-
Location of the Rhine plume front by airborne remote sensing
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
Locked in the icehouse: Evolution of an endemic Epimeria (Amphipoda, Crustacea) species flock on the Antarctic shelf
-
The Antarctic shelf’s marine biodiversity has been greatly influenced by the climatic and glacial history of the region. Extreme temperature changes led to the extinction of some lineages, while others adapted and flourished. The amphipod genus Epimeria is an example of the latter, being particularly diverse in the Antarctic region. By reconstructing a time-calibrated phylogeny based on mitochondrial (COI) and nuclear (28S and H3) markers and including Epimeria species from all oceans, this study provides a temporal and geographical framework for the evolution of Antarctic Epimeria. The monophyly of this genus is not supported by Bayesian Inference, as Antarctic and non-Antarctic Epimeria form two distinct wellsupported clades, with Antarctic Epimeria being a sister clade to two stilipedid species. The monophyly of Antarctic Epimeria suggests that this clade evolved in isolation since its origin. While the precise timing of this origin remains unclear, it is inferred that the Antarctic lineage arose from a late Gondwanan ancestor and hence did not colonize the Antarctic region after the continent broke apart from the other fragments of Gondwanaland. The initial diversification of the clade occurred 38.04 Ma (95% HPD [48.46 Ma; 28.36 Ma]) in a cooling environment. Adaptation to cold waters, along with the extinction of cold-intolerant taxa and resulting ecological opportunities, likely led to the successful diversification of Epimeria on the Antarctic shelf. However, there was neither evidence of a rapid lineage diversification early in the clade’s history, nor of any shifts in diversification rates induced by glacial cycles. This suggests that a high turnover rate on the repeatedly scoured Antarctic shelf could have masked potential signals of diversification bursts.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2017
-
Long-term interactions between man and the fluvial environment – case of the Diyala alluvial fan, Iraq
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
Long-term persistence of asexuality through mixed reproduction in Eucypris virens (Crustacea, Ostracoda)
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
Long-term persistence of asexuality through mixed reproduction in Eucypris virens
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
Long-Term Subsidence Monitoring of the Alluvial Plain of the Scheldt River in Antwerp (Belgium) Using Radar Interferometry
-
The coupled effects of climate change, sea-level rise, and land sinking in estuaries/alluvial plains prone to inundation and flooding mean that reliable estimation of land movements/subsidence is becoming more crucial. During the last few decades, land subsidence has been monitored by precise and continuous geodetic measurements either from space or using terrestrial techniques. Among them, the Persistent Scaterrer Interferometry (PSInSAR) technique is used on the entire Belgian territory to detect, map and interpret the identified ground movements observed since 1992. Here the research focuses on one of the biggest cities in Belgium that became the second European harbour with giant docks and the deepening of the Scheldt river allowing the navigation of the largest container vessels. The areas along the embankments of the Scheldt river and the harbour facilities are associated to Holocene fluviatile deposits overlain by recent landfills. These sedimentary deposits and human-made landfills are affected by important and ongoing land subsidence phenomena. The land subsidence process is highlighted by an annual average Line of Sight (LOS) velocity of about −3.4 mm/year during the years 1992–2001 (ERS1/2 datasets), followed by an annual average LOS velocity of about −2.71 mm/year and −2.11 mm/year, respectively, during the years 2003–2010 (ENVISAT) and 2016–2019 (Sentinel 1A). The Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery data indicate a progressive decrease in the average annual velocities on a global scale independently of important local variations in different districts along the Scheldt river. On the contrary, the city centre and the old historic centre of Antwerp are not affected by negative LOS velocities, indicating stable ground conditions. A geological interpretation of this difference in settlement behaviour between the different areas is provided.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2021
-
Long-term trends of land use and demography in Greece: a comparative study
-
This paper offers a comparative study of land use and demographic development in northern and southern Greece from the Neolithic to the Byzantine period. Results from summed probability densities (SPD) of archaeological radiocarbon dates and settlement numbers derived from archaeological site surveys are combined with results from cluster-based analysis of published pollen core assemblages to offer an integrated view of human pressure on the Greek landscape through time. We demonstrate that SPD can be a useful approach to outline differences between regions and a useful complement to archaeological site records, evaluated here especially for the onset of the Neolithic and the Final Neolithic/Early Bronze Age transition. Pollen analysis highlight differences in vegetation between the two subregions but also several parallel changes. The comparison of land cover changes between two sub-regions of Greece further demonstrate the significance of the bioclimatic conditions of core locations and that apparent oppositions between regions may in fact be two sides of the same coin in terms of socio-ecological trajectories. We also assess the balance between anthropogenic and climate related impacts on vegetation and suggest that climatic variability was as an important factor for vegetation regrowth. Finally, our evidence suggest that the impact of humans on land cover is amplified from the Late Bronze Age onwards as more extensive herding and agricultural practices are introduced.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2019
-
Looking beneath the tip of the iceberg: diversification of the genus Epimeria on the Antarctic shelf (Crustacea, Amphipoda)
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2016
-
Looking for human therapeutic intervention in the healing of fractures
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
Losing the Bounty? Investigating species richness in isolated freshwater ecosystems of Oceania.
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications