Ecosystem diversity | EPFL Graph Search

Ecosystem diversity deals with the variations in ecosystems within a geographical location and its overall impact on human existence and the environment. Ecosystem diversity addresses the combined characteristics of biotic properties (biodiversity) and abiotic properties (geodiversity). It is a variation in the ecosystems found in a region or the variation in ecosystems over the whole planet. Ecological diversity includes the variation in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Ecological diversity can also take into account the variation in the complexity of a biological community, including the number of different niches, the number of and other ecological processes. An example of ecological diversity on a global scale would be the variation in ecosystems, such as deserts, forests, grasslands, wetlands and oceans. Ecological diversity is the largest scale of biodiversity, and within each ecosystem, there is a great deal of both species and genetic diversity. Impact D

Biogeoinformatics for the management of Farm Animal Genetic Resources (FAnGR)

Solange Catherine Gaillard

In the context of both severe selection in farm animals and potential effects of climate change, it is crucial to implement a sustainable management of the breeding practice, supported by a judicious use of geographic information technologies. Based on this observation, this thesis advocates the use of biogeoinformatics (the combined use of biology, geographic information and informatics) to cope with the challenges encountered by the livestock sector. Indeed, although biogeoinformatics can provide key insights for FAnGR (Farm Animal Genetic Resources) management, the variety and complexity of tasks involved hinders a wider usage of this type of analyses. The thesis shows how novel dedicated tools are likely to facilitate the adoption of biogeoinformatics by animals scientists and by stakeholders in the livestock sector, while investigating three main challenges related to FAnGR management, namely i) erosion of genetic diversity, ii) effects of climate change on the breeding activity, and iii) pressure on typical cultural breeding practices such as high alpine grazing. On this basis, the thesis is organised around three axes:

Preserving locally adapted breeds In order to prevent the erosion of genetic diversity, locally adapted breeds should be monitored to prevent their extinction. To this end, we developed the open source GENMON WebGIS platform, able to monitor FAnGR and to evaluate the degree of endangerment of livestock breeds. The system integrates various sources of information that are linked with the help of geographic information: pedigree and introgression, geographical concentration of animals, cryo-conservation and sustainability of breeding activities. The score can be visualised on a map and allows a fast and regional identification of breeds in danger.
Preserving locally adapted genetic variations Considering the pace at which genetic diversity is being eroded, it has become urgent to identify and then preserve important genetic variations linked to locally adapted phenotypes. In this context, the recent SamÎ²ada software was designed to search for signatures of local adaptation through the study of genomeâenvironment association. However, preâ and postprocessing of data for this analysis can be labourâintensive, and, we therefore developed the R.SamBada R package providing a pipeline for landscape genomic analyses. Based on SamÎ²ada, it spans from the retrieval of environmental conditions at sampling locations to gene annotation using the Ensembl genome browser. As a result, it grants access to biogeoinformatic analyses to researchers with no skills in geography.
Preserving a traditional farming technique suited for local breeds The preservation of locally adapted breeds is also strongly linked with the conservation of traditional farming techniques, which in Switzerland, include the grazing of high alpine pastures during summer. One major effect of this transhumance on cows is that milk production declines due to food shortage and climatic stress. Here, we developed a new mathematical model to fit a lactation curve for mountain-pastured cows, and tested the influence of environmental, physiological, and morphological factors on the production using five million monthly milk records from Braunvieh cows. When compared to physiological factors, environmental variables show a limited impact on milk production at alpine pastures, precipitation in spring being the most important.

EPFL2020

Key rules of life and the fading cryosphere: impacts in alpine lakes and streams

Tom Ian Battin, Jun Wen, Chenxi Wu

Alpine regions are changing rapidly due to loss of snow and ice in response to ongoing climate change. While studies have documented ecological responses in alpine lakes and streams to these changes, our ability to predict such outcomes is limited. We propose that the application of fundamental rules of life can help develop necessary predictive frameworks. We focus on four key rules of life and their interactions: the temperature dependence of biotic processes from enzymes to evolution; the wavelength‐dependence of the effects of solar radiation on biological and ecological processes; the ramifications of the non‐arbitrary elemental stoichiometry of life; and maximization of limiting resource use efficiency across scales. As the cryosphere melts and thaws, alpine lakes and streams will experience major changes in temperature regimes, absolute and relative inputs of solar radiation in ultraviolet and photosynthetically active radiation, and relative supplies of resources (e.g., carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus), leading to nonlinear and interactive effects on particular biota, as well as on community and ecosystem properties. We propose that applying these key rules of life to cryosphere‐influenced ecosystems will reduce uncertainties about the impacts of global change and help develop an integrated global view of rapidly changing alpine environments. However, doing so will require intensive interdisciplinary collaboration and international cooperation. More broadly, the alpine cryosphere is an example of a system where improving our understanding of mechanistic underpinnings of living systems might transform our ability to predict and mitigate the impacts of ongoing global change across the daunting scope of diversity in Earth’s biota and environments.

2020

Eco-morphological evaluation of a sediment augmentation measure

Giovanni De Cesare, Robin Schroff

In the residual flow reach of the Sarine river (Switzerland), downstream of the Rossens dam, the low discharge regime and deficient bed load dynamics impact the riverscape habitat mosaic and cause substrate degradation by colmation. In 2016, an artificial flood was released and coupled with a sediment augmentation measure to mitigate the ecological deficits. The present study evaluates the medium-term effects of this rehabilitation measure using the principal indicator set "habitat diversity" of a new evaluation guideline (WiKo), published by Switzerland's Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) in 2019. For the assessment of substrate degradation, a complementary indicator is proposed, the Indicator of "Reproduction suitability based on Substrate degradation" (IRS). Although dedicated to a different category of rehabilitation projects, the WiKo indicator set proved to be a transferable and effective evaluation procedure for the sediment augmentation measure. The study's results suggest that neither the single artificial flood, nor its coupling with the sediment augmentation measure, were sufficient to restore a functional habitat mosaic after four years. The methodology of the proposed indicator IRS is supported by the good agreement of mapping results with external data of brown trout redds.

SPRINGER VIEWEG-SPRINGER FACHMEDIEN WIESBADEN GMBH2021

Biogeoinformatics for the management of Farm Animal Genetic Resources (FAnGR)

Solange Catherine Gaillard

Preserving locally adapted breeds In order to prevent the erosion of genetic diversity, locally adapted breeds should be monitored to prevent their extinction. To this end, we developed the open source GENMON WebGIS platform, able to monitor FAnGR and to evaluate the degree of endangerment of livestock breeds. The system integrates various sources of information that are linked with the help of geographic information: pedigree and introgression, geographical concentration of animals, cryo-conservation and sustainability of breeding activities. The score can be visualised on a map and allows a fast and regional identification of breeds in danger.
Preserving locally adapted genetic variations Considering the pace at which genetic diversity is being eroded, it has become urgent to identify and then preserve important genetic variations linked to locally adapted phenotypes. In this context, the recent SamÎ²ada software was designed to search for signatures of local adaptation through the study of genomeâenvironment association. However, preâ and postprocessing of data for this analysis can be labourâintensive, and, we therefore developed the R.SamBada R package providing a pipeline for landscape genomic analyses. Based on SamÎ²ada, it spans from the retrieval of environmental conditions at sampling locations to gene annotation using the Ensembl genome browser. As a result, it grants access to biogeoinformatic analyses to researchers with no skills in geography.
Preserving a traditional farming technique suited for local breeds The preservation of locally adapted breeds is also strongly linked with the conservation of traditional farming techniques, which in Switzerland, include the grazing of high alpine pastures during summer. One major effect of this transhumance on cows is that milk production declines due to food shortage and climatic stress. Here, we developed a new mathematical model to fit a lactation curve for mountain-pastured cows, and tested the influence of environmental, physiological, and morphological factors on the production using five million monthly milk records from Braunvieh cows. When compared to physiological factors, environmental variables show a limited impact on milk production at alpine pastures, precipitation in spring being the most important.

EPFL2020