• Energy Research
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Les paysages arctiques se caractérisent par la présence de nombreux lacs et étangs qui possèdent des propriétés physico-chimiques et biologiques distinctes. Depuis 2018, nous étudions les communautés zooplanctoniques de plus de 22 lacs et 13 étangs d'eau douce situés au sud de l'Île Victoria à Cambridge Bay, Nunavut (69 ° N, 105 ° O). Pour chacun des lacs et étangs échantillonnés les communautés de zooplancton ont été récoltées et les spécimens ont été identifiés jusqu'à l'espèce. Au total, plus de 77 espèces différentes ont été identifiées incluant 56 rotifères, 6 copépodes, 11 cladocères, 2 crevettes arctiques, une espèce appartenant à la famille des Mysidacea et une crevette têtard. Arctic landscapes are characterized by the presence of many lakes and ponds that exhibit distinct physico-chemical and biological properties. Since 2018, we have been studying the zooplankton communities of more than 22 lakes and 13 freshwater ponds located on southern Victoria Island, Cambridge Bay, Nunavut (69°N, 105°W). For each of the lakes and ponds sampled, zooplankton communities were collected and specimens were identified to species. In total, more than 77 different species were found, including 56 rotifers, 6 copepods, 11 cladocerans, 2 fairy shrimps, a mysid and a tadpole shrimp.

The transportation impact on pollution and global climate change, has forced the automotive sector to search for more ecological solutions. Owing to the different properties of Fuel Cell (FC), real potential for reducing vehicles’ emissions has been witnessed. The optimization of FC integration within Electric Vehicles (EVs) is one of the original solutions. This paper presents an innovating solution of multi-stack Fuel Cell Electrical Vehicle (FCEV) in terms of efficiency, durability and ecological impact on environment. The main objective is to illustrate the interest of using the multi-stack FC system on the global autonomy, cycling, and efficiency enhancement, besides optimizing its operation performance.

AbstractIndirect climate effects on tree fecundity that come through variation in size and growth (climate-condition interactions) are not currently part of models used to predict future forests. Trends in species abundances predicted from meta-analyses and species distribution models will be misleading if they depend on the conditions of individuals. Here we find from a synthesis of tree species in North America that climate-condition interactions dominate responses through two pathways, i) effects of growth that depend on climate, and ii) effects of climate that depend on tree size. Because tree fecundity first increases and then declines with size, climate change that stimulates growth promotes a shift of small trees to more fecund sizes, but the opposite can be true for large sizes. Change the depresses growth also affects fecundity. We find a biogeographic divide, with these interactions reducing fecundity in the West and increasing it in the East. Continental-scale responses of these forests are thus driven largely by indirect effects, recommending management for climate change that considers multiple demographic rates.

Abstract The importance of integrating resources criticality assessment into Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) under the Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA) framework has been discussed for some time. However, the question how to proceed towards integration remain unclear. Only very few work is published on this issue and to our knowledge only Schneider et al. (2014) have developed one operational model. In this paper we review existing literature critically and explain why integration is important and how it could be done, using knowledge from outside the LCA field. The criticality assessment method proposed by Graedel et al. (2012) is identified as the best starting point. This paper shows based on a critical review why bridging towards such a method could help addressing criticality in LCSA, what are possible options and which research needs exists. It reveals that currently LCA does not adequately cover resource criticality and that methods like Graedel et al. (2012) are inspiring further development of LCA; both approaches have a complementary nature and hence could be developed towards integration within the LCSA framework. Currently resource indicators are not meaningful in LCA, wherefore there is no consensus in LCA community on what to recommend; hence the Area of Protection Natural Resources needs to be rethought. Broadening the scope of LCA towards LCSA provides a conceptual framework to keep LCA relevant for assessing sustainability challenges like access to resources.

Chronic, low intensity herbivory by invertebrates, termed background herbivory, has been understudied in tundra, yet its impacts are likely to increase in a warmer Arctic. The magnitude of these changes is however hard to predict as we know little about the drivers of current levels of invertebrate herbivory in tundra. We assessed the intensity of invertebrate herbivory on a common tundra plant, the dwarf birch (Betula glandulosa-nana complex), and investigated its relationship to latitude and climate across the tundra biome. Leaf damage by defoliating, mining and gall-forming invertebrates was measured in samples collected from 192 sites at 56 locations. Our results indicate that invertebrate herbivory is nearly ubiquitous across the tundra biome but occurs at low intensity. On average, invertebrates damaged 11.2% of the leaves and removed 1.4% of total leaf area. The damage was mainly caused by external leaf feeders, and most damaged leaves were only slightly affected (12% leaf area lost). Foliar damage was consistently positively correlated with mid-summer (July) temperature and, to a lesser extent, precipitation in the year of data collection, irrespective of latitude. Our models predict that, on average, foliar losses to invertebrates on dwarf birch are likely to increase by 6--7% over the current levels with a 1 textdegreeC increase in summer temperatures. Our results show that invertebrate herbivory on dwarf birch is small in magnitude but given its prevalence and dependence on climatic variables, background invertebrate herbivory should be included in predictions of climate change impacts on tundra ecosystems.

As Earth’s climate has varied strongly through geological time, studying the impacts of past climate change on biodiversity helps to understand the risks from future climate change. However, it remains unclear how paleoclimate shapes spatial variation in biodiversity. Here, we assessed the influence of Quaternary climate change on spatial dissimilarity in taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional composition among neighboring 200-kilometer cells (beta-diversity) for angiosperm trees worldwide. We found that larger glacial-interglacial temperature change was strongly associated with lower spatial turnover (species replacements) and higher nestedness (richness changes) components of beta-diversity across all three biodiversity facets. Moreover, phylogenetic and functional turnover was lower and nestedness higher than random expectations based on taxonomic beta-diversity in regions that experienced large temperature change, reflecting phylogenetically and functionally selective processes in species replacement, extinction, and colonization during glacial-interglacial oscillations. Our results suggest that future human-driven climate change could cause local homogenization and reduction in taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity of angiosperm trees worldwide.

This paper investigates whether a firm’s managerial ability affects the link between a firm’s cost of equity capital and corporate sustainability. We test our predictions by using a large U.S. sample of 17,389 firm-year observations. Our findings show that only when managerial ability is high, corporate sustainability significantly reduces a firm’s implied cost of equity capital. An important implication of our findings is that firms with high managerial abilities and limited sustainability commitment are encouraged to pursue or initiate more sustainability activities owing to their negative effect on a firm’s cost of equity capital.