Laboratoire d'Écologie Alpine

• We applied the Life Framework in combination with PPGIS data on landscape values. • We identified three life frames: living with/in , living from , and living as nature. • Living in/with related to mapping intrinsic values in protected areas. • The spatial distribution of the life frames showed high variability and overlaps. • Using life frames with PPGIS revealed protected areas heterogeneous meanings.

Due to rapid and intense socio-environmental transformations in rockfall-prone areas, risk assessment accounting for non-stationary conditions becomes a crucial issue for supporting long-term land-use zoning and adapting mitigation strategies. During the past few decades, several studies have examined the impacts of global warming on rockfall activity, especially at high-elevation sites. By contrast, concomitant changes in exposure, such as modifications in road traffic with changes in mountain tourism and social practices, have received little attention, making the overall changes in risks largely unknown. This study therefore proposes a quantitative risk assessment (QRA) of the cantonal road in Balmatten (Zermatt Valley, Swiss Alps), which evaluates the respective and overall effects of rockfall frequency and traffic density changes on rockfall risks at three time steps: 1960, 2010 and 2060. The approach relies on strong, yet reasonable assumptions that minimize computational burden. Results demonstrate the significant impact of road traffic fluctuations (+818%) on risk estimates, which largely outweighs the effects of climate change (+100%) on rockfall risk over the 1960–2060 period. Despite several challenges inherent to the implementation of non-stationary QRA approaches, these findings demonstrate their value to support adaptation of mountain territories in a time of global change. • Non-stationary analyses are essential to capture socio-environmental evolutions. • Scenario-specific variables influence the primary driver of risk change. • Risk analysis was addressed by adapting hazard frequency and traffic exposure. • Integrating dynamic conditions in QRA can improve risk management strategies.

Land use management can help address the human-induced climate and biodiversity crises. However, substantial transformations in land systems are needed to meet internationally agreed targets concerning nature conservation, restoration, sustainable agriculture, and tree cover. Such transformations influence land-atmosphere exchanges of energy, water, and carbon, and could have particularly strong effects on local to regional climate through changes in albedo and evapotranspiration. Here, we explore how land use management in Europe, consistent with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, the Nature Futures Framework, and a sustainable low-emissions scenario, would affect the European climate mid-century. Using Earth System Modelling and detailed land use, habitat, and species projections, we show that policy implementation guided by relational values (Nature as Culture) could lead to additional warming and drying further threatening biodiversity and human well-being. Conversely, promoting intrinsic values (Nature for Nature) or ecosystem services (Nature for Society) would not add major challenges for climate adaptation and mitigation. These different outcomes highlight the need to develop integrative land use scenarios that enhance biodiversity and stabilise the climate, while considering feedbacks from land to the atmosphere. Such scenarios could help navigate trade-offs and inform policy implementation in Europe.

Abstract Mount Kilimanjaro, with its steep elevational gradient (770–5,886 m a.s.l.) and pronounced land-use heterogeneity, supports high biodiversity and diverse Nature’s Contributions to People (NCP), but it is underrepresented in global spatial assessments. We address this gap by mapping NCP supply across 12 ecosystem types on the southern slopes identifying hotspots and coldspots and quantifying synergies and trade-offs among NCP categories. We use 25 context-specific NCP categories that integrates local and scientific knowledge with field measurements and remote-sensing-derived proxies. Combining long-term field data with remote sensing and machine learning, we upscaled plot-scale indicators into standardized supply maps. Total NCP supply is strongly concentrated in mid-elevation ecosystems: the 1,100–2,200 m band alone accounted for ~59% of total supply compared with ~18% in the lowlands (700–1,100 m), and the 1,100–2,800 m belts together provide ~73%, whereas high-elevation zones (2,800–4,600 m) contribute <9%. Hotspots clustered in lower montane forest, Ocotea forest and homegardens at mid-elevations, while coldspots occur in Erica forest and Helichrysum vegetation at high elevations and in maize fields and savanna at low elevations. We detected moderate (r = 0.55) to strong synergies (r = 0.83) among the three NCP groups (material, regulating, non-material). After accounting for climatic co-variation, the correlations among NCP groups weakened (r = 0.23 to 0.44), underscoring the critical role of climate for NCP supply. Our study maps NCP hotspots and coldspots across Mt Kilimanjaro and provides a decision-support layer for conservation, restoration and agroforestry management, as well as a blueprint for spatially-explicit NCP mapping and analyses.

Postpartum depression (PPD) is a common mental health issue that negatively impacts maternal well-being and infant development. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated depression risk among postpartum women due to added stressors from the crisis. This study aimed to assess PPD prevalence during the pandemic and identify associated factors. The study was conducted at Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital from May 2023 to December 2023. This cross-sectional study selected 223 postpartum women via convenience sampling. Data collection utilized online surveys and phone interviews. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) gauged depression levels, analyzed using Stata 16.0. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression explored relationships between PPD and contributing factors. Among participants, 22.0% scored 9-11 on EPDS, indicating mild depression; 5.8% were high-risk (EPDS 12-13), and 8.5% had PPD (EPDS > 14). The study identified links between PPD and poor sleep, COVID-19 anxiety, and limited social support. PPD remains a critical concern during COVID-19, with factors like sleep quality, pandemic-related anxiety, and social support influencing depression risk. Early screening and psychological interventions are crucial to mitigate PPD's impact on maternal and infant health post-pandemic.

Abstract Coexistence among Neotropical insectivorous bats (IB) that share roosts, foraging areas, and prey likely relies on processes promoting trophic niche divergence. We examined the diet and activity times of 3 coexisting IB species (Molossus molossus, Neoeptesicus furinalis, and Myotis nigricans) in Venezuelan rice fields in Northwestern Llanos to assess dietary and temporal overlap. Using published sources, we categorized prey by hardness and flight speed, bats by bite force and functional group, and examined the relationships among these variables. IB species showed differences in prey composition, type, and activity timing. As expected from its fast flight and strong bite, diet of M. molossus consisted primarily of fast-flying, highly sclerotized insects, with activity times peaking significantly earlier than in the other 2 bat species. In contrast, M. nigricans and N. furinalis had diets consisting primarily of slower-flying prey and showed high temporal overlap in activity, although with different peak foraging times. Notably, the stronger bite of N. furinalis may have enabled it to exploit more sclerotized prey than M. nigricans, despite similar flight capabilities—indicating that prey hardness helps reduce dietary overlap. These findings suggest that fine-scale trophic niche partitioning, enhanced by the rich insect fauna of rice fields, facilitates the coexistence of these ecomorphologically distinct IB species.

Participatory approaches are increasingly used in biodiversity conservation to build trust, reduce conflict, and create more lasting decisions. By bringing together diverse voices (local communities, scientists, policymakers, NGOs) they aim to shape strategies that protect both people and nature. But more participation does not automatically mean better outcomes. Power matters. When power dynamics are overlooked, participation can become superficial, reinforcing old inequalities and even deepening tensions. Power shapes who is heard, whose knowledge counts, and who is left outside decision-making. If we don’t name and reflect on these dynamics, we risk failing the very goals of fairness and impact that participatory processes aim for. This Tool for Thought invites conservation practitioners, researchers, and facilitators to reflect more consciously on how power operates in participatory settings and how we might respond with greater care and imagination. It introduces a shared vocabulary to talk about power clearly and constructively. It proposes key concepts, and reflective questions to help make powermore visible, more easy to talk about openly, and more actionable. This resource is for anyone who works, or aspires to work, at the intersection between biodiversity, participation, and social change.It speaks to: Conservation practitioners managing biodiversity and natural resources in collaboration with communities Researchers exploring biodiversity, social-ecological systems, and participatory approaches Facilitators designing and leading participatory processes across diverse settings But it also offers insights to those shaping the conditions for participation: Policy makers who commission participatory processes and seek to design them more inclusively Advocacy leaders, project designers, and funders thinking about how power affects whose voices are heard and whose knowledge is valued Institutional actors committed to shifting practices toward more equity, justice, and shared stewardship. Rather than offering strict categories, this Tool for Thought invites a moreluid perspective: wherever you sit on the ground, in research, at policy levels, or inbetween, you are part of shaping how power flows through conservation efforts.

Abstract Rockfall is one of the most common hazards in mountainous environments, threatening infrastructure, and lives. However, a factor limiting preliminary rockfall hazard mapping at the cliff scale is often the lack of knowledge of potential source areas. In the best case, rockfall sources are known from short-term observations (a few years) based on LiDAR, photographic, or monitoring surveys. The presence and characteristics of discontinuities within the rock mass can then be used to identify source areas with differing release susceptibilities. In this investigative study, we used two approaches to assess spatial patterns of rockfall activity along the Täschgufer cliff (Swiss Alps). In a first step, we combined tree-ring and trajectory analyses to estimate the probability that rockfalls occurring from a given pixel of the cliff reach the sampled trees. This retrospective analysis of past activity also quantifies a rockfall release frequency, homogeneously distributed among the pixels susceptible to affect the trees. In a second step, we applied a high-resolution geostructural analysis to classify the cliff pixels according to their level of fracturing and to highlight source areas potentially more prone to rockfall detachment. Both approaches agree upon the absence of clear compartmentalization and a uniform weathering over the cliff. These convergent results, in line with existing observations, confirm the robustness of our results. By contrast, we hypothesize that the retrospective analysis yields an overestimation of release frequencies resulting from site peculiarities, such as the absence of preferential propagation corridors or the considerable distance between the cliff and the upper edge of the forest. Despite these site-related limitations, the methodology developed here clearly evidences the complementarity of both approaches for rockfall source area susceptibility zonation: while the retrospective analysis allows the delineation of areas potentially threatening the sampled trees, the geostructural investigation identifies, amongst these source areas, the most susceptible to trigger rockfalls. In that sense, we believe that the methodology deployed here provides a robust overall assessment of rockfall activity which could be used to prioritize mitigation measures and applicable for hazard management strategies in the future.

The global climate and biodiversity crises are intimately linked. Climate extremes and their combinations with other global change factors are critical, yet uncertain drivers of changes in ecosystem biodiversity and functioning. Here, I summarise the diverse dynamics of ecosystems in response to climate extremes and their mechanisms. I then highlight the consequences of these responses for humans, and how changing biodiversity dynamics can be a resource for human adaptation to global environmental crises. Complex systems theory underpins key mechanisms of multiple types of ecosystem transformation: nonlinear responses and hysteresis, the interplay of fast and slow variables and the role of synergistic effects, cascading impacts and feedbacks. These dynamics are underpinned by biotic mechanisms involving biodiversity at all levels of organisation. Evidence on ecosystem transformation in response to climate extremes highlights that beyond their direct effects, climate extremes exacerbate other global change factors of the biodiversity crisis. Then, by altering ecosystem structure, biodiversity and functioning, climate change impacts the whole range of nature’s contributions to people, and decreases functions underpinning adaptation and mitigation. There is increasing scientific and operational evidence that ecosystems in good condition are however critical to adaptation to climate change. Nature’s contributions to adaptation comprise climate change and risk mitigation, the resilience and transformative ability of biodiverse and spatially connected ecosystems, along with the social construction of new values for transformed ecosystems. Processes of nature-based adaptation require a transformation in the production and sharing of knowledge of relevant ecological processes, in values for nature and in social relations.