In July 2015 a rescue excavation took place to recover the remains of a previously unknown ancient branch of the Senne river on the site of Tour & Taxis in Brussels (Belgium). Such a large-scale excavation of a river branch required the development of a specific approach, where the close collaboration of archaeologists and many natural science specialists showed to be a crucial factor. Multiple logistic and scientific challenges were met to accurately document and correlate the river and the traces of human activities during the salvation operation. In order to cope with these challenges a protocol was elaborated focussing on the realisation and geoarchaeological study of multiple sedimentary profiles across the river bed, the excavation of the archaeological features and structures related to the river management, and an extensive sampling campaign for the natural science specialists (geoarchaeologists, archaeozoölogists and archaeobotanists). This resulted in a large and varied dataset, permitting to document the evolution of the river bed and the impact of the management activities, but also to reconstruct the surrounding landscape (De Cupere et al., 2017). In the spring of 2019, the remains of the medieval harbour in the historical center of Brussels were discovered during construction works. This instigated the largest rescue excavation in Brussels where the stakes were high: documenting the evolution of the river, understanding the impact of the embankments, but also documenting the progressing urbanisation and its impact on the river in a very limited amount of time (Ghesquière et al., 2024). Armed with the experiences of the previous salvation operation, a large-scale operation was conducted, following an adapted protocol. The present contribution intends to discuss how the experiences of the two large-scale rescue operations forged our research framework for tackling comparable contexts in the future.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Cryptic diversity among deep-sea malacostracans is increasingly unveiled through molecular analyses, helping to reassess biodiversity in abyssal and hadal zones and establish baselines before inevitable mineral exploitation. Cryptic diversity, which is the presence of morphologically similar but genetically distinct lineages within what appears as a single species, is marked by genetic variation, structured populations, and high differentiation among geographically distant populations, often isolated over evolutionary timescales. Although cryptic diversity is prevalent in Lyssianassoidea amphipods, Abyssorchomene distinctus emerges as an exception. Analysing mitochondrial COI and nuclear 28S genes from 373 specimens across three ocean basins, we observed no cryptic diversity in A. distinctus. Instead, our results indicate a single, widely distributed population spanning ~24,000 km across the Southeastern Indian and Northeastern Pacific Oceans. Evidence includes a predominant ancestral haplotype in a star-shaped COI network, a skewed nucleotide mismatch distribution, and deviations from neutrality tests, all suggesting a unique population expansion event. This finding positions A. distinctus as one of only five known deep-sea amphipod species with confirmed wide cross-ocean distribution. To explore if this genetic pattern extends to other Lyssianassoidea amphipods, we are conducting similar analyses on Orchomenella pinguides, a circumpolar Antarctic species with minimal prior genetic characterization. Our preliminary study includes 48 specimens from the Ronne Ice Shelf, examining COI and 28S genes to assess genetic structure, cryptic diversity, and intra-specific variation. We plan to expand our sample size to compare genetic differentiation between populations from the Ronne Ice Shelf and publicly available COI sequences databases from the Australian Antarctic Territory, and Southeastern Filchner area in the Weddell Sea.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
