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Article Reference Opinion: On prediction and description in limnology
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Opportunistic feeding habits of two African freshwater clupeid fishes: DNA metabarcoding unravels spatial differences in diet and microbiome, and identifies new prey taxa
The African Lake Tanganyika clupeids play an important role in the lake's ecosystem and have a high regional economic and nutritional value. Using DNA metabarcoding, we analysed the prey item composition and microbiome of these two clupeid species, Stolothrissa tanganicae and Limnothrissa miodon. We sequenced the mitochondrial COI region of the gut content for prey analysis and the 16S rRNA region of the hindgut content for microbiome analysis of 140 fish sampled at five locations across Lake Tanganyika. Our research confirmed previously reported prey items and discovered prey items that were not reported before, including the jellyfish Limnocnida tanganjicae. The hindgut of the fish harboured 15 bacterial phyla, with the most common being Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. The two clupeid species differed in diet, but not in microbiome. Further, the diet of S. tanganicae, but not its microbiome, varied on a spatial scale, whereas the microbiome, but not the diet, of L. miodon showed spatial variation. Our findings suggest that the Lake Tanganyika clupeids are opportunists, with a diet reflecting the local zooplankton community's composition. These results can serve as a useful reference for monitoring the health status of economically important fish stocks.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Optical dating of charcoal kiln remains from WWII: A test of accuracy.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference Optical dating of tidal sediments: Potentials and limits inferred from the North Sea coast
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Optical remote sensing of chlorophyll a in case 2 waters by use of an adaptive two-band algorithm with optimal error properties
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Optical remote sensing of turbidity and total suspended matter in the Gulf of Gabes
Optical remote sensing was used to provide scientific information to support environmental management in the Gulf of Gabes that is located in the southeastern coast of Tunisia. This region is characterized by shallow continental shelf subjected to semi-diurnal tides. Industrial activities in this area since the early 1970s may have contributed to the degradation of the biodiversity of the ecosystem with eutrophication problems and disappearance of benthic and planktonic species. To assess the long-term effect of anthropogenic and natural discharges on the Gulf of Gabes, the optical environment of the coastal waters is assessed from in situ measurements of total suspended matter concentration (TSM), Secchi depth and turbidity (TU). This monitoring requires regular seaborne measurements (monthly), which is very expensive and difficult to obtain. The objective of the present study is the evaluation of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) AQUA data compared with two sampling campaigns realized at the study area. To map turbidity data from MODIS images, a semi-empirical algorithm was applied at band 667 nm. This bio-optical algorithm has already been calibrated and validated on the Belgian coast. The validation of this algorithm on the Gulf of Gabes using in situ measurements of turbidity and remotely sensed turbidity obtained from MODIS imagery shows a correlation coefficient of 68.9\%. Seasonal and annual average maps for TSM and TU were then computed over the Gulf of Gabes using MODIS imagery. The obtained results of TSM and TU from remotely sensed data are conformable with those obtained through the analysis of in situ measurements. Therefore, remote sensing techniques offer a better and efficient tool for mapping and monitoring turbidity over the whole region.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Optical teledetection of chlorophyll a in estuarine and coastal waters
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Optimal timing of multiple investment decisions in a wood value chain: A real options approach
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Optimization and quality control of suspended particulate matter concentration measurement using turbidity measurements
The dry weight concentration of suspended particulate material, [SPM] (units: mg L-1), is measured by passing a known volume of seawater through a preweighed filter and reweighing the filter after drying. This is apparently a simple procedure, but accuracy and precision of [SPM] measurements vary widely depending on the measurement protocol and experience and skills of the person filtering. We show that measurements of turbidity, T (units: FNU), which are low cost, simple, and fast, can be used to optimally set the filtration volume, to detect problems with the mixing of the sample during subsampling, and to quality control [SPM]. A relationship between T and `optimal filtration volume', V opt, is established where V opt is the volume at which enough matter is retained by the filter for precise measurement, but not so much that the filter clogs. This relationship is based on an assessment of procedural uncertainties in the [SPM] measurement protocol, including salt retention, filter preparation, weighing, and handling, and on a value for minimum relative precision for replicates. The effect of filtration volume on the precision of [SPM] measurement is investigated by filtering volumes of seawater ranging between one fifth and twice V opt. It is shown that filtrations at V opt maximize precision and cost effectiveness of [SPM]. Finally, the 90\% prediction bounds of the T versus [SPM] regression allow the quality control of [SPM] determinations. In conclusion it is recommended that existing [SPM] gravimetric measurements be refined to include measurement of turbidity to improve their precision and quality control.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Optimizing multiple non-invasive techniques (PXRF, pMS, IA) to characterize coarse-grained igneous rocks used as building stones.
We present a workflow to conduct a full characterization of medium to coarse-grained igneous rocks, using portable, non-invasive, and reproducible approaches. This includes: (i) Image Analysis (IA) to quantify mineral phase proportions, grain size distribution using the Weka trainable machine learning algorithm. (ii) Portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (PXRF, Bruker Tracer IV) to quantify the whole-rock's chemical composition. For this purpose, a specific calibration method dedicated to igneous rocks using the open-source CloudCal app was developed. It was then validated for several key elements (Si, Al, K, Ti, Ca, Fe, Mn, Sr, Ga, Ba, Rb, Zn, Nb, Zr, and Y) by analyzing certified standard reference igneous rocks. (iii) Portable Magnetic Susceptibilimeter (pMS, Bartington MS2K system) to constrain the mineralogical contribution of the samples. The operational conditions for these three methods were tested and optimized by analyzing five unprepared surfaces of igneous rocks ranging from a coarse-grained alkaline granite to a fine-grained porphyric diorite and hence, covering variable grain sizes, mineralogical contents, and whole-rock geochemical compositions. For pMS and PXRF tools, one hundred analyses were conducted as a 10 cm × 10 cm square grid on each sample. Bootstrap analysis was implemented to establish the best grid size sampling to reach an optimized reproducibility of the whole-rock signature. For PXRF analysis, averaged compositions were compared to PXRF analysis on press-pellets and laboratory WD-XRF analysis on fused disk and solution ICP-OES (for major) and solution-ICPMS (for trace element concentrations). Ultimately, this workflow was applied in the field on granitoids from three Roman quarrying sites in the Lavezzi archipelago (southern Corsica) and tested against the Bonifacio granitic War Memorial, for which its provenance is established. Our results confirm this information and open the door to geoarchaeological provenance studies with a high spatial resolution.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021