Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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Physical loss and disturbance of the seabed in the Belgian part of the North Sea. Assessment of the Belgian Marine Waters, MSFD. ANS-BE-BENT-PHYS2024
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Physical loss and disturbance of the seabed in the Belgian part of the North Sea (EU MSFD D6C1-2).
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Sustainable Use of Sand in Nature-Based Solutions (SUSANA) – D2.2 – Specificities of two alternative sand cases.
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Gemotiveerde conclusie voor de aanvraag van DEME Building Materials voor zandwinning in sector 3a (uitzonderlijk project).
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The “Key” to Bringing DNA Collections to the Next Level: A DiSSCo Flanders Working Group Product
- The DiSSCo (Distributed System of Scientific Collections) Flanders consortium, with one of the set goals being ``maturing'' (i.e., optimizing the management of) and unlocking (i.e., publishing) their DNA collections, identified 1) the need for actively sharing best practices on the management of DNA collections; and 2) a need for guidance on how to bring theory into practice.During the DiSSCo Flanders project, a DNA collection working group was created. The working group is open to all biodiversity-related DNA collections associates in Belgium, including those in diverse roles such as researchers, lab technicians, collection managers and data managers. Around 50 people from 13 organizations are currently participating. Members can be passively (reading only) or actively (joining events) engaged. The strength, as well as one of the challenges, of the DiSSCo Flanders community is that the natural science collections are created and managed in different organizational contexts: universities, museum institutes and both governmental and non-governmental research organizations. This translates to a variety of collection management decisions and structures such as: decentralized or centralized; cold or room temperature storage; managed by an appointed curator or by a lab technician.The working group organizes meetings and workshops, tours of each other's collections, and shares a mailing list and an online document space. As its principal output, the group has co-created: “The key to bringing DNA collections to the next level” (Veltjen et al. 2024) with two main results: the ``Challenges'' and the “Key”.The ``Challenges'' is a list of 23 challenges applicable to DNA collection management. For example, challenge 8: ``Select or customise collection management systems to meet the needs of DNA collections''. They are intended to spark debate and give focus to the second output: the ``Key.'' The ``Key'' lists seven yes/no questions:Do you have an up-to-date overview of all direct, internal stakeholders of the institute’s DNA collection and are you involving them in the (current) intent to “bring the DNA collection to the next level”?Is preserving a DNA collection within the scope of the institute? And is the DNA collection officially recognized within the institute?Do you have, on paper, a clear description of the scope of the DNA collection?Have you outlined the current overarching workflow of the DNA collection?Have you been able to establish your starting level on the ``DNA collection maturation chart'' and is the assessment properly logged?Level up, one level at a time, and log the process. Have you reached all of the goals in level 3 on the ``DNA collection maturation chart''?Do you have a re-evaluation strategy for your DNA collection?The ``DNA collection maturation chart'' has 11 categories (rows), three levels (columns) and 33 goals (see Table 1 in Veltjen et al. 2024). The Key provides 18 guidance chapters, which give in depth information, literature and user experiences (Suppl. material 2 in Veltjen et al. 2024).The Key is a specialized tool for DNA collections. It facilitates a standardized and holistic approach, allowing both a helicopter view of the maturation process and close-up view of specific goals. The working group aims to test the Key, whereby the process of ``leveling up'' is embedded in a community setting: sharing ambitions, setbacks, changes of plans and success stories. The output is ready in its first version. It is published as a reviewable publication, allowing post-publication peer review (Veltjen et al. 2024). The works are expected to evolve through time, depending on user feedback and user experiences.The working group and co-created output are positive examples of how a local community—sometimes managing smaller, or less conspicuous types of natural science collections—can work together and use their unique perspectives, experiences and needs to contribute to the international natural science collection and biobanking communities.
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Didelphodus caloris, new species (Mammalia, Cimolesta), from the Wasatchian Wa-0 fauna of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, Clarks Fork Basin, Wyoming
- The Wasatchian Wa-0 mammalian fauna from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (earliest Eocene) is reasonably well sampled in North America, but mammals of small body size are still poorly known. Here we describe a new species of the insectivore Didelphodus based on a cranial rostrum, both dentaries, and a nearly complete upper and lower dentition, all found by screen-washing. The new species, D. caloris, is the oldest species of the genus known in North America. It differs from later early Eocene Didelphodus in being substantially smaller, in having relatively simple premolars, and in having a more reduced M3 relative to preceding molars. Precursors of Didelphodus are not known with certainty, and the species D. caloris may be an immigrant to mid-continent North America. D. caloris is tentatively interpreted as a dwarfed form like other Wa-0 mammals because of its small size relative to the better-known successor species D. absarokae.
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Les restes humains de la fortification
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Présence d'un gecko dans l'Eocène basal de Dormaal (Belgique): un élément thermophile du PETM ?
- Si le registre fossile des lézards est assez bon pour l’Eocène moyen et supérieur en Europe, il n’en va pas de même pour l’Eocène inférieur. Seule la localité de Dormaal, datant de l’Eocène basal (niveau-repère MP7,Belgique) semble faire exception. Parmi les nombreux fossiles de lézards de cette localité, nous présentons ici pour la première fois quelques rares éléments appartenant à un gecko. Ce dernier vivait donc dans nos régions durant le Maximum Thermique Paléocène-Eocène (PETM), climat le plus chaud des 66 derniers millions d’années. Ce nouveau taxon, daté de 56 Ma, est le plus ancien gecko cénozoïque connu en Europe. Avec Laonogekko lefevrei de Prémontré (MP 10, Bassin de Paris), plus jeune d’environ 5 millions d’années, ces taxons forment la radiation du Paléogène inférieur de ce clade. Aujourd’hui, les geckos sont répartis dans le monde entier, principalement dans les zones tempérées chaudes à tropicales, bien que certaines espèces puissent atteindre des régions plus froides dans les hémisphères Nord et Sud. Le nouveau gecko de Dormaal représente un élément thermophile, confirmant les préférences thermiques actuelles des geckos. Par ailleurs, la distribution de ce groupe dans des latitudes aussi septentrionales (au-dessus de 50° Nord) n’est pas surprenante durant cette période particulièrement chaude. Bien que le nouveau taxon décrit ici ne soit représenté que par un frontal et des dentaires (deux des éléments les plus fréquemment préservés chez les geckos fossiles), il fournit un nouveau record de diversité des squamates à la base de l’Eocène. Avec Yantarogekko de l’ambre éocène de la Baltique (district de Kaliningrad, nord-ouest de la Russie), ces geckos documentent la distribution septentrionale des geckos en Europe pendant l’Éocène.
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État de l’invasion de Trichoferus campestris (Faldermann, 1835) au plan international et réflexion sur sa première interception en Belgique
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The initial response of females towards congeneric males matches the propensity to hybridise in Ophthalmotilapia
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Further notes on H. cinerea (Born, 1778) and H. stylata (Hinds, 1844) (Conoidea: Terebridae), with the description of a new species from the Dominican Republic
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Notes on some Japanese and East China Sea Duplicaria (Gastropoda: Conoidea) with the description of a new species
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Notes on Terebridae Part I, with the description of two new species
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'Cleaning the Egyptian sphinx with a toothbrush': one of the largest Neoterebra (Gastropoda: Conoidea) from the Caribbean Sea needs a name
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Hastula strigilata revisited: Part II. Tropical Indo-Pacific, first preliminary results, evaluation of types and synonymy, with the description of nine new species (Gastropoda: Conoidea: Terebridae)
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Insights into Holocene relative sea-level changes in the southern North Sea using SLIPs and an improved microfauna-based transfer function.
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Reconstructing Holocene relative sea-level changes and extreme events in the Shetland Islands (United Kingdom).
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Luminescence dating of offshore tsunami deposits from the Shetland Islands (UK).
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Reconstructing Holocene relative sea-level changes and extreme events in the Shetland Islands (United Kingdom).
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Storegga and beyond – North Sea tsunami deposits offshore Shetland Islands.
