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Tributyltin: A Bottom–Up Regulator of the Crangon crangon Population?
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The restrictions and the concerted action of the global ban on the use and presence of tributyltin (TBT) in marine applications to protect ecosystems in the marine environment in 2008 was mainly based on the economic impact on shellfish industries and the dramatic extinction of local mollusk populations in the past. In contrast to the vast datasets on effects on mollusks, the knowledge on impacts on species from other taxa remained in the uncertain until almost two decades ago. The assumption on a long-term TBT-mediated pernicious metabolic bottom–up regulation of the crustacean Crangon crangon population was provoked by the outcome of an EU-project ‘Sources, Consumer Exposure and Risks of Organotin Contamination in Seafood.’ This study reported high TBT body burdens in C. crangon in 2003, at the start of the transition period to the global ban. Experimental research on the TBT impact in C. crangon focused on agonistic interference with natural ecdysteroid hormones at the metabolic pathways regulating growth and reproduction and the biogeochemical distribution of the chemical. In this paper, metabolic, topical and population-relevant biological endpoints in C. crangon and other crustaceans are evaluated in relation to the temporal and spatial trends on TBT’s occurrence and distribution in the field during and after the introduction of the tributyltin restrictions and endocrine-related incidents. Arguments are forwarded to relate the German Bight incident on growth and reproduction failure in the C. crangon population, despite the lack of direct evidence, to the pernicious impact of tributyltin in 1990/91 and previous years. The extreme occurrence of TBT in C. crangon from other parts of the southern North Sea and evidence on the high body burdens as dose metrics of exposure also feeds the suspicion on detrimental impacts in those areas. This paper further demonstrates the complexity of distinguishing and assessing the individual roles of unrelated stressors on a population in an integrated evaluation at the ecosystem level.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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Contexte géologique du grès à ciment calcaire de Boulogne (« Pierre de Baincthun »), pierre de construction médiévale importante des Comtés d’Artois et de Flandre
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
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Maastrichtian building stones from the Mergelland type region; more than Maastricht Stone.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
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The Boulogne calcareous sandstone and coquina, important historical building stones in the Counties of Artois and Flanders.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
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On a new species of the genus Cyprinotus (Crustacea, Ostracoda) from a temporary wetland in New Caledonia (Pacific Ocean), with a reappraisal of the genus
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The New Caledonia archipelago is known for its high level of endemism in both faunal and floral groups. Thus far, only 12 species of non-marine ostracods have been reported. After three expeditions to the main island of the archipelago (Grande Terre), about four times as many species were found, about half of which are probably new. Here, we describe a new species, Cyprinotus drubea sp. nov., which is characterised mainly by the hyper-developed dorsal hump on the right valve, much larger than in any other known Recent species in this genus. After a literature study of the other presumed species in Cyprinotus Brady, 1886, we retain seven Recent species in the genus, including the present new species. Cyprinotus crenatus (Turner, 1893), C. dentatus (Sharpe, 1910), C. flavescens Brady, 1898, C. inconstans Furtos, 1936, C. newmexicoensis Ferguson, 1967, C. ohanopecoshensis Ferguson, 1966, C. pellucidus (Sharpe, 1897), C. scytodus (Dobbin, 1941) and C. sulphurous Blake, 1931 are here all referred to the genus Heterocypris s. lat. Claus, 1892. Cyprinotus unispinifera Furtos, 1936 is assigned to the genus Cypricercus Sars, 1895. Cyprinotus tenuis Henry, 1923, C. fuscus Henry, 1919 and C. carinatus (King, 1855) are here classified as doubtful species. A checklist of the 14 non-marine ostracods, now including Cyprinotus drubea sp. nov. and Cypris granulata (Daday, 1910), thus far reported from New Caledonia, is provided. Herpetocypris caledonica Méhes, 1939 and H. caledonica var. minor Méhes, 1939 are synonymised with Candonocypris novaezelandiae (Baird, 1843).
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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Extreme drought periods can change spatial effects on periphytic ostracod metacommunities in river-floodplain ecosystems
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Hydrological regimes are seasonally variable in river-floodplain ecosystems. Thus, since in these environments the local and regional factors change at different temporal scales, factors structuring metacommunities might also differ over time. However, temporal dynamics of metacommunities have rarely been assessed. Here, we investigated the influence of environmental and spatial factors over time on the metacommunity structuring of periphytic ostracods in the river-floodplain system of the Upper Paraná River (Brazil). The spatial factors turned out to be more important than environmental factors, and differences in the percentage of explanation of the factors structuring ostracod metacommunities over time were significant, mainly during extreme drought period. Our results showed that the high spatial influence might be related to the low connectivity amongst environments during such extreme drought period, which can increase dispersal limitation, and consequently can increase the turnover of ostracod species throughout the region, leading to a higher beta-diversity of ostracod metacommunities.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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Urbanization drives cross‐taxon declines in abundance and diversity at multiple spatial scales
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The increasing urbanization process is hypothesized to drastically alter (semi‐)natural environments with a concomitant major decline in species abundance and diversity. Yet, studies on this effect of urbanization, and the spatial scale at which it acts, are at present inconclusive due to the large heterogeneity in taxonomic groups and spatial scales at which this relationship has been investigated among studies. Comprehensive studies analysing this relationship across multiple animal groups and at multiple spatial scales are rare, hampering the assessment of how biodiversity generally responds to urbanization. We studied aquatic (cladocerans), limno‐terrestrial (bdelloid rotifers) and terrestrial (butterflies, ground beetles, ground‐ and web spiders, macro‐moths, orthopterans and snails) invertebrate groups using a hierarchical spatial design, wherein three local‐scale (200 m × 200 m) urbanization levels were repeatedly sampled across three landscape‐scale (3 km × 3 km) urbanization levels. We tested for local and landscape urbanization effects on abundance and species richness of each group, whereby total richness was partitioned into the average richness of local communities and the richness due to variation among local communities. Abundances of the terrestrial active dispersers declined in response to local urbanization, with reductions up to 85% for butterflies, while passive dispersers did not show any clear trend. Species richness also declined with increasing levels of urbanization, but responses were highly heterogeneous among the different groups with respect to the richness component and the spatial scale at which urbanization impacts richness. Depending on the group, species richness declined due to biotic homogenization and/or local species loss. This resulted in an overall decrease in total richness across groups in urban areas. These results provide strong support to the general negative impact of urbanization on abundance and species richness within habitat patches and highlight the importance of considering multiple spatial scales and taxa to assess the impacts of urbanization on biodiversity.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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A juvenile skull from the early Palaeocene of China extends the appearance of crocodyloids in Asia back by 15–20 million years
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The earliest Crocodylia from Asia have been represented so far only by alligatoroids and planocraniids. Although definitive crocodyloids are not known until the late Eocene, it has been hypothesized that Asiatosuchus-like basal crocodyloids originated in Asia before the late Palaeocene. In this paper, we describe a new fossil crocodyloid from the lower Palaeocene of Qianshan Basin, Anhui Province, China. The skull and lower jaw fragment exhibit several characteristics typical of juvenile crocodylians. They also display a combination of features not seen in any other taxon, warranting the erection of a new species and genus, Qianshanosuchus youngi gen. & sp. nov. Its affinities are tested in phylogenetic analyses based on two recent character matrices of Eusuchia. To assess the effect of juvenile characteristics on the outcome of the phylogenetic analyses, juvenile specimens of extant crocodylian taxa are analysed in the same way, showing that the effect of their ontogenetic stage on their placement in the tree is minimal. Our analyses point to a basal crocodyloid position for Q. youngi. With these findings, the presence of Crocodyloidea in Asia is extended to the early Palaeocene, 15–20 Myr earlier than formerly thought. Furthermore, our results corroborate previous hypotheses of a Palaeocene dispersal route of Asiatosuchus-like crocodyloids from Asia into Europe.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
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Revival and Revision of the genus Paroplites with description of two new species (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020
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Les campagnes du territoire Nervien : approches croisées
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
