The impact of human activity on the planet is now obvious, not only in terms of climate disruption, but also in terms of environmental degradation and the collapse of biodiversity, to such an extent that some speak of the Anthropocene. However, the impact of human activity on the living world remains more difficult to analyze than its impact on climate: these are even more complex systems, with a multitude of factors affecting biodiversity that cannot be summed up by a single variable such as CO2 emissions. Cause-and-effect relationships are also more difficult to comprehend, as the multiple changes induced by human activity affect the dynamics of all living components, from the physiology of organisms to the functioning of ecosystems, through the distribution and dynamics of populations and species. In addition, these changes affect the evolutionary capacity of living organisms, with cascading consequences due to interactions between species. Understanding the impact of human activity on ecological systems at all scales has thus become a major theme of applied research, which remains closely linked to fundamental research because of its focus on mechanisms.

Therefore, in the spirit of the transversal nature of the Comptes Rendus Biologies, the Académie des sciences and the Editorial Board thought it would be useful to bring together a broad panorama of information on these topics, taking advantage of the explosion of this high-level research in France. These contributions will be published as the invited authors respond, in order to gradually build up a "thematic issue" on which we will provide a comprehensive overview at a later date.

Évolution des systèmes de reproduction chez les plantes face aux changements globaux Cheptou, Pierre-Olivier Comptes Rendus. Biologies, Volume 347 (2024) no. G1, pp. 95-107