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Rapid biological recovery following the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary catastrophe in the Maastrichtian type area
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Present-day marine biotas are increasingly subject to anthropogenically-forced extinctions. The study of the global mass extinction event at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary can aid in our understanding of the patterns of selective extinction and survival and the dynamics of ecosystem recovery. Outcrops in the Maastrichtian type region (The Netherlands, Belgium) comprise an expanded K-Pg boundary succession, presenting a unique opportunity to study marine ecosystem recovery within the first thousands of years following the Chicxulub impact. We have reevaluated and studied the palynological, micro- and macropalaeontological record of this unique succession. Ecosystem changes across the K-Pg boundary in this region are rather limited, showing a general shift from epibenthic filter feeders to shallow-endobenthic deposit feeders. The fauna of the lowermost Paleocene still has many ‘Maastrichtian’ characteristics, a biological assemblage that survived the first hundreds to thousands of years into the earliest Paleocene. The shallow-marine oligotrophic carbonate sea of the Maastrichtian type area as inhabited by starvation-resistant, low nutrient-adapted taxa, that were seemingly less affected by the shortlived detrimental conditions of the K-Pg boundary catastrophe, such as darkness, cooling, food-starvation, ocean acidification, resulting in relatively high survival rates. The high survival rate allowed for a fast recolonization and rapid recovery of marine faunas in the Maastrichtian type area.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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Rapid divergence in morphology, physiology and behaviour among island populations of lizards.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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RAPID ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSES TO ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE DURING THE LATE-GLACIAL IN THE MOERVAART AREA (NW BELGIUM), WITH SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE PALYNOMORPH RECORDS
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Due to the availibility of high-quality lacustrine sediment records, the Moervaart depression in northwestern Belgium is a very suitable region from which to assess environmental responses to abrupt climate change during the late-glacial (ca. 14,5 – 11,5 ka cal BP). Multiple-proxy analyses of physical parameters (bulk sediment composition and magnetic susceptibility) and biotic remains (palynomorphs, plant macroremains, diatoms, freshwater molluscs, ostracods and chironomids) resulted in a considerable amount of valuable data concerning the climate and palaeoenvironment in this region. The climatic cycles observed in the late-glacial significantly affected the local vegetation and water shed. The milder Bølling interstadial (ca. 14,5-14,1 ka cal BP), characterized by shallow swamps and an open vegetation of mainly birch, grasses, willow and juniper, was abruptly interrupted by a short cold phase, the Older Dryas (ca. 14,1-13,8 ka cal BP), in which a dry and open grass tundra occurred. Based on the presence of Gloeotrichia colonies, known as nitrogen fixers, it is suggested that during the Older Dryas these cyanobacteria created more favourable conditions for aquatic plants to colonize the swampy areas. During the successive Allerød interstadial (ca. 13,8-12,6 ka cal BP), a shallow, large palaeolake with submerged vegetation (e.g., Nymphaea and Myriophyllum) developed, whereas a more dense birch forest (1st phase), accompanied by pine (2nd phase), was continuously present in the surroundings. Extreme cold climatic conditions during the Younger Dryas (ca. 12,6-11,5 ka cal BP), however, caused major hydrological changes, originating in the development of an east-west trending palaeochannel system across the (nearly-)desiccated lake area. In summary, our results clearly demonstrate strong and rapid environmental responses to abrupt climate change at the last glacial-interglacial transition in the Moervaart area.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Rapid Local Adaptations in an Invasive Frog (Xenopus laevis): the Importance of Functional Trait Measurements to Predict Future Invasions
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020
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Rare Earth Elements and Sr-Isotopic Geochemistry: Tools to Determinate the Geological and Geographical Origins of Neolithic Fluorites [S14]
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Rare sex or ancient asexual ?
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Reaching for new heights: canopy laser scanning in the Peruvian Amazon
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Large trees are vital for the functioning of tropical forests. They house a wide range of organisms, making them true biodiversity hotspots and play a key role in forest biomass storage.The Life On Trees (LOT) project is a research program in which all eukaryotic organisms on individual trees are surveyed, including plants, fungi, animals and protists. One of the goals of the research program is to explore the link between the distribution of the occurring organisms and the tree architecture of those large trees. To accurately quantify the structure of such trees and investigate the interplay between the tree and its surroundings, terrestrial laser scanning is currently used as a state-of-the-art technology. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) generally uses a laser scanner to scan trees from multiple viewpoints from the ground. In dense tropical forests, the tree canopy often reaches a height of 50 m or more. Due to the large distance between the scanner and the tree crown, even the best laser scanners have difficulty getting a clear view of the top of the canopy. For those large, colossal trees, data is limited and suffers a lot of occlusion. Since all scans are taken from the ground, data on the upperpart of branches is nonexistent. To assess this limitation of TLS, we explore how much additional 3D information is gained from the tree structure by collecting 3D scans inside the tree crown. With the aid of professional climbers, we lifted a RIEGL vz-400 laser scanner into a Dussia tree in Rio Abiseo National park located in the Peruvian Amazon. The selected tree is quite spectacular, it reaches a height of 50 m and a width of 45 m, and is covered with vegetation including many orchids and epiphytes hosting a wide variety of life forms. The first results of this project will be presented, focusing on the tree architecture with its impressive volume and branch length, and the benefits and challenges of scanning inside the tree crown.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022
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Reading Minerals: Rare Element Enrichment, the Magmatic-Hydrothermal Transition, and Geochemical Exploration of Lithium Pegmatites in Ireland
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The battery market for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage is dominated by rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, making lithium supply essential to climate action through decarbonization. In 2019, more than half of the world's lithium was sourced from lithium pegmatites of the Li-Cs-Ta (LCT) family, predominantly from Australia. Current global lithium supply involves long diesel-fueled maritime transport routes, which counteracts lithium's role in climate action. Responsible consumption and production require shorter supply chains from deposit to battery. Reading the mineralogical record of LCT pegmatite deposits can help address the challenge of reducing the climate impact of lithium production, by informing deposit models, mineral exploration, and geometallurgy, therefore promoting local supply. Our research focuses on a belt of LCT pegmatites, which is located along the eastern margin of the late-Caledonian S-type Leinster Batholith, southeast Ireland. The LCT pegmatites are hosted by a major regional shear zone and are part of a tin-lithium province that stretches subparallel to the Iapetus suture from Europe through Nova Scotia to North and South Carolina. We investigated crystal chemical zoning in muscovite, cassiterite, and columbite-tantalite using petrography, scanning electron microscopy, and LA-ICP-MS chemical mapping. The zoning patterns record that pegmatite rare element mineralization resulted from an interplay of magmatic crystallization, metasomatism, and hydrothermal processes. Late-stage metasomatic alteration led to partial resorption of early minerals including the lithium ore-mineral spodumene, followed by dispersion of lithium and other rare elements into country rocks, mostly within dark mica. Dispersion led to formation of geochemical halos around the LCT pegmatites with the potential to use country-rock lithogeochemistry and mica composition as geochemical vectoring tools. Geochemistry of mica in the granite host analyzed by handheld LIBS has been found to exhibit coherent spatial patterns occurring adjacent to and above LCT pegmatites known at depth from drilling. These channels of mineral-specific geochemical information are distinct from soil geochemical patterns and are not influenced by the same secondary, surface processes such as dilution. As outcrop is virtually absent in the study area, regional stream sediment geochemistry data (Geological Survey Ireland) was assessed as an LCT pegmatite exploration tool. After correcting for geologic background using a linear regression approach, catchments containing LCT pegmatites show high residuals for concentrations of both tantalum and tin. The mineralogy of stream sediment samples from a subsample of these catchments was subsequently analyzed to characterize the host minerals of tin and tantalum. Cassiterite and columbite-tantalite were identified, and both show geochemical and textural signatures that correspond to the zoning patterns mentioned above, which indicates that these minerals were derived from the local LCT pegmatites. These results suggest that, when regional geology and tectonic setting are prospective, lithium pegmatite prospectivity can be further assessed for tin-tantalum associations in (often publicly available) regional stream sediment data. Following geospatial analysis, stream sediment samples could be obtained from individual prospective catchments and their mineralogy analyzed. Local-scale geochemical surveys could follow where stream sediments of prospective catchments contain tin and tantalum oxides with chemistries and textures indicative of a lithium pegmatite source.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Reappraisal of the deep Devonian strata under the Mons Basin
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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Reassessment of the late Neandertals from Spy (Belgium).
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RBINS Staff Publications
