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Article Reference Lifestyle and Ice: The Relationship between Ecological Specialization and Response to Pleistocene Climate Change
Major climatic changes in the Pleistocene had significant effects on marine organisms and the environments in which they lived. The presence of divergent patterns of demographic history even among phylogenetically closely-related species sharing climatic changes raises questions as to the respective influence of species-specific traits on population struc- ture. In this work we tested whether the lifestyle of Antarctic notothenioid benthic and pelagic fish species from the Southern Ocean influenced the concerted population response to Pleistocene climatic fluctuations. This was done by a comparative analysis of sequence variation at the cyt b and S7 loci in nine newly sequenced and four re-analysed species. We found that all species underwent more or less intensive changes in population size but we also found consistent differences between demographic histories of pelagic and benthic species. Contemporary pelagic populations are significantly more genetically diverse and bear traces of older demographic expansions than less diverse benthic species that show evidence of more recent population expansions. Our findings suggest that the life- styles of different species have strong influences on their responses to the same environ- mental events. Our data, in conjunction with previous studies showing a constant diversification tempo of these species during the Pleistocene, support the hypothesis that Pleistocene glaciations had a smaller effect on pelagic species than on benthic species whose survival may have relied upon ephemeral refugia in shallow shelf waters. These find- ings suggest that the interaction between lifestyle and environmental changes should be considered in genetic analyses.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Light Trapping as a Valuable Rapid Assessment Method for Ground Beetles (Carabidae) in a Bulgarian Wetland
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Like phoenix from the ashes: How modern baleen whales arose from a fossil “dark age”
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference Lilingostrobus chaloneri gen. et sp. nov., a Late Devonian woody lycopsid from Hunan, China
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Article Reference Limitations for informed decision making and better management of the transboundary Lake Albert fisheries resources
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Article Reference Limitations of Predicting Substrate Classes on a Sedimentary Complex but Morphologically Simple Seabed
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference Limited historical admixture between European wildcats and domestic cats
Summary Domestic cats were derived from the Near Eastern wildcat (Felis lybica), after which they dispersed with people into Europe. As they did so, it is possible that they interbred with the indigenous population of European wildcats (Felis silvestris). Gene flow between incoming domestic animals and closely related indigenous wild species has been previously demonstrated in other taxa, including pigs, sheep, goats, bees, chickens, and cattle. In the case of cats, a lack of nuclear, genome-wide data, particularly from Near Eastern wildcats, has made it difficult to either detect or quantify this possibility. To address these issues, we generated 75 ancient mitochondrial genomes, 14 ancient nuclear genomes, and 31 modern nuclear genomes from European and Near Eastern wildcats. Our results demonstrate that despite cohabitating for at least 2,000 years on the European mainland and in Britain, most modern domestic cats possessed less than 10% of their ancestry from European wildcats, and ancient European wildcats possessed little to no ancestry from domestic cats. The antiquity and strength of this reproductive isolation between introduced domestic cats and local wildcats was likely the result of behavioral and ecological differences. Intriguingly, this long-lasting reproductive isolation is currently being eroded in parts of the species’ distribution as a result of anthropogenic activities.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Limited possibilities for prezygotic barriers in the reproductive behaviour of sympatric Ophthalmotilapia species (Teleostei, Cichlidae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Article Reference Limits of calcium isotopes diagenesis in fossil bone and enamel
Diagenesis has been recognized for decades to significantly alter the trace elements biogenic signatures in fossil tooth enamel and bone that are routinely used for paleobiological and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. This signature is modified during diagenesis according to a complex continuum between two main processes, addition and substitution. For an additive-like, or early diagenesis, the trace elements biogenic profiles can be restored by leaching secondary minerals, but this technique is inefficient for a substitutive-like, or extensive diagenesis for which secondary trace elements are incorporated into the biogenic mineral. This scheme is however unclear for Ca, the major cation in tooth enamel and bone hydroxylapatite, whose stable isotope composition (δ44/42Ca) also conveys biological and environmental information. We present a suite of leaching experiments for monitoring δ44/42Ca values in artificial and natural fossil enamel and bone from different settings. The results show that enamel δ44/42Ca values are insensitive to an additive-like diagenesis that involves the formation of secondary Ca- carbonate mineral phases, while bone shows a consistent offset toward 44Ca-enriched values, that can be restored to the biogenic baseline by a leaching procedure. In the context of a substitutive-like diagenesis, bone exhibits constant δ44/42Ca values, insensitive to leaching, and shows a REE pattern symptomatic of extensive diagenesis. Such a REE pattern can be observed in fossil enamel for which δ44/42Ca values are still fluctuating and follow a trophic pattern. We conclude that Ca isotopes in fossil enamel are probably not prone to extensive diagenesis and argue that this immunity is due to the very low porosity of enamel that cannot accommodate enough secondary minerals to significantly modify the isotopic composition of the enamel Ca pool.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Linear to non-linear relationship between vein spacing and layer thickness in centimetre- to decimetre-scale siliciclastic multilayers from the High-Ardenne slate belt (Belgium, Germany)
Typical spacing distributions have frequently been described for fractures in thin sedimentary layers (<1 m). Regularly spaced fractures often result from saturation during fracture development. Spatial distribution of veins is less commonly studied although it also can show regular patterns. This study focuses on the spatial distribution of quartz veins in Lower Devonian siliciclastic multilayer sequences from the High-Ardenne slate belt (Belgium, Germany) and compares the observed vein spacing with published fracture spacing in order (i) to investigate the effect of the layer thickness to vein spacing and (ii) to understand the processes of early vein development during the late stages of burial in a sedimentary basin at the onset of orogeny. The results show that a quasi linear relationship between vein spacing and layer thickness in thin (<40 cm) competent sandstone layers, embedded in a pelitic matrix, becomes non-linear in thicker sandstone layers (>40 cm). Vein spacing tends to increase to a maximum value becoming more or less independent of layer thickness. The resemblance with fracture spacing suggests that in an unfractured rock vein saturation can occur. High fluid pressures are responsible for vein nucleation but the stress state around the initial veins controls the spacing pattern. Subsequently, in a vein-saturated rock, or the existing veins will thicken by the process of crack-sealing, or a new cross-cutting vein generation will develop in case the regional stress field changes relatively with respect to the existing veins.
Located in Library / No RBINS Staff publications