Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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Le Pollen, une histoire de vie
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The Evros Delta (Greece): the new place to be for the Bewick’s Swan.
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From Yamal to China: new data on migrations, distribution and productivity of the Bewick’s Swan.
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Monitoring actif influenza aviaire des oiseaux sauvages en Belgique : Rapport des activités réalisées au Grootbroek de Rhode-Sainte-Agathe (septembre 2014-avril 2015). Rapport à l’Agentschap voor Natuur en Bos
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Evaluation de l’impact de la remise en exploitation des carrières de Lives et Bossimé sur le Faucon pèlerin, le Faucon crécerelle, le Grand-duc d’Europe et le Traquet pâtre, actualisation 2015. Etude ornithologique réalisée pour le compte d’ARIES. Rapport final.
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Monitoring actif influenza aviaire et virus du Nil occidental des oiseaux sauvages en Belgique, année 2014. Rapport à l’AFSCA.
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Where are the Mute Swans wintering in the Evros Delta (Greece) coming from?
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The Evros Delta (Greece): the new place to be for the Bewick’s Swan.
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Actieve monitoring aviaire influenza op in het wilde levende vogels in België : verslag van de activiteiten op het Vlaams natuurreservaat Grootbroek te Sint-Agatha-Rode (september 2014-avril 2015). Verslag aan het Agentschap voor Natuur en Bos,
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Actieve en passieve monitoring van het aviaire influenza virus en het West Nile virus Bij wilde Vogels in België, Jaar 2014. Rapport aan het FAVV.
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Snapshots of The Evros Delta in the 1990’s
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Pollen and Non-Pollen palynomorphs from two neolithic sites in Wallonia (SE Belgium)
- The study presented in this contribution is part of a new multidisciplinary research program undertaken by the “Service Public de Wallonie” since 2011 on archaeological sites uncovered in the Walloon region (SE Belgium). Indeed, very few archaeoenvironmental studies have been done in this area, especially in archaeobotany, and none of them was employed in combination. Up to now, most of the studies have been concentrated on the Neolithic period which is thus the best documented so far. In this context, we analysed pollen and NPPs from two Neolithic sites of primary importance for the understanding of the first sedentary occupations and/or their specific activities. Our data represent the first NPPs records in Wallonia. The first site (Fehxe-le-Haut-Cloché) is an Early Neolithic village (Belgian LBK) situated on the Belgian High Speed Train path Brussels-Liege. It is characterized by outlying houses which are older than the rest of the village’s houses located within an enclosure. Pottery style, techno-functional aspects of flint-tools and AMS C14 dating attest that these isolated houses may be considered as pioneer installations. Pollen and NPPs analyses are based on 35 samples coming from 18 pits and ditches linked to 8 houses belonging to both pioneer and secondary phases. The second site (Spiennes), located in the outskirts of Mons, is well known for its Middle-Late Neolithic flint mines which are listed on the UNESCO World heritage Sites since 2000. The men who started to dig mines in Spiennes had just discovered a profuse deposit of quality, which was to be exploited for more than 1 800 years. In total, around one hundred hectares were to be exploited and thousands of shafts were to be bored. Pollen and NPPs samples (48) have been retrieved from exploited flint layers, extraction shafts infillings and flint knapping workshops of 12 structures scattered on 3 different parcels of the exploitation.
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Climate-pastoral activity interactions in the Champsaur Valley (French Alps) and their effect on the evolution of biodiversity during the last 3400 years
- This work reconstructs the history of local landscape at two sites located in the Champsaur Valley (French Alps), namely Lac de Faudon (1577 m asl) and Laus des Combettes (1175 m asl), during the last 3400 years. Here we propose a multidisciplinary approach to explain complex human/climate relationships and their effects on the evolution of biodiversity over time scales that go beyond human life span. Modern pollen data and vegetation surveys from 49 sites, selected within different environmental and land-use contexts in the Champsaur Valley, were used to create a pollen-based transfer-function to quantify pasture pressure. Its application to the two well-dated pollen sequences, covering the last 3400 and 2000 years respectively, allowed reconstructing the evolution of pasture-pressure through time. The pollen-based reconstructions were compared with changes in percentages of palynological and NPP pastoral indicators like spores of coprophilous Fungi, showing a good correlation but differences in the inferred intensity of the pastoral pressure. Palaeoecological data, in consistence with archaeological and historical evidences, underline a continuous human presence surrounding the two sites since the Antiquity. Pollen diversity reaches its highest value during the Medieval Warm Period (850-550 cal BP), when demography increase and stability of human presence are reported. An unprecedented fall of diversity is recorded at the beginning of the climate deterioration of the Little Ice Age (650 and 380 cal BP), coinciding with invasions from neighbouring human groups and wars and with a reduced pastoral activity at both sites. Data suggest that the interaction between human activities and climate changes produced important transformations in the composition of the local flora, resulting in a weakened ecosystem highly dependent on Human cares and more sensitive to climate variability. Keywords: palynology, late Holocene vegetation history, human/environment relationships, pasture pressure modeling, diversity indexes.
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Understanding Prehistoric settlement dynamics, farming systems and mining activities in Wallonia (SE Belgium): Pollen and Non-Pollen Palynomorphs records from two Neolithic sites
- The study presented in this contribution is part of a new multidisciplinary research program undertaken by the “Service Public de Wallonie” since 2011 on archaeological sites uncovered in the Walloon region (SE Belgium). Indeed, very few archaeoenvironmental studies have been done in this area, especially in archaeobotany, and none of them was employed in combination. Up to now, most of the studies have been concentrated on the Neolithic period which is thus the best documented so far. In this context, we analysed pollen and NPPs from two Neolithic sites of primary importance for the understanding of the first sedentary occupations and/or their specific activities. Our data represent the first NPPs records in Wallonia. The first site (Fehxe-le-Haut-Cloché) is an Early Neolithic village (Belgian LBK) situated on the Belgian High Speed Train path Brussels-Liege. It is characterized by outlying houses which are older than the rest of the village’s houses located within an enclosure. Pottery style, techno-functional aspects of flint-tools and AMS C14 dating attest that these isolated houses may be considered as pioneer installations. Pollen and NPPs analyses are based on 35 samples coming from 18 pits and ditches linked to 8 houses belonging to both pioneer and secondary phases. The second site (Spiennes), located in the outskirts of Mons, is well known for its Middle-Late Neolithic flint mines which are listed on the UNESCO World heritage Sites since 2000. The men who started to dig mines in Spiennes had just discovered a profuse deposit of quality, which was to be exploited for more than 1 800 years. In total, around one hundred hectares were to be exploited and thousands of shafts were to be bored. Pollen and NPPs samples (48) have been retrieved from exploited flint layers, extraction shafts infillings and flint knapping workshops of 12 structures scattered on 3 different parcels of the exploitation. The purposes of this study are (i) to reconstruct the vegetation around each site and its evolution between the different occupation phases by means of pollen and NPPs analyses, (ii) to try to characterize local settlement dynamics, nature and function of different structure types, and specialized activities such as animal husbandry, cultures, waste management or mining, and (iii) to compare the pollen and NPPs results with those of the other palaeoenvironmental analyses undertaken (charcoal, seeds and fruit, phytoliths, archaeozoology). Questions relating to the economy and organisation of Neolithic society are also considered.
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RAPID ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSES TO ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE DURING THE LATE-GLACIAL IN THE MOERVAART AREA (NW BELGIUM), WITH SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE PALYNOMORPH RECORDS
- Due to the availibility of high-quality lacustrine sediment records, the Moervaart depression in northwestern Belgium is a very suitable region from which to assess environmental responses to abrupt climate change during the late-glacial (ca. 14,5 – 11,5 ka cal BP). Multiple-proxy analyses of physical parameters (bulk sediment composition and magnetic susceptibility) and biotic remains (palynomorphs, plant macroremains, diatoms, freshwater molluscs, ostracods and chironomids) resulted in a considerable amount of valuable data concerning the climate and palaeoenvironment in this region. The climatic cycles observed in the late-glacial significantly affected the local vegetation and water shed. The milder Bølling interstadial (ca. 14,5-14,1 ka cal BP), characterized by shallow swamps and an open vegetation of mainly birch, grasses, willow and juniper, was abruptly interrupted by a short cold phase, the Older Dryas (ca. 14,1-13,8 ka cal BP), in which a dry and open grass tundra occurred. Based on the presence of Gloeotrichia colonies, known as nitrogen fixers, it is suggested that during the Older Dryas these cyanobacteria created more favourable conditions for aquatic plants to colonize the swampy areas. During the successive Allerød interstadial (ca. 13,8-12,6 ka cal BP), a shallow, large palaeolake with submerged vegetation (e.g., Nymphaea and Myriophyllum) developed, whereas a more dense birch forest (1st phase), accompanied by pine (2nd phase), was continuously present in the surroundings. Extreme cold climatic conditions during the Younger Dryas (ca. 12,6-11,5 ka cal BP), however, caused major hydrological changes, originating in the development of an east-west trending palaeochannel system across the (nearly-)desiccated lake area. In summary, our results clearly demonstrate strong and rapid environmental responses to abrupt climate change at the last glacial-interglacial transition in the Moervaart area.
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EFFETS ANCIENS ET ACTUELS DE L'ANTHROPISATION DU CHAMPSAUR DEPUIS LE NEOLITHIQUE. EXEMPLE DE LA TOURBIÈRE DU LAUZA
- L'impact de l'homme sur son environnement est un sujet d'actualité à l'origine d'une multitude de travaux de recherche qui se focalisent sur l'actuel mais également sur le passé. Les tourbières sont des écosystèmes dans lesquels vont s'accumuler différents types de matières organiques et minérales, provenant en grande partie de l'érosion du bassin versant. Ceci permet d'accéder, entre autres, aux changements climatiques mais aussi aux variations induites par les activités humaines dans le bassin versant entourant la tourbière. Le travail présenté ici a été réalisé sur le remplissage sédimentaire de la tourbière du Lauza (Champsaur, Hautes-Alpes). L'analyse palynologique, géochimique et sédimentologique de ce remplissage a permis de caractériser les phases d'anthropisation [1] ainsi que les effets de l'impact anthropique sur l'altération physique des roches affleurant dans le bassin versant [2] et sur le fonctionnement actuel de la tourbière. Plusieurs phases d'anthropisation sont ainsi observées depuis le Néolithique. Leur impact est directement fonction du type d’activités opérées. La combinaison des analyses palynologiques et sédimentologiques montrent que l’agro-pastoralisme, de part les nombreuses déforestations qu’il nécessite, a eu pour conséquence une altération physique nette des sols et donc une arrivée importante de particules minérales détritiques dans la tourbière. Les pratiques sylvicoles affectent elles aussi l'équilibre du système mais provoquent une érosion moins importante des sols. Les analyses chimiques effectuées sur l’ensemble 'fraction organique + eau interstitielle' soulignent deux autres effets de l'anthropisation du bassin versant. Outre une diffusion verticale d’ions provenant de l’épandage actuel de sels de déneigement, ces analyses mettent en évidence une réactivation de l'altération chimique des sols et roches du bassin versant lors des phases d’anthropisation, et probablement une circulation préférentielle des eaux de la tourbière dans les niveaux « anthropiques ». L'implantation humaine dans le bassin versant de la tourbière du Lauza a ainsi profondément et durablement modifié la structure de celle-ci. Références [1] Court-Picon, M., 2007. Mise en place du paysage dans un milieu de moyenne et haute montagne du Tardiglaciaire à l'époque actuelle ; Analyse du signal palynologique en Champsaur (Hautes-Alpes, France) à l'interface des dynamiques naturelles et des dynamiques sociales. Thèse de Doctorat. Laboratoire de Chrono-Environnement, Université de Franche-Comté. [2] Linoir, D., 2009. Anthropisation et érosion/sédimentation dans le Bas-Champsaur depuis le Néolithique. Mémoire de Master 2 Recherche 'Sciences, Technologies, Santé', spécialité VTESS. Université de Franche-Comté.
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Villers-le-Bouillet - Lohincou, un habitat rural du Haut Moyen Âge : résultats préliminaires des études archéobotaniques et archéozoologiques
- Suite au diagnostic archéologique effectué dans le parc industriel de Villers-le-Bouillet en 2001 et à plusieurs campagnes de fouille (2002, 2008, 2009 et 2010), une occupation datée du Haut Moyen Âge a été mise en évidence sur le lieu-dit « A Lohincou ». La fouille a livré les vestiges traditionnellement associés aux occupations rurales de la période considérée tels que des fosses, fossés, fonds de cabanes, structures de combustion, empreintes de poteaux, ainsi que la présence au sein de l’habitat d’un groupe funéraire d’au moins 22 individus. Dans l’état actuel des recherches, l’analyse spatiale des vestiges n’offre que peu de clefs de lecture (plans de batiments, zones d’activités spécifiques etc.) permettant d’appréhender l’organisation interne du site, ainsi que son évolution par phases archéologiques significatives. Récemment, la périodisation de l’occupation du Haut Moyen Âge « A Lohincou » a pu être approchée plus finement grâce à des études céramiques et des datations radiocarbones complémentaires. Des prélèvements sédimentaires destinés aux études archéo-environnementales ont été effectués lors des dernières campagnes de fouille. Alors que peu de données bioarchéologiques sont encore disponibles en Wallonie pour cette période, les récents résultats des recherches archéobotaniques et archéozoologiques à Villers-le-Bouillet permettent d’appréhender l’économie de subsistance, les pratiques agricoles et le milieu environnant (exploité ou non pour l’approvisionnement en bois de feu, par exemple) mais aussi de caractériser plus précisément la fonction des structures (carpologie, palynologie). L’intégration des études archéo-environnementales nous renseigne ainsi sur le quotidien des populations rurales du Haut Moyen Âge.
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Interdisciplinair onderzoek van een enigmatische structuur op het site van de Korte Beenhouwerstraat nr. 29 (Brussel)
- Bij het archeologisch onderzoek ter hoogte van drie huizen in de Korte Beenhouwersstraat nr. 29 en de Schuddeveldsteeg nr. 2 werd een structuur bestaande uit fijne organische laagjes aangetroffen. Ten einde de vormingsgeschiedenis en de functie van deze structuur te kunnen begrijpen werd een interdisciplinair onderzoek uitgevoerd waarbij archeobodemkunde, archeobotanie en archeozoölogie werden geïntegreerd. Hieruit blijkt dat deze structuur stalresten bevat. De resultaten van dit onderzoek laten niet alleen toe de functie van de deze structuur te begrijpen, maar ze geven ook een vrij nauwkeurig beeld van de omgeving van de site in de 13de eeuw.
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Addition to the knowledge of the genus Dinoprionus Bates, 1875 with the description of a new species from Asia and the female of D. cephalotes Bates, 1875 (Coleoptera, Cerambycideae, Prioninae)
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Palaeoenvironments and human activities during the Neolithic in Wallonia (SE Belgium) as inferred from Pollen and Non-Pollen Palynomorphs
- It is now widely accepted that human impact has been the most important factor effecting vegetation change, at least in Europe, during the last 6000 years. With the onset of agriculture and stock breeding, at the so-called Neolithic revolution, the human role changed from a passive component to an active element which directly affects nature. This change had dramatic consequences for the natural environment and landscape development. During this important period of transition, arable and pastoral farming, the actual settlements themselves and the consequent changes in the economy significantly altered the natural vegetation and started to create the cultural landscape with its many different and varying aspects. Conversely, human settlements and economic activity throughout the Neolithic are often closely related to natural environments and their changes induced by climatic variability. In this context, and in order to better understand anthropogenic/natural processes interactions in lowland ecosystems, an integrated research based on a multi-proxies approach has recently been undertaken in Wallonia (SE Belgium) within the framework of a convention between the “Service Public de Wallonie” and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, which aims at investigating the archaeological sites of the area in terms of palaeoenvironmental potentials. As a part of the archaeobotanical studies of this broader research, we present here the results of palynological analyses (pollen, NPPs, micro-charcoal) realised at two Middle Belgian sites: an Early Neolithic village (Belgian LBK) with two occupation phases (Fehxe-le-Haut-Cloché), and a Middle-Late Neolithic flint mines areaof around one hundred hectares exploited for more than 1 800 years (Spiennes). The purposes of this work are (1) to reconstruct the vegetation around each site and its evolution between the different occupation phases, (2) to elucidate human action on the vegetation history and questions relating to the vegetal economy during the Neolithic, and (3) to try to characterize local settlement dynamics, nature and function of different structure types, and specialized activities such as animal husbandry, cultures, waste management or mining. Our data represent the first “non-pollen palynomorphs” (NPPs) records in Wallonia and accent will be made here on these new biological indicators. In recent years the demand for more comprehensive past climatic and environmental reconstructions has stimulated the expansion of this new set of complementary microfossils. It is a broad group representing a wide variety of micro-remains of bacteria, protozoa, fungi, invertebrates, testate amoeba, algae and higher plant remains, which are encountered (but frequently ignored) during standard pollen analysis. They provide complementary insight into climate and/or human-driven processes, as well as vegetation shifts, even where pollen is scarce or absent (which is often the case in sediments from archaeological sites). If the value of NPPs as paleoenvironmental indicators has now been demonstrated, their identification (up to now more than one thousand NPPs have been described!) is still progressing and more and more studies are needed to improve our knowledge about their ecology and representativeness.
