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Catypnes marazziorum sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Prioninae) from Papua New Guinea
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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Causes and magnitude of body weight changes in trap-confined bank voles, Clethrionomys glareolus
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Causes of variability in diatom and Phaeocystis blooms in Belgian coastal waters between 1989 and 2003: A model study.
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Massive blooms of Phaeocystis colonies usually occur in the Belgian coastal zone (BCZ) between spring and summer diatom blooms but their relative magnitude varies between years. In order to understand this interannual variability, we used the biogeochemical MIRO model to explore the link between diatom and Phaeocystis blooms and changing nutrient loads and meteorological conditions over the last decade. For this application, MIRO was implemented in a simplified 3-box representation of the domain between the Baie de Seine and the BCZ. MIRO was run over the 1989–2003 period using actual photosynthetic active radiation (PAR), seawater temperature and riverine nutrient loads as forcing. The water mass residence time was calculated for each box based on a monthly water budget estimated from 1993–2003 water flow simulations of the three-dimensional hydrodynamical model COHSNS-3D. Overall MIRO simulations compare fairly well with nutrient and phytoplankton data collected in the central BCZ but indicate the importance of the hydrodynamical resolution frame for correctly describing the extremely high nutrient concentrations and biomass observed in the BCZ. Analysis of model results suggests that while interannual variability in diatom biomass depends on both meteorological conditions (light and temperature) and nutrient loads, Phaeocystis blooms are mainly controlled by nutrients. Further sensitivity tests with varying N and P loads suggest that only N reduction will result in significantly decreased Phaeocystis blooms without negative affects on diatoms, while P reduction will negatively affect diatoms. Moreover, Atlantic nutrient loads play such a great role in BCZ enrichment that reduction of Scheldt nutrient loads only is not sufficient to significantly decrease phytoplankton blooms in the BCZ. It is concluded that future nutrient reduction policies aimed to decrease Phaeocystis blooms in the BCZ without impacting diatoms should target the decrease of N loads in both the Seine and the Scheldt rivers.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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CCS Directive transposition into national laws in Europe: progress and problems by the end of 2011
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The EU CCS Directive transposition process and related issues in 26 European countries, comprising 24 EU member states, Norway and Croatia were studied in the EU FP7 project: “CGS Europe” in 2011-2012. By the end of 2011 the transposition of the Directive into national law had been approved by the European Commission (EC) in Spain only, but had been approved at national/jurisdictional level in 12 other countries (Austria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden) and two regions of Belgium. By January 2012, the European Commission had assessed and approved national submissions of CCS legal acts transposing the Directive in Denmark, France, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands and Slovenia. Implementation in the UK was completed in February 2012 and by end March 2012, implementation at national level was also complete in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Portugal and Romania.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Cenozoic evolution of Muricidae (Mollusca, Neogastropoda) in the Southern Ocean, with the description of a new subfamily
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Gastropods are among the most studied group in Antarctica, and taxa with an advanced status of systematic knowledge can be used as a model to study how oceanographic and climatic patterns shaped Recent faunal assemblages. Within the ongoing study of the muricid phylogeny, we have analysed molecular and morphological data from species traditionally ascribed to the muricid subfamily Trophoninae. Particularly, the availability of specimens collected in the Southern Ocean and surrounding basins allowed to demonstrate as the genera Pagodula, Xymenopsis, Xymene and Trophonella, which are traditionally classified in the Trophoninae, actually belong to a distinct lineage, for which the new subfamily Pagodulinae is herein introduced. We propose and discuss a possible framework for the origin and radiation of Antarctic muricids.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Cerambycidae attracted to semiochemicals used as lures for Monochampus spp. in the Sonian Forest, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium (Insecta: Coleoptera)
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RBINS Staff Publications
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Cetacean paleobiology
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RBINS Staff Publications 2016
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CETAF Collection Dashboard: Mapping natural history collections diversity
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Several initiatives aim to map the diversity of Natural History (NH) collections and standardise their descriptions. The Global Registry of Biodiversity Repositories (GRBio) is the most recent global registry. Unfortunately the server has been down since mid-2018 but the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) recently "rescued" this data. In addition to this, the One World Collection exercise is a set of high-level collection descriptors (size, group coverage and geographic distribution) supporting a common strategy between the largest world institutions. Despite these efforts, a large part of the NH collections remains digitally unavailable and digitisation at the specimen level will take several decades. A new NH collections dashboard is needed in order to harmonise the efforts of the institutions. The Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF) is a good place to introduce this excercise. CETAFʼs members hold over half of the worldʼs NH collections, representing 80\% of the world's bio- and geo-diversity. Most of these collections are now engaged in the preparation for the common process of the Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo, European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructure). Additionally in Belgium, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), Royal Museum of Central Africa (RMCA), Meise Botanic Garden (MBG) and CETAF have joined efforts to set up a common research portal (Natural Heritage, BRAIN-be project). The goal is to link together several collection management systems (CMS) and to (re)create links between isolated collection items. The CETAF collections dashboard splits the information into small metadata units related to topics relevant to the collections (taxonomy, geographic distribution, digitisation strategy and coverage, stratigraphy, etc.). The model allows for the creation of new units without a complete modification of the database structure. All units are defined by the Dublin Core and by fields derived from the Innovation and consolidation for large scale digitisation of natural heritage (ICEDIG) d2.3 deliverable (van Egmond et al. 2019). The object hierarchy allows for the creation of sub-collections and preserves the unity of the information. The CMS has an internal object database with a full index and a faceted search interface. It also has web services and XLS (Microsoft®Excel®)$~$import/export functionalities. The collection dashboard also includes a complete workflow and access rights management at the object level. This is important for the information that is protected by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The dashboard is now being evaluated with the collections hosted by the partners of Natural Heritage. The system will be proposed to CETAF members and connections will be established with the international portals such as the GBIF or the future DiSSCo portal.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2019
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Challenges and a call to action for protecting European red wood ants
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Red wood ants (RWAs) are a group of keystone species widespread in temperate and boreal forests of the Northern Hemisphere. Despite this, there is increasing evidence of local declines and extinctions. We reviewed the current protection status of RWAs throughout Europe and their International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threat classification. Only some RWA species have been assessed at a global scale, and not all national red lists of the countries where RWAs are present include these species. Different assessment criteria, inventory approaches, and risk categories are used in different countries, and data deficiency is frequent. Legislative protection is even more complex, with some countries protecting RWAs implicitly together with the wildlife fauna and others explicitly protecting the whole group or particular species. This complexity often occurs within countries, for example, in Italy, where, outside of the Alps, only the introduced species are protected, whereas the native species, which are in decline, are not. Therefore, an international, coordinated framework is needed for the protection of RWAs. This first requires that the conservation target should be defined. Due to the similar morphology, complex taxonomy, and frequent hybridization, protecting the entire RWA group seems a more efficient strategy than protecting single species, although with a distinction between autochthonous and introduced species. Second, an update of the current distribution of RWA species is needed throughout Europe. Third, a protection law cannot be effective without the collaboration of forest managers, whose activity influences RWA habitat. Finally, RWA mounds offer a peculiar microhabitat, hosting a multitude of taxa, some of which are obligate myrmecophilous species on the IUCN Red List. Therefore, RWAs’ role as umbrella species could facilitate their protection if they are considered not only as target species but also as providers of species-rich microhabitats.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2022
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Challenges and opportunities for geostationary ocean colour remote sensing of regional seas: A review of recent results.
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RBINS Staff Publications
