme climatic events. Here we studied the effect of two cold spells (January 1985 and February 2012) on the energetics of greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus) in the Camargue (so...
Demographic heterogeneity has long been considered within wildlife populations, but only the modern development of capture-mark-recapture methods allows this to be easily tested and quantified. It is now possible to rapidly assess whether the modeling of heterogeneous populations, in which categories of individuals differ in survival rate, performs...
Rallidae are common and widespread, yet relatively poorly studied. We analysed the ringing data from more than 8,000 Common Coot Fulica atra, accumulated between 1950 and 1982 in Camargue, southern France, in terms of the dynamics of their biometrics throughout the year, migratory pathways and annual survival rate. Mean monthly body mass and wing l...
The epidemiology of avian influenza viruses (AIVs) has undergone a revolution in the past 10 years (Alexander, 2007). Previously, the outbreaks were confined in time and space; today AIVs have become an increased international concern. This unprecedented situation resulted in the failure to control and eradicate infections in poultry due to highly...
La biodiversité est en plein bouleversement et nécessite des connaissances issues de toutes les disciplines scientifiques pour aider à sa conservation.
Only a few studies have shown positive impacts of ecological compensation on species dynamics affected by human activities. We argue that this is due to inappropriate methods used to forecast required compensation in environmental impact assessments. These assessments are mostly descriptive and only valid at limited spatial and temporal scales. How...
Abstract Avian influenza viruses (AIVs) are of great concern worldwide due to their economic impact and the threat they represent to human health. As wild birds are the natural reservoirs of AIVs, understanding AIV dynamics in different avian taxa is essential for deciphering the epidemiological links between wildlife, poultry and humans. To date,...
Few studies have considered how body condi-tion changes over time in individual birds, and most of these concerned long-lived breeding birds. We used a large database of Common Teal Anas crecca ringed and recap-tured while wintering in the Camargue to study inter-annual persistence in wing length and body condition. Winter body condition may be a m...
Cancer is a disease that affects the majority of metazoan species and, before directly causing host death, is likely to influence the competitive abilities of individuals, their susceptibility to pathogens, their vulnerability to predators, and their ability to disperse. Despite the potential importance of these ecological impacts, cancer is rarely...
Abstract In recent years, the number of West Nile virus (WNV) cases reported in horses and humans has increased dramatically throughout the Mediterranean basin. Furthermore, the emergence of Usutu virus (USUV) in Austria in 2001, and its subsequent expansion to Hungary, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Germany, has given added cau...
Captive‐bred mallards Anas platyrhynchos have been released for hunting purposes at a very large scale in Europe since the mid‐1970s. In spite of a potential genetic impact, the actual contribution of restocked mallards to the genome of the target population has received little attention. The genetic structure of modern wild mallards in the Camargu...
Accurate knowledge of the functional response of predators to prey density is essential for understanding food web dynamics, to parameterize mechanistic models of animal responses to environmental change, and for designing appropriate conservation measures. Greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus), a flagship species of Mediterranean wetlands, pri...
The Mediterranean basin is a biodiversity hotspot; it has historically had a large human presence that has shaped ecosystems for millennia. As the cradle of many civilizations, the area was one of the main theatres for transitions that punctuated both human and pathogen histories, which are intimately linked. Today we are living through another gre...
In the Camargue (southern France), drastic changes in wetlands have occurred (notably extension
of agriculture and salt extraction) since the 1960s, which affect the resources available to migratory waterbirds.
Winter diets of Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and Teal (A. crecca) in 2006-2008 were assessed by analyses of gullet
contents. Using PCA-b...
During recent years, extensive amounts of data have become available regarding influenza A virus (IAV) in wild birds in northern Europe, while information from southern Europe is more limited. Here, we present an IAV surveillance study conducted in western Portugal 2008-2009, analyzing 1653 samples from six different species of waterfowl, with the...
Bayesian tree of the N2 nucleotide sequences. The N2 sequences from Portuguese H9N2 isolates are indicated in bold. In the phylogenetic analysis, the GTR G model of nucleotide substitution was used. Numbers at nodes in the midpoint rooted tree indicate the posterior probability node support. Scale bar indicates substitutions per site.
(TIF)
Bayesian tree of the N3 subtype nucleotide sequences. The N3 sequence from the Portuguese H11N3 isolate is indicated in bold. For the phylogenetic analysis, the GTR G model of nucleotide substitution was used. Numbers at nodes in the midpoint rooted tree indicate the posterior probability node support. Scale bar indicates substitutions per site.
(T...
Bayesian tree based of the N7 subtype nucleotide sequences. The N7 sequences from Portuguese H10N7 viruses isolated in this study are indicated in bold. In the phylogenetic analysis, the HKY G+I model of nucleotide substitution was used. The tree is rooted at the midpoint and numbers at nodes indicate the posterior probability node support. Scale b...
During the last decade, the role of wildlife in emerging pathogen transmission to domestic animals has often been pointed out. Conversely, far less attention has been paid to pathogen transmission from domestic animals to wildlife. Here, we focus on the case of game restocking, which implies the release of millions of animals worldwide each year. W...
Phylogenetic trees of H10N7 Camargue viruses. ML phylogenies reconstructed from sequences of the NP, PA, NS and PB1 segments. Topological supports summarized from 100 ML bootstrap replications are shown when ≥90. H10N7 Camargue viruses are in purple. American viruses are in green. Asian H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza strains are in yellow....
The incidence of adult brain cancer was previously shown to be higher in countries where the parasite Toxoplasma gondii is common, suggesting that this brain protozoan could potentially increase the risk of tumor formation. Using countries as replicates has, however, several potential confounding factors, particularly because detection rates vary w...
Female birds transfer antibodies to their offspring via the egg yolk, thus possibly providing passive immunity against infectious diseases to which hatchlings may be exposed, thereby affecting their fitness. It is nonetheless unclear whether the amount of maternal antibodies transmitted into egg yolks varies with female quality and egg laying order...
The incidence of adult brain cancer was previously shown to be higher in countries where the parasite Toxoplasma gondii is common, suggesting that this brain protozoan could potentially increase the risk of tumor formation. Using countries as replicates has, however, several potential confounding factors, particularly because detection rates vary w...
The conservation of many species depends on sustainable economic activities that shape their habitats. The economic use of these anthropogenic habitats may change quickly owing to world trade globalization, market reorientations, price volatility or shifts in subsidy policies. The recent financial crisis has produced a global impact on the world ec...
Within the paradigm of resource-limited competition-structured communities,
dabbling ducks (Anas spp.) have been used as a textbook example of how morphological
differences, notably bill lamellar density and body length, may allow
sympatric species to partition food and hence coexist. We reviewed all accessible
diet studies from the Western Palearc...
Wild birds, which are reservoirs of influenza viruses, are believed to be the original source of new influenza viruses-including highly pathogenic ones-that can be transmitted to domestic animals as well as humans and represent a potential epizootic and/or pandemic threat. Despite increasing knowledge on influenza A virus dynamics in wild birds, th...
Dabbling ducks are important quarry species, and as a result, they are relatively well studied. Over the last century, considerable effort has been made to describe their diet and food requirements. In this review, we compile present knowledge about the diet of four widespread dabbling ducks (wigeon, pintail, mallard and teal) in the Western Palear...
Wild waterfowl represents the natural reservoir of influenza A viruses. Transmission within bird populations occurs through an indirect fecal-oral route implying contaminatedwater.Within human populations, influenzaAviruses can be transmitted through large droplets, aerosols, or direct contact with secretions. Thus, in the human compartment as in t...
Investigating the prevalence of anti-influenza A viruses (AIV) antibodies in wild birds can provide important information for the understanding of bird exposure to AIV, as well as for prevention purposes. We investigated AIV exposure in nature by measuring the prevalence of anti-AIV antibodies in the nests and adults of an abundant and anthropophil...
We explored associations between the common protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii and brain cancers in human populations. We predicted that T. gondii could increase the risk of brain cancer because it is a long-lived parasite that encysts in the brain, where it provokes inflammation and inhibits apoptosis. We used a medical geography approach based...
Individual marking is essential to study the life-history traits of animals and to track them in all kinds of ecological, behavioural or physiological studies. Unlike other birds, penguins cannot be banded on their legs due to their leg joint anatomy and a band is instead fixed around a flipper. However, there is now detailed evidence that flipper-...
Eurasian teal Anas crecca (n = 46,581) were inspected during ringing operations for the presence of the hymenolepidid cloacal cestode Cloacotaenia megalops between 1954 and 1971 while wintering in the Camargue, Southern France. These birds become infected when ingesting seed shrimps
(Ostracoda) that act as intermediate hosts, largely while on migra...
a b s t r a c t Biodiversity loss is unevenly distributed in space and time. Species have reached critically low population sizes in some areas, and remain abundant in others. Similarly, some species may benefit from successful conservation plans, while others still experience severe population depletions driven by negative impacts of human activit...
In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change highlighted an
urgent need to assess the responses of marine ecosystems to climate
change. Because they lie in a high-latitude region, the Southern Ocean
ecosystems are expected to be strongly affected by global warming. Using
top predators of this highly productive ocean (such as penguins) as...
We observed the effect of several variables on the sleep-vigilance trade-off in Green-winged Teals (Anas crecca crecca) during winter in the Camargue, southern France. We investigated the relationship between flock size and peeking rate, using field observations and controlling for the effects of other variables with which vigilance previously has...