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Inbook Reference Inclusiveness and Diversity in Citizen Science
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Inproceedings Reference Incorporating data uncertainty in 3D voxel modelling and the importance in decision making
Geological databases resulting from the merging of various data sources and time periods jeopardize harmonization of data products. Data standardization is already common practice and a first step in avoiding semantic overlap. European marine data management infrastructures provide such standards, e.g., Geo-Seas (http://www.geo-seas.eu/) for geological data and SeaDataNet (https://www.seadatanet.org/) for marine metadata in general. In addition, metadata quality control is important, though data uncertainty is seldom quantified and to be used in modelling. Preliminary uncertainty analyses were worked out to provide an extra dimension to the cross-border 3D voxel models of the geological subsurface of the Belgian and southern Netherlands part of the North Sea (http://odnature.naturalsciences.be/tiles/). Starting from simple quality flagging in geological databases and model uncertainty calculations (probability and entropy) in the 3D modelling, data uncertainty (e.g., related to qualities in positioning, sampling and vintage) is now quantified. Combining all uncertainties remains a challenge, as well as communicating their importance in decision making. A demonstration will be given on the status of the uncertainty analyses and how these are incorporated in a newly developed decision support tool allowing interactive querying of the 3D voxel model, now comprising geological, as well as entropy, probability and data uncertainty attributes (figure 1).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2018
Article Reference Increased food availability at offshore wind farms affects trophic ecology of plaice Pleuronectes platessa
Offshore wind farms (OWFs) and their associated cables, foundations and scour protection are often constructed in soft- sediment environments. This introduction of hard substrate has been shown to have similar effects as artificial reefs by providing food resources and offering increased habitat complexity, thereby aggregating fish around the turbines and foundations. However, as most studies have focused their efforts on fish species that are typically associated with reef structures, knowledge on how soft sediment species are affected by OWFs is still largely lacking. In this study, we analysed the trophic ecology and condition of plaice, a flatfish species of commercial interest, in relation to a Belgian OWF. The combination of a stomach and intestine content analysis with the use of biomarkers (i.e. fatty acids and stable isotopes) identified a clear shift in diet with increased occurrences of typical hard-substrate prey species for fish in the vicinity of the foundations and this both on the short and the long term. Despite some condition indices suggesting that the hard substrate provides increased food availability, no clear increases of overall plaice condition or fecundity were found. Samples from within the wind farm, however, contained larger fish and had a higher abundance of females compared to control areas, potentially indicating a refuge effect caused by the cessation of fisheries activities within the OWF. These results suggest that soft-sediment species can potentially benefit from the presence of an OWF, which could lead to fish production. However, more research is still needed to further elucidate the behavioral ecology of plaice within OWFs to make inferences on how they can impact fish populations on a larger spatial scale.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Techreport Reference INDI67: Developments of Indicators to improve monitoring of MSFD descriptors 6 and 7. Contract – BR/143/A2. Final Report. Brussels: Belgian Science Policy Office 2020, Brain-be, Belgian Research Action through Interdisciplinary Networks
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference Indices d’extraction minière néolithique à Obourg - Le Village
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference Influence of Natural Oxygenation of Baltic Proper Deep Water on Benthic Recycling and Removal of Phosphorus, Nitrogen, Silicon and Carbon
At the end of 2014, a Major Baltic Inflow (MBI) brought oxygenated, salty water into the Baltic proper and reached the long-term anoxic Eastern Gotland Basin (EGB) by March 2015. In July 2015, we measured benthic fluxes of phosphorus (P), nitrogen (N) and silicon (Si) nutrients and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in situ using an autonomous benthic lander at deep sites (170–210 m) in the EGB, where the bottom water oxygen concentration was 30–45 μM. The same in situ methodology was used to measure benthic fluxes at the same sites in 2008–2010, but then under anoxic conditions. The high efflux of phosphate under anoxic conditions became lower upon oxygenation, and turned into an influx in about 50% of the flux measurements. The C:P and N:P ratios of the benthic solute flux changed from clearly below the Redfield ratio (on average about 70 and 3–4, respectively) under anoxia to approaching or being well above the Redfield ratio upon oxygenation. These observations demonstrate retention of P in newly oxygenated sediments. We found no significant effect of oxygenation on the benthic ammonium, silicate and DIC flux. We also measured benthic denitrification, anammox, and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) rates at the same sites using isotope-pairing techniques. The bottom water of the long-term anoxic EGB contained less than 0.5 μM nitrate in 2008–2010, but the oxygenation event created bottom water nitrate concentrations of about 10 μM in July 2015 and the benthic flux of nitrate was consistently directed into the sediment. Nitrate reduction to both dinitrogen gas (denitrification) and ammonium (DNRA) was initiated in the newly oxygenated sediments, while anammox activity was negligible. We estimated the influence of this oxygenation event on the magnitudes of the integrated benthic P flux (the internal P load) and the fixed N removal through benthic and pelagic denitrification by comparing with a hypothetical scenario without the MBI. Our calculations suggest that the oxygenation triggered by the MBI in July 2015, extrapolated to the basin-wide scale of the Baltic proper, decreased the internal P load by 23% and increased the total (benthic plus pelagic) denitrification by 18%.
Located in Library / No RBINS Staff publications
Article Reference Informe preliminar dels treballs arqueològics realitzats a Oxirrinc (El-Bahnasa, Minia , Egipte), durant la campanya de 2013
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Article Reference In‑situ observations of an intact natural whale fall in Palmer deep, Western Antarctic Peninsula
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Article Reference Integrative taxonomy of giant crested Eusirus in the Southern Ocean, including the description of a new species (Crustacea: Amphipoda: Eusiridae)
Among Antarctic amphipods of the genus Eusirus, a highly distinctive clade of giant species is characterized by a dorsal, blade-shaped tooth on pereionites 5–7 and pleonites 1–3. This lineage, herein named ‘crested Eusirus’, includes two potential species complexes, the Eusirus perdentatus and Eusirus giganteus complexes, in addition to the more distinctive Eusirus propeperdentatus. Molecular phylogenies and statistical parsimony networks (COI, CytB and ITS2)of crested Eusirus are herein reconstructed. This study aims to formally revise species diversity within crested Eusirus by applying several species delimitation methods (Bayesian implementation of the Poisson tree processes model, general mixed Yule coalescent, multi-rate Poisson tree processes and automatic barcode gap discovery) on the resulting phylogenies. In addition, results from the DNA-based methods are benchmarked against a detailed morphological analysis of all available specimens of the E. perdentatus complex. Our results indicate that species diversity of crested Eusirus is underestimated. Overall, DNA-based methods suggest that the E. perdentatus complex is composed of three putative species and that the E. giganteus complex includes four or five putative species. The morphological analysis of available specimens from the E. perdentatus complex corroborates molecular results by identifying two differentiable species, the genuine E. perdentatus and a new species, herein described as Eusirus pontomedon sp. nov. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: alpha taxonomy – cryptic species – genetics – molecular systematics – phylogenetic systematics.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference Integrative taxonomy of the new millipede genus Coxobolellus, gen. nov. (Diplopoda : Spirobolida : Pseudospirobolellidae), with descriptions of ten new species
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020