Abstract: Energy drives behaviour and life history decisions, yet it can be hard to measure at fine scales in free-moving animals. Accelerometry has proven a powerful tool to estimate energy expenditure, but requires calibration in the wild. This can be difficult in some environments, or for particular behaviours, and validations have produced equivocal results in some species, particularly air-breathing divers. It is, therefore, important to calibrate accelerometry across different behaviours to understand the most parsimonious way to estimate energy expenditure in free-living conditions. Here, we combine data from miniaturised acceleration loggers on 58 free-living Adélie penguins with doubly labelled water (DLW) measurements of their energy expenditure over several days. Across different behaviours, both in water and on land, dynamic body acceleration was a good predictor of independently measured DLW-derived energy expenditure (R2 = 0.72). The most parsimonious model suggested different calibration coefficients are required to predict behaviours on land versus foraging behaviour in water (R2 = 0.75). Our results show that accelerometry can be used to reliably estimate energy expenditure in penguins, and we provide calibration equations for estimating metabolic rate across several behaviours in the wild.

Abstract: The ancient solar energetic particle (SEP) events of 774/775 CE and 993/994 CE were characterized thanks to radionuclide productions stored in environmental archives as ice cores or tree rings. Primary cosmic ray spectra deduced from these cosmogenic isotope data indicate that the impact of these extreme SEP events would have been much more significant than any of the ones observed during the modern era. However, the impact of these should be studied more accurately in the framework of the ambient dose equivalent impacting aircrew and passengers in the air traffic context by considering physical parameters such as time profile or anisotropy properties. In this study, the impact that 774/775 CE and 993/994 CE past extreme SEP events could have had on modern air traffic is discussed. Possible event spectra for these ancient events are derived from the spectra ground-level enhancement (GLE) 5 and GLE 69, which have been observed during the modern era and have been widely studied/characterized using measurements. The investigations include the impact of the SEP activity on ambient dose equivalent, including detailed analyses considering route, airplane characteristics (departure, arrival, continent, airplane type), and the time occurrence of the SEP event. Statistical analyses show that additional dose levels can reach values on the order of 70 mSv, which is absolutely significant considering the current air traffic recommendations. The orders of magnitude of the ambient dose equivalent induced during past extreme SEP events raises a number of issues, both for aircrews and for avionics hardware. This study demonstrates that simulations can be useful for the evaluation of risks in case of extreme SEP events.

Abstract: Kerguelen Islands harbor a unique, probably very ancient flora with a high rate of endemism. However, the evolutionary history and characteristics of this flora still require investigation. This concerns in particular genome size and ploidy level variation, despite the evolutionary and ecological significance of those traits. Here we report the first assessment of genome size, using flow cytometry, for eight plant species of which two are endemics of Kerguelen Islands and four of the South Indian Ocean Province. The 2C DNA value ranged from 1.08 pg for Pringlea antiscorbutica to 11.88 pg for Ranunculus biternatus. The chromosome numbers of Colobanthus kerguelensis (2n = 80), Lyallia kerguelensis (2n = 96) and Poa kerguelensis (2n = 28) were also reported in this study for the first time. Overall, our data allowed to infer that all Kerguelen studied species are polyploid (from tetra- to octopolyploid). Intra-genus comparisons showed significant differences of 2C DNA values among Poa and among Ranunculus species, despite their identical ploidy level. In addition, our data highlight the existence of an intraspecific variability of genome size for the two octoploid species Colobanthus kerguelensis and Lyallia kerguelensis. Finally, our data also support the hypothesis regarding which polyploidy may have played a major role in the adaptation of flowering plants to high latitudes, as it has been suggested for arctic species.

Abstract: Introduction: Ultracarbonaceous Antarctic Micrometeorites (UCAMMs) are dominated by N-rich polyaromatic organic matter exhibiting large D enrichments [1-5]. The high abundance of organic matter exhibiting large D enrichment suggests a cometary origin for UCAMMs [1-3]. Three kinds of organic matter are identified in UCAMMs, with different nitrogen abundances and highly variable concentrations of small (typically 30-500 nanometer) mineral aggregates embedded in the organic matter [5-8]. We focus here on a mineral assemblage embedded in one UCAMM that exhibits evidence of ion irradiation, to get insight on the formation and evolution of this cometary particle. Sample and methods: A fragment of UCAMM DC06-06-43 (hereafter DC06-43) was carbon coated, observed by SEM/EDX, and a 100 nm thick FIB section of this fragment was made at IEMN Lille. The size of the initial UCAMM before fragmentation was ~ 25 x 30 µm. After STXM-XANES analysis, the mineralogy of the sample was investigated by TEM at UMET Lille using a FEI Tecnai G2 20 at 200 kV and FEI TITAN Themis at 300 kV [9]. Results : TEM examination reveals a large assemblage of crystalline minerals at the center of the DC06-43 UCAMM fragment, surrounded by organic matter (Figure 1) [9]. The assemblage consists of µm-to subµm sized Mg-rich pyroxenes, a large “triskell”-shaped Fe-sulfide, a few Mg-rich olivines, and minor Si-Al-Carich amorphous pockets and Fe-Ni metal. About 28 crystalline pyroxenes are identified whereas only 5 olivine crystals are observed in the section. GEMS are present embedded in the organic matter, close to the crystalline assemblage. We identified irradiation features (rims and tracks) in pyroxene grains. No rims or tracks were found in olivine. We observed irradiated rims around six pyroxenes at the top of the section (Figure 1, light blue labels). One pyroxene shows a continuous irradiated rim (Figure 2 top). Rim thicknesses range from 20 to 100 nm, with an average of 60 ± 20 nm (1σ) (Figure 2 bottom). Fe-rich deposits are occasionally found on top of irradiated rims. EDX mappings and profiles show that the rims are strongly depleted in Mg (Figure 3). The average track density in pyroxene grains measured over an area of 4.5 x 10-8 cm 2 is 1.3 x 10 10 cm-2 with one value at 3.8 x 10 9 cm-2 , the other values ranging from 9.5 x 10 9 to 3.2 x 10 10 cm-2 (Figure 4). Irradiation track lengths