News – Page 9 – Laboratoire LEMAR UMR 6539

The silicon cycle at “la Méthode Scientifique” radio program, May 5, 2021 at 4pm

Silicon. Why should we be interested in this element? Because it is particularly abundant in the form of silica and silicate minerals on the planet Earth and on other terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars). If on Earth living organisms are based on the carbon cycle, essential organisms of marine life (diatoms, radiolarians, a good part of sponges, …) require silicon to build their internal or external structures. Without silicon, the biological carbon pump loses much of its efficiency. What are the sources and sinks of silicon in the ocean? What is the production of biogenic silica in the ocean? How is the silicon cycle evolving in response to climate change and anthropogenic perturbations?

These are the questions that Paul Tréguer (LEMAR, IUEM-UBO) answered on France Culture, during the program “La Méthode Scientifique” on Wednesday, May 5, at 4:00 pm, a program to which Anne Alexandre (CEREGE, CNRS) was also invited.

03/05/2021/by sherve@univ-brest.fr

Plastik Panic in the ocean: the exhibition facing the harbor

Thursday 29 April 2021 was inaugurated the exhibition “Plastik Panic in the Ocean”, in the presence of three vice-presidents of Brest Métropole, members of LEMAR and the scientific mediation team of Océanopolis.

This exhibition of 16 large-format photographs has been installed on the Promenade du Moulin Blanc, outside Océanopolis. Free of charge and accessible to all walkers, it will remain visible, facing the most beautiful harbour in the world, that of Brest of course, until 7 November 2021.

From left to right: Ika PAUL-PONT, Yohann NEDELEC (vice-president of Brest métropole in charge of major projects), Arnaud HUVET, Tristan FOVEAU (vice-president of Brest métropole in charge of sustainable waste management), Laurent PERON (vice-president of Brest métropole in charge of the coast) and Erwan AMICE.

Combining scientific and artistic contributions, the aim of the exhibition is to raise awareness among as wide a public as possible of the problems of plastic pollution in our oceans and to support actions in favour of sober use and responsible consumption. The photographs on display show this pollution on our coastline, from the macro to the micro-waste, we follow the scientists from the sampling to the laboratory and end up with concrete solutions and ways to act. This scientific mediation and awareness-raising initiative is part of the objectives of the Preventing Plastic Pollution (PPP) project.

This exhibition is the result of a partnership between members of LEMAR and the scientific mediation teams of Océanopolis, with the support of Brest-Métropôle. We learned of the sudden death of its initiator, Anne Rognant a few days before this inauguration. We would like to pay tribute here to the inspiring woman she was, and to her immeasurable work for the sharing of knowledge.

<Design and production : Océanopolis & Laboratoire des Sciences de l’Environnement Marin (LEMAR)
Photographs: © Erwan Amice / CNRS – © Sébastien Hervé / UBO – © Ifremer / Stephane Lesbats – © Esther Nonnonhou / Le Mans Université – © Maria-Luisa PEDROTTI / Marie-Emmanuelle KERROS / Groupe IMME / LOV / CNRS Photothèque – © Cyril FRESILLON / OOV / LOV / CNRS Photothèque
Text: Ika Paul-Pont (CNRS), Arnaud Huvet (Ifremer), Sébastien Hervé (UBO), Erwan Amice (CNRS), Anne Rognant (Océanopolis), Tristan Hatin (Océanopolis), Lionel Feuillassier (Océanopolis)

More information on the Océanopolis website

30/04/2021/by sherve@univ-brest.fr

Farewell anne

News

It is with great sorrow that we have learned, on Tuesday April 27, 2021, the sudden death of Anne Rognant, curator in charge of scientific and cultural mediation at Océanopolis.

More than a collaborator, Anne was a friend for many of us at LEMAR and more widely at IUEM. Passionate, bubbly and never short of ideas, Anne brought her inexhaustible energy to so many scientific mediation projects that it would be impossible to list them all here, taking scientists and students by the hand to get them out of their laboratories and share with as many people as possible the wonders of the Ocean and the adventure of knowledge. We were to inaugurate with her the exhibition “Plastik Panic in the Ocean” which she was, once again, at the origin.

If marine sciences – and much more than that – have been able to find such a strong echo among the population of Brest (European Night of Researchers, Science Festival, Science Villages, Young Reporters of Arts and Sciences, Eco-Counsellors of the Ocean, or even the e-classes of Océanopolis . …), it is largely thanks to the work she has accomplished for nearly 30 years, with the teams she has trained and who will, no doubt, maintain the flame she has lit.

Our thoughts are with her family, friends and colleagues.

Goodbye Anne, we will miss you.

(C) Frank Betermin

30/04/2021/by sherve@univ-brest.fr

Biodiversity Day | LEMAR#ForNature

News

The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity has announced the slogan for Biodiversity Day 2021 (May 22): “We are part of the solution”. This slogan was chosen as a continuation of the momentum created last year under the overall theme “Our solutions are in nature”, which served as a reminder that biodiversity remains the answer to several sustainable development challenges. Whether it is nature-based solutions for climate, health issues, food and water security or sustainable livelihoods, biodiversity is the foundation on which we can build back better.

The Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2018 adopted the establishment of a comprehensive and participatory process for the preparation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. This day is important for this dynamic.

LEMAR actively participates in the protection of biodiversity through its research and actions towards the public and its partners. We are, like all of you, part of the solution!

More informations here: https://www.cbd.int/conferences/post2020
And here: https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-14/cop-14-dec-34-en.pdf

26/04/2021/by sherve@univ-brest.fr

“Appeal of 5 March” of CNU 22

News

We are the University

We, members of the 22nd section of the National Council of Universities, created by ordinance at the Liberation to represent our peers, denounce 20 years of policies of cynical destruction of the public service of higher education and research.
From the top to the bottom of the university, sabotage has been systematic. The lack of means, the decrease in the number of posts, the precarious situation of personnel, the deterioration of teaching and research conditions, are the result of decades of sacking of the university, and have created the state of emergency that forces us to write this appeal.
The current abandonment of the University’s students while the preparatory classes remain open is only the latest mark of this deliberate bankruptcy and the organised contempt for the University at the top of the state.
The inability of Ministers Vidal and Blanquer to deal with the health crisis in education, which their inept and dangerous attacks have failed to conceal, brings them absolutely into disrepute. The mistrust of the academic world towards them is total and irreversible. Unworthy, they no longer have sufficient legitimacy to carry out their functions. They must resign.
Faced with this mess, we decide today to take back in hand our collective destiny.

In the name of academic freedom and university sovereignty :
– We demand that the National Council of Universities be put back at the centre of the individual and collective evaluation processes of university research, while respecting its independence.
– We call on all the sections of the CNU to meet in the Estates General of the University.
– We invite the general assembly of the directorates of laboratories and research units to join us.

It is collectively, tenured and precarious, that we will henceforth fight to re-found the University. And it is together that we will fight to re-establish a democratic public service of higher education, of quality and accessible to all.

Motion voted unanimously by the members of the 22nd section of the National Council of Universities

08/03/2021/by titodemora