-
Do private coffee standards ‘walk the talk’ in improving socio-economic and environmental sustainability?
-
Private sustainability standards cover an increasingly large production area and involve an increasing number of farmers worldwide. They raise expectations among consumers about the economic, ethical and environmental implications of food production and trade; and attract donor funding to certification schemes. The sustainability impact of standards remains unclear as research focuses on either economic or environmental implications. We analyze both the socio-economic and environmental impacts of coffee standards in Uganda and show that these are not in line with expectations created towards consumers. We find that standards improve either productivity and farm incomes or biodiversity and carbon storage but fail to eliminate trade-offs between socioeconomic and environmental outcomes, even when combined in multiple certification. Our analysis is based on a unique combination of economic survey data and ecological field inventory data from a sample of certified and noncertified coffee farms. Our findings are relevant for farmers, food companies, policy-makers, donors and consumers. They imply that combining different standards in multiple certification is counterproductive; that the design of standards could improve to mitigate observed trade-offs between economic and environmental outcomes; and that this requires increased productivity within ecological boundaries, rather than a price premium and added control mechanisms through multiple certification
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2018
-
Locomotor behavior of Paleocene mammals: Insights from the semicircular canals of the inner ear
-
The end-Cretaceous mass extinction triggered the collapse of ecosystems and a drastic turnover in mammalian communities leading to the demise of many ecologically specialized species. While Mesozoic mammals were ecomorphologically diverse, recognizable ecological richness was only truly established in the Eocene. Questions remain about the ecology of the first wave of mammals radiating after the extinction. Here, we use the semicircular canals of the inner ear as a proxy for locomotor behavior. Thirty new inner ear virtual endocasts were generated using high-resolution computed tomography scanning. This sample was supplemented by data from the literature to construct a dataset of 79 fossils spanning the Jurassic to the Eocene alongside 262 extant mammals. Vestibular sensitivity was measured using the radius of curvature against body mass and the residuals of this relationship were analyzed. The petrosal lobule size relative to body mass were compared with the inner ear data as they have a role in maintaining gaze stabilization during motion. Paleocene mammals exhibited smaller canal radius of curvature, compared to Mesozoic, Eocene, and extant taxa. In the early Paleocene, canal radius and associated petrosal lobules were relatively smaller on average compared to other temporal groups, suggesting less ability for fast movements. Our results support previous work on tarsal morphology and locomotor behavioral ancestral state reconstructions suggesting that ground dwelling mammalian species were more common than arboreal taxa during the Paleocene. Ultimately, this may indicate that the collapse of forested environments immediately after extinction led to the preferential survivorship of more terrestrially adapted mammals.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2023
-
Pisachini planthoppers of Vietnam: new records of Pisacha and a new Goniopsarites species from Central Vietnam (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Nogodinidae)
-
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2024
-
Étude ostéologique de deux crémations provenant du site de Postel (Province d'Anvers, âge du Bronze)
-
Two cremations dating from the Bronze Age were discovered in the 1950s in a burial mound in Postel in the province of Antwerp. The colour of the skeletal remains indicates a homogeneous cremation with a temperature of at least 800°C. The most ancient individual (dated to phase I of the construction of the burial mound) is the most complete: about ¾ of its remains, which belong to all anatomical categories, were transferred from the pyre to the grave. The osteological study reveals that it was probably an adult male who was at least 25 years of age. The second subject is more recent (dated to Phase III) and is thought to have been an individual of undetermined sex, under 20 years old. The smaller quantity of remains and the absence of some anatomical categories, including fragile and small bones, that this was a deliberate sorting made by the cremation officiant. This type of selection has already been seen in other Belgian sites dating from the Bronze Age and later.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2023
-
Spinnen en loopkevers ingezameld tijdens een korte bodemvalbemonstering te Doeveren (Zedelgem‐Oostkamp)
-
Spiders and carabid beetles were collected with pitfall traps during a short sampling campaign in the spring of 2017 (from 24/05 to 11/07) in the nature reserve Doeveren at Zedelgem‐Oostkamp. 49 species of spiders and 34 species of carabid beetles were found. We here discuss some particular species of both arthropod groups that are mentioned as threatened on the Red list for Flanders. We comment the management and heathland restoration measures of the last years and its impact on both faunas
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2019
-
De spinnenfauna van enkele rode dopheidegebieden nabij Brugge: Deel 4, drie jaar bemonsteringen in het Natuurreservaat Zevenkerken in 2014-2015-2016
-
103 species of spiders were collected during 3 years continuous sampling with pitfall traps of 2 heathland patches in Nature Reserve Zevenkerken south-west of Bruges. Several rare and interesting species were discovered and discussed. Besides a large amount of species characteristic for forest and shrubs also an important part of the spider fauna in these heathlands consist of species characteristic for dry, oligotrophic grasslands. Also some species of heathland and dunes were found. 12 species are mentioned as threatened on the Red list of spiders of Flanders. Six species are catalogued as endangered, six as vulnerable. Restoration of heathland in Zevenkerken and Bruges in general in the context of spider and insect-friendly management are discussed.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2019
-
De spinnenfauna van enkele Rode dopheidegebieden nabij Brugge: Deel 2: Bemonsteringen in Provinciedomein Tillegembos in 2015-2016
-
105 species of spiders were collected during a year-round sampling with pitfall traps of 3 heathland patches in Provinciedomein Tillegembos south of Bruges. Several rare and interesting species were discovered and discussed. An important part of the spider fauna in these heathlands consists of species characteristic for dry, oligotrophic grasslands. Also some species of heathland and dunes were found. 13 species are mentioned as threatened on the Red list of spiders of Flanders. Five species are catalogued as endangered, Seven species as vulnerable and one species is catalogued as critically endangered on that list: Thyreosthenius biovatus. Restoration of heathlands near Bruges in the context of spider- and insect-friendly management are discussed.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2019
-
De spinnenfauna van enkele heidegebieden nabij Brugge. Deel 1: bemonsteringen 2014-2015
-
131 species of spiders were collected during a year-round sampling with pitfall traps of 8 heathland patches west of Bruges. One species, Ozyptila westringi, was recorded for the first time in Belgium, 20 species are mentioned as threatened on the Red list of spiders of Flanders and one species is catalogued as critically endangered on that list: Pirata uliginosus. An important part of the spider fauna in these heathlands consist of species characteristic for heathland, dunes and dry, oligotrophic grasslands. Notwithstanding these heathlands are embedded in a matrix of forest, we observed that the number of forest species was rather low. Management and restoration of heathlands near Bruges are discussed.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2018
-
Eerste waarnemingen van de sneeuwvlo Boreus hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1767) voor West-Vlaanderen: een zeldzame soort of een soort die zelden wordt waargenomen? (Mecoptera: Boreidae)
-
During a pitfall sampling in the winter of 2014-2015 in some heathland relicts near Bruges, Boreus hyemalis (Linnaeus, 1767) was recorded at three sites. These are the first records of this species for the Province West Flanders. Formerly, this species was only known in Flanders from large and spacious heathlands and shifting sand dunes. As an adult, Boreus hyemalis is only active during the coldest period of the year, even when soils are covered with snow and ice. Probably this species is more common than so far assumed, but because during winter entomological surveys are very rare, this species has probably been overlooked at several places. We give an up-date of its current observed distribution in Belgium and we discuss the recent observations in the western part of Belgium.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications
-
Secrets of de Selys Longchamps archives: one watercolour and two records of nineteenth century observations of the grasshopper species Psophus stridulus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Locusta migratoria (Linnaeus, 1758) in Belgium (Orthoptera: Acrididae)
-
Next to voucher specimens in entomological collections, also historical archives and historical illustrations can contain valuable taxonomical as well as ecological and faunistic data. We report here faunistic data for two currently extinct Belgian grasshopper species from the year 1862, deduced from a letter accompanied by a watercolour. The letter and watercolour are stored in the archives of Edmond de Selys Longchamps at the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS). Both the watercolour and the letter are discussed, focusing on the observations of Psophus stridulus (Linnaeus, 1758) and Locusta migratoria (Linnaeus, 1758) (Orthoptera) at Lanaken in 1862. Two voucher specimens of these observations and their original labels, that are stored in the RBINS collections, were studied. We can conclude that Egide Fologne was the first to observe P. stridulus in Belgium. He reported this in a letter to Edmond de Selys Longchamps and supplied the watercolour depicting the specimen he collected and donated to Selys for his collection.
Located in
Library
/
RBINS Staff Publications 2017
