Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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Towards a model for the redistribution of harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) due to pile driving in Belgian waters
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Where did common porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) come from before stranding?
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Strandings of the common porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) in the southern North Sea: what did they die of, where did they come from?
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Linking human activities to eutrophication along the river-ocean continuum with an ecological model.
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Chironomid distribution along a pollution gradient in Ethiopian rivers, and their potential for biological water quality monitoring.
- Water pollution resulting from the rapidly intensifying use of freshwater resources in Ethiopia is increasing the need for continuous follow-up and monitoring of the country’s aquatic ecosystems, in order to maintain their biological diversity and water quality. Chironomids (non-biting dipteran midges) are often used for biological water quality assessment because their larvae tend to respond rapidly and sensitively to changes in the aquatic environment. Larval chironomid assemblages from 37 sites in 20 Ethiopian rivers were analysed in 2010 to assess the relationship between species composition and water quality. Cluster analysis of local physical and chemical variables was used to classify sites into three different water quality classes: 15 sites were classified as not or slightly polluted, 16 as moderately polluted and six as heavily polluted. We recovered 21 chironomid taxa, representing three subfamilies, with Chironominae (13 taxa) making the largest contribution, followed by Tanypodinae and Orthocladinae (four taxa each). Polypedilum nubifer, P. wittei, Polypedilum type Wabe, Cryptochironomus sp. and Conchapelopia sp. were the dominant species in unpolluted or slightly polluted sites. Chironomus alluaudi and C. imicola were indicators of heavily polluted sites, typified by low (<2 mg l–1) concentrations of dissolved oxygen. Heavily polluted sites, such as the Modjo and Sebata rivers, also held a lower number of species and genera than less-impacted sites. Larval chironomid assemblages proved useful as indicators of river water quality in Ethiopia when taxa are identified at the species and/or genus level.
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BIOFRAG - a new database for analysing BIOdiversity responses to forest FRAGmentation.
- Habitat fragmentation studies have produced complex results that are challenging to synthesize. Inconsistencies among studies may result from variation in the choice of landscape metrics and response variables, which is often compounded by a lack of key statistical or methodological information. Collating primary datasets on biodiversity responses to fragmentation in a consistent and flexible database permits simple data retrieval for subsequent analyses. We present a relational database that links such field data to taxonomic nomenclature, spatial and temporal plot attributes, and environmental characteristics. Field assessments include measurements of the response(s) (e.g., presence, abundance, ground cover) of one or more species linked to plots in fragments within a partially forested landscape. The database currently holds 9830 unique species recorded in plots of 58 unique landscapes in six of eight realms: mammals 315, birds 1286, herptiles 460, insects 4521, spiders 204, other arthropods 85, gastropods 70, annelids 8, platyhelminthes 4, Onychophora 2, vascular plants 2112, nonvascular plants and lichens 320, and fungi 449. Three landscapes were sampled as long-term time series (>10 years). Seven hundred and eleven species are found in two or more landscapes. Consolidating the substantial amount of primary data available on biodiversity responses to fragmentation in the context of land-use change and natural disturbances is an essential part of understanding the effects of increasing anthropogenic pressures on land. The consistent format of this database facilitates testing of generalizations concerning biologic responses to fragmentation across diverse systems and taxa. It also allows the re-examination of existing datasets with alternative landscape metrics and robust statistical methods, for example, helping to address pseudo-replication problems. The database can thus help researchers in producing broad syntheses of the effects of land use. The database is dynamic and inclusive, and contributions from individual and large-scale data-collection efforts are welcome.
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Towards more equal footing in north–south biodiversity research: European and sub-Saharan viewpoints
- Research collaboration between developed countries from the northern hemisphere and developing countries in the southern hemisphere is essential for the understanding and protection of the major proportion of biodiversity located in the tropics. Focusing on the case of sub-Saharan Africa, we here assess the real involvement of northern versus southern contributors, and caution against unequal academic benefit sharing arising from non-commercial biodiversity research that may ultimately hamper sustainable knowledge transfer and long-term biodiversity conservation. We discuss possible drivers that may have led to a business of raw biodiversity data. While we fully support the current efforts to stamp out biopiracy through international biodiversity policies and agreements, we illustrate that such legislative frameworks may further constrain biodiversity research, especially in countries where regulations are poorly streamlined and bureaucracy remains rather inert. We therefore ask for workable solutions towards more equal footing in north–south biodiversity research, and propose a number of steps to transgress the current barriers towards a more fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from biodiversity research.
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Abstract book Belqua 2014 workshop, 5 maart 2014, Koninklijke Academie voor Wetenschappen, Brussel, België.
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First field campaign report linking the Scheldt to Rhine Thames Land project
- 1. Heyvaert V.M.A., Bogemans F., Busschers F., Cohen K., Gibbart P., Walstra J. (2014). First field campaign report linking the Scheldt to Rhine Thames Land project.3pp.
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Temporal and geographical trends on the type of biodiversity research funded on a competitive basis in European countries
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BiodivERsA 2012-2013 Project Call Brochure: Invasive species and Biological Invasions
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First field campaign report linking the Scheldt to Rhine Thames Land project
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Behavioural and genetic mechanisms behind ecotypic divergence under gene flow in a salt marsh beetle
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Can natal habitat learning drive assortative mating by spatial sorting
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Does preference for the habitat in which you are born lead to sympatric speciation in a salt marsh beetle
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The COBIMFO project: An assessment of the relation between carbon storage and biodiversity in the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve (DR Congo)
- Anthropogenic climate change represents a major threat to biodiversity as well as to human well-being. Humanity’s response is to (attempt to) develop and implement mitigation strategies that minimise the speed and eventual level of climate change. Prominent among these is the United Nations scheme known as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, REDD+, which focusses on developing countries (including the DRC). The UN-REDD+ strategy aims at protecting and enhancing biosphere carbon stocks, by conserving tropical rainforest systems, as a means to mitigate global climate change. Biodiversity is generally described as a potential ‘co-benefit’ of forest carbon sequestration, but components of forest biodiversity may overlap to different degrees, trade off with, or be largely independent from those that intervene in carbon storage potential. The spatial congruence of biodiversity and carbon stocks has recently become an upcoming issue in science. In general, biodiversity is positively (but rather weakly) associated with ecosystem carbon, but the association is geographically variable, and even reverses in some regions. This lack of consistent relationships can be attributed to the fact that recent ecosystem mapping analyses are performed at large scales, using only species richness as an indicator for biodiversity. Understanding the relationship between carbon stock and biodiversity is needed to maximize the UN-REDD+ gains, to better address the risks of UN-REDD+ programs, and to avoid substantial biodiversity loss. This study will focus on the local scale relation of carbon stock and biodiversity expressed in multiple diversity parameters over a range of taxa. We will use data from the first multi-taxon inventory in the central Congo basin conducted in the framework of the COBIMFO project (Congo basin integrated monitoring for forest carbon mitigation and biodiversity). The project started in 2010 and measured carbon as well as the diversity of 9 different taxa (eumycetozoa, lichens, trees, fungi, diptera, ants, termites, birds and mammals) in the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve. The sampling and species identification is still ongoing. The first objective of this project is to select a set of parameters that can be calculated for each taxon, and that can be normalised so as to be comparable between taxa. We will assess biotic parameters that describe compositional and functional components of the sampled communities. Secondly, we will investigate the relationship between carbon and biodiversity at both the level of the COBIMFO study plots and across the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve as a whole. The chosen parameters will be calculated for each taxon for each site where the taxon was sampled. For each biodiversity parameter, a generalized linear mixed effects model will be fitted to model biodiversity as a function of carbon. As area-wide data on carbon and biodiversity are not readily available, we will generate area-wide predictions of carbon and biodiversity using BIOMOD, an R-based ensemble modelling framework that simultaneously runs up to 10 different Ecological Niche Modelling techniques, based on the carbon and biodiversity data obtained from the COBIMFO study plots. These extrapolated data will then be used to evaluate the spatial distribution of, and relationships between, carbon and biodiversity on a regional scale. Here we will present the preliminary results of the statistical analysis using taxa and biodiversity parameters for which sufficient data will be available. As a result, we will increase our understanding on the implications of carbon conservation on biodiversity. Furthermore, although we do not aim at identifying the complex mechanisms driving the carbon - biodiversity relation, our fine-scale analysis will promote insight in the underlying ecological drivers.
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Diversity and demographic structure of Rodents populations (Rodentia: Mammalia) according an anthropisation gradient in Forestry Reserve of Masako (R. D. Congo)
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Diversity of rodents and shrews in the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve, DR Congo
- The UN-REDD+ strategy aims at protecting and enhancing biosphere carbon stocks, by conserving tropical rainforest systems, as a means to mitigate global climate change. Biodiversity is generally described as a potential ‘co-benefit’ of forest carbon sequestration, but components of forest biodiversity may overlap to different degrees, trade off with, or be largely independent from those that intervene in carbon storage potential. In general, biodiversity is positively (but rather weakly) associated with ecosystem carbon, but the association is geographically variable, and even reverses in some regions. Understanding the relationship between carbon stock and biodiversity is needed to maximize the UNREDD+ gains, to better address the risks of UN-REDD+ programs, and to avoid substantial biodiversity loss. Therefore, this study will focus on the local scale relation of carbon stock and biodiversity expressed in multiple diversity parameters over a range of taxa. We will use data from the first multi-taxon inventory in the central Congo basin conducted in the framework of the COBIMFO project (Congo basin integrated monitoring for forest carbon mitigation and biodiversity). The project started in 2010 and measured carbon as well as the diversity of 9 different taxa (eumycetozoa, lichens, trees, fungi, diptera, ants, termites, birds and mammals) in the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve In a first step we monitored the diversity of rodents and shrews in the Yangambi Biosphere Reserve. A total of 617 rodents and shrews were captured in several forest types between July 2013 and June 2014. The specimens were determined using DNA Barcoding. Species richness was generally higher in young-regrowth forests compared to old-growth forests.
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Biodiversity, reproduction and population structure of Sciuridae (Rodentia, Mammalia) from the Forest Reserves of Yoko, Masako and the locality of Uma (Eastern Province, DR Congo)
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Preliminary data on the biodiversity of Rodents (Rodentia) and shrews (Soricomorpha) in the Hunting Area Rubi - Tele (Province Orientale, Democratic Republic of Congo)
