Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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Ostracods from the Eifelian/Givetian boundary of the southern part of the Dinant Basin (Belgium, France)
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Les Ostracodes au passage Eifelien/Givetien à Glageon (Avesnois, France)
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Ostracod evidence for an abrupt mass extinction at the Frasnian/Famennian boundary (Devils Gate, Nevada)
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Les Ostracodes qui disparaissent avec l'événement Frasnien/Famennien au limitotype de Coumiac (Montagne Noire, France)
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Les Ostracodes survivants à l'événement F/F dans le limitotype de Coumiac (Montagne Noire, France)
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Geochemistry of the Frasnian-Famennian boundary in Belgium: mass extinction, anoxic oceans and microtektite layers, but not much iridium?
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Micronewsomites et Decoranewsomites, deux nouveaux genres d'ostracodes dévoniens
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Cosmic magnetic spherules in the Famennian of Bad Windsheim borehole (Germany): Preliminary study and implications
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Ostracodes et Sédimentologie au passage Eifelien/Givetien dans la marbrière du Pic de Bissous (Montagne Noire, France)
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Les Ostracodes survivants à l'extinction en masse du Dévonien Supérieur dans la coupe du col de Devils Gate au Nevada, U.S.A.
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Ostracods from the Frasnian/Famennian transition beds in the Lijiaping section (Hunan, southern China)
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Ostracodes et sédimentologie du Givétien à Ain Khira (Meseta nord-occidentale du Maroc)
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Ostracods Late Devonian mass extinction: The Schmidt quarry parastratotype (Kellerwald, Germany)
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Les Ostracodes du Frasnien terminal (Zone à linguiformis des Conodontes) de la coupe du col de Devils Gate (Nevada, USA)
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The recovery of the ostracod fauna after the Late Devonian mass extinction: the Devils Gate pass section example (Nevada, USA)
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Allometric relationships of ecologically important Antarctic and Arctic zooplankton and fish species
- Abstract Allometric relationships between body properties of animals are useful for a wide variety of purposes, such as estimation of biomass, growth, population structure, bioenergetic modelling and carbon flux studies. This study summarizes allometric relationships of zooplankton and nekton species that play major roles in polar marine food webs. Measurements were performed on 639 individuals of 15 species sampled during three expeditions in the Southern Ocean (winter and summer) and 2374 individuals of 14 species sampled during three expeditions in the Arctic Ocean (spring and summer). The information provided by this study fills current knowledge gaps on relationships between length and wet/dry mass of understudied animals, such as various gelatinous zooplankton, and of animals from understudied seasons and maturity stages, for example, for the krill Thysanoessa macrura and larval Euphausia superba caught in winter. Comparisons show that there is intra-specific variation in length–mass relationships of several species depending on season, e.g. for the amphipod Themisto libellula . To investigate the potential use of generalized regression models, comparisons between sexes, maturity stages or age classes were performed and are discussed, such as for the several krill species and T. libellula . Regression model comparisons on age classes of the fish E. antarctica were inconclusive about their general use. Other allometric measurements performed on carapaces, eyes, heads, telsons, tails and otoliths provided models that proved to be useful for estimating length or mass in, e.g. diet studies. In some cases, the suitability of these models may depend on species or developmental stages.
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Medieval fish remains on the Newport ship identified by ZooMS collagen peptide mass fingerprinting
- Fish represent a key economic, social and ecological group of species that humans have exploited for tens of thousands of years. However, as many fish stocks are going into decline and with little known about the anthropogenic impacts on the health of the marine ecosystem pre-Industrial Revolution, understanding historical and archaeological exploitation of fish species is key to accurately modelling these changes. Here, we explore the potential of collagen peptide mass fingerprinting (also known as Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometry, or ZooMS) for identifying fish remains from the Medieval (fifteenth century) Newport ship wreck (Wales, UK), and in doing so we establish a set of biomarkers we consider useful in discriminating between European fish taxa through the inclusion of over 50 reference taxa. The archaeological results identified nine distinct taxonomic groups, dominated by ling (> 40%), and a substantial amount of cod (> 20%) and hake (~ 20%). The vast majority of samples (> 70%) were identified to species level, and the inability to identify the remaining taxonomic groups with confidence using ZooMS was due to the fact that the reference collection, despite being relatively large in comparison to those presented in mammalian studies, reflects only a small proportion of fish biodiversity from this region. Although the results clearly demonstrate the potential for ZooMS as a means of fish bone identification, the sheer number of different fish species that potentially make up ichthyoarchaeological assemblages leads to obvious requirements for the analysis on much greater numbers of modern reference specimens, or the acquisition of collagen sequences.
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From spawning to first-year recruitment: the fate of juvenile sole growth and survival under future climate conditions in the North Sea
- This study shows the effect of climate change on the growth and survival of early life history stages of common sole (Solea solea) in different nursery areas of the North Sea, by combining a larval transport model with an individual-based growth model (Dynamic Energy Budget) to assess the fate from egg to young of the year at the end of the first growth season. Three scenarios of climate change, inspired by the 2040 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projections, are tested and results are compared to a reference situation representative of current climate conditions. Under climate change scenarios where wind changes, water temperature increases and earlier spawning are considered, the early arrival of fish larvae in their nurseries results in larger young of the year at the end of summer. However, early arrival leads to higher mortality due to initially slow growth in spring. Future climate scenarios result in higher biomass and reduced first-year survival. How this result translates into changes at population level and stock management needs further investigation. Nonetheless, this study illustrates that processes linking life stages are paramount to understand and predict possible consequences of future climate conditions on population dynamics.
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Species distribution, hybridization and connectivity in the genus Chionodraco: Unveiling unknown icefish diversity in antarctica
- Aim: The species of the genus Chionodraco (Notothenioidei) are the most abundant icefish on the continental shelf of the Weddell Sea. While previous studies indicated that only Chionodraco hamatus and Chionodraco myersi inhabit the Weddell Sea, the third Chionodraco species, Chionodraco rastrospinosus, was recently sampled in the area. As C. rastrospinosus is supposed to be found only at the Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Arc, this study aimed at confirming the species classification of C. rastrospinosus by molecular methods and identifying its putative source population. Given the documented evidence of introgression among the three species, we tested whether the newly found C. rastrospinosus shared any genetic variability with the other Chionodraco species. To explain the pattern of distribution of the Chionodraco species, we aimed at estimating the hydrodynamic connectivity between the Antarctic Peninsula and the Weddell Sea. Location: Antarctic Peninsula, southern Scotia Arc and the south-eastern Weddell Sea. Methods: We genotyped 19 microsatellites and sequenced the mitochondrial D-loop for 560 Chionodraco individuals. We simulated the dispersal of more than 3 million drifters (Lagrangian model). Results: The molecular analyses support the presence of C. rastrospinosus in the Weddell Sea and its homogeneity with C. rastrospinosus from the Antarctic Peninsula. Bayesian clustering identifies three putative hybrids among C. rastrospinosus and the other congenerics. Lagrangian simulations do not support connectivity driven by the oceanographic features of the Antarctic Peninsula and Weddell Sea via passive larval dispersal only. Main conclusions: This study documents, for the first time, the presence of C. rastrospinosus in the Weddell Sea unveiling more biodiversity than previously known in this region. The sympatry of the three Chionodraco species explains the occurrence of occasional, ongoing events of hybridization in the genus. Alternative possible
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Is the southern crab Halicarcinus planatus (Fabricius, 1775) the next invader of Antarctica?
- The potential for biological colonization of Antarctic shores is an increasingly important topic in the context of anthropogenic warming. Successful Antarctic invasions to date have been recorded exclusively from terrestrial habitats. While non-native marine species such as crabs, mussels and tunicates have already been reported from Antarctic coasts, none have as yet established there. Among the potential marine invaders of Antarctic shallow waters is Halicarcinus planatus (Fabricius, 1775), a crab with a circum-Subantarctic distribution and substantial larval dispersal capacity. An ovigerous female of this species was found in shallow waters of Deception Island, South Shetland Islands in 2010. A combination of physiological experiments and ecological modelling was used to assess the potential niche of H. planatus and estimate its future southward boundaries under climate change scenarios. We show that H. planatus has a minimum thermal limit of 1°C, and that its current distribution (assessed by sampling and niche modelling) is physiologically restricted to the Subantarctic region. While this species is presently unable to survive in Antarctica, future warming under both ‘strong mitigation’ and ‘no mitigation’ greenhouse gas emission scenarios will favour its niche expansion to the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) by 2100. Future human activity also has potential to increase the probability of anthropogenic translocation of this species into Antarctic ecosystems.
