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Inproceedings Reference Rapid Local Adaptations in an Invasive Frog (Xenopus laevis): the Importance of Functional Trait Measurements to Predict Future Invasions
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference Rapid Speciation in host lineage my lead to adaptive evolution of parasites stress response genes in monopisthocotylan flatworms
Stress responses are key for parasite survival and, thus, also the evolutionary success of these organisms. However, a strong bias in parasite genomic research towards few human pathogens results in a lack of knowledge on evolutionary diversification mechanisms. Comparative studies of closely related and functionally similar lineages are the key for understanding factors driving adaptive evolution of stress responses. To address this knowledge gap, we contrasted evolutionary patterns of several antioxidant, heat shock, osmoregulatory, and behaviour-related genes in two fish parasitic flatworm lineages with varying species and ecological diversity, Cichlidogyrus and Kapentagyrus (Monopisthocotyla). We assembled the sequences of 48 genes related to stress responses in 11 species through an in-silico exon bait capture approach, applied phylogenetic reconstruction and tested for signatures of selection. The study also reports the first foraging (For) gene orthologs in flatworms. Additionally, the absence of cytochrome P450 (Cyp) and kappa (Gstk) and sigma-class glutathione S-transferases (Gsts) in monopisthocotylan flatworms is reported, genes typically considered essential for metazoan life. The results reveal copy number differences in heat shock (Hsp) and oxidative stress genes between the two parasite lineages potentially linked to the diversity of ecological niches occupied by their respective host taxa. Positive selection is detected in genes related to mitochondrial protein import (Hsp) and behaviour (For) in species of Cichlidogyrus infecting a host lineage under adaptive radiation (East African cichlids), suggesting an adaptive link to a putative co-radiation of parasites and hosts. Therefore, the study identifies the first potential molecular function linked to a flatworm radiation.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Inproceedings Reference RAPTORS AS A RESOURCE: NEW INSIGHTS INTO MIDDLE AND UPPER PALEOLITHIC BIRD USE AT WALOU CAVE (BELGIUM) BY NEANDERTHALS AND MODERN HUMANS
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Proceedings Reference Rare Earth Elements and Sr-Isotopic Geochemistry: Tools to Determinate the Geological and Geographical Origins of Neolithic Fluorites [S14]
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Rare sex or ancient asexual ?
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Inproceedings Reference Reaching for new heights: canopy laser scanning in the Peruvian Amazon
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.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Inproceedings Reference Reading Minerals: Rare Element Enrichment, the Magmatic-Hydrothermal Transition, and Geochemical Exploration of Lithium Pegmatites in Ireland
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.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Inproceedings Reference Reappraisal of the deep Devonian strata under the Mons Basin
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Reassessment of the late Neandertals from Spy (Belgium).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Inproceedings Reference Reassessment of the morphology and taxonomic status of the varanid lizard Saniwa orsmaelensis from the early Eocene of Northwest Europe
Saniwa is an extinct genus of varanid lizard from the Eocene of North America and Europe. It is the sister taxon to the crown-group Varanus. Up to now, only one poorly known species is recognized from Europe, Saniwa orsmaelensis from the earliest Eocene of Dormaal, Belgium. This species originally named by Louis Dollo nearly a century ago, is the earliest varanid of Europe. Unfortunately, the material was limited to vertebrae with only preliminary description and no figure provided, except for one dorsal vertebra that later has been designated as the lectotype. Here we describe and illustrate new fossil specimens collected from Dormaal and other early Eocene localities of the Paris Basin, France, including dentary and maxilla fragments as well as skull material, allowing to reassess the validity of the European taxon. These fossils allow further comparisons with the type-species, Saniwa ensidens, from the late early Eocene Bridger and Green River formations of Wyoming and to propose a new diagnosis for S. orsmaelensis. The occurrence of S. orsmaelensis is restricted to the early Eocene of Northwest Europe and its geographic origin is unresolved because the earliest record of Saniwa in North America is also from the earliest Eocene. The brief presence of varanid lizards in the European Paleogene could result from two major climatic events. At the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum, large biotic interchanges occurred in the northern hemisphere allowing new dispersals into Europe. However, at the end of the Eocene, thermophilic lizards disappeared due to cooler conditions. Another hypothesis for their disappearance could be the competition that occurred with other anguimorph lizards. Grant Information: This abstract is a contribution to the Belspo Brain network project BR/121/A3/PalEurAfrica funded by the Belgian Science Policy Office.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018