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Article Reference Les tombes tardo-romaines dans le bassin moyen de la Meuse au travers des découvertes du Tienne del Baticulle à Nismes
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference Features and origin of the strata-bound siliciclastic-hosted Kinsenda copper deposit contained in the Roan of south-east Shaba, Zaire
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Inbook Reference System-to-system Interface Between the EMSA CleanSeaNet Service and OSERIT
The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) develop and operate together a system-to-system interface between the EMSA’s CleanSeaNet service and OSERIT, the Belgian Oil Spill Evaluation and Response Integrated Tool. This interface is meant to provide CleanSeaNet users with a support tool for early and automatic oil drift and fate simulation results of any satellite-detected oil spills reported by the CleanSeaNet service in the North Sea and the English Channel. In view of the automatic forecast and backtrack simulations results, CleanSeaNet users have the possibility to further refine this early risk assessment either by activating their own national decision support system or by requesting new, advanced simulations through the CleanSeaNet GIS viewer. This interface is currently passing the final acceptance tests. However, the system has already been used by RBINS for the oil pollution event subsequent to the Flinterstar sinking at 8km off the port of Zeebruges on the 6 th of October 2015. This event perfectly illustrates the potential synergies of remote sensing and modelling in case of marine pollution and their integration in risk assessments that must be performed for any significant pollution of the marine system.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Inproceedings Reference Phylogenetic position of Olbitherium (Mammalia, Perissodactyla) based on new material from the early Eocene Wutu Formation
The genus Olbitherium was originally described in 2004 from the early Eocene of the Wutu Formation in China as a ‘perissodactyl-like’ archaic ungulate. Described material of Olbitherium consists of partial dentaries with lower cheek teeth, isolated upper molars, and an isolated upper premolar. Subsequent collaborative fieldwork by Belgian and Chinese researchers discovered new material including a partial skull, the anterior portion of the dentary, and associated postcrania. In their general form, the skull and postcrania are similar to those of early perissodactyls. The new material provides a more complete picture of the upper dentition, and the anterior dentary demonstrates the presence of three lower incisors and a large canine, both ancestral features for perissodactyls. A phylogenetic analysis was conducted to test the affinities of Olbitherium, using a matrix of 321 characters and 72 taxa of placental mammals emphasizing perissodactyls and other ungulates. The results produced four shortest trees of 1981 steps. In all four trees, Olbitherium is the sister-taxon to all perissodactyls except Ghazijhippus. In contrast, when scoring was restricted to the originally described material, the results produced 16 shortest trees of 1970 steps, and Olbitherium nests well within Perissodactyla as sister-taxon to a clade including Lambdotherium and the brontotheriids Eotitanops and Palaeosyops. The new material not only supports the identification of Olbitherium as a perissodactyl, but it also suggests that it is significant for understanding the ancestral perissodactyl morphotype. Funding Sources U.S. National Science Foundation (DEB1456826), Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (2009DFA32210), and Belgian Science Policy Office (BL/36/C54).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Inproceedings Reference Brain evolution of early placental mammals: the impact of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction on the the neurosensory system of our distant relatives
The end-Cretaceous mass extinction, 66 million years ago, profoundly reshaped the biodiversity of our planet. After likely originating in the Cretaceous, placental mammals (species giving live birth to well-developed young) survived the extinction and quickly diversified in the ensuing Paleocene. Compared to Mesozoic species, extant placentals have advanced neurosensory abilities, enabled by a proportionally large brain with an expanded neocortex. This brain construction was acquired by the Eocene, but its origins, and how its evolution relates to extinction survivorship and recovery, are unclear, because little is known about the neurosensory systems of Paleocene species. We used high-resolution computed tomography (CT) scanning to build digital brain models in 29 extinct placentals (including 23 from the Paleocene). We added these to data from the literature to construct a database of 98 taxa, from the Jurassic to the Eocene, which we assessed in a phylogenetic context. We find that the Phylogenetic Encephalization Quotient (PEQ), a measure of relative brain size, increased in the Cretaceous along branches leading to Placentalia, but then decreased in Paleocene clades (taeniodonts, phenacodontids, pantodonts, periptychids, and arctocyonids). Later, during the Eocene, the PEQ increased independently in all crown groups (e.g., euarchontoglirans and laurasiatherians). The Paleocene decline in PEQ was driven by body mass increasing much more rapidly after the extinction than brain volume. The neocortex remained small, relative to the rest of the brain, in Paleocene taxa and expanded independently in Eocene crown groups. The relative size of the olfactory bulbs, however, remained relatively stable over time, except for a major decrease in Euarchontoglires and some Eocene artiodactyls, while the petrosal lobules (associated with eye movement coordination) decreased in size in Laurasiatheria but increased in Euarchontoglires. Our results indicate that an enlarged, modern-style brain was not instrumental to the survival of placental mammal ancestors at the end-Cretaceous, nor to their radiation in the Paleocene. Instead, opening of new ecological niches post-extinction promoted the diversification of larger body sizes, while brain and neocortex sizes lagged behind. The independent increase in PEQ in Eocene crown groups is related to the expansion of the neocortex, possibly a response to ecological specialization as environments changed, long after the extinction. Funding Sources Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, European Research Council Starting Grant, National Science Foundation, Belgian Science Policy Office, DMNS No Walls Community Initiative.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Book Reference Compilation of presentations at BICEpS colloquium 2019. Annexe to BICEpS Annual report 2019 – Reinforcing Belgian ICES People.
The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES; French: Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer, CIEM) is an intergovernmental marine science organization that brings together the efforts and knowledge of 20 Member States, bordering the North Atlantic and the Arctic Circumpolar Zone, on physical oceanography, marine ecosystems and fisheries management. Nowadays, more than 80 Belgian scientists are directly involved in the work of the 160 bodies and expert groups of ICES, which gather the expertise of more than 1500 scientists yearly, totalling up to 5000 scientists from over 700 marine institutes and organizations over the years. This important and often voluntary dedication of Belgian scientists to the work of ICES deserves more visibility among the Belgian scientific community itself and to policy makers.This is, among others, why the BICEpS initiative was launched in 2018. BICEpS general aim is to offer a platform to the Belgian ICES community to get to know each other, to improve collaboration and share information, and to promote ICES to the wider scientific community in Belgium. BICEpS Annual report 2019 presents the second year of activity of this initiative created to reinforce Belgian ICES people. The report targets marine scientists, marine managers and policy makers. It presents the results of the initiative so far. The report contains the list of Belgian ICES members in 2019 with their membership to the different ICES working groups, and the results of the second BICEpS Colloquium organised on 2 December 2019 and hosted by ILVO in Ghent (Summary of the sessions, abstracts of communications presented and list of participants). The abstracts of the colloquium are supplemented by a separate annex published online which assembles the PowerPoint presentations of the colloquium accessible at http://ices.dk/community/groups/Documents/BICEPS/BICEpS19-PPT-presentations.pdf The full report is accessible on the ICES website at http://ices.dk/community/groups/Pages/BICEpS.aspx
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Book Reference BICEpS Annual report 2019 – Reinforcing Belgian ICES People
The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES; French: Conseil International pour l'Exploration de la Mer, CIEM) is an intergovernmental marine science organization that brings together the efforts and knowledge of 20 Member States, bordering the North Atlantic and the Arctic Circumpolar Zone, on physical oceanography, marine ecosystems and fisheries management. Nowadays, more than 80 Belgian scientists are directly involved in the work of the 150 bodies and expert groups of ICES, which gather the expertise of more than 1500 scientists yearly, totalling up to 5000 scientists from over 700 marine institutes and organizations over the years. This important and often voluntary dedication of Belgian scientists to the work of ICES deserves more visibility among the Belgian scientific community itself and to policy makers.This is, among others, why the BICEpS initiative was launched in 2018. BICEpS general aim is to offer a platform to the Belgian ICES community to get to know each other, to improve collaboration and share information, and to promote ICES to the wider scientific community in Belgium. BICEpS Annual report 2019 presents the second year of activity of this initiative created to reinforce Belgian ICES people. The report targets marine scientists, marine managers and policy makers. It presents the results of the initiative so far. The report contains the list of Belgian ICES members in 2019 with their membership to the different ICES working groups, and the results of the second BICEpS Colloquium organised on 2 December 2019 and hosted by ILVO in Ghent (Summary of the sessions, abstracts of communications presented and list of participants). The abstracts of the colloquium are supplemented by a separate annex published online which assembles the PowerPoint presentations of the colloquium accessible at http://ices.dk/community/groups/Documents/BICEPS/BICEpS19-PPT-presentations.pdf This report is accessible on the ICES website at http://ices.dk/community/groups/Pages/BICEpS.aspx
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Inbook Reference A review of the Gravettian collections from the excavation of Maisières "Canal" (Prov. of Hainaut, Belgium). A combined study of fossil and non-fossil animal resources for alimentary and technical exploitation
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Inbook Reference Animal husbandry at the Early Neolithic to Early Bronze Age site of Bademağacı (Antalya province, SW Turkey): evidence from the faunal remains
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications
Inbook Reference People of the höyüks versus people of the mountains?
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications