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Assessing Vertical Elevation Changes of Coastal Areas in Southern Chile to Improve The Understanding of Their Paleotsunami Sedimentary Records
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
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Publishing data to support the fight against human vector-borne diseases
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Vector-borne diseases are responsible for more than 17% of human cases of infectious diseases. In most situations, effective control of debilitating and deadly vector-bone diseases (VBDs), such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever, Zika and Chagas requires up to-date, robust and comprehensive information on the presence, diversity, ecology, bionomics and geographic spread of the organisms that carry and transmit the infectious agents. Huge gaps exist in the information related to these vectors, creating an essential need for campaigns to mobilise and share data. The publication of data papers is an effective tool for overcoming this challenge. These peer-reviewed articles provide scholarly credit for researchers whose vital work of assembling and publishing well-described, properly formatted datasets often fails to receive appropriate recognition. To address this, GigaScience’s sister journal GigaByte partnered with the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) to publish a series of data papers, with support from the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Here we outline the initial results of this targeted approach to sharing data and describe its importance for controlling VBDs and improving public health.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022
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Where are we now with European forest multi-taxon biodiversity and where can we head to?
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The European biodiversity and forest strategies rely on forest sustainable management (SFM) to conserve forest biodiversity. However, current sustainability assessments hardly account for direct biodiversity indicators. We focused on forest multi-taxon biodiversity to: i) gather and map the existing information; ii) identify knowledge and research gaps; iii) discuss its research potential. We established a research network to fit data on species, standing trees, lying deadwood and sampling unit description from 34 local datasets across 3591 sampling units. A total of 8724 species were represented, with the share of common and rare species varying across taxonomic classes: some included many species with several rare ones (e.g., Insecta); others (e.g., Bryopsida) were repre sented by few common species. Tree-related structural attributes were sampled in a subset of sampling units (2889; 2356; 2309 and 1388 respectively for diameter, height, deadwood and microhabitats). Overall, multi taxon studies are biased towards mature forests and may underrepresent the species related to other developmental phases. European forest compositional categories were all represented, but beech forests were over represented as compared to thermophilous and boreal forests. Most sampling units (94%) were referred to a habitat type of conservation concern. Existing information may support European conservation and SFM strategies in: (i) methodological harmonization and coordinated monitoring; (ii) definition and testing of SFM indicators and thresholds; (iii) data-driven assessment of the effects of environmental and management drivers on multi-taxon forest biological and functional diversity, (iv) multi-scale forest monitoring integrating in-situ and remotely sensed information.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023
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Taphonomy of marine vertebrates of the Pisco Formation (Miocene, Peru): Insights into the origin of an outstanding Fossil-Lagerstätte
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Relation between mitochondrial DNA hyperdiversity, mutation rate and mitochondrial genome evolution in Melarhaphe neritoides (Gastropoda: Littorinidae) and other Caenogastropoda
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Mitochondrial DNA hyperdiversity is primarily caused by high mutation rates (µ) and has potential implications for mitogenome architecture and evolution. In the hyperdiverse mtDNA of Melarhaphe neritoides (Gastropoda: Littorinidae), high mutational pressure generates unusually large amounts of synonymous variation, which is expected to (1) promote changes in synonymous codon usage, (2) reflect selection at synonymous sites, (3) increase mtDNA recombination and gene rearrangement, and (4) be correlated with high mtDNA substitution rates. The mitogenome of M. neritoides was sequenced, compared to closely related littorinids and put in the phylogenetic context of Caenogastropoda, to assess the influence of mtDNA hyperdiversity and high µ on gene content and gene order. Most mitogenome features are in line with the trend in Mollusca, except for the atypical secondary structure of the methionine transfer RNA lacking the TΨC-loop. Therefore, mtDNA hyperdiversity and high µ in M. neritoides do not seem to affect its mitogenome architecture. Synonymous sites are under positive selection, which adds to the growing evidence of non-neutral evolution at synonymous sites. Under such non-neutrality, substitution rate involves neutral and non-neutral substitutions, and high µ is not necessarily associated with high substitution rate, thus explaining that, unlike high µ, a high substitution rate is associated with gene order rearrangement.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2018
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A scientific name for Pacific oysters
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RBINS Staff Publications 2018
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A new basal ornithopod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of China
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020
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Data of feather recovering performance of birds and micro structure of pigeons’ feathers
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020
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First annotated draft genomes of nonmarine ostracods (Ostracoda, Crustacea) with different reproductive modes
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Ostracods are one of the oldest crustacean groups with an excellent fossil record and high importance for phylogenetic analyses but genome resources for this class are still lacking. We have successfully assembled and annotated the first reference genomes for three species of nonmarine ostracods; two with obligate sexual reproduction (Cyprideis torosa and Notodromas monacha) and the putative ancient asexual Darwinula stevensoni. This kind of genomic research has so far been impeded by the small size of most ostracods and the absence of genetic resources such as linkage maps or BAC libraries that were available for other crustaceans. For genome assembly, we used an Illumina-based sequencing technology, resulting in assemblies of similar sizes for the three species (335–382 Mb) and with scaffold numbers and their N50 (19–56 kb) in the same orders of magnitude. Gene annotations were guided by transcriptome data from each species. The three assemblies are relatively complete with BUSCO scores of 92–96. The number of predicted genes (13,771–17,776) is in the same range as Branchiopoda genomes but lower than in most malacostracan genomes. These three reference genomes from nonmarine ostracods provide the urgently needed basis to further develop ostracods as models for evolutionary and ecological research.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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On the first Belgian record of the Eifelian (Middle Devonian) ammonoid cephalopod Subanarcestes (Suborder Anarcestina)
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Ammonoid cephalopods are extremely rare in the Lower and Middle Devonian sedimentary rocks of Belgium, which contrasts with the neighboring sedimentary basins. However, searches in old collections and recent collecting efforts show that ammonoids do occur in these beds in Belgium, which allows to enlarge our knowledge of Lower and Middle Devonian ammonoid occurrences. Here, a record of the Eifelian (Middle Devonian) anarcestid ammonoid genus Subanarcestes is described for the first time from Belgium based on a specimen from the Jemelle Formation (Chavées Member). This specimen was collected more than a century ago by Eugène Maillieux at Trou Bodet near Couvin. It laid unrecognized as an ammonoid cephalopod for many decades in the collections of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, while being previously identified as Cryptoceras or ‘Nautilus’ fossil, which if correct, constituted Belgium’s oldest Nautilida fossil. Micro-CT imaging greatly helped in the taxonomic assignment of the specimen.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023
