Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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Inktvissen met weke delen bewaring uit het Toarciaan van Holzmaden
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Recensie: Een walvis in de stad: de collecties van de Leuvense Faculteit Wetenschappen
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Application of magnetic susceptibility as a paleo-climatic proxy on Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and characterization of the magnetic signal – IGCP580 projects and events
- The International Geoscience Program project IGCP-580 (started in 2009), focuses on the application of magnetic susceptibility (MS) as a paleoclimatic proxy on Paleozoic sedimentary rocks and on the characterization of the magnetic susceptibility signal. Here we provide a summary of the scientific targets behind the project and a summary of the organized activities. This project concerns three main issues: the first one consists of compiling the available MS data from the different researchers and continuing the collection of new data (with a main focus on the Devonian). The second issue focuses on the identification of the nature and origin of the magnetic minerals carrying MS signal. The last issue concerns the application of MS as a correlation, cyclostratigraphic and paleoclimatic tool. The IGCP-580 community consists of 245 researchers, from 45 countries (including Kenya, Namibia, Vietnam, Iran, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Tunisia, Colombia, Nigeria, India, etc.). During the project, we organized five meetings (Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Austria, Canada), three special sessions in international meetings and eight field workshops, as well as various training sessions.
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A 3D ArcGIS geological model of the underground of Brussels for hydrogeological uses
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Early seed plants from Western Gondwana: Paleobiogeographical and ecological implications based on Tournaisian (Lower Carboniferous) records from Argentina
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The rooting system of Leptophloeum Dawson: New material from the Upper Devonian, Famennian Witpoort Formation of South Africa
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Catalogue of the types and illustrated specimens recovered from the ‘black marble’ of Denée, a marine conservation-Lagerstätte from the Mississippian of southern Belgium
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Thorezia vezerensisgen. et sp. nov., a new seed plant with multiovulate cupules from the Late Devonian of Belgium
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Challenges in Aquatic Sciences
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Centralizing thematic (freshwater) biodiversity data using the Darwin Core standard and GBIF’s Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT)
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Ostracoda (Crustacea) Fauna of Congo River (Africa) and Amazon River (Brazil) Catchments
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Biodiversity of aquatic macro-invertebrates in the Congo Basin
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Crop diversity and choices in the prehistory of South Eastern Europe: the archaeobotanical evidence from Greece and Bulgaria
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Holocene palaeoecology and human–environmental interactions at the coastal Black Sea Lake Durankulak, northeastern Bulgaria
- Abstract The environmental changes (vegetation history, human impact and land use, influence of the Black Sea) in the area of Lake Durankulak, northeastern Bulgaria, were reconstructed and synthesized for the last ca. 8000 years. The palaeoecological information derived from various proxies (pollen, plant macrofossils, molluscs, sediments) was compared on a regional scale with the evidence from the nearby coastal lakes Shabla–Ezeretz and Bolata. The Early Holocene xerothermic steppe vegetation, dominated by Chenopodiaceae, Artemisia and Poaceae species, and accompanied by stands of trees in moister habitats, was transformed after 6000 cal. BP into a forest-steppe, comprising oak woods with Carpinus betulus, Ulmus, Tilia, Acer. This vegetation pattern has been periodically modified, depleted and replaced by arable land or xerothermic herbaceous communities enriched with anthropophytes and ruderals, particularly after the intensification of human activities since 3300 cal. BP. The archaeobotanical evidence from the region has provided valuable information about the occupation phases and subsistence strategy of the local people since the Late Neolithic (5300 cal. BC/7250 cal. BP). Periods with cultivation of cereals (Triticum, Hordeum) and/or stock-breeding activity were interrupted by abandonment of the settlements and the arable land due to unfavourable environmental changes. The periodical connection/isolation of Lake Durankulak with the Black Sea and the periods of marine influence were recorded by changes in the composition of the fossil molluscan fauna and the lithology of the sediments, and chronologically confirmed by radiocarbon dates. The development of the coastal lakes throughout the largest part of the Holocene has been also considerably influenced by the fluctuations of the Black Sea level.
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Origin of the forest steppe and exceptional grassland diversity in Transylvania (central-eastern Europe)
- Aim The forest steppe of the Transylvanian Plain is a landscape of exceptionally diverse steppe-like and semi-natural grasslands. Is this vegetation a remnant of a once continuous temperate forest extensively cleared by humans, or has the area, since the last glacial, always been a forest steppe? Understanding the processes that drive temperate grassland formation is important because effective management of this biome is critical to the conservation of the European cultural landscape. Location Lake Stiucii, north-western Romania, central-eastern Europe. Methods We analysed multi-proxy variables (pollen, coprophilous fungi, plant macroremains, macrocharcoal) from a 55,000 year discontinuous sequence (c. 55,000–35,000; 13,000–0 cal. yr bp), integrating models of pollen-based vegetation cover, biome reconstruction, global atmospheric simulations and archaeological records. Results Needleleaf woodland occurred during glacial Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, but contracted at the end of this period. Forest coverage of c. 55% (early Holocene) and 65% (mid-Holocene) prevailed through the Holocene, but Bronze Age humans extensively cleared forests after 3700 cal. yr bp. Forest coverage was most widespread between 8600 and 3700 cal. yr bp, whereas grasses, steppe and xerothermic forbs were most extensive between 11,700 and 8600 cal. yr bp and during the last 3700 cal. yr bp. Cerealia pollen indicate the presence of arable agriculture by c. 7000 cal. yr bp. Main conclusions We have provided the first unequivocal evidence for needleleaf woodland during glacial MIS 3 in this region. Extensive forests prevailed prior to 3700 cal. yr bp, challenging the hypothesis that the Transylvanian lowlands were never wooded following the last glaciation. However, these forests were never fully closed either, reflecting dry growing season conditions, recurrent fires and anthropogenic impacts, which have favoured grassland persistence throughout the Holocene. The longevity of natural and semi-natural grasslands in the region may explain their current exceptional biodiversity. This longer-term perspective implies that future climatic warming and associated fire will maintain these grasslands.
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Early and Middle Holocene human occupation of the Egyptian Eastern Desert: Sodmein Cave
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Crop diversity and choices in the prehistory of SE Europe: the archaeobotanical evidence from Greece and Bulgaria
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The 2012 to 2014 excavation campaigns at Site LE, Sagalassos. The structural remains and general phasing
- In recent years, the Sagalassos Archaeological Research project of the University of Leuven has coordinated a research programme aimed at the community of ancient Sagalassos. Understanding in more detail how the ordinary townsfolk lived and worked in antiquity forms an important aspect of this research. With this aim in mind, archaeological excavations were launched at Site LE in 2012. Here, a dense stratigraphical sequence documenting changes within part of a neighbourhood in the upper parts of the ancient town was documented. An original domestic quarter changed character resulting from the erection of public buildings in Roman Imperial times, such as the Neon Library and the unidentified public building of Site LE. In late Roman times, the structures of Site LE were thoroughly re-organized, possibly including a house and a textile workshop. A very well preserved coroplast workshop formed part of this arrangement too. Upon abandonment of these domestic and artisanal units, Site LE was overhauled one last time. Remains of an early Byzantine professional bakery were identified within the re-organized premises. This paper wishes to present our initial understanding of the site, its phases of architectural and functional organisation as well as the detail of the consecutive structures. As such, the paper represents the framework for continued study and future publication of the at times fairly unique find assemblages, such as the materials found within the late Roman coroplast workshop.
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Out of the Pacific: a second fossil porpoise from the Pliocene of the North Sea Basin
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A comparison of 2D storm surge models applied to three shallow European seas
