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Article Reference The cicada genus Megapomponia Boulard, 2005 from Laos, with description of a new species (Hemiptera: Cicadidae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Inproceedings Reference The defensive secretions of the giant millipede Anurostreptus sculptus (Spirostreptida, Harpagophoridae): their chemical composition and antimicrobial activity
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Article Reference The Dispersal of the Domestic Cat: Paleogenetic and Zooarcheological Evidence
Domestication is one of the most interesting and challenging processes in human and animal evolution. The fundamental change in subsistence strategies from hunting and gathering to farming that took place for the first time in the Levant more than ten thousand years ago profoundly changed human culture and biology, and set the groundwork for population growth, migrations, the rise of civilizations, and wealth disparities (Bocquet-Appel 2011; Gignoux, Henn, and Mountain 2011; Kohler et al. 2017).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference The Entognatha, Malacostraca and Myriapoda of the botanical garden Jean Massart (Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Article Reference The Environment and its Exploitation Along the Lower Scheldt River During the Roman Period (Wichelen, Belgium – Late 1st to 3rd Centuries AD)
The large number of rural Roman settlements known from the Low Countries is generally characterised by a poor preservation of ecological proxies due to the absence of waterlogged contexts. The riverside site of Wijmeers (Wichelen, Belgium), a small rural settlement located in the Lower Scheldt basin, represents a rare exception to this pattern. Due to the presence of a waterlogged sequence with Roman (late 1st–3rd centuries AD) waste layers, located only a few metres from a main building structure, and the covering of the site with alluvial sediments shortly after its abandonment, the preservation condition of charred and uncharred organic materials was exceptional. The combined study of these proxies (pollen, seeds, charcoal, mollusc shells and animal bones) presents unique insights into the subsistence economy of a Roman rural household in the Lower Scheldt valley in general, and especially its exploitation of the valley and river environments. Besides this cultural–economical perspective, the site provides key information for understanding the chronology of fluvial and alluvial processes in the Lower Scheldt Basin for a large part of the Subatlantic period (Iron Age to Early Middle Ages, ca 800 BC–900 AD).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Article Reference The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030: Opportunities and challenges on the path towards biodiversity recovery
The European Union (EU) has committed to an ambitious biodiversity recovery plan in its Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the Green Deal. These policies aim to halt biodiversity loss and move towards sustainable development, focusing on restoring degraded habitats, extending the network of protected areas (PAs), and improving the effectiveness of management, governance, and funding. The achievement of conservation goals must be founded on understanding past successes and failures. Here, we summarise the strengths and weaknesses of past EU biodiversity conservation policies and practices and explore future opportunities and challenges. We focus on four main aspects: i) coordination among and within the EU Member States, ii) integration of biodiversity conservation into socio-economic sectors, iii) adequacy and sufficiency of funds, and iv) governance and stakeholder participation.Whilst past conservation efforts have benefitted from common rules across the EU and funding mechanisms, they have failed at operationalizing coordination within and across the Member States, integrating biodiversity conservation into other sectoral policies, adequately funding and effectively enforcing management, and facilitating stakeholder participation in decision-making. Future biodiversity conservation would benefit from an extended and better-managed network of PAs, additional novel funding opportunities, including the private sector, and enhanced co-governance. However, it will be critical to find sustainable solutions to potential conflicts between conservation goals and other socio-economic objectives and to resolve inconsistencies across sectoral policies.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Article Reference The evolutionary history of manatees told by their mitogenomes
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Inbook Reference The first record of the genus Trichogomphus Burmeister from Nepal, and a checklist of Nepalese Dynastinae (Insecta: Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Article Reference The fossil bivalve Angulus benedeni benedeni: a potential seasonally resolved stable isotope-based climate archive to investigate Pliocene temperatures in the southern North Sea basin
Bivalves record seasonal environmental changes in their shells, making them excellent climate archives. However, not every bivalve can be used for this end. The shells have to grow fast enough so that micrometre- to millimetre-sampling can resolve sub-annual changes. Here, we investigate whether the bivalve Angulus benedeni benedeni is suitable as a climate archive. For this, we use ca. 3-million-year-old specimens from the Piacenzian collected from a temporary outcrop in the Port of Antwerp area (Belgium). The subspecies is common in Pliocene North Sea basin deposits, but its lineage dates back to the late Oligocene and has therefore great potential as a high-resolution archive. A detailed assessment of the preservation of the shell material by micro-X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, and electron backscatter diffraction reveals that it is pristine and not affected by diagenetic processes. Oxygen isotope analysis and microscopy indicate that the species had a longevity of up to a decade or more and, importantly, that it grew fast and large enough so that seasonally resolved records across multiple years were obtainable from it. Clumped isotope analysis revealed a mean annual temperature of 13.5 ± 3.8 ∘C. The subspecies likely experienced slower growth during winter and thus may not have recorded temperatures year-round. This reconstructed mean annual temperature is 3.5 ∘C warmer than the pre-industrial North Sea and in line with proxy and modelling data for this stratigraphic interval, further solidifying A. benedeni benedeni's use as a climate recorder. Our exploratory study thus reveals that Angulus benedeni benedeni fossils are indeed excellent climate archives, holding the potential to provide insight into the seasonality of several major climate events of the past ∼ 25 million years in northwestern Europe.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference The Genus Enixotrophon (Gastropoda: Muricidae: Pagodulinae): an Update on Species from the Tropical Indo-West Pacific
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA