Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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DGD-RBINS report 2013
- Highlights 2013: Junction Year In 2013 we developed the new five year programme 2014-2018 within the strategic vision 2014-2023. At the same time, the existing cooperation protocol between DGD and RBINS has been rewritten and put into a different format, with as signatories the ministers of cooperation and science policy. The 2013 programme helped facilitate the transition towards the new vision inscribed in the coming framework programme for 2014-2018. As in previous years, we continued our training, networking and institutional strengthening activities on biodiversity linked to sustainable development. But we also strived to bring about changes in mind-sets, in RBINS and our partners, to integrate the guiding principles of the next framework programme, being a more institutional and integrated approach and more attention towards ecosystem services and the link to poverty. This is also the last year starting in April and ending in March of the following year. The next annual programmes will follow calendar years. It is also the last year following the five axes GTI, IMAB, CHM, POL and COORD. From 2014 onwards, the 6 new strategic objectives (Science, Information, Awareness, Policy, MRV, Nagoya Protocol) will provide a new structure in response to new challenges and priorities. In May 2013, the vacant position of coordinator of the DGD project was taken up by Dr. Luc Janssens de Bisthoven, succeeding Dr. Anne Franklin. The DGD-RBINS programme is now part of the newly created operational Directorate ‘Nature’, with operational director Dr. Patrick Roose, and actively involved in several new committees such as CFC (committee of functional chiefs) and BIOPOLS (Biodiversity Policy Service). BIOPOLS is regrouping the National Focal Point CBD, marine policy, the Belgian Biodiversity Platform and Conservation Biology of RBINS. The team was involved in the formulation of the new strategic action plan of the OD, including the making of a SWOT-analysis and a synthesis of the past five years. The team also participated in several rounds of preparation at BELSPO for the formulation of the new BRAIN calls of 2014, a consultation about European research networks in Africa and the conference ‘Conservation Research Matters’ conference, organised by the Belgian Biodiversity Platform. The team was also instrumental for the cooperation between BELSPO and the International Foundation for Science (www.ifs.se ) by suggesting an adequate modus operandi, and trying to create links towards the new institutional cooperation with Bénin. Concerning the internal management, we further optimized some administrative processes such as insurances, contracts, equipment donations, and we obtained a free waiver for taxes concerning export of small material to developing countries from the Ministry of Finance. The team was trained in Project Cycle Management in order to fulfil the expectations to work in a result based management approach. In order to increase transparency, visibility, networking and interaction, we are working on an own website which will go online in 2014. Policy work was carried out in the framework of Sustainable Development Solutions Network (http://unsdsn.org/), with participation in the global brainstorming to develop new Sustainable deveopment Goals (SDGs) which will replace the MDGs in 2015, and which were the central theme at 6 | P a g e the ‘assises for cooperation’ organised by DGD in May 2013. Similarly, we were involved with DGD in the ENVIRONET project of OECD (http://www.oecd.org/dac/environment-development/ aboutusenviron et.htm ) for a scoping paper on biodiversity and development. Also the participation to the Chennai recommendations on biodiversity and development towards WIGRI5 and COP12 (2014) was an important policy activity in 2013 (mentioned in ‘Science connect’ nr. 43), next to being part of the Belgian delegation at SBSSTA17. The team contributed to the peer review of many policy documents at European and Belgian level, the three main being the EU position on the Nagoya protocol, the National Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity and the National Report on Biodiversity. As steps towards a new approach in the programme to be more involved in the East African region, we supported, on invitation of Prof. Dirk Verschuren (UGent) a workshop in Naivasha, organised by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Kenya, on soda lakes, by financing the participation of community leaders in order to facilitate scientific knowledge transfer to the local communities. The protocol of Nagoya, meanwhile ratified by Kenya, was also an important point of discussion. Further, we made the first steps to start some cooperation with VVOB in D.R. Congo on raising awareness for biodiversity at the level of professional schools in agro-forestry. This resulted into a workshop involving both the education stakeholders of VVOB and the biodiversity stakeholders of RBINS at ministerial and focal point level, financed by VVOB. Our interventions are being amplified with the consolidation of institutional partnerships with the ‘Institut National pour l’Environnement et la Conservation de la Nature’ (INECN) in Burundi and the launching of a new partnership with the ‘Université Abomey-Calavi’ (UAC) in Benin through recent formulation missions (Burundi: March 2014, this annual report; Bénin: April 2014, next report). These two partnerships will give more opportunities for the integration of an ‘ecosystem services’ angle and poverty reduction to research activities. In 2013 the institutional partnership with INECN (Burundi) continued well with the preparation of a lexicon about the dominant plants of the Kibera National Park, where over 230 plant species were recorded. In DR Congo, the partnership with the “Institut Congolais de la Conservation de la Nature” (ICCN) included the monitoring of the dynamics of habitats in the Parc National Kahuzi Biega, the natural reserve of Itombwe. Moreover, research on ecosystem services has been supported through PhD and Masters for the areas of Bombo Lumene and Luswishi. Institutional cooperation also continued with the Centre de Surveillance de la Biodiversité (CSB) at the University of Kisangani (D.R. Congo). More specifically, four scientists of the University of Kisangani were supported through stays in Belgium and support locally in order to build up capacities for their thesis research in the areas of Salmonellosis, bushmeat and fisheries, next to strengthening capacities in collection management. Taxonomy (via the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI)), information networks (Clearing House mechanism (CHM)), and ‘biodiversity inventories, monitoring and assessments’ (IMAB) remained the three main pillars of our programme. However, all three sub-programmes progressively put more emphasis on the poverty reduction and ecosystem services and institutional integration, as outlined in the new 10 year strategy 2014-2023. Most of the activities under the GTI and CHM were consolidated, by focusing primarily on existing partnerships and projects. Some activities, such as ‘Taxonomic training through research’ and ‘Taxonomic training and access to collections in Belgium’, 7 | P a g e are in a review phase with the intention of orientating them towards our new vision (multi-year, more integrated in institutional support). At the activities level, 2013 will be remembered as a particularly fruitful year for our activities under the Global Taxonomy Initiative (GTI). We supported projects and workshops in Vietnam, DR Congo, Ivory Coast and Burundi. We also invited 15 foreign young or experienced researchers to Belgium, coming from the following partner countries: Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Colombia, Cuba, Ethiopia, Philipinnes, Ivory Coast, Kenya and Vietnam. These researchers were thus able to receive a training on top-level taxonomical research. Several scientific and technical papers were produced by our partners both in Belgium and in the South. Finally, we facilitated the publication of the 14 th volume of our series of capacity building manuals, Abc Taxa, dedicated to the Bryophytes of Rwanda. Concerning IMAB, in 2013, a manual entitled “Habitats du Parc National de Kahuzi-Biega (R.D. Congo) - connaître et suivre leur évolution à l’aide d’un lexique des plantes” was published. It lists 147 plants observed and it includes the vernacular names (in the Mashi, Kitembo and Kilega languages) as well as photographs of of these plants. This lexicon is an important didactic tool for the monitoring of habitats in the park. The tool will be used by the rangers, among others, not only to help them identify which habitats they are monitoring, but also to introduce educational initiatives in the field of environmental awareness. The team developing the hydraulic marine ecosystem model “COHERENS” continued providing distance coaching to its partners, as well as in house training, more specifically with experts from Brazil and Columbia, two countries now excluded from the list of eligible partner countries. Therefore, the missions in these countries were both last training opportunities, and exit discussions about exploration for continued cooperation with other funding. The year 2013 was for Coherens a year of re-orientation towards the new institutional cooperation in Peru (formulation planned in summer 2014) and Vietnam (formulation planned in April 2015). Discussions are also planned with partners in Algeria and Tanzania. For the Clearing House Mechanism (CHM), our activities were partly influenced by decisions taken at the international level. In 2010, the 10 th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a new Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020. This strategic plan reinforces the role of the CHM as a centralising information mechanism in support of its implementation. A Pilot project initiated in 2011 to develop a tool for reporting for the NBSAP towards the AICHI targets was tested in 2012 by our CHM partners. We also demonstrated the tool in a side-event during COP11, SBSTTA-17 (2013) as well as during an EU CHM network meeting and an EU CGBN meeting. The EU CHM meeting decided that the principals of the tool are very useful and decided to continue the development of it and to include indicators. In 2013, a EU Working group worked on the further development of the Tool. In parallel, we continued in 2013 our webmaster training activities, with two training workshops in Belgium for web masters from D.R. Congo, Benin, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire and national workshops in Cameroun and Côte d’Ivoire. We added a new element to the national training workshop by promoting two follow up training sessions of 1-2 days after the national training to ensure that the participants become really involved in the CHM.
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Découverte de deux salaisons de poissons à Oxyrhynchus, el-Bahnasa, Égypte
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Sedimentologische beschrijving en interpretatie van Pleistocene afzettingen in ongeroerde boringen van de westelijke kustvlakte.
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Petite Rue de Bouchers /Theater Toone (BR 229): Palynological and anthracological research
- 1) The results of the pollen analysis indicate that the pollen deposited at the site comes from a rather open landscape. Most of the trees occur only sporadically or come from the local wetland vegetation (Salix, Alnus, Sambucus). Interesting are the finds of trees which could represent useful or cultivated plants like plum (Prunus-type) and hasel nut (Corylus). A definitely cultivated tree is the walnut (Juglans regia) found in samples from both 11th and 13th century. The herb vegetation, apart of grasses is strongly dominated by pollen of plants growing in disturbed habitats or occurring in the cultivated fields like weeds (Agrostemma githago, Centaurea cyanus, Polygonum convolvulus, Convolvulus sp., Papaver phoeas-type). Those results are also very promising for further integration and comparison with the macrobotanical data. 2) The wood and wood charcoal analyses have indicates that the charred wood was used most probably for fuel as opposed to that deposited in a subfossil state of preservation. The subfossil wood could originate from local vegetation or from activities related with foddering or the use of oak for specific purposes different than fuel. 3) The results of the analyses now are in their final stage and can now be further integrated with those from the macrobotanical and phytolith analyses in order to achieve a better understanding of the plant use at the site.
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Hoogstraeten-Lalaing (BR 061): Anthracolgical study
- The wood charcoal analyses of the site Hoogstraeten (BR061) have shown continuity of the used wood fuel through the period of occupation of the site (10-12th to 16-17th century), however the current results should be considered with certain care, as the number of the studied charcoal fragments from the lower Dark Earth layer is rather low. The finds from this layer from indicate reworked wood charcoals, which could considering the micromorphological studies on the site most probably were used as component of the manure spread over the plough layer from which the sample originates. The wood charcoal assemblages from the richest on wood remains structure (US 2230) indicate fuel wood dominated by the most common in the study area woods (beech and oak), but also are characterised by quite high diversity suggest use of all available wood resources.
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High tides and low sites: the effects of tidal restoration on the archaeological heritage in the Kalkense Meersen area (Lower Scheldt Basin, Belgium
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Archeologisch evaluatieonderzoek van een prehistorische en Romeinse vindplaats in het Sigma- gebied ‘Wijmeers 2’ (gemeente Wichelen,provincie Oost-Vlaanderen)
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Taphonomy of a Campanian vertebrate-bearing locality in southeastern France. 7th International Meeting on Taphonomy and Fossilization.
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Archaeopteryx and paravian phylogeny: the enigma of Balaur
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Feather-like structures and scales in a Jurassic neornithischian dinosaur from Siberia
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The brain of Deinocheirus mirificus, a gigantic ornithomimosaurian dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Mongolia
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Feather-like structures in ornithischian dinosaurs
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New basal Avialae from the Jurassic of China
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Hadrosaurs from the Far East: historical perspective and new Amurosaurus material from Blagoveschensk (Amur region, Russia)
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Archeologisch evaluatieonderzoek van een prehistorische vindplaats (mesolithicum tot vroege bronstijd) in het Sigma- gebied ‘Zennegat’ (Mechelen, prov. Antwerpen)
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Benthos distribution modelling and its relevance for marine ecosystem management
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Implementation of the EU CCS Directive in Europe: Results and Development in 2013
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Lead net-sinkers as an indicator of fishing activities
- Lead fishing-net sinkers in the shape of a small tube, ring, or folded piece of lead sheeting are often identified as scrap metal and/or treated only cursorily in many archaeological reports from Rome’s NW provinces.1 Very few have been illustrated, and measurements and weights are rarely noted. This has led to an under-representation of these finds in the archaeological record. By correctly identifying these lead artefacts and providing the necessary context information, archaeologists can facilitate insights into the various fishing techniques of antiquity and the places where they were practised. This will add information on the local and regional ecology and economy, as well as on dietary habits. Moreover, because the extensive use of lead in the NW provinces began only in the Roman period, finds of lead net-sinkers from well-documented contexts can be used to date indigenous settlements into the Roman period even if they otherwise yield few Roman artefacts. These facts motivated our article, which is therefore not an overview but rather a starting point for research on this artefact type in the NW provinces. We will also raise some questions for future research.
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Influence of sedimentological variation on reservoir and source rock characteristics in shale dominated cyclothems (Campine Basin, NE Belgium)
- The KB186 well (GSB 047W0264, Lommel-Kerkhoven) is situated in the northern part of the Campine Basin (NE Belgium) to the west of the Donderslag fault and has been studied and sampled in detail from a depth of 1182.72 meters to 1197.75 metres. The objective is to examine the sedimentological, petrographical, mineralogical and petrophysical characteristics and their variations within and between two cyclothems. 17 shale samples were taken throughout the entire section, varying from roof shales, over dark organic-rich shales with siderite enrichments, to bluish-grey shales without no visible organic content. Two sedimentary cycles have been recognised. Macroscopically, they show some similarities and differences in facies and sedimentological trends. Both are approximately 6.5 metres thick and contain sections of mainly shale deposits (with or without siderite enrichments). Fining-upwards sequences of fine sand and clayey silt and larger sandstone bodies occur between these shale-rich sections. A petrographical assessment by means of optical light and electron microscopy is conducted for a qualitative analysis of the mineralogical composition and diagenetic history, while a quantitative determination is made by means of x-ray diffractometry. Important mineralogical reservoir parameters are the relative amounts of silica and quartz, and the clay mineralogy with special attention to smectite and illite.
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Influence of palaeoenvironment and palaeogeography on source rock potential and theoretical gas storage capacity of roof shales (drilling KB174, Hechtel-Hoef, Campine Basin, Belgium)
