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Article Reference Brawn before brains in placental mammals after the end-Cretaceous extinction
Mammals are the most encephalized vertebrates, with the largest brains relative to body size. Placental mammals have particularly enlarged brains, with expanded neocortices for sensory integration, the origins of which are unclear. We used computed tomography scans of newly discovered Paleocene fossils to show that contrary to the convention that mammal brains have steadily enlarged over time, early placentals initially decreased their relative brain sizes because body mass increased at a faster rate. Later in the Eocene, multiple crown lineages independently acquired highly encephalized brains through marked growth in sensory regions. We argue that the placental radiation initially emphasized increases in body size as extinction survivors filled vacant niches. Brains eventually became larger as ecosystems saturated and competition intensified.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
Article Reference Brockphasma spinifemoralis gen. et spec. nov.: a new phasmid genus and new species of Neohiraseini (Phasmida: Necrosciinae) from Vietnam
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Brussels’ bedrock paleorelief from borehole-controlled power laws linking polarised H/V resonance frequencies and sediment thickness
The empirical power law relation (PR) between resonance frequency (f0), obtained from H/V spectral ratio analysis of ambient noise, and sediment thickness (h), obtained from boreholes, is frequently used in microzonation studies to predict bedrock depth. In this study, we demonstrate (i) how to optimally construct a PR by including the error on the picked f0 in the regression, and (ii) how to evaluate a regression quality by identifying the under- or overestimation of the sediment thickness prediction. We apply this methodology on f0 data derived from 74 ambient noise recordings acquired above boreholes that reach the Brabant Massif bedrock below Brussels (Belgium). Separating the f0 data into different subset based on the cover geology does not significantly improve the bedrock depth prediction because the cover geology in Brussels has common base layers. In Brussels, the PR relation h = 88.631.f0−1.683 is the best candidate to convert f0 to depth, with a prediction error of 10%. The Brussels PR was subsequently applied on a local survey (404 measurements; 25 km2) in southern Brussels with the aim to study Brussels’ Brabant Massif bedrock paleorelief. By linking the obtained paleorelief, Bouguer gravity data and aeromagnetic data, a NNW-SSE oriented, 20 m-high subsurface ridge could be identified. This ridge stands out because of differential erosion between less-resistant and hard quartzitic rock formations of the Brabant Massif. This subsurface ridge deflects the local radiation of seismic energy resulting in an anomaly in the otherwise regional consistent azimuthal dependency of the resonance frequency. We conclude that adding a polarisation analysis to a microzonation survey analysis allows detecting anomalous features in the paleorelief.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Bryozoan assemblages of the Gulpen Formation (upper Campanian – upper Maastrichtian) in the Liège-Limburg area (Belgium, the Netherlands).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference Burrowing fauna mediate alternative stable states in the redox cycling of salt marsh sediments
The East Anglian salt marsh system (UK) has recently generated intriguing data with respect to sediment biogeochemistry. Neighbouring ponds in these salt marshes show two distinct regimes of redox cycling: the sediments are either iron-rich and bioturbated, or they are sulphide-rich and unbioturbated. No conclusive explanation has yet been given for this remarkable spatial co-occurrence. Here, we quantify the geochemical cycling in both pond types, using pore-water analyses and solid-phase speciation. Our results demonstrate that differences in solid-phase carbon and iron inputs are likely small between pond types, and so these cannot act as the direct driver of the observed redox dichotomy. Instead, our results suggest that the presence of bioturbation plays a key role in the transition from sulphur-dominated to iron-dominated sediments. The presence of burrowing fauna in marine sediments stimulates the mineralisation of organic matter, increases the iron cycling and limits the build-up of free sulphide. Overall, we propose that the observed dichotomy in pond geochemistry is due to alternative stable states, which result from non-linear interactions in the sedimentary iron and sulphur cycles that are amplified by bioturbation. This way, small differences in solid phase input can result in very different regimes of redox cycling due to positive feedbacks. This non-linearity in the iron and sulphur cycling could be an inherent feature of marine sediments, and hence, alternative stable states could be present in other systems.
Located in Library / No RBINS Staff publications
Article Reference Burying Dogs in Ancient Cis-Baikal, Siberia: Temporal Trends and Relationships with Human Diet and Subsistence Practices
The first objective of this study is to examine temporal patterns in ancient dog burials in the Lake Baikal region of Eastern Siberia. The second objective is to determine if the practice of dog burial here can be correlated with patterns in human subsistence practices, in particular a reliance on terrestrial mammals. Direct radiocarbon dating of a suite of the region’s dog remains indicates that these animals were given burial only during periods in which human burials were common. Dog burials of any kind were most common during the Early Neolithic (,7–8000 B.P.), and rare during all other time periods. Further, only foraging groups seem to have buried canids in this region, as pastoralist habitation sites and cemeteries generally lack dog interments, with the exception of sacrificed animals. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data indicate that dogs were only buried where and when human diets were relatively rich in aquatic foods, which here most likely included river and lake fish and Baikal seal (Phoca sibirica). Generally, human and dog diets appear to have been similar across the study subregions, and this is important for interpreting their radiocarbon dates, and comparing them to those obtained on the region’s human remains, both of which likely carry a freshwater old carbon bias. Slight offsets were observed in the isotope values of dogs and humans in our samples, particularly where both have diets rich in aquatic fauna. This may result from dietary differences between people and their dogs, perhaps due to consuming fish of different sizes, or even different tissues from the same aquatic fauna. This paper also provides a first glimpse of the DNA of ancient canids in Northeast Asia.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Bypassing the Suess-effect: Age determination of charcoal kiln remains using OSL dating
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference Cabindachanos dartevellei gen. and sp. nov., a new chanid fish (Ostariophysi, Gonorynchiformes) from the marine Paleocene of Cabinda (Central Africa)
The osteology of Cabindachanos dartevellei gen. and sp. nov., a fossil fish from the marine Danian or early Selandian deposits of Landana (Cabinda Territory, Central Africa), is here studied in detail. This fish is known by only one partially preserved specimen that shows typical characters. The opercle is greatly hypertrophied. The preopercle has a very broad dorsal limb and a long narrower ventral limb. There is a wide plate-like suprapreopercle. The lower jaw is deep, with a well-marked coronoid process formed by the dentary. The articulation between the quadrate and the mandible is located before the orbit. The first supraneurals are enlarged. These characters indicate that C. dartevellei belongs to the family Chanidae (Teleostei, Gonorynchiformes). Cabindachanos dartevellei differs from all the other known fossil or recent chanid fishes by the gigantic development of its opercle and by the loss of the subopercle. The straight angle formed by the two limbs of the preopercle and the well-developed posterior median crest of the supraoccipital indicate that C. dartevellei belongs to the subfamily Chaninae and the tribe Chanini.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference Cable Bacteria Activity Modulates Arsenic Release From Sediments in a Seasonally Hypoxic Marine Basin
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
Article Reference Cadre stratigraphique et chronologique du Gravettien en Europe centrale
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications