Global changes are disrupting the traditional missions of protected areas and challenging the tenuous links between societies and their environment regarding nature conservation. In this project, which brings together scientists in philosophy, geography, ecology and conservation science, we question how to reinvest the concepts of “nature” and “naturalness” in what has become the Anthropocene. Adopting a pragmatic approach, this theoretical inquiry will be rooted in concrete situations, namely in the complexities faced by managers and decision-makers regarding the meaning of nature conservation. We will examine three main subjects where human intervention for conservation currently faces complex questions: 1. the spontaneous return of species – when species that were not or no longer present in a protected area upset the socio-ecological equilibrium that has developed in their absence; 2. the management of exotic species – when managers have to take decision about populations that are not historically native to protected areas and 3. the debate on assisted colonization – which questions the acceptability of voluntarily transferring endangered species from their site of origin towards a site more favorable outside their actual distribution. The idea and bases for the designation of strict nature reserves free of human intervention will be treated as a backdrop to these questions. Addressing traditional questions in philosophy on the relationship between humans and nature, this proposition is at the crossroads of science, expertise and decision-making and thus contributes to the challenge of adapting conservation strategies in the face of global change.

Parasites are an acute threat to plant, animal and human populations. To effectively manage infectious diseases, we need to predict the evolution of critical parasite traits, such as transmission and virulence. Currently, we still lack most of the conceptual and theoretical background necessary to make such predictions. A key environmental factor for parasites is the use of pre- and post-infection treatments, which exert strong selective pressures on pathogens. Also, the increased mobility of parasites and hosts calls for novel methods to model the spatial dynamics of host-parasite interactions. I propose to develop new theory to study the short- and long-term evolutionary epidemiology of spatially structured host-parasite interactions in the presence of treatments, taking into account environmental fluctuations of treatments in time and space. Ultimately, I aim at offering useful recommendations for the management of (re)emerging infectious diseases.

Studying the brain’s processing of information is necessary to better understand how communication signals influence behaviours. However, the methods classically used in brain studies can be applied only to a limited number of model species. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers novel perspectives to model these neural processes and thus to investigate them outside laboratories. In this project, we will use AI to explore the links between information processing in the brain and complex behaviours expressed by non-human primates in natural environments. We will study the influence of face perception on socio-sexual behaviours in mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx), a primate from Central Africa, relying on a long-term research program on a wild population of more than 300 mandrills launched in Gabon in 2012. We will first study the links between facial resemblance and kin recognition. We will model the perception of facial resemblance using AI applied to our database of 19,000 pictures portraying individuals of the studied population. We will explore the mechanisms allowing mandrills to evaluate their resemblance to other individuals of their social group, the link between parent-offspring facial resemblance and parental investment, how resemblance among adults is used to limit inbreeding, and to what extent fortuitous facial resemblance generates behavioural biases towards unrelated individuals, as a by-product of kin selection. Then, we will study how the efficiency of information processing in the brain influences socio-sexual behaviours. The cognitive sciences have recently revealed that a communication signal that is processed efficiently is evaluated positively and triggers attractive behaviours in receivers. These results come from studies carried out on humans in laboratories, but their implications for other species in natural environments remain unknown. Here, for the first time in the cognitive sciences, we will use AI to quantify the efficiency of information processing. We will study the processing of facial information in mandrills, testing the hypothesis that a face that is processed efficiently is visually more attractive, and thus increases reproductive success, social integration and parental care. Our scientific hypotheses will be tested with the wild population of mandrills using not only correlation analyses, but also using experiments with mandrills from a large captive population. For the first time in behavioural science, we will leverage state-of-the-art generative algorithms of AI to synthesise complex communication signals (i.e. mandrill faces) while controlling their variation. We will generate artificial portraits modifying resemblance to another face and controlling the efficiency of their processing. Then, we will analyse how resemblance and processing efficiency influence behaviours by displaying the modified portraits to captive mandrills in large-scale bioassays. This project aims to explore new applications of AI (i.e. modelling the processing of information in the brain and generating stimuli) for ecology and evolutionary biology. While the vast majority of studies at the interface between AI and ecology aim at characterising the diversity of organisms and their interactions, this project will shed new light on the processes determining these interactions.

The overarching goal of this project is to quantify and understand the physiological impacts of drought recurrence in trees as well as the role of potential transgenerational epigenetic regulation in the adaptation of trees to drought recurrence events. Specifically, we will focus on how a history of long-term drought on the parent trees affects the physiological underpinnings of carbon, nitrogen and water balance of holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) of the offspring saplings facing drought recurrence events, as well as their mycorrhizal symbionts. We will concentrate on the following four interrelated objectives: 1) Investigate/quantify the potential transgenerational effects of long-term drought (>13 years) on acorn germination, seedling establishment and performance. 2) Assess the impact of drought recurrence events and release (during rainfall pulse events after drought) on the physiology and plasticity of carbon, nitrogen and water acquisition and use. 3) Investigate the impact of water regime history (long-term drought) of the parent trees on the diversity and composition of mycorrhizal communities of the offspring saplings together with the impact on tree carbon, water and nitrogen allocation under experimentally-induced drought recurrence events. 4) Investigate the putative epigenetic origin of any transgenerational adaptive effects (memory of drought) and its potential links with tree physiological responses and ectomycorrhizal symbionts. To this end, we will take advantage of a long-term field experiment (the CNRS Puéchabon, near Montpelier France) and a unique controlled environment facility for ecosystem research (the CNRS Montpellier European Ecotron, Montferrier-sur-Lez, France). The simultaneous use of three isotopic tracers (13C, 15N and Deuterium) will permit to track the fate of carbon, nitrogen and water from leaf to ecosystem level. By combining the identification of epigenetic marks with gene expression and assessments of the consequences of transgenerational memory for the acquisition and allocation of water, nutrient and carbon in trees and forest ecosystems, this project will help closing an important knowledge gap in our understanding of how a keystone Mediterranean tree species (Q. ilex) might acclimate and adapt to future climatic conditions. Therefore, our project is fully in line with the ANR’s identified grand societal challenge entitled “Sustainable resource use and adaptation to climatic change” (“Gestion sobre des ressources et adaptation au changement climatique”).

Climate change threatens the availability of surface water in many places. Water is essential to life, and most animal species need to drink, always, during some specific periods of the year, or during extreme climatic events (e.g. heat waves). The inability for individuals to drink, even for a short period of time, may sometimes threaten entire populations. When faced with a lack of water, individuals need to shift their diet towards water-rich food items or search for water in the landscape. Are these changes in diet costly, leading to poorer diet quality? How do animals know where to find other water sources before dehydration hits? Why do animals use areas where they could be trapped without water, rather than remain near permanent water sources? These are critical questions in the context of understanding the impact of climate change, but they remain unanswered. Their study is the goal of the LANDTHIRST project, which has the ambition to be the first integrative study of behavioural adjustments of wildlife to the lack of water. LANDTHIRST will be conducted using two African ungulates as model species (Plains zebra (Equus quagga) and Greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros)) in one of the largest African protected areas (Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe)), which is also a French Long-Term Ecological Research site and a rare long-term observatory of climate change and its ecosystems impacts. The challenge of studying animal behaviour in the wild will be addressed by using a combination of methodological approaches: for example, we will study the spatial behaviour of individuals with GPS-tracking, movement modelling and newly developed analyses of recursion patterns; diet composition and quality will be studied using DNA-barcoding and near-infra-red spectroscopy; isotopic analyses will reveal the changes in the source of water consumed. Overall LANDTHIRST will (i) produce immediate knowledge on the impact of climate change on species, with a case study based on African savannas, ecosystems of cultural and environmental interest at the global scale; (ii) pave the way for a greater awareness of the impact of changes in drinking water availability for wildlife and biodiversity, while offering conceptual and methodological advances in the scientific study of these effects in other systems.