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Article Reference Sclerochronological evidence of pronounced seasonality from the late Pliocene of the southern North Sea Basin, and its wider implications
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Article Reference Sea Cucumbers of the Comoros Archipelago
Sea cucumbers have been harvested for centuries in the Far East. Overexploitation, coupled with increasing demand has led to local depletion of certain standing stocks. De novo investigation at Grande Comore (one of the four main islands of the Comoros Archipelago) allows reappraisal of local holothuroid biodi- versity. Comparison with neighbouring areas allows extrapolation of holothuroid species richness to the rest of the archipelago. The current exploitation of holothuroids has been documented and there are definite signs of overexploitation. Conservation measures are urgently needed if exploitation of sea cucumbers in this area is to become sustainable in the near future.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Seaborne measurements of near infrared water-leaving reflectance: The similarity spectrum for turbid waters
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference SEADETECT: developing an automated detection system to reduce whale-vessel collision risk
With the continuous intensification of marine traffic worldwide, whale-vessel collisions at sea (or “ship strikes”) have become one of the primary causes of mortality for cetaceans and a widely recognised cause of concern for human safety and economic losses. The Mediterranean Sea is a global hotspot for whale-vessel collisions, with one of the highest rates involving large cetaceans, especially the endangered fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) and sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus). Evidence indicates that both species are experiencing higher chances of a fatal collision than what predictions have estimated so far, with ship strikes being the main human-induced threat in the area. Regional and international organisations have stressed the need to address the issue by investigating the projected impacts of ship strikes on whale populations and by identifying possible mitigation measures to reduce chances of collision. Amongst the most popular and feasible options, there is the improvement of animal detection during navigation. Here, we present SEADETECT, a LIFE project that aims at developing an automated detection system to reduce vessel collision risk with marine mammals and unidentified floating objects (UFOs), combining state-of-the-art and novel technologies with existing approaches in the study of large whale ecology. This detection system consists of three elements; an automated onboard detection system composed of several sensors, a real- time passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) network at sea and a real-time detection-sharing and alert system (REPCET®). In this paper, we propose the development of a mitigation measure framework tailored for the issue of collision with fin and sperm whales in the north-western Mediterranean Sea, but that has the transferability features necessary for its application in other high-risk areas for ship strikes worldwide.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Seasonal and inter-annual turbidity variability in the Río de la Plata from 15 years of MODIS: El Niño dilution effect
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Inbook Reference Seasonal and interannual patterns in the presence of harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) in Belgian waters from 2010 to 2015 as derived from passive acoustic monitoring
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Seasonal variations recorded in cave monitoring results and a 10-year monthly resolved speleothem 18O and 13C record from the Han-sur-Lesse cave, Belgium.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Sechelleptus arborivagus sp. nov., a new arboreal spirostreptid millipede (Diplopoda, Spirostreptidae) endemic to Mayotte Island (Comoros Archipelago), Indian Ocean
A new millipede species of the genus Sechelleptus Mauriès, 1980 is described and illustrated from Mayotte Island, Indian Ocean. This new species, S. arborivagus sp. nov., found on trees, looks particularly similar to the sympatric S. variabilis VandenSpiegel & Golovatch, 2007, but is much larger and has a very different ecological behavior. Phylogenetic analyses based on a concatenated dataset of the COI and 16S rRNA genes and including nine species of Spirostreptidae (including Sechelleptus, Doratogonus Attems, 1914, Bicoxidens Attems, 1928 and Spirostreptus Brandt, 1833), strongly support the monophyly of Sechelleptus. Despite the similarity of their genitalia, the molecular analyses also reveal a clear-cut genetic divergence between S. arborivagus sp. nov. and S. variabilis (22.55% for COI and 6.63% for 16SrRNA) and further suggest the presence of a higher diversity within the genus Sechelleptus on Mayotte.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Secondary sex estimation using morphological traits from the cranium and mandible: application to two Merovingian populations from Belgium
It is generally accepted that the coxal bone is the most reliable bone for estimating the sex of adult subjects. When the coxal bone is not usable, researchers generally turn to methods based on the skull (cranium and mandible). However, these methods are less reliable, because they are largely based on an estimate of the robusticity, which can be influenced by characteristics independent of the sex of the subject. In the context of primary sex estimation, skull-based methods should therefore be avoided. However, by using morphological traits of the cranium and the mandible as part of a secondary sex estimation, we were able to estimate the sex of a relatively large number of individuals with a minimum reliability of 95%. Our study thus illustrates the value of using morphological characteristics of the skull for a secondary sex estimation conducted with a reliable statistical method.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference Secrets of de Selys Longchamps archives: one watercolour and two records of nineteenth century observations of the grasshopper species Psophus stridulus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Locusta migratoria (Linnaeus, 1758) in Belgium (Orthoptera: Acrididae)
Next to voucher specimens in entomological collections, also historical archives and historical illustrations can contain valuable taxonomical as well as ecological and faunistic data. We report here faunistic data for two currently extinct Belgian grasshopper species from the year 1862, deduced from a letter accompanied by a watercolour. The letter and watercolour are stored in the archives of Edmond de Selys Longchamps at the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS). Both the watercolour and the letter are discussed, focusing on the observations of Psophus stridulus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Locusta migratoria (Linnaeus, 1758) (Orthoptera) at Lanaken in 1862. Two voucher specimens of these observations and their original labels, that are stored in the RBINS collections, were studied. We can conclude that Egide Fologne was the first to observe P. stridulus in Belgium. He reported this in a letter to Edmond de Selys Longchamps and supplied the watercolour depicting the specimen he collected and donated to Selys for his collection.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2017