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Bioinvasion is a major public health issue because it can lead to the introduction of pathogens in new areas and favours the emergence of zoonotic diseases. Rodents are prominent invasive species, and act as reservoirs in many zoonotic infectious diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the link between the distribution and spread of two parasite taxa (Leishmania spp. and Trypanosoma lewisi) and the progressive invasion of Senegal by two commensal rodent species (the house mouse Mus musculus domesticus and the black rat Rattus rattus). M. m. domesticus and R. rattus have invaded the northern part and the central/southern part of the country, respectively. Native and invasive rodents were caught in villages and cities along the invasion gradients of both invaders, from coastal localities towards the interior of the land. Molecular diagnosis of the two trypanosomatid infections was performed using spleen specimens. In the north, neither M. m. domesticus nor the native species were carriers of these parasites. Conversely, in the south, 17.5% of R. rattus were infected by L. major and 27.8% by T. lewisi, while very few commensal native rodents were carriers. Prevalence pattern along invasion gradients, together with the knowledge on the geographical distribution of the parasites, suggested that the presence of the two parasites in R. rattus in Senegal is of different origins. Indeed, the invader R. rattus could have been locally infected by the native parasite L. major. Conversely, it could have introduced the exotic parasite T. lewisi in Senegal, the latter appearing to be poorly transmitted to native rodents. Altogether, these data show that R. rattus is a carrier of both parasites and could be responsible for the emergence of new foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis, or for the transmission of atypical human trypanosomiasis in Senegal., Author summary Biological invasions (the introduction and adaptation of living organisms to a new environment) are increasingly frequent due to worldwide intensification of human-associated exchanges. They can lead to the introduction of pathogens in new areas and favour the emergence of diseases. Rodents are prominent invasive species, and act as reservoirs in many infectious diseases. The aim of our study was to determine the link between the distribution and spread of two parasites, Leishmania spp. and Trypanosoma lewisi, and the progressive invasion of Senegal by two commensal rodent species, the house mouse Mus musculus domesticus, and the black rat Rattus rattus. We identified R. rattus as a potential reservoir for Leishmania major and T. lewisi in the southern part of Senegal. The presence of these two pathogens in R. rattus may be of different origins. The invader R. rattus could have been locally contaminated with L. major. Conversely, T. lewisi infection could have been introduced in Senegal by R. rattus, and seems to be poorly transmitted to native rodents. Altogether, these data show that R. rattus is a carrier of both parasites, and could be responsible for the emergence of new foci of cutaneous leishmaniasis or for the transmission of atypical human trypanosomiasis in Senegal.

Changes in host-parasite ecological interactions during biological invasion events may affect both the outcome of invasions and the dynamics of exotic and/or endemic infections. We tested these hypotheses, by investigating ongoing house mouse (Mus musculus domesticus) and black rat (Rattus rattus) invasions in Senegal (West Africa). We used a 16S gene rRNA amplicon sequencing approach to study potentially zoonotic bacterial communities in invasive and native rodents sampled along two well-defined independent invasion routes. We found that individual host factors (body mass and sex) were important drivers of these bacterial infections in rodents. We observed that the bacterial communities varied along invasion routes and differed between invasive and native rodents, with native rodents displaying higher overall bacterial diversity than invasive rodents. Differences in prevalence levels for some bacterial Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) provided support for ecological processes connecting parasitism and invasion success. Finally, our results indicated that rodent invasions may lead to the introduction of exotic bacterial genera and/or to changes in the prevalence of endemic ones. This study illustrates the difficulty of predicting the relationship between biodiversity and disease risks, and advocate for public health prevention strategies based on global pathogen surveillance followed by accurate characterization of potential zoonotic agents.

In 1989 a conflict arose on the Senegal-Mauritania border, resulting in violence by populations on either side against those suspected of “foreign” origins. This situation entailed mass slaughters of people of Senegalese descent in Mauritania and expulsion for the luckier ones. Their assimilation in the Senegalese part of the borderland has been made partly easier by the language they share with the host communities, which enabled them, on arrival, to undertake activities that would also ensure their integration. Mauritanian refugees now have the possibility to move freely between their former sites and their new environment. Yet this process of losing and regaining their status is paralleled by a more complex process of identity seeking or recovery. This paper examines these identity issues by focusing on the experience of the Djolly Senegal refugee community, and also on the cultural bridging strategies that they have developed, with a particular interest in representations and discourse.

This publication is one of the results of a conference organised in Lisbon in 2011 on the theme of African borders and their relationships with migration and mobility. The selected papers are a sample of the diverse perspectives on the general theme presented at the meeting. The African Borderlands Research Network (ABORNE) promoted this event, allowing a substantial number of its members to exchange results of ongoing and long-term research. The Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal) funded the research project Borders and Identity in Africa (PTDC/AFR/098339/2008) which prepared this publication.

International audience; The worldwide intensification of human-associated exchanges favours the multiplication of biological invasions. Among mammals, rodent species, including the house mouse Mus musculus, are identified as major invaders with profound impacts on native biodiversity, human health and activities. Though contemporary rodent invasions are described on several islands, there are few data describing ongoing house mouse invasions in continental areas. We first outline the known picture of the distribution of the house mouse in Africa. We then describe the ongoing range expansion of the house mouse in Senegal, in order to update its distribution area, assess the location of the invasion front, describe the spatio-temporal dynamics of the invasion at the country scale and evaluate its impact on native small mammal communities. We briefly review the worldwide status of the house mouse, with special focus on its situation in Africa. Focusing on Senegal, we then use historical records and a large body of spatio-temporal indoor trapping data obtained from small mammal communities over the last 30 years to analyse the invasion dynamics of the subspecies at the scale of the country.The geographic range of the invasive house mouse is surprisingly poorly known in Africa. In Senegal, we document a large range expansion of the subspecies in human settlements over the whole country within the last 30 years. The invasion is still ongoing further east and south within the country, and has major consequences for small mammal communities and thus probably for risks associated with zoonotic diseases.

International audience; Maize is attacked by many post-harvest pests including Sitophilus spp and Prostephanus spp, which causes remarkable loss during storage. Approximately 30 to 40 % loss in the absence of treatment has been reported worldwide. This study compare genetically Central African and Senegalese populations of Sitophilus zeamais from various agroecological zones using 3 markers namely cytochrome b, cytochrome oxidase and nuclear 28S gene. S. zeamais samples were analyzed on both of two other sites 34 for the 28S gene; 68 for cytochrome b and 36 for the cytochrome oxydase. Results analyzed by AMOVA have shown high genetic variation outside population of each country (6.17 % with Cyt b; 21.45 % with 49.83 % and COI in the case of 28S) and low within subpopulations (-10.06 % for Cyt b, 9.36 % for the COI and-15.23 % for 28S). Majority haplotype is shared between the two populations for 28S and cytochrome b genes and there is a very high haplotype diversity in populations of Senegal considering the Cytochrome b gene (0.781 + /-0.00364) while with COI and 28S, high values of diversity are observed in Central African sequences, respectively 1.000 + /-0.00274 and 0.867 + /-0.011. Genetic differentiation obtained according to the geographical origin is significant between the two populations; however, it is not at the level of subpopulations. Developed by the three approaches (parsimony, likelihood and Bayesian) phylogenetic trees are resolved and show a speciation of the two populations according to the geographical origin.

Carnivore are undoubtedly among the most threatened of the mammal species in Africa because of the low density at which they occur and their large home range requirements that do not match with human propensity to develop and alter wildlife habitat. However, the degree of threat is unevenly distributed within the continent, with western and central African carnivores being the most threatened and the least studied. I estimated population size, density, and proportion of area occupied in relation to environmental factors of one medium-size (serval – Leptailurus serval) and two large carnivores (lion – Panthera leo and leopard – P. pardus) in the Niokolo Koba National Park, Senegal, West Africa, using remote camera surveys and both traditional (CR), spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) techniques for servals and leopards, and non-spatial (MR) and spatial mark resight (SMR) methods for lions. Lions selected optimal sites with both high tree density and prey activity; leopards occupied areas with high tree density but with less prey activity; and servals selected habitats with more dense canopy cover where leopards were absent. The presence of lions was favorable to serval presence, as we presume leopards avoid lions, although we did not have strong evidence to support it. Moreover, the half mean maximum distance moved (½ MMDM) method under CR methods appeared to overestimate leopard and serval density while full MMDM estimates were close to SECR methods density estimates. For lions, both ½ MMDM and full MMDM methods in MR framework overestimated density whereas the SMR method resulted in more reasonable estimates, especially in light of previous assessments of lion densities in West Africa.. These results are of high importance for conservation and management purposes of the imperiled Niokolo Koba carnivore community. Master of Science

In 1989 a conflict arose on the Senegal-Mauritania border, resulting in violence by populations on either side against those suspected of “foreign” origins. This situation entailed mass slaughters of people of Senegalese descent in Mauritania and expulsion for the luckier ones. Their assimilation in the Senegalese part of the borderland has been made partly easier by the language they share with the host communities, which enabled them, on arrival, to undertake activities that would also ensure their integration. Mauritanian refugees now have the possibility to move freely between their former sites and their new environment. Yet this process of losing and regaining their status is paralleled by a more complex process of identity seeking or recovery. This paper examines these identity issues by focusing on the experience of the Djolly Senegal refugee community, and also on the cultural bridging strategies that they have developed, with a particular interest in representations and discourse.

Using the same set of microsatellite markers, we compared the population genetic structure of two Mastomys species, one being exclusively commensal in southeastern Senegal, and the other being continuously distributed outside villages in this region. Both species were sampled in the same landscape context and at the same spatial scale. According to the expectations based on the degree of habitat patchiness (which is higher for commensal populations in this rural area), genetic diversity was lower and genetic differentiation was higher in commensal populations of Mastomys natalensis than in wild populations of Mastomys erythroleucus. Contrasting estimates of effective dispersal and current migration rates corroborates previous data on differences in social structure between the two species. Isolation-by-distance analyses showed that human-mediated dispersal is not a major factor explaining the pattern of genetic differentiation for M. natalensis, and that gene flow is high and random between M. erythroleucus populations at the spatial scale considered.

The coupling of incident fields (plan wave; lightning stroke; nuclear electromagnetic pulse; current injection; ...) with lines or cables gives rise to over voltage which can damage electrical and electronic apparatus connected at the ends of these lines or cables. Accurate line or cable models are needed to solve these problems. Most of existing models suppose lossless lines or take account only of the skin effects in conductors. Nowadays most of electrical and electronic systems are very integrated; so the skin and the proximity effects cannot be neglected. The analytical modeling of shielded or unshielded multiwire telecommunication and power cables proposed in this PhD report involved the calculation of cable parameters in a frequency range covering [0Hz; l0Mhz]. These calculations include the skin and the proximity effects considerations in conducting materials. In chapter 1 we point out the weakness of the existing models. A new multiwire closely line parameters is proposed in chapter II. In chapter III; a new multiwire shielded cable primary parameters is given., Les liaisons filaires de par leurs fonctions constituent les véhicules de l'information ou de l'énergie. La présence d'ondes électromagnétiques perturbatrices dans leur voisinage peut occasionner une altération des signaux émis et quelques fois la destruction des appareils connectés aux extrémités. Pour prévoir les niveaux des signaux parasites, et dans le but de les réduire, il est important d'envisager une modélisation fine des structures filaires et ceci, avec un temps de calcul acceptable. Pour y répondre, des modèles analytiques de simulation plus ou moins détaillés ont été mis au point. Nous verrons tout au long du premier chapitre que les modèles existants n'envisagent pas, dans des configurations générales, la prise en compte de la proximité des conducteurs les uns par rapport aux autres. Ceci pose un sérieux problème alors que l'on assiste de plus en plus à un besoin soutenu d'intégration des circuits et systèmes. Notre travail s'inscrit dans la correction de ces défaillances et propose des modèles de type circuit caractérisant les lignes multifilaires ainsi que les câbles multifilaires blindés tout en tenant compte des effets de peau et de proximité intervenant dans les milieux conducteurs. Les hypothèses quasi-TEM sont adoptées et des matrices d'impédances et d'admittances des structures filaires sont déterminées sur une large gamme de fréquences (fréquences pour lesquelles les courants de déplacements dans les conducteurs restent négligeables). Une analyse critique des méthodes et modèles existant actuellement pour la modélisation des paramètres linéiques des lignes et câbles est présentée dans le mémoire au chapitre 1. On propose dans le chapitre II un modèle original de calcul des paramètres des lignes multifilaires (plusieurs conducteurs de rayons différents) avec la prise en compte des effets de peau et de proximité au niveau des conducteurs. Enfin, le chapitre III propose aussi un modèle original de détermination des impédances et admittances des câbles multifilaires blindés. Les modèles proposés sont de type circuits équivalents, et sont validés par des méthodes utilisant la technique des éléments finis ou par une comparaison avec des publications récentes, sur une gamme de fréquences allant de 0 à 10 MHz.