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Article Reference African lates perches (Teleostei, Latidae, Lates): Paraphyly of Nile perch and recent colonization of Lake Tanganyika
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference Agropastoral and dietary practices of the northern Levant facing Late Holocene climate and environmental change: Isotopic analysis of plants, animals and humans from Bronze to Iron Age Tell Tweini
One of the largest isotopic datasets of the ancient Eastern Mediterranean region is evaluated, based on plants (n = 410), animals (n = 210) and humans (n = 16) from Tell Tweini (Syria). Diachronic analysis of plant and faunal specimens from four main periods of occupation: Early Bronze Age (2600–2000 BC), Middle Bronze Age (2000–1600 BC), Late Bronze Age (1600–1200 BC) and Iron Age (1200–333 BC) were investigated. Mean Δ13C results from seven plant species reveal emmer and free threshing wheat, olives, bitter vetch, rye grass and barley were adequately or well-watered during all periods of occupation. The grape Δ13C results suggest excellent growing conditions and particular care for its cultivation. The δ15N results indicate that especially the emmer and free threshing wheats received some manure inputs throughout the occupation sequence, while these were likely further increased during the Iron Age, encompassing also the olive groves and grape vineyards. Generally, domestic animals (cattle, sheep, goats) had C3 terrestrial diets and were kept together in similar environments. However, some animals consumed significant amounts of marine or C4 plants, possibly from disturbed habitats due to land use pressure or salt tolerant grasses and shrubs from wetland environments, which were recorded in the direct vicinity of the site. Middle Bronze Age humans consumed a C3 terrestrial diet with no measurable input from C4, freshwater or marine protein sources. Interestingly, the human diet was relatively low in animal protein and appears comparable to what is considered today a typical Mediterranean diet consisting of bread (wheat/barley), olives, grapes, pulses, dairy products and small amounts of meat. The combined isotopic analysis of plants, animals and humans from Tell Tweini represents unbroken links in the food chain which create unparalleled opportunities to enhance our current understanding of environmental conditions, climate change and lifeways in past populations from the Eastern Mediterranean.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference Algal Taxonomy: a road to nowhere?
The widespread view of taxonomy as an essentially retrogressive and outmoded science unable to cope with the current biodiversity crisis stimulated us to analyze the current status of cataloguing global algal diversity. Contrary to this largely pessimistic belief, species description rates of algae through time and trends in the number of active taxonomists, as revealed by the web resource AlgaeBase, show a much more positive picture. More species than ever before are being described by a large community of algal taxonomists. The lack of any decline in the rate at which new species and genera are described, however, is indicative of the large proportion of undiscovered diversity and bears heavily on any prediction of global algal species diversity and the time needed to catalogue it. The saturation of accumulation curves of higher taxa (family, order, and classes) on the other hand suggest that at these taxonomic levels most diversity has been discovered. This reasonably positive picture does not imply that algal taxonomy does not face serious challenges in the near future. The observed levels of cryptic diversity in algae, combined with the shift in methods used to characterize them, have resulted in a rampant uncertainty about the status of many older species. As a consequence, there is a tendency in phycology to move gradually away from traditional names to a more informal system whereby clade-, specimen- or strain-based identifiers are used to communicate biological information. Whether these informal names for species-level clades represent a temporary situation stimulated by the lag between species discovery and formal description, or an incipient alternative or parallel taxonomy, will be largely determined by how well we manage to integrate historical collections into modern taxonomic research. Additionally, there is a pressing need for a consensus about the organizational framework to manage the information about algal species names. An eventual strategy should preferably come out of an international working group that includes the various databases as well as the various phycological societies. In this strategy, phycologists should link up to major international initiatives that are currently being developed, such as the compulsory registration of taxonomic and nomenclatural acts and the introduction of Life Science Identifiers.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Book Reference Alle dieren groot ende clene. Studies over natuurwetenschappen en archeologie
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Article Reference Allemaal beestjes. Studie van het dierljk bot uit een Romeinse waterput van de site Tongeren-Oost
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Article Reference Ambigolimax valentianus (Férussac, 1822) à Uccle - Récit d’une naissance
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference Amplified seasonality in western Europe in a warmer world
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
Article Reference An annotated checklist of the Scatopsidae (Diptera) of the Botanic Garden Jean Massart at the outskirts of Brussels (Belgium)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Article Reference An annotated checklist of the leaf beetles (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) from El Salvador, with additions from the Bechyné collection in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
A checklist of the species of leaf beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) of El Salvador is presented based on data from literature and a digitization project of the Bechyné collection of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS). The RBINS collections contain a total of 2797 individual chrysomelid specimens from El Salvador, sorted into 89 species and 132 genera. In total, the current checklist contains 420 species, of which 33 are new records for El Slavador from the Bechyné collection. In these collections, there are also ten nomina nuda named by Bechyné, which need further study. The leaf beetle diversity in El Salvador, partly due to the country’s unstable political history, remains poorly studied, and many (new) species await discovery. This checklist provides a baseline for further study in El Salvador and nearby region.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference AN ANNOTATED CHECKLIST OF THE OLIGO-MIOCENE CEPHALOPODS OF THE MALTESE ISLANDS
A systematic checklist of cephalopod fossils (Phylum Mollusca: Class Cephalopoda) recorded from the Oligo-Miocene sedimentary sequence of the Maltese archipelago is given. It consists of species of the nautilid genera Aturia and Eutrephoceras, next to calcified parts of the nautilid animal’s upper jaw placed under the parataxon Rhyncolites, and of sepiid and spirulid coleoid genera Sepia (Sepiida) and Spirulirostra (Spirulirostrida). Cephalopod fossils from the Maltese archipelago, in particular abundant limonitic or phosphoritic specimens of Aturia and Sepia, have been recorded in scientific literature since the middle part of the 19th Century. The identification of several species of Sepia is hampered by lost type material and taphonomic distortion or loss of diagnostic traits.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024