Ice phases incorporating a non-negligible amount of salt have been recently experimentally demonstrated. In particular, both high- and low-pressure phases have been reported, showing interest respectively in models for planetary interior compositions, and solid aqueous electrolytes for battery devices. Investigating these phases in greater detail and potentially identifying new ones is therefore interesting both for fundamental and applied research perspectives. Since high-pressure characterization experiments are challenging, atomic-scale numerical simulations such as molecular dynamics can help providing valuable insights in the formation and stability of materials. Four challenges prevent reaching a quantitative description of salty ice phases through atom scale modeling: the computational cost of ab initio approaches, the subtle balance of interactions in water, the low accuracy and transferability of empirical potentials, and the selection of an appropriate collective variable to follow transformations between phases. The SIMODAS project aims at solving all four challenges, by combining two data-driven approaches: one to derive optimal collective variables, and one to extract accurate and transferable interaction potentials. With this methodology in hand, the formation processes and stability field of a range of salty ices will be investigated. In particular, several halides will be considered, to extract knowledge regarding the necessary conditions for the favorable formation of crystallines phases. In addition, work will be devoted to characterize the ion transport properties of these phases to provide valuable information for planetary models and materials design for electrolytes. Finally, several methodological improvements related to the committor probability will be investigated, ranging from accelerating its estimation from molecular dynamics simulations, to investigating local approximations enabling significant dimensionality reduction in optimizing collective variables.

The paleontological records provide insights to understand how the earth system and biota have responded to past climatic changes. In the Miocene, the climate was warmer and the CO2 concentration was higher than in pre-industrial times, and it has been suggested as an analogue for future climate scenarios. Climatic models have failed to satisfactorily simulate the tropical Miocene climate in terrestrial ecosystems, and the magnitude and rate of climate change in the tropics during the Miocene and how affected the evolution of tropical biodiversity remains unknown. Miocene paleoclimatic estimates from the tropics will validate or refute climate models simulations and would inform if the models can predict with confidence future climate scenarios.The Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO) is a global warming event that occurred between ~17–14 Ma, followed by a period of cooling (Miocene Climatic Transition, MCT). To study how the MCO and MCT affected tropical ecosystems requires a rich fossil record with precise geologic dates. La Venta in Colombia is the most fossil-rich site of tropical South America. I have been developing a research program in La Venta that provides the basis to study climate change and biotic evolution at this site by establishing a large dataset of fossil records with a precise chronology. This project will take full advantage of the exceptionally rich fossil record of La Venta to (1) reconstruct the climatic changes in a tropical ecosystem during the Miocene and (2) assess how these changes affected the evolution of tropical diversity, using mammals as study system. This project will integrate four interconnected working packages (WPs). In WP1, we will use a geochemical approach to quantify paleoclimate during the MCO and MCT. In WP2, we will establish the changes in taxonomic diversity. In WP3, we will evaluate changes in functional diversity, and in WP4, we will assess the link between changes in community structure and climate change.

The COCAS project aims to fill a major void in the global system for observing and studying Climate Change and its Impacts (CC&I) on the world's coasts, and thus meeting the expectations of the Green Pact of Europe in terms of infrastructure for advanced observation and monitoring of the climate / environment (Green Deal, Topic 9.1). It brings together scientists from Europe and so-called “Southern” Atlantic and Mediterranean countries, around the most complete and modern platforms currently existing for long-term and high-precision measurements of key physics parameters. , biogeochemistry and marine biology of coastal areas. These measures are not shared internationally, which delays progress on CC&I measurement and forecasting. The COCAS group will dedicate itself to making its data easily accessible internally and externally, to homogenize the sensors and modernize them, to reinforce internal cohesion and share expertise within the network and with the community and public and private end users . Anchored air-sea buoys, CC&I sentinels in coastal marine regions. Compared to the global ocean, the coastal marine space is more productive, responds more intensely to disturbances, and is in direct contact with human populations. This makes it an essential source of resources and services, changes in which under the effect of CC&I are essential to monitor by key quantity measurements, at the air-sea interface and below the surface. The ANR COCAS network will offer Europe leadership on a new infrastructure, made up of Coastal Anchored Buoys (BACs), existing beyond its borders in the coastal areas of less developed countries neighboring Europe. This will complement the transnational networks of LACs from developed, European (ERI JERICO3) and international deep-sea countries in the Atlantic-Pacific tropics (PIRATA and TAO programs). A European infrastructure to monitor the evolution and impacts of climate change in the southern coastal marine environment in the decades to come. In the southern coastal regions, the lack of reliable data requires a multidisciplinary international mobilization, to describe a “zero” state using reference points, dedicated to oceanic and atmospheric parameters, whose knowledge is key to validate forecasts. local and global climatic conditions and assess the impacts. Nineteen BACs have been deployed “to the South”, by the members of the project (Atlantic, Mediterranean and East Pacific basins). The members of the group have started to work together since the beginning of 2017 and the collective has strong technical and basic and applied research. This is the case not only in environmental sciences and human and social sciences. but also in particular for partnerships with local and international companies, the use of substantial financial and human resources, and the development of links with the local industrial and institutional fabric, allowing the dissemination of information to governments and the public about Coastal CC&I. Three structuring objectives. The members of the 16 countries (4 European, 11 in the South and the USA) of the project are committed to working on the three pillars of an EU Infrastructure network: coordination and sharing of expertise internally as well as with the rest of the community, standardization and innovations for quality platforms and data, and easy access for internal and external users. Partnerships are established (see scientific committee) for the integration into the landscape of existing ERIs. To achieve this, the work will consist of animations such as webinars, annual meetings, and bi-monthly videoconferences aimed at creating a common database and coordinating the drafting of the EU Infrastructure project.

Organisms have always been confronted with changes in environmental conditions, either in space or time. However, the number and rate of anthropogenic alterations impose so intense selective pressures that biodiversity is irreversibly impacted. As well, biodiversity monitoring shows that extinction rate due to global change continues to increase. Plasticity and adaptability are key eco-evolutionary processes that could mitigate biodiversity loss in the face of environmental changes. However, few studies have determined how the combined effects of anthropogenic stressors affect the immediate and evolutionary response of organisms. POLLUCLIM aims at experimentally studying a freshwater organism’s response to the combined effects of climate warming and pollution. Using laboratory microcosms of a ciliate, I will first determine the plastic response to warmer and/or polluted environments (4 different pollutants) of a panel of genotypes. I will then study the probability of evolutionary rescue to these stressors, and determine if exposure to a stressful environment influences the evolutionary response to another stressful environment. Finally, I will relate adaptive patterns to genetic backgrounds and mutagenesis effects of stressors. At the end, the project should improve our understanding of tolerance and adaptability patterns to multiple anthropogenic stressors, with access to the underlying molecular mechanisms.

At the current warming rate, many organisms should go extinct if they are not able to disperse or adapt locally, which often involves plastic responses. In ectotherms, warming influences plastic life history traits with an acceleration of early life production at the expense of longevity and senescence. This may be due to trade-offs involving warming-induced oxidative stress and telomere shortening. Although pace-of-life acceleration may provide short-term benefits, it also increases sensitivity to limited resources, extreme climate events and unusual nighttime thermal conditions. Thus, in an increasingly warmer climate, ectotherms could reach critical physiological thresholds that would precipitate their decline. To date, physiological mechanisms and ecological consequences of this pace-of-life acceleration are poorly characterized. Here, we will combine experimental, observational and analytical approaches to unlock critical gaps in our understanding of thermal plasticity of life history. We will focus on a bimodal reproductive lizard (Zootoca vivipara), which offers a unique context to analyze how evolutionary transition between oviparity and viviparity influenced pace-of-life acceleration. Using long-term data sets and surveys across climatic gradients, we will document patterns of pace-of-life acceleration in response to climate warming in the two reproductive modes, focusing on vulnerable populations of the warm margin. In addition, we will perform outdoor and laboratory experiments to identify physiological tipping points in the context of day-night asymmetry of warming and extreme climate events. Given their major potential role in this thermal plasticity, non-energetic trade-offs will be quantified using longitudinal and cross-sectional assays of oxidative stress and telomere length dynamics. Altogether, this project will highlight patterns, mechanisms, and consequences on population viability of pace-of-life acceleration in response to climate warming.