-
A proposed solution to a lengthy dispute: what is Leptinaria (uni)lamellata (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Achatinidae)?
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2020
-
Economic plants from medieval and post-medieval Brussels (Belgium), an overview of the archaeobotanical records.
-
Archaeobotanical research in the city centre of Brussels is still in its infancy. However, the increasing amount of carpological data collected during the last two decades permits a first review. In this paper a synthesis of identified seeds and fruits of economic plants from ten sites in Brussels is presented. It comprises data from 53 archaeological features, dated between the 8th and 20th century. The majority of the remains are preserved through waterlogging and were found during archaeological rescue excavations in the Senne alluvial valley. Charred remains were regularly found as well, but in smaller quantities. They are the most abundantly identified remains in the topographically higher parts of Brussels. Some mineralized plant remains are also determined, mainly found in cesspits. Diachronic and local differences in the archaeobotanical assemblages are discussed. Plant remains from the pre-urban phase (before 1200 AD) show a variety of different cereal species and shed light on some locally cultivated pulses, vegetables, fruits and kitchen herbs. In the late medieval phase (13th e15th c.) the economic plant spectrum enlarges, with exotic imports from Africa, Asia and southern Europe. From the 17th century onwards introductions from America appear.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2017
-
Effects of extreme meteorological conditions on coastal dynamics near a submarine canyon.
-
A 3-D hydrodynamic model is applied to assess shelf/slope exchanges in the Calvi Canyon region (Corsica, NW Mediterranean) during the violent storm that affected the Western Europe in December 1999. Simulations are carried out using high-frequency sampling meteorological data to take into account the short-term variability of the atmospheric conditions. It is shown that the combined effects of canyon topography and of the wind forcing during the storm are responsible for a large increase of both cross-shore and vertical transports in the area. Strong downwelling motion is simulated all along the continental slope with vertical velocities up to 2 cm s−1 within the canyon. High turbulent diffusion levels are obtained leading to the complete mixing of the water column within the canyon. Results suggest that increased turbulent diffusion and downwelling circulation in the canyon during the storm should result in a large transport of coastal water towards the abyssal plain.
Located in
Library
/
No RBINS Staff publications
-
Assimilation de données dans un modèle d'écosystème marin de la mer Ligure.
-
The objective is to explore the potentialities of sequential statistical estimation methods to assimilate observations in a primary production biological model coupled to a vertical 1D hydrodynamical model characterised by a k–l turbulent closure. The assimilation method is derived from the SEEK filter (Singular Evolutive Extended Kalman filter), which uses an error subspace represented by multivariate empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs). Real data assimilation experiments collected at sea have been realised to reconstruct the variability of the Ligurian Sea ecosystem during the FRONTAL field experiment.
Located in
Library
/
No RBINS Staff publications
-
A scanning electron microscope technique for studying the sclerites of Cichlidogyrus
-
The genus Cichlidogyrus (Monogenea: Ancyrocephalidae) includes more than 90 species, most of which are gill parasites of African cichlid fishes. Cichlidogyrus has been studied extensively in recent years, but scanning electron microscope (SEM) investigations of the isolated hard parts have not yet been undertaken. In this paper, we describe a method for isolating and scanning the sclerites of individual Cichlidogyrus worms. Twenty-year old, formol-fixed specimens of Cichlidogyrus casuarinus were subjected to proteinase K digestion in order to release the sclerites from the surrounding soft tissues. SEM micrographs of the haptoral sclerites and the male copulatory organ are presented. The ability to digest formol-fixed specimens makes this method a useful tool for the study of historical museum collections.
Located in
Library
/
No RBINS Staff publications
-
Advances in high-resolution paleoclimate reconstructions using growth experiments, age modelling and clumped isotope analyses
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2021
-
Cirripedes (Thoracica, Crustacea) from the Maastrichtian of Kalaat Senan, Tunisia
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2021
-
Multiple genetic species in a halophilic non-marine ostracod (Crustacea)
-
The discovery of animal genetic (mostly also cryptic) species has known an exponential increase since molecular techniques became available. Also in non-marine ostracods (small, bivalved crustaceans with an excellent fossil record), several morphospecies have been shown to comprise several genetic species. Here, we screen 13 populations from Central Europe and the circum-Mediterranean region of the halophilic continental ostracod species Heterocypris salina with DNA sequences from a mitochondrial (COI) and a nuclear (28S) marker. We apply four species delimitation methods to show that this nominal species consists of four genetic species in both DNA datasets, and that these two sets of genetic species show mitonuclear discordance. Most investigated specimens belonged to one of these four genetic species. There was no clear correlation between geographic and genetic distances, but we found that, apart from historical processes, environmental factors such as ecoregion, seasonality and salinity might have been important drivers shaping discrete genetic diversity. Following the palaeontological literature, the H. salina species cluster is at least 11–9 Myr old.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2024
-
The Ostracod Clumped-Isotope Thermometer: A Novel Tool to Accurately Quantify Continental Climate Changes
-
This study presents a methodological advancement in the field of clumped-isotope (∆47) thermometry, specifically tailored for application to freshwater ostracods. The novel ostracod clumped isotope approach enables quantitative temperature and hydrological reconstruction in lacustrine records. The relationship between ∆47 and the temperature at which ostracod shell mineralized is determined by measuring ∆47 on different species grown under controlled temperatures, ranging from 4 ± 0.8 to 23 ± 0.5ºC. The excellent agreement between the presented ∆47 ostracod data and the monitored temperatures confirms that ∆47 can be applied to ostracod shells and that a vital effect is absent outside the uncertainty of measurements. Results are consistent with the carbonate clumped-isotope unified calibration (Anderson et al., 2021, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020gl092069), therefore, an ostracod-specific calibration is not needed. The ostracod clumped-isotope thermometer represents a powerful tool for terrestrial paleoclimate studies all around the world, as lakes and ostracods are found in all climatic belts.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2024
-
Evidence for a single population expansion event across 24,000 km: the case of the deep‑sea scavenging amphipod Abyssorchomene distinctus
-
Anthropogenic activities such as mining pose a putative threat to deep-sea ecosystems and baseline studies of key indicator species are required to assess future loss of biodiversity. We examined population genetic structure, connectivity, cryptic diversity and phylogeography of the deep-sea scavenging amphipod, Abyssorchomene distinctus, using DNA sequence data (mitochondrial COI and nuclear 28S genes) from 373 specimens collected from six abyssal basins. We observed a striking absence of cryptic diversity, suggesting a single, widely distributed species in the Pacifc and Indian Ocean. A single event of population expansion across distances up to 24,000 km is further supported by a main ancestral haplotype in the star-like shaped COI haplotype network, a skewed nucleotide mismatch distribution and deviations from evolutionary neutrality tests. In the Pacifc, A. distinctus showed weak genetic population structure and low diferentiation between the basins of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone and the DISCOL Experimental Area, suggesting a possible higher chance of recovery from deep-sea mining impacts. However, since our data indicate a single recent historic population expansion event, A. distinctus populations will likely be afected to unknown extents, as the exact drivers shaping distribution and dispersion of A. distinctus are still unclear
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2024
