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Summary:
In memoriam : Freshwater pearl mussel, Margaritifera margaritifera; Urbi et orbi in Armenian. Sommaire en français (avec résumés des articles).
PROBLÉMATIQUES ET DÉBATS
Agronomic research and the greenhouse effect (Bernard
Seguin); Can wild animals in captivity still be considered
as "natural"? (Bernard Zecchini); Water, agriculture and
the environment (Nader Katerji, Laurent Bruckler, Philippe
Debaecke); Should we abandon the concept of species?
(Hervé Le Giyader).
The French Agricultural Scenery - Highlights
(Repères dans le paysage agricole français)
The ins and outs of herbariums? (Philippe Daget); Hedgerows: a linear evolution in France for the last forty years (Philippe Pointereau); Europe and GMOs: Brussels, a forceful path to success (Frédéric Prat);
Other landmarks, other landscapes (Autres repères, autres paysages)
Atmospheric pollution in Beijing (Jean-Pierre Garrec, Shanq He, Christophe Rose, Franck Radnai); Zootechnical knowledge and research faced with the constraints of Moroccan livestock farming: a convergence not yet implemented… (Mohamed Sraïri).
* Sustainable development: a round table at INRA's Hydrobiology and Wildlife Department (Olivier Clément).
* Evaluation of the environmental impact of agriculture at the level of the farm: comparison and analyse of 12 methods based on indicators (Hayo M.G. van der Werf, Jean Petit).
Abstracts
Agronomic research and the greenhouse effect
(L in English)
Greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union correspond to roughly 12
tons/inhabitant, as compared to 23 tons in the United States and 21 in Canada
and even higher levels in certain developing countries.
Within the EU, France is in an intermediate position (6t of CO²
per inhabitant), as compared to the situation in Northern countries
(Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium) and Southern countries (Spain, Greece,
Portugal).
In the framework of the Kyoto Protocol, the EU has promised to reduce these
emissions by 8% between 2008 and 2012. The internal EU agreements imply that
European countries stabilise their greenhouse gas emissions at 144 million
tons, the level they were at in 1990. If these specific measures are not
implemented, greenhouse gas emissions will reach a record level of 175 million
tons of carbon by 2010.
Using graphs and figures, Bernard Seguin successively examines: -The role
of agriculture and forests, -Research carried out at INRA on greenhouse gases
and climatic change, -The impacts of climatic change on agricultural production
(arable crops, pastures, perennial crops), -Agriculture and a summary on
greenhouse gases (carbon storage in soils, emission of nitrous oxide).
By Bernard Seguin
INRA, unité Agroclim, site Agroparc, domaine Saint-Paul, 84914
Avignon cedex 9
seguin@avignon.inra.fr
Can wild animals in captivity still be considered as
"natural"?
Caught between artificial selection and natural selection, animal species
in captivity are submitted to the pressures of a mainly human environment.
As they live in small groups, these animals are more liable to be affected
by genetic problems and their biology and ethology may undergo changes. Will
their rhythm and mode of evolution also change? These questions are particularly
important for species submitted to conservation programmes.
This long article is punctuated by the following subtitles: Disturbed
ontogenesis; Stress and well-being; Reduced populations; 90% of genetic
variations over 200 years; Hereditary and congenial impediments; Purging
deleterious alleles; Possible evolutionary changes?; A living copy. The article
is followed by two boxes: "Inbreeding in the case of bighorn sheep, cheetahs
and Speke gazelles" and "The path to domestication".
By Alain Zecchini
10 rue Rubens, 75013 Paris
a.zecchini@worldnet.fr
Water, agriculture and the environment
This article first analyses the situation of wa ter resources in France
and determines if they are suitable with the growing demands of agriculture.
Although current water resources seem to meet the needs of agriculture, there
are nevertheless quantitative and qualitative tensions. The main causes of
these tensions are analysed in this article. The most worrying situation
however concerns the deterioration of the quality of water due to both an
active and intensive agriculture.
In the second part of the article, the authors suggest an organisation of
agronomic research to contribute to a sustainable management of water resources.
This organisation is based on two types of actions: the first must be considered
in the framework of a partnership policy, as it concerns the entire scientific
community involved in research on water. The main objective of this organisation
is to understand the global functioning of watersheds and especially the
hydraulic, geochemical and biological balances. The second type of action
concerns agronomic research and covers three fields of action. The objective
is to add to the knowledge and methodology, relative to agricultural activities,
in the field of common research (summary by the authors).
By Nader Katerji, Laurent Bruckler and Philippe Debaecke
INRA, UMR Environnement et grandes cultures, 78850 Thiverval-Grignon
Nader.Katerji@bcgn.grignon.inra.fr
INRA, département Environnement et Agronomie, domaine de Saint-Paul,
site Agroparc, 84914 Avignon cedex 9.
bruckler@avignon.inra.fr
INRA, unité d'Agronomie, BP 27 , 31326 Castanet-Tolosan cedex
debaeke@toulouse.inra.fr
Should we abandon the concept of species?
"What is a species? Biologists have been asking the same question ever
since the first attempt to classify living organisms. And the question is
still being asked although hundreds of systematists have spent hours considering
the subject and despite the many conceptual (such as the genetics of populations)
and experimental contributions (the access to the genome)." Although intuition
works in a majority of cases, the question is still important as there remain
interesting cases where intuition doesn't work.
To reveal the logics of the concept, Hervé Le Guyader first describes
the concept from a historical point of view, then goes on to reveal the current
propositions and finally ends his article in the most total heterodoxy: The
different concepts of 'species', How do we recognize a species?, Species
and speciation, Cladistics, Taxon and category or the difficult problem of
ranking, PhyloCode and the LITU concept (Least-Inclusive Taxonomic Unit).
By Hervé Le Guyader
Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie (Paris 6), UMR 7622, Biologie
du développement, équipe Développement et
Évolution
9 quai Saint-Bernard, case 241, 75252 Paris cedex 05
Herve.Le-Guyader@snv.jussieu.fr
The ins and outs of herbariums?
'Many amateur botanists pick the plants they stumble upon and, once they
have determined their species, dry them and keep them in a herbarium. As
good a hobby as any other. Yet a herbarium is not only a hobby but can also
be a scientific instrument.'
Biometrical databases, pharmacological databases, phytogeographical databases,
herbariums are instruments that help to determine and study biodiversity.
Et la Botanique amorce un retour vers les sciences "branchées"...
By Philippe Daget
CIRAD-EMVT
TA 30/F, 34398 Montpellier cedex 5
philippe.daget@cirad.fr
Hedgerows: a linear evolution in France for the last
forty years
In France, as in most European countries, hedgerow networks were linked to
free range farming and this has rapidly decreased since the 1960s. Hedgerows
and trees, along with natural pastures, have gradually declined: -4.4 million
hectares between 1970 and 1999.
This phenomena is linked to that of land consolidation (15 million hectares
have been consolidated since 1945).
SOLAGRO has carried out several studies to understand the phenomena of spatial
reorganisation and to study the different public policies that have been
implemented to put an end to this evolution.
This article presents the main results allowing to retrace the evolution
of the French "bocage" between 1960 and 2000. (intro by the author)
By Philippe Pointereau
SOLAGRO, 219 av. de Muret, 31300 Toulouse
philippe.pointereau@solagro.asso.fr
Europe and GMOs: Brussels, a forceful path to success
GMO crops now cover over 52 million hectares of land. Due to the strong
reluctance of mainly European and Japanese consumers, the growth of GMO crops
has started to slow down. Due to forceful demands, the governments of these
respective countries have adopted precautionary legislations restricting
the number of authorised varieties of GMOs.
In June 1999, as a reply to the demands of consumers and ecologists, six
European Union countries decided to refuse all new GMO authorisations so
long as the European directive on their dissemination had not been reinforced.
These countries are now under pressure to come back on their
decision…
By Frédéric Prat
GEYSER, rue Haute, 34270 Claret
Frederic.prat@geyser.asso.fr
Atmospheric pollution in Beijing
The very busy and active capital of China is submitted to the effects of
an intense pollution due to its old and run-down equipment. The authors will
first examine the main climatic characteristics of Beijing before going on
to take a look at the different sources of atmospheric pollution and exposing
their work carried out on pollution cartography using… poplars - tolerant
and common bioaccumulators - and considering the potential negative effects
on ozone plants and peri-urban agricultural areas.
By Jean-Pierre Garrec, Shanq He, Christophe Rose and Franck
Radnai
INRA, laboratoire Pollution atmosphérique
54280 Champenoux
garrec@nancy.inra.fr
Zootechnical knowledge and research faced with the
constraints of Moroccan livestock farming: a convergence not yet
implemented…
In 1843, De Gasparin defined the term zootechnics as "an animal production
doctrine based on experimental sciences, the fundamental character of which
consists in studying livestock from an economical point of view".
Basing his reflections on this definition and considering that the main objective
of livestock farms is that of development, Mohamed Taher Sraïri tries
to analyse the present state of animal sciences in Morocco and define whether
the latter, through its many evolutions, has reached its objective, i.e.
to contribute to the material and moral satisfaction of their main partners
and agents: livestock farmers, researchers and students studying
zootechnics.
By Mohamed Taher Sraïri
Institut Agronomique et Vétérinaire Hassan II,
département des Productions Animales, BP 6202, Rabat-Instituts, 10101,
Rabat (Maroc)
msrairi@hotmail.com
Sustainable development: a round table at INRA's
Hydrobiology and Wildlife Department
The notion of sustainable development can be found in all areas of human
activity: towns, firms, trade, tourism, agriculture.
Should researchers take into consideration the new concept of sustainable
development?
In November 2001, at Anglet (the Basque Country, France), a round table was
organised by INRA's Hydrobiology and Wildlife Department to try to answer
this question. This article relates the point of view of several researchers
from the department on the subject.
By Olivier Clément
Station d'Hydrobiologie, BP 3, Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle, 64310
Ascain.
clement@st-pee.inra.fr
Evaluation of the environmental impact of agriculture
at the level of the farm: comparison and analyse of 12 methods based on
indicators
Diverse methods have been proposed for the evolution of the environmental
impacts of agriculture. Many actors consider the success of such tools as
the condition for the implementation of sustainable agriculture. These methods
are based on indicators, variables supplying information on other less accessible
variables that can be used as a reference point to make a decision.
In this article, Van Der Werf and Petit examine and compare: The sustainability
index of farmers; The sustainability of energetic crops; Ecopoints; Life
cycle analysis for agriculture, Agro-ecological indicators, Agro-ecological
system attributes; Towards an operational sustainability; Pluri-objective
parameters; Environmental management for agriculture; SOLAGRO diagnosis;
Ecobilan, an ecological management tool; Indicators of farm sustainability.
By Hayo M.G. van der Werf and Jean Petit
INRA, UMR Sol, Agronomie et Spatialisation de Rennes-Quimper
ENSAR, 65 rue de Saint Brieuc, CS 84215, 35042 Rennes cedex
Hayo.vanderWerf@roazhon.inra.fr
Translation: Nicola Scott
