Comparative analysis methods control for the variation linked to phylogeny before attempting to correlate the remaining variation of a trait to present-day conditions (i.e., ecology and/or environment). A portion of the phylogenetic variation of the trait may be related to ecology, however; this portion is called "phylogenetic niche conservatism." We propose a method of variation partitioning that allows users to quantify this portion of the variation, called the "phylogenetically structured environmental variation." The new method is applied to published data to study, in a phylogenetic framework, the link between body mass and population density in 79 species of mammals. The results suggest that an important part of the variation of mammal body mass is related to the common influence of phylogeny and population density.

Comparative analysis methods control for the variation linked to phylogeny before attempting to correlate the remaining variation of a trait to present‐day conditions (i.e., ecology and/or environment). A portion of the phylogenetic variation of the trait may be related to ecology, however; this portion is called “phylogenetic niche conservatism. We propose a method of variation partitioning that allows users to quantify this portion of the variation, called the “phylogenetically structured environmental variation. The new method is applied to published data to study, in a phylogenetic framework, the link between body mass and population density in 79 species of mammals. The results suggest that an important part of the variation of mammal body mass is related to the common influence of phylogeny and population density.

Since anthropogenic CO2 concentrations in the ocean cannot be measured, it is very difficult to assess the accuracy of the various estimates. Until now, only comparisons among the various approaches and hypotheses have been used to estimate the uncertainties of the results. Here we use three measured anthropogenic tracers (CFC‐11, Δ14C and 3H) to assess the relevance of three estimates of anthropogenic CO2 distributions based upon very different hypotheses. In order to focus this work on the correlations among tracers and estimates of anthropogenic CO2 concentrations in the ocean, we chose as an example the data set from the WOCE I1 cruise (Indian Ocean; 1995), since it included data from the three tracers as well as data of the carbonate/CO2 properties. This choice further allows us to use the published results of anthropogenic CO2 concentrations using both the ΔC* and MIX approaches. Using four properties (total dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, dissolved oxygen and potential temperature) of this data set, we also estimated the distribution of anthropogenic CO2 using the recent TrOCA approach. The results of correlations of anthropogenic CO2 concentrations with the anthropogenic tracers 3H, CFC‐11 and Δ14C, indicate that these correlations are significantly higher when anthropogenic CO2 is estimated using either the MIX or the TrOCA approaches than using the ΔC* approach. Based upon these results and the easiness to use the simple TrOCA approach we propose to use this method to unravel the distribution of anthropogenic carbon in the Ocean.

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The retention process of sulcotrione and its two hydrolysis products, 1,3-cyclohexanedione (CHD) and 2-chloro-4-methylsulfonylbenzoic acid (CMBA), were studied in four different soils (Belgium, Landes, Perpignan, and Martinique) under laboratory conditions. Adsorption isotherms were well fitted by a Freundlich relationship. The values of K(fa) ranged from 0.4 to 27.0, and the most adsorbed compound was CHD regardless the soil type. Sulcotrione and CMBA exhibited similar retention behaviors. According to adsorption and desorption results, sulcotrione presents a moderate affinity with soil components; however, its leaching capacity needs to be carefully assessed. Clay content seemed to be the most important factor influencing the adsorption capacity of each compound, whereas organic matter and pH had little influence. The soils were classified according to their adsorption capacity in the following decreasing order: Martinique, Belgium, Landes, Perpignan.