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Article Reference A dietary perspective of cat-human interactions in two medieval harbors in Iran and Oman revealed through stable isotope analysis
Cats are hypercarnivorous, opportunistic animals that have adjusted to anthropogenic environments since the Neolithic period. Through humans, either by direct feeding and/or scavenging on food scraps, the diet of cats has been enriched with animals that they cannot kill themselves (e.g., large mammals, fish). Here, we conducted carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratio analysis to reconstruct the diet of medieval cats and investigate cat-human interactions in two medieval harbor sites (Qalhât, Oman and Siraf, Iran). The analysis included 28 cat individuals and 100 associated marine and terrestrial faunal samples pertaining to > 30 taxa. The isotopic results indicate a high marine protein-based diet for the cats from Qalhât and a mixed marine-terrestrial (C4) diet for the cats from Siraf. Cats at these sites most likely scavenged on both human food scraps and refuse related to fishing activities, with differences in the two sites most likely associated with the availability of marine resources and/or the living conditions of the cats. By shedding light on the dietary habits of cats from two medieval harbors in the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, this study illustrates the potential of stable isotope analysis in reconstructing human-cat interactions in the past.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Ultraconserved elements-based phylogenomic systematics of the snake superfamily Elapoidea, with the description of a new Afro-Asian family
The highly diverse snake superfamily Elapoidea is considered to be a classic example of ancient, rapid radiation. Such radiations are challenging to fully resolve phylogenetically, with the highly diverse Elapoidea a case in point. Previous attempts at inferring a phylogeny of elapoids produced highly incongruent estimates of their evolutionary relationships, often with very low statistical support. We sought to resolve this situation by sequencing over 4,500 ultraconserved element loci from multiple representatives of every elapoid family/subfamily level taxon and inferring their phylogenetic relationships with multiple methods. Concatenation and multispecies coalescent based species trees yielded largely congruent and well-supported topologies. Hypotheses of a hard polytomy were not retained for any deep branches. Our phylogenies recovered Cyclocoridae and Elapidae as diverging early within Elapoidea. The Afro-Malagasy radiation of elapoid snakes, classified as multiple subfamilies of an inclusive Lamprophiidae by some earlier authors, was found to be monophyletic in all analyses. The genus Micrelaps was consistently recovered as sister to Lamprophiidae. We establish a new family, Micrelapidae fam. nov., for Micrelaps and assign Brachyophis to this family based on cranial osteological synapomorphy. We estimate that Elapoidea originated in the early Eocene and rapidly diversified into all the major lineages during this epoch. Ecological opportunities presented by the post-Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event may have promoted the explosive radiation of elapoid snakes.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Bronze Age subsistence along the southern coast of Yemen: the example of al-Uriyash
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Article Reference Paléobiologie et paléobiogéographie des amphibiens et reptiles : un hommage à Jean-Claude Rage – 2e partie
Editorial for the special volume in honour of Jean-Claude Rage.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Unpublished Reference Preliminary report on weathering
This is a list of several parametrizations related to the weathering of oil. This is mainly a work document with references.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
Techreport Reference D5.4 - Proof of concept of MANIFESTS DSS
This technical report is a proof of the availability of the service developed and improved during the MANIFESTS project "MANaging risks and Impacts From Evaporating and gaseous Substances To population Safety". It include the models for the fire, explosion, OSERIT object, OSERIT HNS and OSERIT OIL
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Techreport Reference D5.3 - MANIFESTS DSS - User guides
This technical deliverable explains the utilisation of the decision support tools developped during the MANIFESTS project "MANaging risks and Impacts From Evaporating and gaseous Substances To population Safety". These tools includes: - The MANIFESTS Common Operational Picture and its viewer (COP tool) - The MANIFESTS models web application for the fire module, explosion module and for OSERIT HNS - The HNS database
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Techreport Reference D5.2 - MANIFESTS DSS - Installation guides
This technical deliverable explains the installation details of the decision support tools developped during the MANIFESTS project "MANaging risks and Impacts From Evaporating and gaseous Substances To population Safety". These tools includes: - The MANIFESTS Common Operational Picture and its viewer (COP tool) - The MANIFESTS models web application
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Techreport Reference D4.4 - Model validation
The transportation of hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) on ships has been on the rise in recent years, posing a significant threat to both human health and the environment. The spill of these chemicals can have far-reaching consequences, particularly when dealing with highly volatile substances that can spread rapidly and unpredictably. The MANIFESTS project has been established with the goal of better understanding the behaviour of these substances to improve response capabilities in the event of a spill. Through research and analysis, the project aims to improve already existing models for predicting the behaviour of HNS in various environments, and to validate these models through a series of experiments and real-world scenarios. Models are essential tools to understand and predict the behaviour of HNS in the event of a spill. However, they are not perfect and have limitations in terms of accuracy, which must be considered by the users. During the MANIFESTS project, the models CHEMMAP, OpenDrift, OSERIT, and MOHID, have been utilized and compared against separate sets of data. These models will be introduced briefly in the next section. This report consists of three validation sections. The first section compares a small-scale laboratory experiment that visualizes the competition between evaporation, dissolution, and volatilization, and assesses the model's ability to simulate these processes. The second section investigates the impact of wind on the evaporation rate and provides as much environmental data as possible to the model, using a wind tunnel. The two last section of this report compares the models' simulation with the sea trials that took place at the end of May 2022. These sections compare both the drift in the water and the air dispersion against field data. By analysing these different experiments, we can understand the capabilities and limitations of the models used in this project.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA
Techreport Reference D4.3 - Models intercomparison
Maritime transport represents more than 80% of the international trade volume (UNCTAD, 2017). Apart from crude oil, tanker trades of refined petroleum products, chemicals and gas have increased by 4% over the 2019-2021 period, with a 5.6% growth in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) trade (UNCTAD, 2022). The volume of hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) is thus constantly rising with an increased risk of accidental spillages potentially associated with marine pollutions, whether in ports or in the open sea. In the event of an incident and a spill in the environment, information on the fate of the chemical(s) involved is essential to better anticipate the risks incurred by responders and populations, the impacts on the environment as well as the appropriate response techniques (Mamaca et al., 2009). Chemicals accidentally spilled into the marine or aquatic environment generally undergo physical-chemical modifications that will characterize their behaviour and fate. As observed by Mamaca et al. (2004) and Le Floch et al. (2011), these modifications are dependent on the intrinsic parameters of the product involved, the in situ environmental parameters (temperature, density and salinity of the water) and the met-ocean conditions (e.g. sea state, wind speed, marine currents). A few hours following the spill short-term effects may thus occur such as spreading, natural dispersion in the water column (dissolution, emulsification) and evaporation into the atmosphere. Longer term degradation (e.g. polymerisation, biodegradation) and sedimentation processes can then follow, depending on the persistence and the nature of the substance. One of the main concerns is that around 2,000 different types of HNS are regularly shipped in bulk or package forms (Purnell, 2009) which thus make difficult to capture their behaviour if accidentally released in the environment. Of the wide variety of HNS traded, volatile and gaseous substances are particularly problematic for marine pollution response authorities. The release of such substances at sea can indeed lead to the formation of toxic, flammable, or explosive gas plumes – sometimes invisible to the naked eye – that can travel large distances and pose risks over a wide area in relatively short timescales. Yet, key information on the risks that responders or rescue teams could take when intervening, or those that could impact coastal communities and the environment when allowing a shipping casualty to dock at a place of refuge remain poorly known. The MANIFESTS EU-project is part of this context.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023 OA