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Article Reference Predator effects on the feeding and bioirrigation activity of ecosystem-engineered Lanice conchilega reefs
Ecosystem engineers can considerably affect the community composition, abundance and species richness of their environment. This study investigates the existence of positive or negative feedbacks of species that compose the community in intertidal biogenic reefs constructed by the ecosystem engineer Lanice conchilega. This tubeworm creates attractive nursery and feeding grounds for the predatory brown shrimp Crangon crangon, while at the same time is preyed upon by C. crangon. The effect of the predation pressure exerted by C. crangon on the bioirrigation and feeding activity of the tubeworm is up until now unknown and it is hypothesised that these activities are affected by the high densities of C. crangon in the reefs. A mesocosm experiment was set up to investigate the effects of predation pressure on the bioirrigation and feeding activity of L. conchilega in the i) absence; ii) restricted presence; and iii) unrestricted presence of C. crangon. Bioirrigation was quantified by the decrease of an artificially introduced bromide (Br−) tracer, while feeding activity was measured from the incorporation of 13C via stable isotope analysis. The bioirrigation rate of the L. conchilega reef equalled about 30 L·m−2·d−1 andwas not affected by the presence of the predator. The food uptake of the tubewormwas however about three times lower in the unrestricted presence of C. crangon, presumably due to the retraction of the worm's body and tentacles in its tube induced by physical contact with the predator. Notwithstanding the impacted food uptake of L. conchilega, the tubeworm maintains its functional role in the presence of predators in soft-bottom intertidal areas.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Assessment of soil metal distribution and environmental impact of mining in Katanga (Democratic Republic of Congo).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference Environment and subsistence in north-western Europe during the Younger Dryas: An isotopic study of the human of Rhünda (Germany)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2016
Article Reference The good, the bad and the ugly: Framing debates on Nature in a One Health community.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019
Article Reference Evolution at two time frames: polymorphisms from an ancient singular divergence event fuel contemporary parallel evolution
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Article Reference A report of the unusual presence of Haplotaxis cf. gordioides in a terrestrial subsoil and first isotopic analysis of its trophic position
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Article Reference Nouvelle observation de Chlorophorus varius (O.F. Müller 1766) en Belgique (Coleoptera Cerambycidae Cerambycinae Clytini)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Article Reference Fungal alkaloids mediate defense against bruchid beetles in field populations of an arborescent ipomoea
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2025
Inbook Reference System-to-system Interface Between the EMSA CleanSeaNet Service and OSERIT
The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) develop and operate together a system-to-system interface between the EMSA’s CleanSeaNet service and OSERIT, the Belgian Oil Spill Evaluation and Response Integrated Tool. This interface is meant to provide CleanSeaNet users with a support tool for early and automatic oil drift and fate simulation results of any satellite-detected oil spills reported by the CleanSeaNet service in the North Sea and the English Channel. In view of the automatic forecast and backtrack simulations results, CleanSeaNet users have the possibility to further refine this early risk assessment either by activating their own national decision support system or by requesting new, advanced simulations through the CleanSeaNet GIS viewer. This interface is currently passing the final acceptance tests. However, the system has already been used by RBINS for the oil pollution event subsequent to the Flinterstar sinking at 8km off the port of Zeebruges on the 6 th of October 2015. This event perfectly illustrates the potential synergies of remote sensing and modelling in case of marine pollution and their integration in risk assessments that must be performed for any significant pollution of the marine system.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference All sunshine makes a desert'. Building interdisciplinary understanding of survival strategies of ancient communities in the arid Zerqa Triangle, Jordan Valley
Archaeological studies typically describe arid areas as extremely unpleasant areas for human occupation and use. Without suggesting that arid areas are pleasant places, however, this paper provides a reassessment of the meaning of aridity for an area showing a vast amount of evidence of (past) human activities. Several climatic proxy data suggest that at the transition between the late Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age (around c. 1300-1100 BC) the southern Levant witnessed more arid conditions, while after 1100 BC relatively moist conditions would have prevailed. In drylands, small changes in temperature and water availability can have large effects on subsistence options. Building on cooperation between an archaeologist and a water scholar, this paper offers an approach to study how people in the past were able to craft a livelihood in the arid environments in the southern Levant and elsewhere. Focusing on the Zerqa area, the paper explores the potential of this cooperation by studying effects of climatic changes at the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age through a modelling approach. Changes in temperature and moisture availability were simulated, showing that increased aridity could have been met by either naturally available water (especially groundwater) or artificially added water (although the timing appears to be crucial). While the model approach under discussion offers an approximation of the past, it shows the potential impact of climatic changes on the subsistence of past communities. It shows that details can mean the difference between survival or collapse.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2019