Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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Draft Report on Tour d’Horizon 2014. Document OTSOPA 15/05/04-E presented by Belgium at the Meeting of the Working Group on Operational, Technical and Scientific Questions concerning Counter Pollution Activities (OTSOPA), Portmarnock (Ireland)
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The HNS-MS Project (2015-2016). OTSOPA 15/03/03 presented by Belgium and France at the Meeting of the Working Group on Operational, Technical and Scientific Questions concerning Counter Pollution Activities (OTSOPA), Portmarnock (Ireland)
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The use of backtrack modelling as a tool to simulate a causal link. OTSOPA 15/05/05-E presented by Belgium at the Meeting of the Working Group on Operational, Technical and Scientific Questions concerning Counter Pollution Activities (OTSOPA), Portmarnock
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Oil pollution in and around the waters of Belgium.
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Report on Tour d'Horizon 2014 (Final). Document BONN 15/3/7-E presented by Belgium at the Twenty-seventh meeting of the Bonn Agreement Contracting Parties, Copenhagen (Denmark)
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Pioneer farming in southeast Europe during the early sixth millennium BC: Climate-related adaptations in the exploitation of plants and animals
- The Old World farming system arose in the semi-arid Mediterranean environments of southwest Asia. Pioneer farmers settling the interior of the Balkans by the early sixth millennium BC were among the first to introduce southwest Asian-style cultivation and herding into areas with increasingly continental temperate conditions. Previous research has shown that the bioarchaeological assemblages from early farming sites in southeast Europe vary in their proportions of plant and animal taxa, but the relationship between taxonomic variation and climate has remained poorly understood. To uncover associations between multiple species and environmental factors simultaneously, we explored a dataset including altitude, five bioclimatic and 30 bioarchaeological variables (plant and animal taxa) for 57 of the earliest farming sites in southeast Europe using Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA). An extension of correspondence analysis, CCA is widely used in applied ecology to answer similar questions of species-environment relationships, but has not been previously applied in prehistoric archaeology to explore taxonomic and climatic variables in conjunction. The analyses reveal that the changes in plant and animal exploitation which occurred with the northward dispersal of farmers, crops and livestock correlate with south-north climate gradients, and emphasize the importance of adaptations in the animal domain for the initial establishment of farming beyond the Mediterranean areas.
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Prevalence of Angiostrongylus vasorum, Aelurostrongylus abstrusus and Crenosoma vulpis larvae in native slug populations in Germany
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The first and oldest record of Issidae from the Lower Cretaceous of Lebanon (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha)
- Libanissus bkassinensis Azar, Maksoud & Nel, gen. et sp. nov. is illustrated and described from the Lower Cretaceous dysodile (oil papershales) of Bkassine, South Lebanon, and its taxonomic position discussed. Libanissus bkassinensis Azar, Maksoud & Nel, gen. et sp. nov. is characterized by its banded legs and body, a hind wing with two lobes, RA and RP very short, M with only two very short apical branches, CuA with two branches, and a small but distinct apical furcation of PCu close to the incision of the wing margin. Libanissus bkassinensis Azar, Maksoud & Nel, gen. et sp. nov. represents the earliest record (lower Barremian) of the Issidae. Prior to this discovery, the oldest known record was from the Paleocene of France.
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From field to models: Creating a geological framework for groundwater
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A wide diversity of viruses detected in African mammals involved 1 in the wild meat supply chain
- The processes involved in acquiring, trading, preparing, and consuming wild meat pose significant risks for the emergence of zoonotic infectious diseases. Several major viral outbreaks have been directly linked to the wild meat supply chain, yet our knowledge of the virome in many mammals involved in this chain remains limited and disproportionately focused on certain mammalian taxa and pathogens.This report presents the findings of a metagenomic viral screening of 99 specimens belonging to 27 wild African mammal species and one domesticated species, all traded for their meat. The study focuses on tissue and swab samples collected from various regions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Brussels, Belgium.A total of fifteen virus strains were detected, belonging to the families Arteriviridae, Retroviridae and Sedoreoviridae (primates), Picobirnaviridae (primates and rodents), Picornaviridae (rodents), Hepadnaviridae (hyrax), Orthoherpesviridae (artiodactylid and carnivore) and Spinareoviridae (carnivore). Several strains were detected in mammalian hosts for the first time, expanding their host range and genetic diversity. Of note is the presence of viruses genetically related to recognised zoonotic pathogens, i.e., human picobirnavirus (Orthopicobirnavirus hominis) (primates and rodents), simian foamy viruses (Simiispumavirus) (primates), and rotavirus A (Rotavirus alphagastroenteritidis) (primates). The presence of these viruses in primates is concerning as non-human primates are phylogenetically closely related to humans, which can facilitate interspecies viral transmission. These findings underscore the high diversity of mammalian viruses and the potential risk of human infection through cross-species transmission during the close interactions with wildlife in the wild meat supply chain.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.
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Ore Deposits: Origin, Exploration, and Exploitation
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Cathodoluminescence applied to ore geology and exploration
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The Neoproterozoic Upper Ruvubu Alkaline Plutonic Complex (Burundi) revisited: large-scale syntectonic emplacement, magmatic differentiation and late-stage circulations of fluids
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Developments in the Continuing Search for New Mineral Deposits
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Overview of the European phosphate deposits and occurrences: A project dedicated to phosphate mineralizations and associated critical raw materials
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An isotopic study of VMS deposit systems from the Troodos ophiolite, Cyprus
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From depressed to detached: extreme shell shape variation in some Peruvian Bostryx species (Gastropoda: Bulimulidae)
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Northern pygmy right whales highlight Quaternary marine mammal interchange
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Twenty years of satellite and in situ observations of surface chlorophyll-a from the northern Bay of Biscay to the eastern English Channel. Is the water quality improving?
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The Interplay of Environmental Change, Socio-political Stress and Human Resilience at Early to Middle Bronze Age Troy
- Despite the meanwhile well-developed evidence of global Holocene climate fluctuations and the correlation of such events with the transition of cultural periods it remains difficult to estimate regional environmental effects of these climate fluctuations and their impact on human populations. The complexity of ancient societies, our lack of knowledge on their perception of possible environmental problems, and its interrelation with human decision-making, challenges archaeological interpretation of a climatic impact on past societies. Stable carbon isotope data in ancient cereal grains from northern Mesopotamian sites indicate climatic fluctuation throughout the Early Bronze Age, with an abrupt increase in aridity towards the end of the Early Bronze Age, which is supported by oxygen isotopes in biogenic Lithospermae carbonate. These changes have been linked to climatic fluctuations, which are widely considered global, such as Bond Event 3 or the 4.200 cal BP event. In our study we aim to consider how far global climatic fluctuations may have affected agriculture in the Early to Middle Bronze Age Troad. We combine stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data from Troy with archaeobotanical data to consider changes in water and nutrient availability for the Early Bronze Age crops. We further consider anthracological data to reconstruct the Early Bronze Age woodland vegetation, to refine observable changes in stable isotope composition and in the crop assemblages. The results show a continuous reduction in oak and pine throughout Troy I to IV in favour for maquis components. There is indication that woodland exhaust may have started during Troy III with a consecutive use of open and alluvial habitats. The seed remains indicate a certain diversification in crop production in Troy IV with an inclusion of coastal habitats into land use, which may have been a consequence of increased aridity, a changing landscape, and erosion processes on the plateaus that must have already started at the end of Troy II. Stable carbon isotopes in barley, which indicate increased water stress in Troy IV grains add an additional support to the necessity of agricultural change starting in Troy III with the shift of fields into alluvial and in Troy IV to coastal habitats. Our data also correlate with the 4.200 BP event, and the general assumption of an increased aridity, but do rather support all-embracing reformation as an expression of human resilience than the common idea of societal collapse.
