Depuis son apparition au milieu du XIXe siècle, la gare ferroviaire n'a cessé de se métamorphoser et de se complexifier. Ce long processus a conduit à une « labyrinthification » spatiale, temporelle et fonctionnelle de ces grands équipements métropolitains. Ce phénomène pose un problème de lisibilité des espaces et se traduit notamment par la complexification des cheminements et la désorientation des usagers. Depuis quelques années, ces questions deviennent des préoccupations majeures pour les concepteurs et les gestionnaires, qui n'arrivent pas toujours à y répondre de manière efficace. La recherche propose une approche à la fois théorique et méthodologique des questions de « lisibilité » et d' « accessibilité » des espaces de la grande gare contemporaine autour du concept de « wayfinding ». On cherche à identifier les facteurs qui influencent les expériences de passage en gare et génèrent ou accompagnent les situations de désorientation et de confusion en s'appuyant notamment sur l'analyse des commentaires verbaux et des parcours filmés de volontaires à l'intérieur de la gare de la Part-Dieu à Lyon. Les travaux ont permis de mettre en évidence la complexité des facteurs à prendre en compte dans l'analyse de la lisibilité des espaces de la gare et des cheminements piétons : caractéristiques physiques et sensibles des lieux, degré d'efficacité de la signalétique, caractéristiques individuelles voyageur, compétences cognitives et perceptives, profil émotionnel, habilités spatiales et personnalité. Ils permettent d'imaginer une nouvelle approche de la conception des grandes gares contemporaines. / Since its appearance in the middle of the XIXe century, the railway station has continued to transform and become more complex. This long process drove to a spatial, temporal and functional "labyrinthification" of these big metropolitan facilities. This phenomenon poses a problem of legibility of the spaces and results notably in the complexity of the paths and disorientation of users. Since some years, these questions become major preoccupations for designers and managers, who are not always able to respond efficiently. Research proposes a theoretical and methodological approach around the concept of" wayfinding, to the questions of "legibility" and "accessibility" of the spaces in the big contemporary station. It seeks to identify the factors that influence the experiences of station passage and generate or accompany situations of disorientation and confusion, relying in particular on the analysis of subject's volunteer's verbal reports and filmed courses inside the station Part-Dieu in Lyon. The work has highlighted the complexity of factors to be taken into account in the analysis of the legibility of the space station and pedestrian paths: physical and sensitive characteristics of places, effectiveness of signage, individual characteristics, cognitive and perceptual skills, emotional profile, spatial abilities and personality. They allow us to imagine a new approach to the design of large of large contemporary stations.

Ants are ecologically important, environmentally sensitive, widespread, and abundant, yet ant assemblages of many habitats remain poorly understood. Ants in inland barrens of New York State (NY) barely have been studied, but the limited data suggest such habitats are likely to support uncommon ant species and high species density for the region. To increase knowledge of these assemblages, I systematically collected ants from three inland barrens systems in NY, to create species lists and measure species density. I also investigated how hiking trails — a common man-made disturbance — may be impacting ant assemblages in these early-successional, disturbance-dependent ecosystems. My data strongly indicate uncommonly high densities of ant species in NY pine barrens, including the most northern known occurrences of some species, and show that ant assemblage composition and species density are altered on hiking trails relative to managed barrens habitat bordering the trails. I conclude that monitoring ants on hiking trails could provide valuable information, particularly on disturbance-tolerant species, and an opportunity for visitor participation and citizen science programs that could detect additional rare species.