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Guidance on potential exclusion of certain WFD priority substances from MSFD monitoring beyond coastal and territorial waters: a pragmatic and qualitative approach for the open sea
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According to Commission Decision (EU) 2017/848 under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), EU Member States (MS) shall consider, in their Descriptor 8 primary criterion (D8C1) assessments, the WFD Priority Substances (PS) and River Basin Specific Pollutants (RBSP) within coastal and territorial waters and also beyond territorial waters if these still may give rise to pollution effects. Some WFD PS might not be relevant for the marine environment in the open sea and, consequently, might be excluded from MSFD monitoring beyond the territorial waters. MS have expressed the need for a framework for the deselection of WFD PS from monitoring under the MSFD, in order to save resources. The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), collaborating within the MSFD Expert Network on Contaminants, has developed a pragmatic approach to identify the WFD PS that can be excluded from MSFD monitoring in the open sea beyond territorial waters without reducing protection of European Seas. This should preempt the need for individual MS to provide rationales for such exclusions, support comparable monitoring and assessments across national boundaries, and enable MS to focus their monitoring efforts on other (including emerging) substances that require attention.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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New Radiocarbon Dates for the Late Glacial Occupations (Ahrensburgian & Magdalenian) at ‘Grotte Du Coléoptère’ (Bomal-Sur-Ourthe, Prov. of Luxembourg, BE).
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025
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At-sea distribution of seals on the Northwest European Shelf: Towards transboundary conservation and management
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Quantifying and mitigating transboundary effects of anthropogenic activity is a key challenge in environmental management, particularly for wide-ranging species such as large predators, fish and migratory birds, relying on habitats across multiple national jurisdictions. This challenge is especially complex in marine ecosystems, where the movement of species and impacts across borders is largely unobserved. Central-place foragers, such as pinnipeds and seabirds, exemplify this complexity: abundance is typically assessed on local (regional or national) scales on land, yet at-sea movements and drivers of abundance occur on broader transboundary scales. Resolving this mismatch is critical to effective conservation, especially in areas such as the Northwest European Shelf (NWES), which features globally important predator populations (including two pinniped species) alongside growing anthropogenic pressures and a mosaic of national maritime borders. We model an unprecedented GPS dataset from 236 grey (Halichoerus grypus) and 606 harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) tracked in waters of seven countries across the NWES (United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark). Using regional habitat association models, we generate at-sea distribution estimates for both species at 5 km resolution, scaled to haulout counts, producing country-specific and NWES-wide density maps. Analysis of the extent to which seals making foraging trips from one country occupy the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of other countries revealed substantial transboundary overlap, particularly for grey seals, and harbour seals in the southern North Sea. A case study apportioning grey seal density within three adjacent offshore marine protected areas in different EEZs revealed that, where total density in a given area is required, overlooking transboundary distribution can underrepresent numbers by an order of magnitude. Synthesis and applications. This study provides the first comprehensive, regionally scalable distribution estimates for pinnipeds across the NWES and its constituent countries. The modelling framework is adaptable to other central-place and migratory species, supporting transboundary biodiversity assessments and international conservation policy. We discuss common limitations and misconceptions of species distribution estimates, highlight priorities for future work and underscore the need for transboundary efforts to manage wide-ranging species, providing a foundation for future ecological modelling and decision-making across shared ecosystems.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2026
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Deciphering the influence of evolutionary legacy and functional constraints on the patella: an example in modern rhinoceroses amongst perissodactyls
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In mammals, the patella is the biggest sesamoid bone of the skeleton and is of crucial importance in posture and locomotion, ensuring the role of a pulley for leg extensors while protecting and stabilizing the knee joint. Despite its central biomechanical role, the relation between the shape of the patella and functional factors, such as body mass or locomotor habit, in the light of evolutionary legacy are poorly known. Here, we propose a morphofunctional investigation of the shape variation of the patella among modern rhinoceroses and more generally among perissodactyls, this order of ungulates displaying a broad range of body plan, body mass and locomotor habits, to understand how the shape of this sesamoid bone varies between species and relatively to these functional factors. Our investigation, relying on three dimensional geometric morphometrics and comparative analyses, reveals that, within Rhinocerotidae and between the three perissodactyl families, the shape of the patella strongly follows the phylogenetic affinities rather than variations in body mass. The patellar shape is more conservative than initially expected both within and between rhinoceroses, equids and tapirs. The development of a medial angle, engendering a strong mediolateral asymmetry of the patella, appears convergent in rhinoceroses and equids, while tapirs retain a symmetric bone close to the plesiomorphic condition of the order. This asymmetric patella is likely associated with the presence of a “knee locking” mechanism in both equids and rhinos. The emergence of this condition may be related to a shared locomotor habit (transverse gallop) in both groups. Our investigation underlines unexcepted evolutionary constraints on the shape of a sesamoid bone usually considered as mostly driven by functional factors.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024 OA
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Reduced contribution of sulfur to the mass extinction associated with the Chicxulub impact event
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The Chicxulub asteroid impact event at the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary ˊ66 Myr ago is widely considered responsible for the mass extinction event leading to the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs. Short-term cooling due to massive release of climate-active agents is hypothesized to have been crucial, with S-bearing gases originating from the target rock vaporization considered an important driving force. Yet, the magnitude of the S release remains poorly constrained. Here we empirically estimate the amount of impact-released S relying on the concentration of S and its isotopic composition within the impact structure and a set of terrestrial K-Pg boundary ejecta sites. The average value of 67 ± 39 Gt obtained is ˊ5-fold lower than previous numerical estimates. The lower mass of S-released may indicate a less prominent role for S emission leading to a milder impact winter with key implications for species survival during the first years following the impact.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025 OA
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A European monsoon-like climate in a warmhouse world
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The middle Eocene warmhouse period (45 million years ago) featured atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations equivalent to those projected under high future emission scenarios. Seasonal- to weather timescale climate reconstructions from this period can provide critical insight into the impact of Anthropogenic warming on intra-annual variability in temperature and precipitation. Here, we combine daily-scale reconstructions of the evolution of temperature and the water cycle in western Europe based on stable oxygen and clumped isotope analyses on the fastest-growing gastropod known in the fossil record: Campanile giganteum. Our dataset shows that the middle Eocene of western Europe featured monsoon-like conditions, with seawater temperatures of ˊ24 °C during mild and wet winters, 30 °C during hot and dry spring and autumn seasons, and ˊ28 °C during warm and comparatively wet summers. Coupled climate model simulations using the Community Earth System Model indicate these seasonal variations in temperature and precipitation were driven by shifting atmospheric and oceanic circulation regimes over Western Europe, with winds from different directions bringing distinct waters to the region and minimal wind during spring reducing cooling through diminished latent heat flux. Our results highlight that Europe may experience wetter summers with more frequent extreme rainfall events under future high emissions scenarios.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025 OA
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Clumped isotope thermometry (Δ47) measurements in marine gastropods suggest equilibrium precipitation
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The clumped isotope paleothermometer (Δ47) has been used to reconstruct temperatures from various biogenic carbonate archives. Calibration studies demonstrate that some biogenic carbonates precipitate in Δ47 equilibrium and record growth temperatures accurately (e.g., many bivalve mollusks), while others appear to exhibit disequilibrium, or ‘vital’, effects and yield isotopically reconstructed temperatures that are biased (e.g., shallow-water corals). These studies have largely excluded marine gastropods, so it is not known whether they tend to precipitate their shells in or out of isotopic equilibrium. In this study, we present seasonal-scale δ18O and seasonally targeted Δ47 and Δ48 measurements from modern marine gastropods representing 8 genera and 10 species, reconstructing apparent growth temperatures and screening for equilibrium precipitation. We find that most marine gastropods appear to precipitate in Δ47 and Δ48 equilibrium and faithfully record environmental temperatures, making them suitable for Δ47-paleothermometry. A few gastropods (Caviturritella/Turritella sp., Campanile symbolicum, Megastraea undosa) appear to precipitate out of Δ47 equilibrium, though these disequilibrium signatures may partially be explained by differences between actual growth temperatures and instrumental calibration temperatures (Caviturritella/Turritella sp., M. undosa) or differences between inner and outer layer precipitation (C. symbolicum). We present new Δ47-temperature data for 2 Middle Eocene Campanile giganteum fossils collected from the Paris Basin and discuss how to interpret the results in the context of our modern samples. Finally, in conducting this calibration we demonstrate paired Δ47/Δ48 as an effective tool to screen for disequilibrium precipitation in marine gastropods.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025 OA
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Endocranial anatomy and phylogenetic position of the crocodylian Eosuchus lerichei from the late Paleocene of northwestern Europe and potential adaptations for transoceanic dispersal in gavialoids
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Eosuchus lerichei is a gavialoid crocodylian from late Paleocene marine deposits of northwestern Europe, known from a skull and lower jaws, as well as postcrania. Its sister taxon relationship with the approximately contemporaneous species Eosuchus minor from the east coast of the USA has been explained through transoceanic dispersal, indicating a capability for salt excretion that is absent in extant gavialoids. However, there is currently no anatomical evidence to support marine adaptation in extinct gavialoids. Furthermore, the placement of Eosuchus within Gavialoidea is labile, with some analyses supporting affinities with the Late Cretaceous to early Paleogene “thoracosaurs.” Here we present novel data on the internal and external anatomy of the skull of E. lerichei that enables a revised diagnosis, with 6 autapormorphies identified for the genus and 10 features that enable differentiation of the species from Eosuchus minor. Our phylogenetic analyses recover Eosuchus as an early diverging gavialid gavialoid that is not part of the “thoracosaur” group. In addition to thickened semi-circular canal walls of the endosseous labyrinth and paratympanic sinus reduction, we identify potential osteological correlates for salt glands in the internal surface of the prefrontal and lacrimal bones of E. lerichei. These salt glands potentially provide anatomical evidence for the capability of transoceanic dispersal within Eosuchus, and we also identify them in the Late Cretaceous “thoracosaur” Portugalosuchus. Given that the earliest diverging and stratigraphically oldest gavialoids either have evidence for a nasal salt gland and/or have been recovered from marine deposits, this suggests the capacity for salt excretion might be ancestral for Gavialoidea. Mapping osteological and geological evidence for marine adaptation onto a phylogeny indicates that there was probably more than one independent loss/reduction in the capacity for salt excretion in gavialoids.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025
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Geodiversiteit uit een archeologische opgraving in het oude stadscentrum van Antwerpen - bron van informatie over romeinse en middeleeuwse handel en gebruik.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025
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Metastrongyloid parasites of felines in naturally infected gastropods in Greece
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
