RBINS Open Access Library

On the rediscovery of Phalilus oberthuri (GUIGNOT, 1935) in New Caledonia (Coleoptera: Haliplidae): Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
On the relative role of abiotic and biotic controls on channel network development: insights from scaled tidal flume experiments: Tidal marshes provide highly valued ecosystem services, which depend on variations in the geometric properties of the tidal channel networks dissecting marsh landscapes. The development and evolution of channel network properties are controlled by abiotic (dynamic flow-landform feedback) and biotic processes (e.g., vegetation-flow-landform feedback). However, the relative role of biotic and abiotic processes, and under which condition one or the other is more dominant, remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the impact of spatio-temporal plant colonization patterns on tidal channel network development through flume experiments. Four scaled experiments mimicking tidal landscape development were conducted in a tidal flume facility: two control experiments without vegetation, a third experiment with hydrochorous vegetation colonization (i.e., seed dispersal via the tidal flow), and a fourth with patchy colonization (i.e., by direct seeding on the sediment bed). Our results show that more dense and efficient channel networks are found in the vegetation experiments, especially in the hydrochorous seeding experiment with slower vegetation colonization. Further, an interdependency between abiotic and biotic controls on channel development can be deduced. Whether biotic factors affect channel network development seems to depend on the force of the hydrodynamic energy and the stage of the system development. Vegetation-flow-landform feedbacks are only dominant in contributing to channel development in places where intermediate hydrodynamic energy levels occur and mainly have an impact during the transition phase from a bare to a vegetated landscape state. Overall, our results suggest a zonal domination of abiotic processes at the seaward side of intertidal basins, while biotic processes dominate system development more towards the landward side.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2024
On using a Sensor Observation Service as an INSPIRE-compliant download service: Due to the use of sensors, the volume of scientific data produced every day has become massive,, so there is a strong need to organize them and to set up a data infrastructure for their efficient management. Open access, FAIRness (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-usable) and INSPIRE-compliance are increasingly becoming the norm for (environmental) data management. In order to achieve complex aspirations such as FAIRness and INSPIRE-compliance a simple idea might help: “Collect Once, Use many times”. Data collected today must be stored, documented and published in order to increase their knowledge extraction and to allow for an efficient re-use in the future. With the multiplication of sensor deployments in monitoring programmes, the new challenge is to publish time-series efficiently using state-of-the-art technologies. The MOMO project (MOnitoring and Modeling of the cohesive sediment transport and the evaluation of the effects on the marine ecosystem resulting from dredging and dumping operations) has been deploying tripod platforms consisting of ADCP and ADC sensor packages in the Belgian Part of the North Sea for the last two decades. These deployments generated considerable amounts of valuable data that are currently stored as csv-formatted text files that are not interoperable, both in terms of content and access protocol. The full potential of those data is currently safeguarded only thanks to the knowledge and expertise of the scientists involved in the project. The consequences of knowledge loss is therefore significant. The objective of this work is to explore the merit of implementing an Open Geospatial Consortium Sensor Observation Service (OGC SOS) for the publication of FAIR INSPIRE-compliant time-series data. The INSPIRE directive must be applied to data by the end of 2020 so the question is: “can a data provider be INSPIRE-compliant using SOS without complex and heavy developments?” The 52°North SOS implementation was chosen in this project, partly because they provide a complete open-source solution (database creation, SOS client and SOS viewer).
Located in PDF / PDF Posters / 2021
One to host them all: genomics of the diverse bacterial endosymbionts of the spider Oedothorax gibbosus: Bacterial endosymbionts of the groups Wolbachia , Cardinium and Rickettsiaceae are well known for their diverse effects on their arthropod hosts, ranging from mutualistic relationships to reproductive phenotypes. Here, we analysed a unique system in which the dwarf spider Oedothorax gibbosus is co-infected with up to five different endosymbionts affiliated with Wolbachia , ‘Candidatus Tisiphia’ (formerly Torix group Rickettsia ), Cardinium and Rhabdochlamydia . Using short-read genome sequencing data, we show that the endosymbionts are heterogeneously distributed among O. gibbosus populations and are frequently found co-infecting spider individuals. To study this intricate host–endosymbiont system on a genome-resolved level, we used long-read sequencing to reconstruct closed genomes of the Wolbachia , ‘Ca. Tisiphia’ and Cardinium endosymbionts. We provide insights into the ecology and evolution of the endosymbionts and shed light on the interactions with their spider host. We detected high quantities of transposable elements in all endosymbiont genomes and provide evidence that ancestors of the Cardinium , ‘Ca. Tisiphia’ and Wolbachia endosymbionts have co-infected the same hosts in the past. Our findings contribute to broadening our knowledge about endosymbionts infecting one of the largest animal phyla on Earth and show the usefulness of transposable elements as an evolutionary ‘contact-tracing’ tool.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
One Year of Taxonomic Capacity Building by the Belgian Focal Point to the GTI: see pdf
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Ontwerp van gemotiveerde conclusie over de aanvraag van de Nieuwpoortse Handelsmaatschappij nv en DEME Building Materials NV voor de extractie van mariene aggregaten in de zeegebieden onder de rechtsbevoegdheid van België. BMM: Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
Organic Matter Composition of Biomineral flocs and Its Influence on Suspended Particulate Matter Dynamics Along a Nearshore to Offshore Transect: The seasonal variation in concentration of transparent exopolymer particles (TEPs), particulate organic carbon (POC) and particulate organic nitrogen (PON) were investigated together with floc size and the concentration of suspended particulate matter (SPM) along the cross-shore gradient, from the high turbid nearshore toward the low-turbid offshore waters in the Southern Bight of the North Sea. Our data demonstrate that biophysical flocculation cannot be explained by these heterogeneous parameters, but requires a distinction between a more reactive labile (“fresh”) and a less reactive refractory (“mineral-associated”) fraction. Based on all data, we separated the labile and mineral-associated POC, PON, and TEP using a semi-empirical model approach. The model's estimates of fresh and mineral-associated organic matter (OM) show that great parts of the POC, PON, and TEP are associated with suspended minerals, which are present in the water column throughout the year, whereas the occurrence of fresh TEP, POC, and PON is restricted to spring and summer months. In spite of a constantly high abundance of total TEP throughout the entire year, it is its fresh fraction that promotes the formation of larger and faster sinking biomineral flocs, thereby contributing to reducing the SPM concentration in the water column over spring and summer. Our results show that the different components of the SPM, such as minerals, extracellular OM and living organisms, form an integrated dynamic system with direct interactions and feedback controls.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Organic matter processing in a [simulated] offshore wind farm ecosystem in current and future climate and aquaculture scenarios: The rapid development of blue economy and human use of offshore space triggered the concept of co-location of ma- rine activities and is causing diverse local pressures on the environment. These pressures add to, and interact with, global challenges such as ocean acidiﬁcation and warming. This study investigates the combined pressures of climate change and the planned co-location of offshore wind farm (OWF) and aquaculture zones on the carbon ﬂow through epifaunal communities inhabiting wind turbines in the North Sea. A 13 C-labelled phytoplankton pulse-chase experi- ment was performed in mesocosms (4 m 3 ) holding undisturbed hard-substrate (HS) communities, natural sediment with infauna, and mobile invertebrate predators. Carbon assimilation was quantiﬁed under current and predicted future-climate conditions (+3 °C and −0.3 pH units), as well as a future-climate co-use scenario with blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) aquaculture. Climate change induced an increase in macrofaunal carbon assimilation as well as an organic enrichment of underlying sediments. Dynamic (non-)trophic links between M. edulis and other HS epifauna resulted in shifts among the species contributing most to the phytoplankton-derived carbon ﬂow across climate scenar- ios. Increased inter- and intraspeciﬁc resource competition in the presence of M. edulis aquaculture prevented a large increase in the total assimilation of phytoplankton by HS fauna. Lower individual carbon assimilation rates by both mussels and other epifauna suggest that if ﬁlter capacity by HS epifauna would approach renewal by advection/ mixing, M. edulis individuals would likely grow to a smaller-than-desired commercial size. In the same scenario, ben- thic organic carbon mineralisation was signiﬁcantly boosted due to increased organic matter deposition by the aqua- culture set-up. Combining these results with in situ OWF abundance data conﬁrmed M. edulis as the most impactful OWF AHS species in terms of (total) carbon assimilation as well as the described stress responses due to climate change and the addition of bivalve aquaculture.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Organic matter processing in a [simulated] offshore wind farm ecosystem in current and future climate and aquaculture scenarios: Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Original articleSystematics and diversity of the giant soft-shelled turtles (Cryptodira,Trionychidae) from the earliest Eocene of Belgium: In 1909, the famous paleontologist Louis Dollo identified two putative new species of giant soft-shelled turtles from the lowest Eocene record of Belgium, ‘Trionyx erquelinnensis’ and ‘Trionyx levalensis’, from Erquelinnes and Leval, respectively. However, these proposals did not meet the requirements of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, so they were considered as nomina nuda. The information on these specimens or about any other specimen of this lineage of giant turtles from the Belgian record is currently extremely limited. Relatively scarce material from giant trionychids has been described for the lower Eocene record of other European regions. Considering the available information, all the European material has recently been recognized as belonging to the genus Axestemys, which has a North American origin, and possibly attributable to a single species, Axestemys vittata, which currently lacks a diagnosis. Numerous and well-preserved Belgian specimens are deposited in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. In addition to the cited individuals from Erquelinnes and Leval, additional specimens from both localities, as well as others from Orp-le-Grand, are part of this collection. These specimens, found between the decades of 1910 and 1930, have been recently restored, and their study is carried out here. The presence of Axestemys vittata in Belgium (in Leval and Orp-le-Grand) is confirmed. Knowledge about this species is significantly improved, and a diagnosis is proposed. However, the hypothesis proposed by Dollo is here confirmed, this species being not the only identified in the Belgian record. So, Axestemys erquelinnensis nov. sp. is defined based on the carapace from Erquelinnes known by Dollo, suggesting that the genus probably reached Europe during the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021

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