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CO2-enhanced oil recovery and CO2 capture and storage: An environmental economic trade-off analysis
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CO2 enhanced oil recovery can play a significant role in stimulating carbon capture and storage because of additional oil revenues generated. However, it also leads to additional greenhouse gas emissions. We estimate the global warming potential of different CO2 capture scenarios with and without enhanced oil recovery. During a 10 year period in which oil and electricity are produced without CO2 being captured, the global warming potential is 11 MtCO2 equivalents. We show that if CO2 is captured and used for 15 years of enhanced oil recovery, the global warming potential decreases to 3.4 MtCO2 equivalents. This level is 100% higher compared to the scenario in which the captured CO2 would be stored in an offshore aquifer instead. If the capture of CO2 is stopped when the oil reservoir is depleted, the global warming potential resulting from 10 years electricity production is 6 MtCO2 equivalents. However, if CO2 is stored in the depleted reservoir, the global warming potential is six times lower during that period. Electricity production and oil refining are the main contributors to the global warming potential. The net present value analysis indicates that for CO2 prices lower than or equal to 15 €/t and oil prices greater than or equal to 115 €/t, it is most profitable to capture CO2 for enhanced oil recovery only. Because of the low CO2 price considered, large incomes from oil production are required to stimulate CO2 capture. The environmental economic trade-off analysis shows that if CO2-enhanced oil recovery is followed by CO2 capture and storage, costs increase, but the net present value remains positive and the global warming potential is reduced. Authorities could use these outcomes to support the development of economic mechanisms for shared investments in CO2 capture installations and to mandate both oil producer and large CO2 emitting firms to store CO2 in depleted oil fields.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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Reply to Van Peer: Direct radiocarbon dating and ancient genomic analysis reveal the true age of the Neanderthals at Spy Cave
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Van Peer (1) contests the conclusions of our article on Neanderthal disappearance in Northwest Europe (2), but we think his argument may reflect a misunderstanding of the stratigraphy at Spy Cave and/or incomplete reading of our article. We provide here a response to his arguments.The idea that the discovery time of the Neanderthal bones impacts the results is not scientifically valid and indicates an incomplete review of the literature. Among the oldest radiocarbon dates obtained on the Spy Neanderthals are those measured on collagen from material collected on the slope: Spy 737a (OxA-10560) and Spy 94a (GrA-32623) (3, 4). In addition, although found on the slope, the maxillary …
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Foraging recruitment in Leptothorax uniffasciatus: The influence of foraging area familiarity and the age of the nest-site
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No RBINS Staff publications
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Seeing yew for the forest: a call to action for improving conservation and restoration of the European yew (Taxus baccata L.),
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The European yew (Taxus baccata L.) is a long-lived conifer of ecological, cultural, and historical importance across Eurasia. Despite its remarkable resilience, wide distribution, and symbolic importance, the species has experienced a long-term decline due to a complex interplay of climatic fluctuations, megafaunal extinctions, human exploitation, and insufficient regeneration. Recent studies in palaeoecology, archaeology, dendroecology, and conservation have revealed a species with greater ecological plasticity and a broader historical distribution than previously assumed. However, many fundamental questions remain unresolved, particularly regarding its biogeographical history, population dynamics, recruitment processes, and the drivers of its decline. This review stems from prior investigations of yew in the French Pyrenees and, more broadly, across Europe. These efforts led to a transdisciplinary seminar and opened a collaboration uniting >30 researchers across Eurasia. By synthesizing a wide array of data and perspectives, the article highlights key knowledge gaps and outlines emerging research priorities. These are organized thematically—past, present, and future—and include 25 questions on the species' ecological niche, life-history strategies, human interactions, genetic resilience, and conservation under global change. The article advocates for a shift towards integrative and long-term conservation strategies that embrace the historical legacies of yew populations, the general ecology of the species along with local ecological context dependence, and the urgency of future threats. By identifying pressing research needs, this review seeks to lay the foundation for new collaborative initiatives and to support evidence-based conservation of this emblematic yet understudied species.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025
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MesoMag: Geophysical Prospection for Mesolithic Land Use in Challenging Soil Environments
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025
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Sedimentary ancient DNA as part of a multimethod paleoparasitology approach reveals temporal trends in human parasitic burden in the Roman period
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The detection of parasite infections in past populations has classically relied on microscopic analysis of sediment samples and coprolites. In recent years, additional methods have been integrated into paleoparasitology such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and ancient DNA (aDNA). The aim of this study was to evaluate a multimethod approach for paleoparasitology using microscopy, ELISA, and sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) with a parasite-specific targeted capture approach and high-throughput sequencing. Using 26 samples dating from c. 6400 BCE to 1500 CE that were previously analyzed with microscopy and ELISA, we aimed to more accurately detect and reconstruct parasite diversity in the Roman Empire and compare this diversity to earlier and later time periods to explore temporal changes in parasite diversity. Microscopy was found to be the most effective technique for identifying the eggs of helminths, with 8 taxa identified. ELISA was the most sensitive for detecting protozoa that cause diarrhea (notably Giardia duodenalis). Parasite DNA was recovered from 9 samples, with no parasite DNA recovered from any pre-Roman sites. Sedimentary DNA analysis identified whipworm at a site where only roundworm was visible on microscopy, and also revealed that the whipworm eggs at another site came from two different species (Trichuris trichiura and Trichuris muris). Our results show that a multimethod approach provides the most comprehensive reconstruction of parasite diversity in past populations. In the pre-Roman period, taxonomic diversity included a mixed spectrum of zoonotic parasites, together with whipworm, which is spread by ineffective sanitation. We see a marked change during the Roman and medieval periods with an increasing dominance of parasites transmitted by ineffective sanitation, especially roundworm, whipworm and protozoa that cause diarrheal illness.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025
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Paleoparasitological analysis of a 15th–16th c. CE latrine from the merchant quarter of Bruges, Belgium: Evidence for local and exotic parasite infections
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025
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Sexing the bony labyrinth: A morphometric investigation in a subadult and adult Belgian identified sample
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In forensic anthropology, sex estimation is a fundamental step in assessing individual biological profiles when analyzing human skeletons. Yet, current methods are not reliable enough to allow an accurate sex identification of highly fragmented, burnt, or subadult remains. This paper aims to investigate sexual dimorphism of the bony labyrinth on both identified subadult and adult individuals. The bony labyrinth is of particular interest for sex estimation since it is alleged to complete size and maturation pre-pubertally and is located inside the petrous part of the temporal bone which protects it from taphonomic processes. The study was performed on 93 CT scans of identified individuals from two Belgian osteological collections (19-20th century) and from current pediatric images (Erasme hospital, Brussels). Linear and angular measurements were taken on 2D slices of right bony labyrinths. Intra- and interobservers error measurements were calculated. Statistical tests were used to unravel any morphological variations between subadult and adult bony labyrinths and to highlight differences between females and males, separately in subadults and adults. Linear discriminant functions were established by cross-validation and tested on an independent sample from Belgium. Some measurements were significantly different between subadults and adults, and between females and males within both subadult and adult samples. Univariate functions achieved 72.7% in subadults and 68.4% in adults whereas multivariate equations increased accuracy respectively up to 84.9% and 78.4%. This study entails promising results to design a sex estimation method suitable for fragmented and/or subadult remains. Further metric approaches are needed to explore bony labyrinth sexual dimorphism.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021 OA
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Entheseal changes and estimation of adult age-at-death
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Speleothem-based chronology and environmental context of deposits from the Mishin Kamik Cave, NW Bulgaria–A contribution to the archaeological study of the Late Pleistocene human occupation in the Balkans
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
