South-central France Research Articles

Improvement of the knowledge of diatom ecology by coupling geochemistry, radioactivity and taxa inventory in thermo-mineral springs of a volcanic and upland area in south-central France, the Massif Central

ABSTRACT In connection with its geological history, many thermo-mineral springs are present in the Massif Central (France). The physicochemical characteristics of these springs (temperature, mineralization, gas content) result both from their deep circulation and from the geological formations or surface waters with which they interact during their ascent. In mineral springs, diatoms are well represented. To date, no study has focused on coupling the origin of water with diatom communities, whether in the Massif Central or in other parts of the world. The purpose of this study is to cross the information obtained on the water and the diatoms in order to analyse the biodiversity and improve knowledge of the species autecology. Twelve mineral springs with some of which have high levels of radioactivity were studied in the Massif Central. As results, the geochemical facies, the origin of the water and the Total Dissolved Solids influence the taxonomic composition but not the specific richness, Shannon index and Evenness. Furthermore, 222Rn influences diatom richness and community structure. Planothidium frequentissimum, Crenotia angustior and Sellaphora labernardierei were associated with high values of 222Rn activity. The water temperature was a factor that influences diatom species distribution. Some species appears to be more sensitive to the composition of water, such as Planothidium frequentissimum which attests to a mixing between deep and surface waters.

Rock Magnetic Cyclostratigraphy of Permian Loess in Eastern Equatorial Pangea (Salagou Formation, South-Central France)

We present the findings from analysis and modeling of a stratigraphic series of magnetic susceptibility data measured with a portable magnetic susceptibility meter from the Permian Salagou Formation loessite (south-central France). The results reveal discernible Milankovitch-scale paleoclimatic variability throughout the Salagou Formation, recording astronomically-forced climate change in deep-time loessite of eastern equatorial Pangea. Optimal sedimentation rates are estimated to have ranged between 9.4 cm/kyr (lower Salagou Formation) and 13 cm/kyr (mid-upper Salagou Formation). A persistent 10-m-thick cyclicity is present that likely represents orbital eccentricity-scale (~100 kyr) variability through the middle to late Cisuralian (ca. 285—275 Ma). Subordinate, higher-frequency cycles with thicknesses of ~3.3—3.5 m and ~1.8 m appear to represent obliquity and precession-scale variability. If the driver of magnetic enhancement is pedogenic, then the ~10 m thick cyclicity that is consistent over ~1000 m of section may represent the thickness of loessite-paleosol couplets in the Salagou Formation. Laboratory rock magnetic data show generally low magnetic enhancement compared to analogous Eurasian Quaternary loess deposits. This is related to the predominance of hematite (substantially weaker signal than magnetite or maghemite) in the Salagou Formation which may be explained by different conditions of formation (e.g. syn depositional processes, more arid and/or oxidizing climate conditions) than in present Eurasia and/or post depositional oxidation of magnetite and maghemite.

Phylogeography of a widely distributed species reveals a cryptic assemblage of distinct genetic lineages needing separate conservation strategies

Genetic structure in broadly distributed herbs may be shaped by past climate events, leading to distinct genetic lineages, and possibly to different Evolutionary Significant Units (ESUs). We identified the potential glacial refugia, postglacial (re)colonization routes, contact zones and ESUs in the widespread but locally rare Silene nutans to propose appropriate conservation strategies related to migration history-related genetic structure. We sequenced four plastid DNA markers from 136 populations covering S. nutans European distribution range. We built a network on concatenated sequences using statistical parsimony and performed Bayesian and Maximum Likelihood analyses to build a phylogenetic tree. Haplotype genetic diversity and between-population differentiation (GST, NST) were calculated. Based on 23 plastid haplotypes, populations were ascribed to seven strongly differentiated genetic lineages. Potential refugia were identified: in the Iberian and Italian Peninsulas, expanding to south-western France and the Alps, respectively; in south-central France, reaching England and Belgium; an eastern refugium, following a north-westward expansion; in the Balkans, expanding to north-eastern Italy, and in the Carpathians. Several contact zones were identified. Silene nutans consists of a cryptic assemblage of genetically distinct taxa, with at least seven ESUs. Evaluating the distribution range, the abundance, and the conservation status of each ESU is necessary for the preservation of the S. nutans species complex at European and regional levels. Ex situ conservation and genetic restoration involving plant translocations must consider the phylogeographic history and the distinct genetic lineages to avoid the introduction of poorly adapted plants and outbreeding depression leading to non-viable hybrid progeny, especially in contact zones.

A new exceptionally preserved specimen of Dracaenosaurus (Squamata, Lacertidae) from the Oligocene of France as revealed by micro-computed tomography

ABSTRACTThe best-preserved material of Dracaenosaurus croizeti, an almost complete and previously unpublished skull with a few associated postcranial bones (stylopodium, zeugopodium, and cervical vertebra), is described. The material comes from the locality of Cournon, a late Oligocene site in south-central France. Micro-computed tomography applied to this specimen revealed previously unknown internal osteological characters. Among lacertids, this taxon represents a notable phenomenon: it is an extreme durophagous specialist. Many of the newly observed cranial character states reflect the lifestyle of this lizard, because animals with a hard-shelled diet display a specialized cranial morphology associated with more massive cranial muscles. One unique character for Lacertidae is observed: the parietal-supraoccipital contact is formed by a ventrally deep parietal crest that fits into a bifurcate ascending process of the supraoccipital. In fact, such a connection represents the opposite to the connection in modern members of Lacertidae. Phylogenetic analysis recovered Dracaenosaurus inside Gallotiinae, a clade that would consist of the mainly Oligocene genera Pseudeumeces and Dracaenosaurus, the Miocene genus Janosikia, and the extant Psammodromus and Gallotia. Our study supports previous phylogenetic results and provides an example of the achievement of large size in mainland members of the stem of Gallotia, previously exemplified by Janosikia and Pseudeumeces. The extreme amblyodonty of Dracaenosaurus also confirms the view that herbivory in Gallotia is derived and may be the result of insularity.SUPPLEMENTAL DATA—Supplemental materials are available for this article for free at www.tandfonline.com/UJVPCitation for this article: Čerňanský, A., A. Bolet, J. Müller, J.-C. Rage, M. Augé, and A. Herrel. 2017. A new exceptionally preserved specimen of Dracaenosaurus (Squamata, Lacertidae) from the Oligocene of France as revealed by micro-computed tomography. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2017.1384738.

Crookedness as a life strategy in Mediterranean karstic environment. The example of crooked oaks (Quercus pubescens L.) in the Paiolive ancient woodland, Ardèche, France

Crooked architectures of Quercus pubescens were found on the mega lapies of the Païolive woodland, in south-central France. Seventy-two individuals were selected to establish a morphological typology. Twelve oaks (10 crooked trees, and 2 referent trees) among the 72 individuals were cored to the heart of the tree. Hemispherical photographs characterized light conditions beneath the canopy. Categories 1 to 5 (i. e., 90% of individuals) had a single stem. The estimated age of the trees varied from 45 to 130 years. Crooked oaks reacted similarly to erect oaks with regard to interannual variations in the local climate. Mean LAI (leaf index area) (3.9) displayed strong variations from one site to another (range 2.2-6.2). Crookedness can be explained by several hypothesis : 1) the short flexures of the main stems may limit cavitation in situations where fissures are lacking or 2) already colonized by the roots of neighboring trees ; 3) young oaks were seeking the sun and may have grown creeping until they reached a tree-fall or a felling area.

Salers Protected Designation of Origin cheese, France. The diversity and paradox of local knowledge in geographical indications

Our case study of Salers cheese production in south-central France highlights how place-specific knowledge grounds the various networks shaping the rise of geographical indications (GI) in food production. In 1961, Salers cheese producers created a “Protected Designation of Origin” (PDO). To preserve the distinctive character of their product, they opted to require use of the gerle, a traditional wooden vat, and an on-farm cheese making process. The gerle came recently under scrutiny from French governmental hygiene regulation enforcement, and the subsequent public controversy jeopardized the entire supply chain and destabilized Salers cheese-making methods. Prevailing in their efforts to protect Salers, producers established the gerle as mandatory and have since set up a governance board to ensure PDO brand integrity. Our analysis suggests that the diversity of technical choices and associated set of knowledge in Salers cheese production has paradoxically been both its strength and weakness. Local agricultural know-how forges links among participants in Salers networks, connecting cheese producers and consumers, to cattle, microbes, landscapes, wooden tools, and cheeses. Yet, diversity of local expertise creates a tension among producers who must collaborate to achieve unified standards within a PDO while resisting homogeneity. Such results contribute to discussing on PDO governance: an arena to share, compare, and unite local knowledge is critical for GI and thus for sustainable agricultural systems.

Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France by Caroline Moorehead

Reviews 201 (673–74). The passages in which the authors skillfully blend company history with that of France more generally are highpoints of this study. These include Larousse’s support of his workers during the Commune, proving“l’engagement idéologique [...] du citoyen”(156); the political attacks on Larousse’s depiction of “les grands hommes de la République”(460) and the company’s material struggles (“le manque de papier”; the need for French-German dictionaries [460–62]) under the Occupation.Readers may take issue with the authors’ uncritical treatment of the founder’s desire to “répandre partout le savoir [...] à rendre les hommes meilleurs,”and of the Petit Larousse illustré’s capacity to delight non-metropolitan readers with “une sorte d’universel [...] qui apparaît tel à ceux pour qui la France, c’est aussi bien les droits de l’homme que le bon vin, la gastronomie, la haute couture, les parfums et le ‘Larousse’, adopté comme un symbole d’élégance et de savoir-vivre”(15). Nevertheless, this is a touchstone work on the history of publishing that will be of interest primarily to scholars of nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first century French literature and culture, and historians of the book. Georgetown University Anne O’Neil-Henry Moorehead, Caroline. Village of Secrets: Defying the Nazis in Vichy France. London: Chatto & Windus, 2014. ISBN 978-0-701-18641-8. Pp. x + 374. £20. The most original part of Moorehead’s study takes place before the reader gets to the village in question, Le Chambon-sur-Lignon. These ninety pages trace the itinerary of a dozen foreign and French Jews who find their way to the plateau where the village is located in south-central France. As she follows them, Moorehead skillfully paints the country with its disease-ridden internment camps, its hungry inhabitants, and the chaos and fear of the Vichy years. She depicts collaboration, anti-Semitism, and the growing menace to Jews, subjected to round-ups and deportation. It was a brilliant idea to begin by letting the reader experience this treacherous flight from various minefields to ultimate safety. Once we get to the village, however, Moorehead relates the same story told in one form or another since 1980. Despite the jacket cover’s ludicrous claim—“Just why and how le Chambon and its outlying villages came to save so many people has never been fully told”—nothing here is new; it has all been openly debated particularly since 1990. Moorehead mentions only one book and one film but criticizes them both. One wonders if she read the books in her bibliography. The book she attacks was published in 1979: Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed by Philip Hallie.Moorehead claims Hallie was a historian,but he was a philosopher.His pioneering work is a brilliant study of the ethics of rescue in which he deliberately states that he would be unable to tell the story “as thoroughly as a careful historian might tell it” (7). Consequently, since the mid-1980s, historians have been rectifying approximations and inexactitudes in his work. As regards Pierre Sauvage, Moorehead repeats a litany of unsubstantiated charges, finding Sauvage’s original and inspiring Weapons of the Spirit (1989; 2014) guilty of having a 40-second portion (in this 93-minute film) in which the filmmaker“asks”whether the rescue mission might have been helped because the head German officer in the region looked the other way. From someone who hammered Hallie and savaged Sauvage, one might expect impeccable scholarship. But the text is riddled with dozens of mistakes: Madeleine Dreyfus was never General Secretary of OSE (Jewish Children’s Welfare Organization), nor did she work on the Swiss border or in the internment camps. Georges Garel was Russian, not Polish; neither Joseph Bass nor Georges Loinger were Righteous Gentiles because both were Jewish. Darbyists are Protestants. OSE was not in Paris in 1932 and Albert Schweitzer was hardly its president, but in 1923 OSE was in Berlin where Albert Einstein was its honorary president. Finally, Moorehead snipes continuously at Pastor André Trocmé, whom she accuses of “malice,”“complacency,” and self-importance; the same Trocmé who wrote in his unpublished autobiography, when informed that he would...

Aerosol particle measurements at three stationary sites in the megacity of Paris during summer 2009: meteorology and air mass origin dominate aerosol particle composition and size distribution

Abstract. During July 2009, a one-month measurement campaign was performed in the megacity of Paris. Amongst other measurement platforms, three stationary sites distributed over an area of 40 km in diameter in the greater Paris region enabled a detailed characterization of the aerosol particle and gas phase. Simulation results from the FLEXPART dispersion model were used to distinguish between different types of air masses sampled. It was found that the origin of air masses had a large influence on measured mass concentrations of the secondary species particulate sulphate, nitrate, ammonium, and oxygenated organic aerosol measured with the Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer in the submicron particle size range: particularly high concentrations of these species (about 4 μg m−3, 2 μg m−3, 2 μg m−3, and 7 μg m−3, respectively) were measured when aged material was advected from continental Europe, while for air masses originating from the Atlantic, much lower mass concentrations of these species were observed (about 1 μg m−3, 0.2 μg m−3, 0.4 μg m−3, and 1–3 μg m−3, respectively). For the primary emission tracers hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol, black carbon, and NOx it was found that apart from diurnal source strength variations and proximity to emission sources, local meteorology had the largest influence on measured concentrations, with higher wind speeds leading to larger dilution and therefore smaller measured concentrations. Also the shape of particle size distributions was affected by wind speed and air mass origin. Quasi-Lagrangian measurements performed under connected flow conditions between the three stationary sites were used to estimate the influence of the Paris emission plume onto its surroundings, which was found to be rather small. Rough estimates for the impact of the Paris emission plume on the suburban areas can be inferred from these measurements: Volume mixing ratios of 1–14 ppb of NOx, and upper limits for mass concentrations of about 1.5 μg m−3 of black carbon and of about 3 μg m−3 of hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol can be deduced which originate from both, local emissions and the overall Paris emission plume. The secondary aerosol particle phase species were found to be not significantly influenced by the Paris megacity, indicating their regional origin. The submicron aerosol mass concentrations of particulate sulphate, nitrate, and ammonium measured during time periods when air masses were advected from eastern central Europe were found to be similar to what has been found from other measurement campaigns in Paris and south-central France for this type of air mass origin, indicating that the results presented here are also more generally valid.

Monsters of the Gevaudan: The Making of a Beast. By Jay M. Smith (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011. 378 pp. $35.00)

The monster is back! As if to greet the publication of Jay Smith's new book, a killer of sheep nicknamed the “Beast of the Vosges” cut a swath in June 2011 through the flocks of eastern France leaving in its wake a string of woolly corpses and a flurry of speculation as to whether or not the predator was a wolf. The context is much different now than it was in the 1760s as wolves, which have all but disappeared from the French countryside since the 1930s, have since been granted their own status as victims of human predation. But the mythical Bête du Gévaudan still casts a long shadow over all such subsequent occurrences. The essentials of the story of the Beast, if not its details, are known to most people in France. In 1764-65 at least sixty people, mostly women and children, were gruesomely killed, often decapitated and devoured, by an attacker (or possibly several) emerging from the depths of the forests. These events occurred in the wild and mountainous Gévaudan region of south-central France, and were attributed by the locals and then by the press to a single killer. Survivors of the attacks maintained that “it” was no ordinary wolf but a monstrous creature the size of a young bull with an elongated muzzle, sparkling eyes, talons on its feet and a long snake-like tail. The local and then royal authorities set about tracking down the monster, organizing well-publicized hunts involving thousands of villagers led by would-be heroes, which initially met with a humiliating lack of success. Finally, in the fall of 1765 a royal gun-bearer named François Antoine tracked down and killed a large wolf which, declared to be the Beast, was embalmed and shipped up to Versailles for a much-ballyhooed public viewing at court. (Horace Walpole, a skeptic from the start, was present for the viewing and happily declared the Beast to be “not more above the common size” than his portly acquaintance Mrs. Cavendish.) Attacks on villagers continued, but the matter of the Beast was officially declared over.

Modelling forest management within a global vegetation model—Part 2: Model validation from a tree to a continental scale

The construction of a new forest management module (FMM) within the ORCHIDEE global vegetation model (GVM) allows a realistic simulation of biomass changes during the life cycle of a forest, which makes many biomass datasets suitable as validation data for the coupled ORCHIDEE-FM GVM. This study uses three datasets to validate ORCHIDEE-FM at different temporal and spatial scales: permanent monitoring plots, yield tables, and the French national inventory data. The last dataset has sufficient geospatial coverage to allow a novel type of validation: inventory plots can be used to produce continuous maps that can be compared to continuous simulations for regional trends in standing volumes and volume increments. ORCHIDEE-FM performs better than simple statistical models for stand-level variables, which include tree density, basal area, standing volume, average circumference and height, when management intensity and initial conditions are known: model efficiency is improved by an average of 0.11, and its average bias does not exceed 25%. The performance of the model is less satisfying for tree-level variables, including extreme circumferences, tree circumference distribution and competition indices, or when management and initial conditions are unknown. At the regional level, when climate forcing is accurate for precipitation, ORCHIDEE-FM is able to reproduce most productivity patterns in France, such as the local lows of needleleaves in the Parisian basin and of broadleaves in south-central France. The simulation of water stress effects on biomass in the Mediterranean region, however, remains problematic, as does the simulation of the wood increment for coniferous trees. These pitfalls pertain to the general ORCHIDEE model rather than to the FMM. Overall, with an average bias seldom exceeding 40%, the performance of ORCHIDEE-FM is deemed reliable to use it as a new modelling tool in the study of the effects of interactions between forest management and climate on biomass stocks of forests across a range of scales from plot to country.

Milk processing system in the hilly terrain, south-central France

Milk processing system in the hilly terrain, south-central France

Desmarest’s “Determination of some epochs of nature through volcanic products” (1775/1779)

In 1775, Nicolas Desmarest (1725-1815) presented an interpretation of geological evidence he had been examining for over a decade, among the extinct volcanoes of Auvergne in south-central France. He interpreted the volcanic remnants in that region in terms of three successive epochs, distinguished from one another by their degree of erosive alteration and the different topographic positions they held following extensive denudation. He insisted on the utility, for the establishment of sequential stages in the region's history, of what he called his 'analytical method' of working backward in time , from recognition of the most recent and therefore least altered products, to reconstruct in the imagination those more thoroughly disturbed and confusing remnants of earlier periods. In addition to being a landmark effort in historical geology based on local observation, Desmarest's paper was also notable as an expression of what would come later to be called uniformitarian thinking: he argued that the erosive processes responsible for wearing down the lavas must have operated gradually and constantly . While Desmarest seems never to have wavered in his view of volcanic action as a subordinate agent in the overall dynamics and history of the globe, he showed awareness that his analysis of the Auvergne lavas pointed toward a considerable role for volcanism during long portions of the province's geological history. The nearest thing to a contemporary publication of Desmarest's 1775 presentation came more than three years later, in the form of an 'excerpt' in the February 1779 issue of the journal Observations sur la physique. An English translation of that excerpt is presented in the present paper for the first time.

Wireless propagation in tunnels

In this article, we give a presentation of wireless electromagnetic propagation in tunnels. We discuss in depth the characteristics of multimodal propagation. We show analytical models whereby we are able to study electromagnetic fields in tunnels. To complement the analysis, we give an account of experiments performed in the Channel Tunnel between France and England, and the Massif Central in south-central France. We conclude with a discussion of the results, followed by some comments about bandwidth and the possibility of using multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems to improve communication-channel capacity.

Influence of dung volatiles on the process of resource selection by coprophagous beetles

Most dung beetles colonize the faeces of several vertebrate species without much discrimination, and are thus often considered as polyphagous. Recent studies have provided evidence for clear feeding preferences in scarab beetles colonizing dung of herbivore species, but little is known about these insects’ abilities to discriminate among odours from faeces of various herbivores. In this study, trophic preferences were examined using blocks of pitfall traps baited with dung from four different herbivore species, i.e., sheep, cattle, horse, and red deer, in a mountainous area of south-central France. 4941 coprophagous scarabs, belonging to 27 species, were captured. Beetles were more attracted to dung of sheep (2257 individuals) than that of cattle (1294 individuals), followed by deer dung (768 individuals) and horse dung (622 individuals). Eleven of the 27 beetle species collected had significant feeding preferences for one of the four dung types. For each insect species, trophic habits did not vary between the two different sites of trapping, an open pasture and a wooded habitat. In laboratory olfactometer bioassays, scarab beetles orientated preferentially towards the dung volatiles from the dung type they preferred in the field. Trypocopris pyrenaeus, Anoplotrupes stercorosus, and Aphodius rufipes were more attracted to volatile compounds from sheep dung, Onthophagus fracticornis significantly preferred horse dung volatiles, and Aphodius haemorrhoidalis responded positively to deer dung odours. The role of dung olfactory cues in the process of resource selection by dung beetles is discussed.

WALNUT CULTIVAR PERFORMANCE OF COLD RESISTANCE IN SOUTH CENTRAL FRANCE

In south-central France, walnut exhibited freezing tolerance by acclimation in the fall and deacclimation in the spring. The cold hardiness level varied with the different cultivars and dates. Cold tolerance performances of 7 walnut fruit cultivars (Chandler, Franquette, Fernor, Fernette, Lara, Pedro, Serr) and of the hybrid Juglans regia × Juglans nigra NG38 were compared in the same location, at the INRA Center of Clermont-Ferrand. For these comparisons, an electrolyte leakage conductivity method (LT50) was used and adapted for walnut. In all cases NG38 (Juglans regia × Juglans nigra) appeared particularly cold resistant.

Trophic Preferences Mediated by Olfactory Cues in Dung Beetles Colonizing Cattle and Horse Dung

Scarab beetles colonizing vertebrate feces are considered polyphagous insects, because they often use dung of several species. However, recent works have provided evidence for strong feeding preferences in some dung beetle species. The influence of dung odors in the process of resource selection by beetles has not received attention. The objective of this study was to investigate trophic preferences in Mediterranean dung beetles colonizing cattle and horse dung. The pattern of resource use by insects was studied using series of pitfall traps baited with cattle or horse dung in three different sites of south-central France. A total of 4,276 insects belonging to 39 species were captured. Cattle dung attracted more insects than horse feces (2,570 versus 1,706 individuals). Twenty-four of the 39 beetle species collected had clear feeding preferences for cattle dung (13 species) or horse dung (11 species). None of these species seemed linked exclusively to one kind of dung. The behavioral responses of seven scarab beetles to volatile compounds emitted by cattle and horse dung were compared in laboratory olfactometer bioassays. Three insect species (Aphodius erraticus, A. scrutator, Onthophagus vacca) were more attracted to volatile compounds from cattle dung. Two other species (Euonthophagus amyntas, Bubas bubalus) orientated preferentially toward horse dung volatiles. Except for two species, beetles were thus attracted to volatiles from the dung type they preferred in the field. The reasons why coprophagous beetles show local feeding preferences for particular dung types are discussed.

ADAPTATION TO COLD TEMPERATURE AND RESPONSE TO FREEZING IN WALNUT TREE

In south-central France, Walnut exhibited freezing tolerance by acclimation in the fall and deacclimation in the spring. This involved a sequence of active processes that result in well-defined changes in cellular composition (starch level in particular). At the same time, the response to freezing by dehydration of cells showed that Walnut trees present also freezing avoidance. We developed a new simple tool for testing cold hardiness and compared it with the classical LT 50 test (electrical leakage conductivity). The new test gave similar results. We observed also similar results for both tests when applied to colddeprived trees (in greenhouse >15°C). Frost hardiness was correlated with carbohydrate reserve status in the both cases (cold-deprived trees and orchard trees).

Urban musical culture in late medieval southern France

D URING the late Middle Ages south-central France was a highly urbanized region with close ties to commerce and trade on the Mediterranean Sea. The archives of Provence and Languedoc contain numerous diverse documeifts that shed light on the little-explored urban musical culture of this area.1 For example, the municipal records of Montpellier, the leading city in the region with an estimated peak population of 30,000-40,000, include account books, contracts, ordinances, chronicles and a ceremonial book that reveal the importance of civic patronage for the urban musician in this city.2 Other types of archival sources from throughout the region, such as records of professional and charitable organizations, university statutes, private letters, tax records and property listings, all help to establish the professional activities of urban musicians and their role within society. In addition, private notarial contracts have proven to be an exceptionally valuable source of evidence concerning diverse aspects of urban musical culture in southern France during the late Middle Ages. The archives of south-central France, like those throughout Mediterranean Europe, preserve a large quantity of notarial records from the late 14th and 15th centuries; the archives of Provence alone contain approximately 14,0oo notarial registers dating from the period 1350-1520.3 While the vast number of these records makes them a highly useful source for the social historian, at the same time it creates difficulties in research. In a collection of articles based on notarial records from Mediterranean Europe, Egmont Lee writes, 'For the fifteenth century, and often for the fourteenth century as well, records survive in such large quantities that most archives have been unable to cope with them adequately.'4 Detailed inventories generally do not exist for notarial records, making it an unusually time-consuming and labour-intensive process simply to locate relevant contracts. Such documents can, however, supply details of both the personal and the professional lives of urban musicians that cannot be found in other archival sources.

Estimation of subpixel vegetation density of natural regions using satellite multispectral imagery

A procedure is presented for estimating the subpixel fractional canopy density of natural or undisturbed semivegetated regions on a pixel-by-pixel basis using one satellite multispectral image and a physical modeling approach. The method involves applying a model of the bulk, nondimensional plant geometry combined with a simple model of canopy reflectance and transmittance to the red and near-infrared reflectance space of the atmospherically corrected satellite image. Shadow effects are parameterized assuming Poisson-distributed and geometrically similar plant canopies. The method is applied to the estimation of fractional cover and leaf area index, using Landsat thematic mapper imagery, of two physiologically different plant communities. The first is the Landes Forest, a coniferous region in south central France, during the June 1986 HAPEX-Mobilhy Experiment. The second is the semiarid Walnut Gulch basin of southeast Arizona that contains predominantly shrubs and grasses, during the June 1990 MONSOON Experiment. The procedure offers a physically based alternative to empirical vegetation indices for estimating regionally variable canopy densities of natural, homogeneous systems with little or no ground truth.

Ancient DNA from Bronze Age bones of European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus).

The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is now widely distributed throughout the world as a result of transportation by man. The original populations, however, were confined to southern France and Spain. In order to investigate the role of human intervention in determining the genetic diversity of rabbit populations, we are studying the origin of rabbits introduced onto a small Mediterranean island (Zembra) near Tunis over 1400 years ago, by examining ancient DNA extracted from rabbit bones found both on Zembra and on the European mainland. Ancient DNA was successfully extracted from rabbit bones found at two archaeological sites dated to at least the Early Bronze Age (more than 3500 years ago) in south-central France, and compared to that found in modern mainland and island populations using a small variable region of the cytochrome b gene. The results confirm that the Zembra Island population is descended from that present over 1400 years ago. The technical aspects of DNA extraction from bones and the implications of this type of research for determining the origin of introduced rabbit populations are discussed.