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Macrophyte life forms influence the effects of environmental and spatial factors on the beta-diversity of associated ostracod communities (Crustacea).
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Beta-diversity measures have been used to understand patterns of community distribution in natural ecosystems. Recent studies included different facets of beta-diversity analyses, e.g. trait- and phylogeny-based. Here, we used ostracod communities to evaluate the influence of environmental and spatial factors structuring different facets of beta-diversity and their components (Beta-total, replacement and richness-difference) of ostracod communities associated with different macrophyte life forms. We test the hypotheses (1) that the influence of environmental factors is higher for ostracod beta-diversity facets of communities associated with submerged plants compared to emergent and floating plants and (2) that the influence of spatial factors is higher in communities associated with rooted, compared to non-rooted plants. Ostracods were sampled from five life forms of macrophytes, including emergent, rooted floating, rooted submerged, free submerged and free floating in 25 floodplain lakes. Our results showed that the environmental factors turned out to be important for all beta-diversity facets of ostracod communities, mainly for those associated with submerged macrophytes, thus corroborating the first hypothesis. We also found that spatial factors’ influence on ostracod beta-diversity was not related to whether the plant is rooted or not, thus refuting our second hypothesis. We also found differences in factors structuring each of the beta-diversity facets, showing the importance to include these three approaches (species-, traits- and phylogeny-based) in ecological surveys. Finally, we highlight the importance of considering different macrophyte life forms in biodiversity surveys for the preservation and management of the diversity of these plants and their associated communities.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Water chemistry and not urbanization influences community structure of non-marine Ostracoda (Crustacea) in northern Belgium
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Urbanization is one of the major causes of the destruction of natural habitats in the world. Cities are urban heat islands and can thus significantly influence populations of plants and animals. The research project SPEEDY investigated the effects of urbanization in northern Belgium with a nested sampling design at local and landscape scales for a variety of organisms. Here, we tested the effects of urbanization on non-marine ostracod communities, sampling 81 small pools in three urbanization categories, as defined by percentage built up cover (low, intermediate, high). We identified 17 ostracod species, together occurring in 60 of the 81 sampled pools. We found that urbanization per se had no significant effect on ostracod communities. Of all the measured local factors, ammonium and total phosphorus concentrations had a significant effect on the community structure. In contrast, water temperature had no significant effect, most likely because the ostracod species found in northern Belgium in the present survey mostly have wide temperature tolerances.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Safeguarding Freshwater Life Beyond 2021: Recommendations for the new Global Biodiversity Framework from the European Experience.
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Plans are currently being drafted for the next decade of action on biodiversity—both the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Biodiversity Strategy of the European Union (EU). Freshwater biodiversity is disproportionately threatened and underprioritized relative to the marine and terrestrial biota, despite supporting a richness of species and ecosystems with their own intrinsic value and providing multiple essential ecosystem services. Future policies and strategies must have a greater focus on the unique ecology of freshwater life and its multiple threats, and now is a critical time to reflect on how this may be achieved. We identify priority topics including environmental flows, water quality, invasive species, integrated water resources management, strategic conservation planning, and emerging technologies for freshwater ecosystem monitoring. We synthesize these topics with decades of first-hand experience and recent literature into 14 special recommendations for global freshwater biodiversity conservation based on the successes and setbacks of European policy, management, and research. Applying and following these recommendations will inform and enhance the ability of global and European post-2020 biodiversity agreements to halt and reverse the rapid global decline of freshwater biodiversity.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Novel Cardinium strains from non-marine ostracod (Crustacea) hosts
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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Kowieria alveoformis gen. nov. sp. nov., a new heterosporous lycophyte from the Latest Devonian of Southern Africa
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RBINS Staff Publications 2018
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Lilingostrobus chaloneri gen. et sp. nov., a Late Devonian woody lycopsid from Hunan, China
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RBINS Staff Publications 2018
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The Consthum Lagerstätte (Luxembourg) – a window into the palaeoecology of Early Devonian marine‑terrestrial transitional facies
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In the Rhenish Massif, a vast Lower Devonian deltaic system along the southern edge of Laurussia (Old Red Continent) continues to yield exceptional fossils from marginal marine to terrestrial transitional facies. Hitherto, these occurrences are mainly known from the lower Moselle and West-Eifel regions in Germany. Here, we introduce a new Lagerstätte situated in northern Luxembourg, which extends the known geographical occurrence of this important biota further to the west. It agrees more-or-less with previously known localities from Germany in the general composition of the fossil association, which is composed of a bivalve-lingulid-arthropod-dominated association with a few associated vertebrate remains, macro-plants, and some miospores. Unique features include a mass occurrence of clam shrimp, the high abundance of scorpions and juvenile specimens of the eurypterid Adelophthalmus as well as the occurrence of supposed euthycarcinoids and (stem?) onychophorans. Analyses of the Consthum Lagerstätten and biota have great potential to further illuminate the palaeoecology and palaeogeography of marginal-marine to terrestrial transitional settings in the Ardenno-Rhenish Lower Devonian and to decipher the palaeoecological origin of various lineages of organisms, such as clam shrimp, scorpions, and onychophorans. This is of paramount importance for a holistic understanding of the biology and physiology of their modern descendants.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2026
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A global approach for natural history museum collections
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Integration of the world’s natural history collections can provide a resource for decision-makers Over the past three centuries, people have collected objects and specimens and placed them in natural history museums throughout the world. Taken as a whole, this global collection is the physical basis for our understanding of the natural world and our place in it, an unparalleled source of information that is directly relevant to issues as diverse as wildlife conservation, climate change, pandemic preparedness, food security, invasive species, rare minerals, and the bioeconomy (1). Strategic coordination and use of the global collection has the potential to focus future collecting and guide decisions that are relevant to the future of humanity and biodiversity. To begin to map the aggregate holdings of the global collection, we describe here a simple and fast method to assess the contents of any natural history museum, and report results based on our assessment of 73 of the world’s largest natural history museums and herbaria from 28 countries.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023
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Anatomical description and digital reconstruction of the skull of Jeholosaurus shangyuanensis (Dinosauria, Ornithopoda) from China
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025 OA
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Cyprideis (Crustacea, Ostracoda) in Australia
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
