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Aperçu général sur un des berceaux de la géologie du Paléozoïque.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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Application du logiciel de modélisation musculosquelettique lhpFusionBox à une problématique paléoanthropologique. Spyrou le Néandertalien marche !
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Résumé LhpFusionBox est un logiciel développé pour des études biomécaniques et cliniques relatives au système musculosquelettique des hommes anatomiquement modernes (HAM). Il a été récemment adapté aux problématiques paléoanthropologiques et utilisé pour l’étude biomécanique de la locomotion des hominidés fossiles. Il n’existe aucun squelette de Néandertalien complet. Le but de notre étude a consisté à réaliser un modèle virtuel en trois dimensions (3D) du squelette relativement complet du Néandertalien Spy II et à tester la faisabilité d’une analyse biomécanique de la locomotion du genou et des bras de levier des muscles ischio-jambiers. Des ossements appartenant à d’autres individus néandertaliens ont été mis à l’échelle de ceux de Spy II afin de remplacer les ossements incomplets ou manquants. Ces études biomécaniques préliminaires semblent montrer que les Néandertaliens et les HAM ont une locomotion comparable. Les Néandertaliens semblent avoir des bras de levier plus grands au niveau des muscles de la cuisse, ce qui pourrait leur procurer un avantage biomécanique. Le squelette obtenu a été imprimé en 3D et a servi de base à la reconstruction artistique de Spyrou qui est hébergée en l’espace de l’homme de Spy (EHoS). [Application of the musculo-skeletal modelling software lhpFusionBox to a paleoanthropological problem: the Spyrou Neandertal moves!] Abstract LhpFusionBox is a program originally designed for biomechanical and clinical studies relating to the musculoskeletal system of anatomically modern humans (AMH). The program has recently been adapted for paleontological purposes and used to reconstruct and biomechanically analyse a fossil hominid. There is no complete Neandertal skeleton in the fossil record. The aim of the study was to reconstruct a complete three-dimensional (3D) model of a Neandertal using the relatively complete Spy II Neandertal and to conduct biomechanical feasibility studies on the knee and hamstring moment arms of the skeleton. Different Neandertal specimens were scaled to the size of Spy II to replace incomplete or missing bones. Biomechanical feasibility studies performed on the knee seem to show that Neandertal and AMHh gait is similar and Neandertals were shown to have larger moment arms in the hamstring muscles, which would have given them a mechanical advantage. The complete Neandertal was printed in 3D and used as the base to create the artistic model of “Spyrou” housed at l’Espace de l’Homme de Spy (EHoS) museum.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Application of magnetic susceptibility as a paleo-climatic proxy on Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and characterization of the magnetic signal – IGCP580 projects and events
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The International Geoscience Program project IGCP-580 (started in 2009), focuses on the application of magnetic susceptibility (MS) as a paleoclimatic proxy on Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and on the characterization of the magnetic susceptibility signal. Here we provide a summary of the scientific targets behind the project and a summary of the organized activities. This project concerns three main issues: the first one consists of compiling the available MS data from the different researchers and continuing the collection of new data (with a main focus on the Devonian). The second issue focuses on the identification of the nature and origin of the magnetic minerals carrying MS signal. The last issue concerns the application of MS as a correlation, cyclostratigraphic and paleoclimatic tool. The IGCP-580 community consists of 245 researchers, from 45 countries (including Kenya, Namibia, Vietnam, Iran, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Tunisia, Colombia, Nigeria, India, etc.). During the project, we organized five meetings (Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Austria, Canada), three special sessions in international meetings and eight field workshops, as well as various training sessions.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Applications of imaging methodologies to paleoanthropology: beneficial results relating to the preservation, management and development of collections
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The limited number of unearthed fossils and their accessibility are factors that hinder paleoanthropological studies. Original remains, but also osteological collections of extant specimens, have to be curated in optimal and adapted environments, and direct manipulation needs to be limited in order to preserve this irreplaceable patrimony. Imaging methodologies have recently provided ways for innovative advances in the preservation of these collections, as well as offering new perspectives to museographic displays and original scientific studies. Here, we describe recent examples of developments obtained from imaging methodologies and discuss methodological and ethical implications of these new “virtual” collections. Undeniably, “virtual anthropology” is an additional tool in our large set of analytical possibilities and for curators, with its specific constraints related to the particular nature of the analysed material. Finally, we suggest some possible guidelines for the optimisation of the preservation, management and development of collections while preserving their scientific exploitation.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Applications of PCR-RFLPs for differentiating two freshwater sponges: Ephydatia fluviatilis and Ephydatia mülleri
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Applying micro-CT imaging in the study of historically and newly collected specimens of Belosaepia (Sepiida, Coleoidea, Cephalopoda) from the Early Eocene (Ypresian) of Belgium
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022
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Aquatic fauna from the Takarkori rock shelter reveals the Holocene central Saharan climate and palaeohydrography
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The abundant faunal remains from the Takarkori rock shelter in the Tadrart Acacus region of southwestern Libya are described. The material that covers the period between 10,200 to 4650 years cal BP illustrates the more humid environmental conditions in the Central Sahara during early and middle Holocene times. Particular attention is focussed on the aquatic fauna that shows marked diachronic changes related to increasing aridification. This is reflected in the decreasing amount of fish remains compared to mammals and, within the fish fauna, by changes through time in the proportion of the species and by a reduction of fish size. The aquatic fauna can, in addition, be used to formulate hypotheses about the former palaeohydrographical network. This is done by considering the possible location of pre-Holocene relic populations combined with observations on the topography and palaeohydrological settings of the Central Sahara.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020
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Aquatic life in Neotropical rainforest canopies: Techniques using artificial phytotelmata to study the invertebrate communities inhabiting therein
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In Neotropical rainforest canopies, phytotelmata ("plant-held waters") shelter diverse aquatic macroinvertebrate communities, including vectors of animal diseases. Studying these communities is difficult because phytotelmata are widely dispersed, hard to find from the ground and often inaccessible. We propose here a method for placing in tree crowns "artificial phytotelmata" whose size and shape can be tailored to different research targets. The efficacy of this method was shown while comparing the patterns of community diversity of three forest formations. We noted a difference between a riparian forest and a rainforest, whereas trees alongside a dirt road cutting through that rainforest corresponded to a subset of the latter. Because rarefied species richness was significantly lower when the phytotelmata were left for three weeks rather than for six or nine weeks, we recommend leaving the phytotelmata for twelve weeks to permit predators and phoretic species to fully establish themselves.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2018
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Aquatic long-distance dispersal and vicariance shape the evolution of an ostracod species complex (Crustacea) in four major Brazilian floodplains.
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Cladogenesis is often driven by the interplay of dispersal and vicariance. The importance of long-distance dispersal in biogeography and speciation is increasingly recognised, but still ill-understood. Here, we study faunal interconnectivity between four large Brazilian floodplains, namely the Amazon, Araguaia, Pantanal (on Paraguay River) and Upper Paraná River floodplains, investigating a species complex of the non-marine ostracod genus Strandesia. We use DNA sequence data from the mitochondrial COI and the nuclear Elongation Factor 1 alpha genes to construct molecular phylogenies and minimum spanning networks, to identify genetic species, analyse biogeographic histories and provide preliminary age estimates of this species complex. The Strandesia species complex includes five morphological and eleven genetic species, which doubles the known diversity in this lineage. The evolutionary history of this species complex appears to comprise sequences of dispersal and vicariance events. Faunal and genetic patterns of connectivity between floodplains in some genetic species are mirrored in modern hydrological connections. This could explain why we find evidence for (aquatic) long-distance dispersal between floodplains, thousands of kilometres apart. Our phylogenetic reconstructions seem to mostly indicate recent dispersal and vicariance events, but the evolution of the present Strandesia species complex could span up to 25 Myr, which by far exceeds the age of the floodplains and the rivers in their current forms.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2018
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Aquatic resources in human diet in the Late Mesolithic in Northern France and Luxembourg: insights from carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotope ratios
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We investigated the contribution of freshwater resources to the diet of seven Late Mesolithic hunter-gatherers (ca. 5300–7000 BC) from Northern France and Luxembourg using stable isotope ratios. In addition to the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios (δ13C, δ15N), we explored the potential of the sulphur isotopic ratios (δ34S) to detect and quantify the proportion of protein derived from aquatic foodstuff. In only two sites, animal remains from an associated settlement were available and subsequently examined to decipher the isotopic differential between terrestrial and freshwater resources. The quantification of their relative contribution was simulated using a Bayesian mixing model. The measurements revealed a significant overlap in δ13C values between freshwater and terrestrial resources and a large range of δ15Nvalues for each food category. The δ34S values of the aquatic and terrestrial animals were clearly distinct at the settlement in the Seine valley, while the results on fish from Belgium demonstrated a possible overlap in δ34S values between freshwater and terrestrial resources. Local freshwater ecosystem likely contributed to ca. 30–40 % of the protein in the diet of the individuals found in the Seine settlement. Out of this context, the isotopic signature and thus contribution of the available aquatic foods was difficult to assess. Another potential source of dietary protein is wild boar. Depending on the local context, collagen δ34S values may contribute to better assessment of the relative contribution of freshwater and terrestrial resources.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
