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Inproceedings Reference Finding the data you need to support your Southern Ocean science
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Inproceedings Reference Comparison of spatial genetic structure and its drivers in Arctic and Antarctic fishes
Marine populations are genetically structured through historical processes, environmental or physical barriers and life history characteristics. Divergent patterns of demographic history, even among closely-related species sharing climatic changes, raise questions about the influence of species-specific traits on population structure. The Southern Ocean features comparatively high biodiversity, which has been attributed to frequent local extinction-recolonization cycles that have driven benthic, Antarctic organisms into temporary refugia. In contrast, organisms in the Arctic were able to shift latitude in response to changing Pleistocene climate. We therefore hypothesize that Arctic populations were historically less constrained in their distribution than Antarctic fish populations and hence show lower levels of genetic structure. For assessing the role of lifestyle in influencing demographic history in the Southern Ocean closely related notothenioid fish with benthic (Trematomus bernacchii, T. hansoni) and semi-pelagic or even cryopelagic (T. newnesi) lifestyles were genetically analysed. In the Arctic, polar cod (Boreogadus saida), which is often found in association with sea ice, but also throughout the water column to the bottom, can be regarded as semi- or cryopelagic too. The Antarctic species were analysed by six microsatellite and one mitochondrial marker before (Van de Putte et al., 2012) and we extend these analyses with data from nine microsatellite markers in polar cod. Antarctic species showed significant genetic population structure between High-Antarctic and Peninsular regions and much lower differentiation in pelagic than benthic species. It suggests that the observed patterns are indeed related to ecological traits of Antarctic fish. In the Arctic, we hypothesize genetic structuring inside fjords in Svalbard relative to shelf specimens, which we expect to show low or absent structure as in Antarctic species with a similar lifestyle. Identifying common driving factors for population structure is important in order to enable forecasting, particularly in light of dramatically increasing rates of environmental change. Comparing population genetic patterns and exploring underlying causes from both poles may thus help to shed light on how fish populations survived in the past and may persist in the future. Reference - Van de Putte A., Janko K., Kasparova E., Maes G.E., Rock, J., Koubbi P., Volckaert F.A.M., Choleva L., Fraser K.P.P., Smykla J., Van Houdt J.K.J., Marshall C. 2012 Comparative phylogegraphy of three trematomid fishes reveals contrasting genetic structure patterns in benthic and pelagic species. Marine Genomics 8:23-34.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Inproceedings Reference Colourful rivers: archaeobotanical remains of dye plants from fluvial deposits in late medieval towns in Belgium
During the late medieval period, the southern low countries were among the most densely urbanised areas in Europe. The towns owned part of their growth and prosperity to the flourishing cloth industry, in which dyestuffs played an essential role. Throughout this period dye plants were intensively cultivated, traded on a large scale, and widely used by specialised craftsman organised in guilds. Due to the need for constant water supply and wastewater discharge, dyeing activities were often concentrated in the proximity of rivers. Although dyeing practices are well documented in late medieval historical sources, material evidence remains scarce. The aim of this presentation is to describe and discuss archaeobotanical finds of dye plants, recently found in urban fluvial deposits from Brussels and to put these in perspective with finds from other towns in the area. In 2019 a large excavation in the city centre of Brussels revealed the remains of the late medieval port. Besides the discovery of impressive quay walls, meters thick excellently preserved fluvial deposits were excavated and extensively sampled. One of the most remarkable characteristics of the macrobotanical assemblages dating from the 13th to the 15th century is the presence of numerous weld (Reseda luteola) seeds and madder (Rubia tinctoria) root fragments, found in nearly all studied samples. Several samples also contained woad (Isatis tinctoria) pod fragments. These three species are considered as the most important medieval dye plants in the region. Additionally, fruits and flower head fragments of fuller's teasel (Dipsacus sativus) were observed in most samples. Most likely all these plant remains must be interpreted as waste from textile working, discarded in the urban waters.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Unpublished Reference CROW: Visualize bird migration in your browser
Every spring and autumn, millions of birds migrate over Europe. They mainly do this at high altitudes and at night, making this phenomenon largely invisible to us. But not for weather radars! We developed the open source web application “CROW” so you can explore these data directly in your browser. CROW pulls vertical profile data (vpts) from a public repository, calculates migration traffic rate (MTR), bird density and other variables, and visualizes these as interactive charts. The application can be hosted on a static file server and only visualizes data from one radar at a time, making it highly portable and scalable. CROW was jointly developed by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) and the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (RMI) in collaboration with the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS), with financial support from the Belgian Science Policy Office (BelSPO valorisation project CROW). It is deployed at https://www.meteo.be/birddetection to show bird migration in real time across the Benelux. We are planning to deploy it for data in the ENRAM data repository (https://enram.github.io/data-repository/) as well.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Inproceedings Reference Upper Oligocene lithostratigraphic units and the transition to the Miocene in Belgium: can we bring the Dutch, Belgian and German practice in line by using a common nomenclature20?
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Inproceedings Reference The non-marine Pliocene units in the Belgian Campine and the Roer Valley Graben
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Inproceedings Reference The potential of high-resolution stable isotope records in the bivalve Angulus benedeni benedeni's shells to investigate Pliocene seasonality
Obtaining temperature data from the mid-Piacenzian warm period (mPWP) is a key factor in understanding the coming changes brought upon by anthropogenic climate change. The mPWP, a high-CO2 world with a paleogeography similar to modern times, has been used to validate and improve model retrodictions, which in turn enables assessing the prediction strength of these models1. For the first time, stable isotope analysis has been applied to the extinct tellinid bivalve Angulus benedeni benedeni, originating from the mid-Piacenzian of the Lillo Formation of Belgium in the southern North Sea basin. Multi-annual oxygen isotope records with a seasonal resolution obtained from its shell indicate that this species could live for up to a decade and formed monthly growth increments. From this oxygen isotope record, a clumped-isotope-based mean annual temperature of 12.6 ± 3.6°C was reconstructed. This is 2.1°C warmer than today2,3, 2.6°C warmer than the pre-industrial North Sea2, and in line with global Pliocene temperature estimates of +2-4°C compared to the pre-industrial climate4,5. The pristine nature of the aragonitic shell material was verified through electron backscatter diffraction analysis (EBSD), and backed up by light microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray fluorescence. The various microstructures as obtained from the EBSD maps have been described, and they provide a template of pristine A. benedeni benedeni material to which potentially altered shells may be compared. The bivalve A. benedeni benedeni is suitable for high resolution isotope-based paleoclimatic reconstruction and it can be used to unravel the marine conditions in the Pliocene North Sea basin at a seasonal scale, yielding enhanced insight into imminent western European climate conditions.1Dowsett, H. J. et al. Assessing confidence in Pliocene sea surface temperatures to evaluate predictive models. Nature Climate Change 2, 365-371 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/NCLIMATE1455 2Emeis, K.-C. et al. The North Sea — A shelf sea in the Anthropocene. Journal of Marine Systems 141, 18-33 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2014.03.012 3Locarnini, R. A. et al. World Ocean Atlas 2018, Volume 1: Temperature. NOAA Atlas NESDIS 81. A. Mishonov, Technical Editor. 52pp. (2019). https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/world-ocean-atlas-2018/ 4Dowsett, H. J. et al. Sea surface temperature of the mid-Piacenzian ocean: a data-model comparison. Scientific reports 3, 1-8 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep02013 5Haywood, A. M. et al. The Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project Phase 2: large-scale climate features and climate sensitivity. Clim. Past 16, 2095-2123 (2020). https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-2095-2020
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Inproceedings Reference A new Late Devonian Dunkleosteus from Lompret, southern Belgium
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Inproceedings Reference A DIGITAL CEPHALOPOD WORLD: micro-CT imaging in the study of Cretaceous Cephalopod
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Inproceedings Reference Into the digital cephalopod world: tales from digitizing the Cephalopoda from the RBINS type-and-figured collections
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022