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All the news
Sampling vegetation in Patagonia by team from Argentina’s National Institute of Agricultural Technology, as a part of the BIOCOM project, financed by a starting grant from the European Research Council (ERC) © Juan Gaitán

Press release

31 Jul 2018

Protecting biodiversity to ensure ecosystem stability

Agroecology

For the first time ever on a worldwide scale, an international team of researchers has demonstrated the positive influence of plant biodiversity on ecosystem stability. The team included researchers from INRA and the Chizé Centre for Biological Studies (CNRS, University of La Rochelle) and scientists from Argentina and Spain. Using satellite data and field surveys of 123 dryland sites around the world, researchers were able to show that biodiversity’s role in influencing ecosystems is as important as the role of climate or soil.

A Xysticus sp. spider devouring a caterpillar of the European grapevine moth, Lobesia botrana © Sylvie Richart-Cervera

Press release

18 Jul 2018

Organic farming favours pest regulation

Agroecology

Scientists from INRA, Université de Rennes 1 and their colleagues have demonstrated that organic farming favours the natural regulation and control of pests – pathogens, insects and weeds.

Soil from the long-term observation and experimentation system of permanent grasslands (SOERE Agroecosystems, biogeochemical cycle and biodiversity) © Jerôme Balesdent

Press release

12 Jul 2018

The rate of carbon incorporation into the soils: a matter of depth

Agroecology

The incorporation of organic carbon into soil helps to regulate both the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and the fertility of agroecosystems. Researchers from INRA, CEA, and CNRS are the first to quantify the rate of carbon incorporation into soils according to depth and its anthropic and climatic determinants. The study opens up new perspectives that allow us to better appreciate the evolution of the carbon cycle.

Cow grazing in a pasture of grasses-legumes-chicory in Lusignan. © INRA, Sandra Novak

News

09 Jul 2018

Securing forage systems by means of multi-species pastures

Agricultural systems

Improving the diversity of plants in the pastures grazed by dairy cows can increase the amount of grass ingested and hence the milk they produce. Livestock farms also increase their feed autonomy, a key element in the sustainability of dairy systems.

Drosophila. © D.J. Obbard, D.J. Obbard

Press release

09 Jul 2018

Drosophila: a novel model for the study of neurodegenerative prion diseases

Mechanisms of living organisms

Researchers from the National Veterinary School of Toulouse and INRA, together with their colleagues from Cambridge University, have discovered that mammalian prions can propagate in an animal model organism, Drosophila melanogaster, known as the fruit fly, while still maintaining all its biological properties. This study, published in Brain: A journal of Neurology (8 July 2018), opens a new era for the investigation of prion replication mechanisms in the hopes of better understanding the processes that lead to neurodegenerative diseases.