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A fossil albatross from the early Oligocene of the North Sea Basin
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We describe a stem group representative of Diomedeidae from the early Oligocene (Rupelian) of Belgium. The fossil remains, wing, and pectoral girdle bones of two individuals are described as Tydea septentrionalis, gen. et sp. nov., and constitute the earliest well-established record of the taxon and the first Paleogene record from the North Sea Basin. The new species was about the size of the extant Black-browed Albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) and establishes that albatrosses had already reached a large size 30 mya. The wing bones of T. septentrionalis are distinguished by several plesiomorphic features from those of species in crown group Diomedeidae, which may indicate differences in aerodynamic performance between the fossil species and extant albatrosses. We detail that a previously described early Miocene species, “Plotornis” arvernensis, should be expunged from the fossil record of albatrosses. However, the new fossils provide further evidence that the extant, mainly Southern Hemispheric, distribution of albatrosses is relictual compared with the past distribution of the total group (stem group + crown group). With unambiguous records from the early Oligocene, early Miocene, and Pliocene, albatrosses are now known to have had a long evolutionary history in the European part of the North Atlantic, but the reasons for their extinction remain poorly understood
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RBINS Staff Publications
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A fossil heron from the early Oligocene of Belgium : the earliest temporary well-constrained record of the Ardeidae
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We describe the earliest temporally well-constrained fossil that can be assigned to the Ardeidae (herons), from the lowermost Oligocene (32.0–33.0 million years ago) of Belgium. The specimen, a partial tarsometatarsus, belongs to a small species and is described as Proardea? deschutteri n. sp. It exhibits the characteristic tarsometatarsus morphology found in extant heron species, but a confident assignment to one of the ardeid subclades is not possible and even the assignment of the new fossil species to the crown group (the clade including the extant species) cannot be established. The fossil indicates a divergence of herons from their sister taxon by at least the earliest Oligocene, and current paleontological data suggest that herons arrived in Europe shortly after a major faunal turnover at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary. We consider that dispersal is the likely reason for the sudden appearance of herons in the earliest Oligocene of Europe but it is uncertain from where exactly this took place, with Asia and Africa being among the candidate areas.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2018
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A general purpose genotype in an ancient asexual
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RBINS Staff Publications
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A geological collection and methodology for tracing provenance of Palaeolithic colouring materials.
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Although prehistoric sites frequently contain numerous fragments and traces of many different kinds of colouring matter, intensive study of this type of archaeological remains began only recently. Such studies, aimed at determining how raw materials formed and changed over time, and how they were transported by the groups of humans who used them, are extremely valuable as they reveal shared strategies, that is, cultural traditions and the spaces in which they developed. The scope of this paper focusses on the description of the main geological contexts in which ferruginous colouring materials form and are found. In the framework of a collective research program called Pigmentothèque (iron- and manganese-rich rocks and minerals library), geological surveys are conducted taking into consideration the geological settings in which colouring materials are present and using a common record and sampling methodology which is followed by petrophysical, mineralogical and chemical analyses based on a shared procedure and vocabulary. In order to go beyond descriptions based solely on colour and chemical composition, we describe the great variety of iron-rich materials that can be used to obtain colouring matter. This diversity in the formation and evolution of iron-rich materials must be taken into account when trying to understand past humans’ choices of raw materials, their provenance and the anthropogenic and natural modifications they have undergone. We also describe criteria for recognising cohesive remains of colouring matter during archaeological excavations, so these artefacts can take their place alongside other mineral resources in helping improve our understanding of past societies.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2021
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A Geuide to Beetles of Borneo
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RBINS collections by external author(s)
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A GIS-based methodology for creating 3D geological models in sedimentary environment: application to the subcrop of Brussels
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In order to meet the requirements established by the European Directive (2006/118/EC) on the groundwater protection, the Geological Survey of Belgium (GSB) has started a new Geographic Information System (GIS) project called Hydrobrux. The aim is to create a thorough three-dimensional geological model of the subcrop of Brussels. The latter will be used to produce a hydrogeological model of the Brussels Formation aquifer composed of sands and covering 126 km2 in the eastern part of the Brussels-Capital Region and subsequent deeper aquifers (Palaeocene and Upper Cretaceous). The GIS 3D model is built by superposition of interpolated surfaces, which represent the top surface of each modelled geological layers. Eleven top surfaces are generated independently and are based on the interpolation of 5169 points. This high density of information is provided by 2426 boreholes, water wells, outcrops, cone penetration tests (CPT) and other sources of stratigraphic data that were collected and structured in a relational database under Microsoft Access. The data were exported to ArcGIS for the geostatistics (2D mapping) and validation parts and subsequently to ArcScene for the construction and the visualisation of the 3D model.
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RBINS Staff Publications
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A global database for metacommunity ecology: integrating species, traits, environment and space
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RBINS Staff Publications 2020
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A global meta-analysis on the drivers of salt marsh planting success and implications for ecosystem services
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Planting has been widely adopted to battle the loss of salt marshes and to establish living shorelines. However, the drivers of success in salt marsh planting and their ecological effects are poorly understood at the global scale. Here, we assemble a global database, encompassing 22,074 observations reported in 210 studies, to examine the drivers and impacts of salt marsh planting. We show that, on average, 53% of plantings survived globally, and plant survival and growth can be enhanced by careful design of sites, species selection, and novel planted technologies. Planting enhances shoreline protection, primary productivity, soil carbon storage, biodiversity conservation and fishery production (effect sizes = 0.61, 1.55, 0.21, 0.10 and 1.01, respectively), compared with degraded wetlands. However, the ecosystem services of planted marshes, except for shoreline protection, have not yet fully recovered compared with natural wetlands (effect size = −0.25, 95% CI −0.29, −0.22). Fortunately, the levels of most ecological functions related to climate change mitigation and biodiversity increase with plantation age when compared with natural wetlands, and achieve equivalence to natural wetlands after 5–25 years. Overall, our results suggest that salt marsh planting could be used as a strategy to enhance shoreline protection, biodiversity conservation and carbon sequestration.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2024
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A gymnodont fish jaw with remarkable molariform teeth from the early Eocene of Gujarat, India (Teleostei, Tetraodontiformes)
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The lower jaw of a gymnodont fish collected from the lower Eocene Cambay Shale Formation in Gujarat Province, western India, has fused dentaries without a beak and a remarkable series of teeth that are unique among all known fossil and living Tetraodontiformes. The teeth are molariform, with raised spokes radiating inward from the emarginated peripheral edge of the crown. Tooth development is intraosseous, with new teeth developing in spongy bone before they erupt and attach to the dentary by pedicels. Although many of the 110 tooth loci in the fossil have lost their teeth, in life the teeth would have grown to fit tightly together to form a broad and continuous crushing surface. The estimated age of the Cambay Shale vertebrate fauna is ca. 54.5 Ma, making the jaw the second oldest confirmed gymnodont fossil. Preliminary comparisons with extant taxa of gymnodonts with fused dentaries (e.g., Diodon, Chilomycterus, and Mola) show detailed similarities in jaw structure, but further study of the dentition is needed to better understand the evolutionary position of the new fossil. We describe the new gymnodont as yAvitoplectus molaris, gen. et sp. nov., in yAvitoplectidae, fam. nov., and place the family as incertae sedis within Gymnodontes.
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RBINS Staff Publications 2017
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A hadrosaurine dentary from the Upper Cretaceous of Jiayin, Heilongjang
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RBINS Staff Publications