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Hypoponera eduardi (Forel, 1894) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) on extensive green roofs in the Province of Antwerp: a new species for the Belgian ant fauna
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From 2019 until 2021, we investigated extensive green roofs in Flanders (Belgium) for their arthropod communities. On two different roofs we found, amongst the collected specimens, a species new for the Belgian ant fauna: Hypoponera eduardi (Forel, 1894). The presence of multiple worker ants belonging to this species indicates that it has formed a colony on at least one roof. Apparently, the warm and dry conditions that arise on extensive green roofs as a consequence of the shallow substrate layers lead to suitable habitat conditions for this species.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022
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HYPSTAR: a hyperspectral pointable system for terrestrial and aquatic radiometry
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pOptical Earth observation satellites provide vast amounts of data on a daily basis. The top-of-atmosphere radiance measured by these satellites is usually converted to bottom-of-atmosphere radiance or reflectance which is then used for deriving numerous higher level products used for monitoring environmental conditions, climate change, stock of natural resources, etc. The increase of available remote sensing data impacts decision-making on both regional and global scales, and demands appropriate quality control and validation procedures. A HYperspectral Pointable System for Terrestrial and Aquatic Radiometry (HYPSTAR$^®$) has been designed to provide automated, italicin-situ/italic multiangular reflectance measurements of land and water targets. HYPSTAR-SR covers 380–1020 nm spectral range at 3 nm spectral resolution and is used at water sites. For land sites the HYPSTAR-XR variant is used with the spectral range extended to 1680 nm at 10 nm spectral resolution. The spectroradiometer has multiplexed radiance and irradiance entrances, an internal mechanical shutter, and an integrated imaging camera for capturing snapshots of the targets. The spectroradiometer is mounted on a two-axis pointing system with 360° range of free movement in both axes. The system also incorporates a stable light emitting diode as a light source, used for monitoring the stability of the radiometric calibration during the long-term unattended field deployment. Autonomous operation is managed by a host system which handles data acquisition, storage, and transmission to a central WATERHYPERNET or LANDHYPERNET server according to a pre-programmed schedule. The system is remotely accessible over the internet for configuration changes and software updates. The HYPSTAR systems have been deployed at 10 water and 11 land sites for different periods ranging from a few days to a few years. The data are automatically processed at the central servers by the HYPERNETS processor and the derived radiance, irradiance, and reflectance products with associated measurement uncertainties are distributed at the WATERHYPERNET and LANDHYPERNET data portals./p
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025
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Ichtyosaurs from the French Rhaetian indicate a severe turnover across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Ideal Free distribution of fixed dispersal phenotypes in a wing dimorphic beetle in heterogeneous landscapes
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According to the ideal free distribution (IFD) theory, individuals that are able to perceive the quality of different patches in a landscape and disperse freely are expected to redistribute themselves proportionally to the carrying capacities of heterogeneous patches. Here, we argue that when dispersal is unconditional and genetically fixed, a coalition of sedentary and dispersing phenotypes can attain an IFD under spatio-temporally uncorrelated variation in fitness. This not only leads to a stable polymorphism of both dispersal phenotypes, but also implies that the number of dispersing individuals should on average be equal among patches and determined by the carrying capacity of the smallest local populations in the landscape. Differences in carrying capacity among patches are thus only reflected by changes in the number of sedentary individuals. Individual-based simulations show that this mechanism can be generalized over a wide range of spatio-temporal conditions and dispersal strategies. Moreover, these expectations are in strong agreement with empirical data on the density of both dispersal phenotypes of the wing dimorphic ground beetle Pterostichus vernalis within and among ten different landscapes. Hence, for the first time, these results demonstrate that this mechanism serves as a plausible alternative to the competition-colonization model to explain the spatial distribution of fixed dispersal phenotypes in heterogeneous landscapes. Understanding of the frequency distributions of individuals expressing discrete dispersal morphs moreover improves our predictive and management capabilities for a broad range of species, for which we currently typically rely on using mean dispersal rates.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Identification of Belgian mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) by DNA barcoding
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Identification of Belgian mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) by DNA barcoding
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Identification of disease vectors from foreign deployment sites of the Belgian armed forces using DNA-based technologies
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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Identification of forensically important Sarcophaga species (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) using the mitochondrial COI gene
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Identification of the African–European Erymnochelys group (Pleurodira, Podocnemididae) in the Belgian fossil record: first finding of Eocenochelus eremberti outside its type locality
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An almost complete plastron, as well as several peripherals and a costal plate of a turtle from the middle Eocene of Saint-Gilles, is presented here. Although this turtle specimen was donated to the Institut royal des Sciences naturelles de Belgique (Brussels, Belgium) more than a century ago, it remained undescribed. Its study allows us to recognize the second pleurodiran in the Belgian fossil record, where, until now, the Eocene Neochelys was the only one known. The Belgian material of Neochelys is known in lower Eocene (early Ypresian) levels, but the new pleurodiran specimen comes from the middle Eocene (early Lutetian). It is the first partial articulate shell of a pleurodiran turtle recognized in Belgium, and the only member of this clade recognized in this country at specific level. The new specimen is a representative of the so-called Erymnochelys group, this lineage being known in Africa from the Upper Cretaceous to the present but in Europe only during the Eocene. It represents the first specimen of Eocenochelus eremberti identified outside its type locality, the French region of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines, Île-de-France), where only one specimen was found. The plastron of the Belgian individual corresponds to the most complete for this species. Its analysis allows us not only to broaden the range of paleobiogeographical distribution of Eocenochelus eremberti but also to improve the knowledge about the anatomy and variability of this taxon.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
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Identification of the bacterial symbiont Entotheonella sp. in the mesohyl of the marine sponge Discodermia sp
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RBINS Staff Publications