How to Quantify the Dynamics of Single (Straight or Sinuous) and Multiple (Anabranching) Channels from Imagery for River Restoration

Since the 2000s, European rivers have undergone restoration works to give them back a little more ‘freedom space’ and consolidate the hydro-sedimentary continuum and biological continuity as required by the Water Framework Directive (WFD). In high-energy rivers, suppression of lateral constraints (embankment removal) leads to geomorphological readjustments in the modification of both the active-channel length and active-channel width. The article provides a new methodological development to overcome the shortcomings of traditional methods (based on diachronic cross-section analysis) unable to simultaneously take into account these geometric adjustments after active-channel restoration. It allows us to follow and precisely quantify the geomorphological changes of the active channel faced to the stakes (i.e., structures or urbanized, recreation or agricultural areas) in the floodplain. The methodology proposes three new indicators (distance from active channel to stakes or floodplain margins as indicator 1; distance from stakes to active channel as indicator 2; diachronic distance as indicator 3) and a metric analysis grid in the 2D Euclidean space. It is applied to the Clamoux River (order 4, Strahler; bankfull, specific stream power: 280 W/m2) in the Aude watershed (Mediterranean France). The paper shows the full potential of this methodological protocol to be able to meet managers’ expectations as closely as possible within the framework of the multi-annual active-channel monitoring.

Further molecular assessment of the distribution of Spanish sand racers (Lacertidae; Psammodromus)

Three related and morphologically similar small Psammodromus species (P. hispanicus complex) occur in the Iberian Peninsula and Mediterranean France, Psammodromus hispanicus, Psammo-dromus occidentalis, and Psammodromus edwarsianus. Despite recent works, overall ranges of the species remain partially uncertain, in particular for Westernmost part of Iberia and South-western France. Here we include data from 15 additional specimens that were sequenced for part of the mitochon-drial gene Cytochrome b to allow comparison with published data. We provide genetic confirma-tion that P. edwarsianus is the species of the complex occurring in France, and that P. occidentalis occurs on coastal and inland Portugal. Within P. occidentalis notable diversity occurs for this marker, which warrants further investigation. Some areas, particularly southern Portugal, still need assessment to clarify the distribution of these mostly cryptic species across the region.

Uncial Script

Latin Uncial script, which was favored for use in Christian texts between the fourth and eigth centuries, is a majuscule script with a predominantly rounded appearance. From the ninth century onward, Uncial continued to be used as a display script. The greatest number of examples of Uncial script come from Italy, which is represented in all of the periods when the script was in use; other regional varieties of Uncial exist from North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, France, and England. Uncial was also employed as a display script in manuscripts copied in minuscule scripts.

European Donors in the Arab World: Redistribution of Resources and Roles

The article explores official development assistance flows from European countries to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and highlights certain specifics and the logic of redistribution of resources and roles between the largest European donors throughout the 2010s – since the Arab Spring, which transformed the political landscape of the entire region. This trend is explained by uneven dynamics of the donor activities of three states with a direct access to the Mediterranean – France, Italy and Spain ‒ and other countries. This dynamic seems to be caused by differences in domestic economic and political environment and dissimilarities in motivation and strategy which manifested themselves in allocation of resources between MENA and other regions, humanitarian and non-humanitarian assistance, various sectors, sub-regions and recipient countries. The Arab Spring made these dissimilarities even more acute and created an illusion of a conscious 'division of labour'. However, leading European powers – Germany, France and the United Kingdom – compete actively with each other as well as with non-European actors. A wide range of new and unexpected challenges such as a recent destabilization in the countries to a lesser extent affected by the Arab Spring (Algeria, Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq), escalation of tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, a devastating explosion in the Beirut port etc., notwithstanding mid- and long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, might make this competition even more dynamic.

Sidewalk Plants as a Model for Studying Adaptation to Urban Environments

As a widespread, human-altered habitat, the urban environment represents a potentially interesting model for evolutionary ecologists to study contemporary adaptation to global change. In cities, plants are often relegated to small, isolated patches of soil among a concrete matrix, which establishes a highly fragmented habitat. Small patches around planted trees on pavements (sidewalks) are colonized by wild plants and exemplify a typical, fragmented urban habitat. These patches also represent a geometrical and regular habitat for studying plant adaptation to fragmentation. Based on a 10-year research programme in Mediterranean France (Montpellier), the chapter discusses how an annual weed, Crepis sancta (hawksbeard, Asteraceae), has adapted to urban patches. While the most obvious traits expected to respond to fragmentation are seed dispersal traits, the authors present results showing how urban patches have actually selected for a battery of life-history and ecophysiological traits. The striking result is that adaptation is rapid in urban environments and can be detected in fewer than fifteen generations. The authors’ studies reveal that, beyond the focal sidewalk patchy populations, adaptations to urban environments may be diverse as a result of the variety of habitats within cities. They discuss how adaptation to urban fragmentation can be characterized and how the comparison between rural and urban populations provides a powerful method to study how plants adapt to various facets of global change. Overall, urban environments have proved to be an opportune and relevant ecological model for studying contemporary adaptation.