Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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Urbanization drives cross‐taxon declines in abundance and diversity at multiple spatial scales
- The increasing urbanization process is hypothesized to drastically alter (semi‐)natural environments with a concomitant major decline in species abundance and diversity. Yet, studies on this effect of urbanization, and the spatial scale at which it acts, are at present inconclusive due to the large heterogeneity in taxonomic groups and spatial scales at which this relationship has been investigated among studies. Comprehensive studies analysing this relationship across multiple animal groups and at multiple spatial scales are rare, hampering the assessment of how biodiversity generally responds to urbanization. We studied aquatic (cladocerans), limno‐terrestrial (bdelloid rotifers) and terrestrial (butterflies, ground beetles, ground‐ and web spiders, macro‐moths, orthopterans and snails) invertebrate groups using a hierarchical spatial design, wherein three local‐scale (200 m × 200 m) urbanization levels were repeatedly sampled across three landscape‐scale (3 km × 3 km) urbanization levels. We tested for local and landscape urbanization effects on abundance and species richness of each group, whereby total richness was partitioned into the average richness of local communities and the richness due to variation among local communities. Abundances of the terrestrial active dispersers declined in response to local urbanization, with reductions up to 85% for butterflies, while passive dispersers did not show any clear trend. Species richness also declined with increasing levels of urbanization, but responses were highly heterogeneous among the different groups with respect to the richness component and the spatial scale at which urbanization impacts richness. Depending on the group, species richness declined due to biotic homogenization and/or local species loss. This resulted in an overall decrease in total richness across groups in urban areas. These results provide strong support to the general negative impact of urbanization on abundance and species richness within habitat patches and highlight the importance of considering multiple spatial scales and taxa to assess the impacts of urbanization on biodiversity.
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EJT editorial standard for the semantic enhancement of specimen data in taxonomy literature
- This paper describes a set of guidelines for the citation of zoological and botanical specimens in the European Journal of Taxonomy. The guidelines stipulate controlled vocabularies and precise formats for presenting the specimens examined within a taxonomic publication, which allow for the rich data associated with the primary research material to be harvested, distributed and interlinked online via international biodiversity data aggregators. Herein we explain how the EJT editorial standard was defined and how this initiative fits into the journal’s project to semantically enhance its publications using the Plazi TaxPub DTD extension. By establishing a standardised format for the citation of taxonomic specimens, the journal intends to widen the distribution of and improve accessibility to the data it publishes. Authors who conform to these guidelines will benefit from higher visibility and new ways of visualising their work. In a wider context, we hope that other taxonomy journals will adopt this approach to their publications, adapting their working methods to enable domain-specific text mining to take place. If specimen data can be efficiently cited, harvested and linked to wider resources, we propose that there is also the potential to develop alternative metrics for assessing impact and productivity within the natural sciences.
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The new Southeast Asian genus Cambonilla gen. nov.(Zodariidae, Araneae):‘bis repetita placent’
- The new genus Cambonilla Jocqué gen. nov. is described on the base of two species, each known from both sexes. A cladistic analysis based on morphology, showed that the new genus is the sister-group of Heliconilla Dankittipakul, Jocqué & Singtripop, 2012 with which it shares the granulated carapace with branched setae and the marbled ventral abdominal pattern, but differs by the abdominal, tubular sclerotized protrusion around the pedicel in males and the absence of posterior ventral abdominal spines in the female. The type species Cambonilla securicula Jocqué gen. et sp. nov. was found in rainforest along the Mekong River in Cambodia and Laos. The second species Cambonilla symphonia Jocqué & Henrard gen. et sp. nov., provided with conspicuous femoral stridulating organs, was recorded from the same localities but in Cambodia only. An illustrated key to the genera of tropical Asia is presented.
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A mammal survey of the Serra Jeci Mountain Range, Mozambique, with a review of records from northern Mozambique’s inselbergs
- The mountains of northern Mozambique have remained poorly studied biologically until recent years with surveys covering a variety of taxonomic groups highlighting their biological and conservation value. Even so, the medium and large mammal fauna remains poorly known and to date no systematic mammal surveys have been published from any of Mozambique’s mountains. We present results of a medium and large mammal survey of Serra Jeci’s Mt Chitagal, Mt Sanga and the Njesi Plateau in Niassa, northern Mozambique; the first mammal diversity data collected from these isolated mountains. We recorded 27 mammal species, of which six represent range expansions; Sykes’s monkey (Cercophitecus mitis), Mozambique dwarf galago (Paragalago granti), Smith’s red rock hare (Pronolagus rupestris), lesser cane rat (Thryonomys gregorianus), rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) and African buffalo (Syncerus caffer). We also reviewed and collated records of medium and large mammals from previously published fieldwork on northern Mozambique’s mountains, amounting to a total of 34 large mammal species from seven montane areas, highlighting the lack of mammalian knowledge in Mozambique’s Afromontane habitats.
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Species niches, not traits, determine abundance and occupancy patterns: A multi‐site synthesis
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Precision mapping of snail habitat provides a powerful indicator of human schistosomiasis transmission
- Recently, the World Health Organization recognized that efforts to interrupt schistosomiasis transmission through mass drug administration have been ineffective in some regions; one of their new recommended strategies for global schistosomiasis control emphasizes targeting the freshwater snails that transmit schistosome parasites. We sought to identify robust indicators that would enable precision targeting of these snails. At the site of the world’s largest recorded schistosomiasis epidemic—the Lower Senegal River Basin in Senegal—intensive sampling revealed positive relationships between intermediate host snails (abundance, density, and prevalence) and human urogenital schistosomiasis reinfection (prevalence and intensity in schoolchildren after drug administration). However, we also found that snail distributions were so patchy in space and time that obtaining useful data required effort that exceeds what is feasible in standard monitoring and control campaigns. Instead, we identified several environmental proxies that were more effective than snail variables for predicting human infection: the area covered by suitable snail habitat (i.e., floating, nonemergent vegetation), the percent cover by suitable snail habitat, and size of the water contact area. Unlike snail surveys, which require hundreds of person-hours per site to conduct, habitat coverage and site area can be quickly estimated with drone or satellite imagery. This, in turn, makes possible large-scale, high-resolution estimation of human urogenital schistosomiasis risk to support targeting of both mass drug administration and snail control efforts.
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Karl Edward Havens (1957–2019)
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A juvenile skull from the early Palaeocene of China extends the appearance of crocodyloids in Asia back by 15–20 million years
- The earliest Crocodylia from Asia have been represented so far only by alligatoroids and planocraniids. Although definitive crocodyloids are not known until the late Eocene, it has been hypothesized that Asiatosuchus-like basal crocodyloids originated in Asia before the late Palaeocene. In this paper, we describe a new fossil crocodyloid from the lower Palaeocene of Qianshan Basin, Anhui Province, China. The skull and lower jaw fragment exhibit several characteristics typical of juvenile crocodylians. They also display a combination of features not seen in any other taxon, warranting the erection of a new species and genus, Qianshanosuchus youngi gen. & sp. nov. Its affinities are tested in phylogenetic analyses based on two recent character matrices of Eusuchia. To assess the effect of juvenile characteristics on the outcome of the phylogenetic analyses, juvenile specimens of extant crocodylian taxa are analysed in the same way, showing that the effect of their ontogenetic stage on their placement in the tree is minimal. Our analyses point to a basal crocodyloid position for Q. youngi. With these findings, the presence of Crocodyloidea in Asia is extended to the early Palaeocene, 15–20 Myr earlier than formerly thought. Furthermore, our results corroborate previous hypotheses of a Palaeocene dispersal route of Asiatosuchus-like crocodyloids from Asia into Europe.
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Revival and Revision of the genus Paroplites with description of two new species (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Prioninae)
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Les campagnes du territoire Nervien : approches croisées
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« Un manuel de terrain pour standardiser les prélèvements des restes biologiques : une nécessité ou un luxe ? Une année d’expérience belge du point de vue de la carpologie »
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« Les agglomérations nerviennes au Haut Empire : la campagne à la ville ? Les apports de l'Archéobotanique »
- A partir des données carpologiques d'un établissement rural, de quatre villae et de deux agglomérations secondaires du Haut-Empire de la civitas nerviorum, mises en perspective avec les données d'établissements ruraux de la cité ménapienne voisine, le mode d'approvisionnement en céréales de ces centres urbains a pu être appréhendé. La découverte de nombreux résidus de premier battage dans les deux agglomérations fait entrer les établissements agricoles et leurs activités dans la ville, qui gère ainsi une partie de son approvisionnement en céréales. Si les blés vêtus constituent les principales productions céréalières de la cité, les blés panifiables -froment et épeautre- tiennent une plus grande place dans les centres urbains et villae. Ces dernières semblent ainsi tenir un rôle privilégié dans l'approvisionnement des agglomérations. La répartition géographique nord/sud de ces deux taxons, avec le froment au sud et l’épeautre au nord du territoire de la cité, coïncide avec les potentialités agricoles des sols. Le froment, espèce exigeante quant à la qualité des sols, est cultivé sur les terres les plus propices à l'agriculture tandis que l'épeautre est mené dans les terres plus sableuses, à moindre potentialité. Ainsi, l'un des critères majeurs quant au choix des céréales qui approvisionnent les centres urbains tient plus à la possibilité de faire du pain qu'à l'espèce elle même. Celles-ci semblent être sélectionnées, de manière opportuniste, selon des critères agronomiques.
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Etudes carpologiques de sites d’habitats médiévaux de Champagne-Ardenne : état de la question
- L’activité archéologique intense en Champagne-Ardenne a permis la mise au jour de plus de quarante sites d’habitats datés du Moyen Âge. Leur distribution géographique montre une disparité entre le département de l’Aube (10), et plus précisément les environs de la ville de Troyes, très bien documentés avec plus de 20 études carpologiques, le département de la Marne (51) riche d’une quinzaine d’études et les départements de la Haute-Marne (52) et des Ardennes (08), largement sous documentés. Les objectifs de cette compilation de données sont divers : il s’agit dans un premier temps de définir les grandes tendances qui se dégagent concernant l’alimentation au cours du Moyen Âge. Le froment est-il dominant sur l’ensemble de la période médiévale ? Quelles places occupent l’orge vêtue polystique et le seigle ? Une mise en culture de l’avoine peut-elle être mise en évidence ? Dans un second temps, il s’agit de voir si des particularismes régionaux peuvent être mis en évidence : les corpus carpologiques entre la région de Troyes et celle de Reims présentent-ils des différences ? Sont-elles le reflet de particularismes régionaux et/ou de contraintes géographiques ou pédologiques?
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La toute première fois : rythmes et contextes d’apparition d’espèces exogènes ou nouvellement introduites dans certaines régions de France
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La toute première fois : rythmes et contextes d’apparition d’espèces exogènes ou nouvellement introduites dans certaines régions de France
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Geomorphological mapping of the Belgian seabed and its submerged landscapes
- Low- and high-resolution Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) are available as interoperable gridded data layers and data products. These bathymetry data, together with increasing availability of various terrain analysis tools, give new impetus to a more uniform geomorphological mapping of the marine realm. To test approaches in sandy shelf areas, a multi-scale analysis was already performed on bathymetric data from the Belgian part of the North Sea using the Benthic Terrain Modeler (BTM) in ArcGIS and other GIS-related raster tools for analysing the topography of the seabed. Geomorphological features present on the Belgian Continental Shelf are sandbanks and crests, valleys and depressions, and sandwave fields. Recently, a derivative of the digital bathymetry model was constructed based on in-depth processing and re-interpretations of sediment cores in conjunction with extensive seismic records, resulting in a depth-converted structure map (DCSM) of the Top-Paleogene surface at high-resolution scale of 1:250 000 (De Clercq et al., 2016). Similar GIS analyses have now been conducted on the appearing submerged landscapes from 120,000 to 100,000 years ago allowing revealing planation surfaces, escarpements, slope breaks, paleo-valleys and -ridges in an automated way. Both resulting geomorphological mapping products contribute to EMODnet-Geology’s work packages on geomorphology and submerged landscapes. De Clercq, M., Chademenos, V., Van Lancker, V., & Missiaen, T. (2016). A high-resolution DEM for the Top-Palaeogene surface of the Belgian Continental Shelf. Journal of Maps 12(5), 1047-1054.
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Vis, havik en konijn Een laatmiddeleeuws ensemble van dierenresten uit een beerput langs de Spanjaardstraat in Brugge
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Dierlijke resten uit een Romeinse terp te Ramskapelle (Knokke-Heist, W.-Vl.): voeding, status en ritueel
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Titanodula gen. nov., a new genus of giant Oriental praying mantises (Mantodea: Mantidae: Hierodulinae)
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Hierodula confusa sp. nov., a new species of Hierodula Burmeister, 1838 (Mantodea: Mantidae: Hierodulinae: Hierodulini)
