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Geothermal Enery Use, country update for Belgium, EGC2025
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Geothermal energy is progressively gaining ground in Belgium, with tailored strategies emerging across its three Regions. Wallonia has undertaken a comprehensive modernization of its regulatory instruments, set ambitious renewable heat targets, and initiated large-scale subsurface exploration. Flanders is reinforcing its leadership in deep geothermal by targeting new geological formations, while improving shallow geothermal integration and subsurface governance. In the Brussels-Capital Region, efforts focus on incorporating shallow geothermal into urban energy planning through spatial zoning, technical potential mapping, and system monitoring. A suite of regional and European research projects (e.g. GEOCAMB, DESIGNATE, MORE-GEO, URGENT) have played a pivotal role in de-risking geothermal development by providing interdisciplinary tools that address geological complexity, economic feasibility, and environmental performance. Nevertheless, geothermal energy accounted for only 3.3% of Belgium’s renewable heat production in 2023, highlighting the need for accelerated deployment - especially in deep systems. Achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 will require stronger political commitment, harmonized regulatory frameworks, and targeted financial incentives. Ongoing pilot projects and scientific advances confirm geothermal energy's potential to become a cornerstone of Belgium’s sustainable heating transition.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2025
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First record of a Lessepsian migrant: the sea cucumber Holothuria (Theelothuria) hamata Pearson, 1913
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First record of a Lessepsian migrant: the sea cucumber Holothuria (Theelothuria) hamata Pearson, 1913. A single specimen of the Indo-West Pacific sea cucumber Holothuria (Theelothuria) hamata Pearson, 1913 has been captured in 2017 in the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey, Iskenderun Bay, at 30 m depth. This specimen is here described, and the taxonomy of the species is briefly discussed. Despite the lack of timed biogeographic evidence, we here argue that H. hamata is a Lessepsian migrant; the first in its genus and only the second holothuroid.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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Field guide to the brittle and basket stars (Echinodermata: Ophiuroidea) of South Africa
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Brittle and basket stars (ophiuroids) are one of five extant classes of the phylum Echinodermata and have a fossil record dating back almost 500 million years to the Early Ordovician. Today, they remain diverse and widespread, with over 260 described genera and 2,077 extant species globally (Stöhr et al. 2018), more than any other class of echinoderm. Ophiuroid species are found across all marine habitats from the intertidal shore to the abyss. In southern Africa, the ophiuroid fauna has been studied extensively by a number of authors and is relatively wellknown. The last published review of the southern African Ophiuroidea however was by Clark & Courtman-Stock in 1976. It included 101 species reported from within the boundaries of South Africa. In the 40 years since that publication the number of species has risen to 136. This identification guide includes a taxonomic key to all 136 species, and gives key references, istribution maps, diagnoses, scaled photographs (where possible), and a synthesis of known ecological and depth information for each. The guide is designed to be comprehensive, well illustrated and easy to use for both naturalists and professional biologists. Taxonomic terms, morphological characteristics and technical expressions are defined and described in detail, with illustrations to clarify some aspects of the terminology. A checklist of all species in the region is also included, and indicates which species are endemic (33), for which we report significant range extensions (23), which have been recorded as new to the South African fauna (28) since the previous monograph of Clark & Courtman-Stock (1976) and which have undergone taxonomic revisions since that time (28).
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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The sea cucumber Holothuria lineata Ludwig, 1875 (Holothuroidea, Aspidochirotida, Holothuriidae) re-described from the newly found type
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A re-description of the little-known holothurian species Holothuria (Lessonothuria) lineata Ludwig, 1875 is given. It is based on the single recovered type specimen and an individual recently collected on Glorioso Islands, near Madagascar. A key to separate three closely related and commonly confused species, i.e., Holothuria (Lessonothuria) pardalis Selenka, 1867, Holothuria (Lessenothuria) verrucosa Selenka, 1867 and Holothuria (Lessonothuria) insignis Ludwig, 1875, is presented.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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Conservation of aspidochirotid holothurians in the littoral waters of Kenya
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Aspidochirotid sea cucumbers (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) are heavily fished in the littoral waters of Kenya, and stocks have plummeted. In order to conserve and manage these natural resources, appropriate conservation and management plans must to be developed. This can only occur if high quality research on different levels is done. This paper discusses five layers of understanding that should be achieved before holothurian conservation in East Africa can be effective
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Description of a new Chersodromia Walker (Diptera: Hybotidae, Tachydromiinae) from salt marshland at the Reserva natural de s’Albufereta, Mallorca, Spain)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
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The Hybotidae of the Our Planet Reviewed Corsica 2019-2021 survey, with the description of three new species of Platypalpus and Tachydromia (Diptera, Empidoidea)
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
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De honderdjarige botanische tuin Jean Massart in het Brusselse Oudergem, een uitzonderlijke insectentuin
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RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
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L’épopée du « Travailleur » et du « Talisman » de 1880 à 1883
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
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Salvation and documentation: additional (probable) type material of South American land-snail species (Gastropoda, Stylommatophora) in the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024