Evolutionary history is expected to play a major role in determining which species decline in population size to extinction in response to environmental change, but the processes by which this comes about are poorly understood. In particular, although many studies have identified broad-scale biological correlates of extinction risk, the population-scale processes driving such macro-ecological and macro-evolutionary patterns are usually hypotheses that remain to be tested. Although population genetic studies provide much promise to understand the micro-evolutionary processes underlying such patterns of extinction risk, inferences can be limited by our confidence in the timescales inferred, and by the scale of such studies, which frequently include only one lineage. Furthermore, comparisons across studies are frequently confounded by case-specific differences in exposure to environmental change. Here we tackle all three of these issues, applying ancient DNA methods to historical museum samples and subfossils to obtain a genome-wide time series for eight Mascarene island bird lineages that differ in abundance and other biological traits. Islands of the Mascarene archipelago, Indian Ocean, are unusual among sizable and biologically diverse landmasses worldwide, in that they had no human population until European arrival 400 years ago. Therefore, there exist museum samples and subfossils spanning the full duration of environmental change. As a consequence, we will obtain what is to our knowledge, the first real time assessment of genetic response to anthropogenic environmental change across multiple species following first human presence. Our study setup involves four separate cases in which the effects of common environmental change can be compared between a pair of sympatric and closely related species on the same island that differ in abundance (a “rare” species versus a “common” one). By considering common environmental change of well-known duration, our project provides a rare opportunity to dissect the contribution of evolutionary biology and ecology (i.e. susceptibility) in determining which species are threatened with extinction. This includes assessing the relative contribution of a species’ evolutionary past (species differing in degree of ecological specialisation, time in situ, trophic level, genetic diversity), versus evolution in action (selection), in defining demographic trajectories.

Brown rats are among the most abundant synanthropic species living in densely urbanized habitats, but the least-studied wildlife in such environments. Their large distribution in cities could potentially bring zoonotic infectious organisms into contact with people. The lack of knowledge about the urban rat spatial ecology hinders efficient management programmes but more importantly jeopardises the assessment and the management of urban-rat associated sanitary risks. To fill this gap of knowledge, we propose a novel approach combining ecology, genomics, parasitology, microbiology and social perception to study the brown rat populations in the city of Paris. The interdisciplinary collaboration between scientific and city managers will structure an integrated rat-management programme, hereby developing new options for rat population control while preparing for the challenges of steady expansion of urban areas and social perception of rat in the society.

The ANR MEDSALT project aims to consolidate and expand a scientific network recently formed with the purpose to use scientific drilling to address the causes, timing, emplacement mechanisms and consequences of the largest and most recent 'salt giant' on Earth: the late Miocene (Messinian) salt deposit in the Mediterranean basin. After obtaining the endorsement of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) on a Multiplatform Drilling Proposal (umbrella proposal) in early 2015, the network is planning to submit a site-specific drilling proposal to drill a transect of holes with the R/V Joides Resolution in the evaporite-bearing southern margin of the Balearic promontory in the Western Mediterranean - the aim is to submit the full proposal before the IODP dealine of April 1st 2017, following the submission of a pre-proposal on October 1st 2015. Four key issues will be addressed: 1) What are the causes, timing and emplacement mechanisms of the Mediterranean salt giant ? 2) What are the factors responsible for early salt deformation and fluid flow across and out of the halite layer ? 3) Do salt giants promote the development of a phylogenetically diverse and exceptionally active deep biosphere ? 4) What are the mechanisms underlying the spectacular vertical motions inside basins and their margins ? Our nascent scientific network will consit of a core group of 22 scientists from 10 countries (7 European + USA + Japan + Israel) of which three french scientists (G. Aloisi, J. Lofi and M. Rabineau) play a leading role as PIs of Mediterranean drilling proposals developed within our initiative. Support to this core group will be provided by a supplementary group of 21 scientists that will provide critical knowledge in key areas of our project. The ANR MEDSALT network will finance key actions that include: organising a 43 participants workshops to strengthen and consolidate the Mediterranean drilling community, supporting the participation of network scientists to seismic well site-survey cruises, organising meetings in smaller groups to work on site survey data and finance trips to the US to defend our drilling proposal in front of the IODP Environmental Protection and Safety Panel (EPSP). The MEDSALT drilling initiative will impact the understanding of issues as diverse as submarine geohazards, sub-salt hydrocarbon reservoirs and life in the deep subsurface. This is a unique opportunity for the French scientific community to play a leading role, next to our international partners, in tackling one of the most intellectually challenging open problems in the history of our planet.

The purpose of the GAARAnti project is to unravel couplings between deep Earth dynamics and evolutionary processes through an innovative and original multi-disciplinary study combining Earth and Life sciences. This innovative approach will reconcile biological and geological clocks and timeframes through the combined use of radiochronological methods, biostratigraphy and phylogenetic inferences, to constrain the Cenozoic paleo-biogeography of the Antillean arc. The GAARAnti project will generate novel collaborative works between geologists/marine geophysicists and biologists/paleontologists and new results by constraining the pattern, timing, and dynamics of biodiversity in Lesser Antilles at the Cenozoic scale. This will in turn allow untangling biotic and geological constraints that forced such history. In the frame of the ongoing debate about the Tertiary origin of terrestrial organisms of the Greater Antilles, GAARAnti will focus on the role of subduction dynamics onto the evolution of emergent areas as a promoter or an antagonist of the terrestrial faunas dispersal. Altough it is now widely admitted that most components of Antillean terrestrial communities originated from South and Central America, the mechanisms (dispersal vs vicariance) responsible for the observed evolution and its precise timing are still highly debated. Previous studies have mainly addressed this question through Earth sciences or Life sciences separately. We are confident and deeply believe that our innovative and original multi-disciplinary approach within the GAARAnti project will generate major advances in the knowledge of Cenozoic Antillean biodiversity dynamics. To be efficient, the project is organized in five strongly-interconnected scientific tasks and a supplementary management task including annual meetings (Task 0). Task 1 will quantify past emergent areas through Cenozoic times, and to estimate the timing and duration of land emersion periods (amplitude and rate of vertical motions) both being key constraints for paleo-geographic and paleo-environmental reconstructions. Task 2 will estimate divergence times among living, recently extinct, and fossil mammals from the Lesser Antilles. We will then clarify the pattern and timing of mammalian dispersals into the Caribbean and proposing paleo-biogeographic models. Task 3 will refine the knowledge of the poorly known structure of both the Aves Ridge and the Lesser Antilles back-arc domains, i.e. the most probable dispersal pathways. This task is connected to the GARANTI marine cruise project, taking place in May-June 2017 and aiming at acquiring a large dataset of Wide Angle Seismic and Multi-Channel Seismic lines and dredged/cored samples. Onshore-Offshore correlations will be realized to establish paleogeographic reconstructions at the scale of the Eastern Caribbeans. In Task 4, we will perform 2D/3D numerical and analog models of subduction in order to simulate the surface response (topographic variations) to deep processes and to propose a global framework for the geodynamic evolution of the Lesser Antilles arc during the Cenozoic. Task 5 is a central and federative task in the project aiming at 1) establishing palinspastic reconstructions, 2) testing the influence of abiotic (temperature, eustasy, continental domain surfaces) vs biotic variables (species diversity, clade diversity, clade-specific shifts) based on birth-death models and 3) develop new mixed models to test the link between abiotic and biotic variables (to be assembled during the project) and the macro-evolutionary dynamics of studied groups in the Antilles. Beyond the novel expected scientific outcomes, the GAARAnti project will promote the preservation of both the geological and paleontological patrimony of the Antilles, to disseminate the results through local institutions of scientific popularization that are associated to the projects and through collaborations with local primary and high schools and Guadeloupe ESPE.

The objective of the SargAlert project is to significantly improve the forecasts of the strandings of the invasive algal species Sargassum in the tropical Atlantic Ocean, in the Caribbean Sea and on the Brazilian coast. The synergy between satellite data / ocean transport modeling / in-situ measurements will be used for that purpose. SargAlert will provide alert bulletins to end-users such as territorial authority, tourism, fishers. The challenges that will be addressed by SargAlert are as follows: - detection and monitoring of at different time (hour to daily) and spatial (20 m to 5 km) scales using a multi-sensor satellite data analysis (Low Earth and GEOstationary orbits), - improvement of Sargassum stranding forecasts by combining physical transport models with artificial intelligence approaches, - validation of satellite data products and forecast models using in-situ measurements, - production of alert bulletins to address societal issues. The innovative developments of the project will enable an integrative approach of the Sargassum stranding issues: synergy between satellite data, understanding of Sargassum spatio-temporal distribution, transport forecast. Improvements of ocean modeling of dynamics will benefit societal authorities to better respond to the risks induced by the more frequent and intense Sargassum blooms in the Atlantic Ocean. The operational Sargassum forecast center will thus have all required inputs to provide reliable forecasts in near real time. This federative and interdisciplinary project includes complementary partners from academic laboratories, including a human science team (AEM, IRISA, LATMOS, LC2S, LIS, Marbec, MIO, UFPE/UFRPE), from an operational forecast center (Météo-France) and from a national satellite data center (AERIS/ICARE).