Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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MSFD: an opportunity for harmonised data management
- MSFD: INSPIRE used as the reporting standard for metadata and data The Marine Strategic Framework Directive strives for Good Environmental Status of marine waters by 2020 and requires the Member States to report a wide array of criteria for eleven themes or descriptors. For Belgium, the criteria cover biodiversity, habitats, population health, eutrophication, seafloor morphology, hydrology, contaminants in the environment and in seafood, macrolitter and the introduction of energy (noise). It is the first time that the (meta)data has to be reported according to the INSPIRE requirements. For Belgium, MUMM (Management Unit of the Mathematical Model of the North Sea, OD Nature, RBINS), is coordinating the monitoring activities and collaborates with experts from different scientific institutes to prepare the second assessment of the status of the Belgian marine waters. The monitoring data is managed and disseminated to the EC and the public by the Belgian Marine Data Centre (BMDC). The primary data has been collected by monitoring activities or collated from other sources by several marine specialists. Harmonised monitoring reporting impossible without transversal approach The very diverse array of data types (in situ or track, polygon or gridded; many data themes), the INSPIRE requirements and the necessity to maximize the reuse of the collected data have led to the need of a streamlined data flow, that creates new and incorporates existing processes. BMDC’s Data and Inventory Tracking System (DITS) (Lagring et al., 2014) codebase was modified to allow the derivation of facets, that can be used to fulfill specific reporting needs and abstract away some of the functionality and metadata fields that are common to a specific reporting theme. Such facets are pluggable in the new website of BMDC. The MSFD facet allows the primary submission of data files and serves three purposes: providing an anchor for the data file(s) during the MSFD reporting by MUMM, providing an entry point for in-situ or track data to be ingested and data managed in the central oceanographic database (IDOD) of BMDC, and fulfilling the obligation Belgium has with regards to INSPIRE. The in-situ data falls within the INSPIRE theme ‘Oceanographic Geographical Features’, which makes use of the Observations and Measurements scheme to describe the data. In IDOD mappings are made with the NERC vocabularies, eg. P02 or P01, that describe the observedProperty in O&M. Surface-based data is represented as shapefiles in a GeoServer system; the shapefiles’ attributes are enriched in order to make the INSPIRE transformations as easy as possible. The metadata of a DITS dataset is exposed in ISO 19115:2003 through an API which allows the harvesting by systems like GeoNetwork and the propagation to the Belgian National Spatial Data Infrastructure. Specific data transformations have been written to extract data into the INSPIRE- compliant GML format according to the recommendations by the INSPIRE maintenance and implementation group (MIG) and the TG DATA of MSFD; the transformed data is hosted at the Belgian National Geographic Institute.
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EMODnet Data Ingestion: ‘Wake up your data’
- The ‘EMODnet Ingestion and safe-keeping of marine data’ project, started mid-2016, seeks to identify and reach out to organisations from research, public, and private sectors who are holding marine datasets and who are not yet connected and contributing to the existing marine data management infrastructures which are driving EMODnet. Those potential data providers should be motivated and supported to release their datasets for safekeeping and subsequent freely distribution and publication through EMODnet. The EMODnet Data Ingestion portal facilitates submission of their sleeping marine datasets for further processing, Open Data publishing and contributing to applications for society. The activities are undertaken by a large European network that is geographically anchored in the countries bordering all European marine basins, and covers all EMODnet data themes. The EMODnet Data Ingestion members are national and regional marine and oceanographic data repositories and data management experts. The coordinators of the EMODnet thematic portals are also part of this new initiative. Moreover the data centres work together on pan-European and international scales in organisations such as IODE, ICES, EuroGeoSurveys, EuroGOOS, and IHO, and for pan-European marine data management infrastructures such as SeaDataCloud, EurOBIS and EGDI. The latter are feeding into several EMODnet thematic portals. The emphasis of activities in the first year has been put towards developing the EMODnet Data Ingestion portal and its services for ingesting and publishing data sets, developing the pathways for processing and elaborating of data submissions, laying a basis for promotion and marketing activities, and making an initial inventory of potential data sources and their providers. The EMODnet Data Ingestion portal been launched early February 2017. It encourages data providers to share marine data, gives marine data management guidance information, and provides a range of services such as: ■ submission service for easy ingestion of marine data packages ■ view submissions service to oversee submitted data sets ‘as is’ ■ data wanted service to post requests for specific data types Submission forms with data packages are assigned to qualified data centres depending on the country of the data provider and the type of EMODnet theme. This group includes not only the EMODnet Ingestion consortium but also the groups of data centres who are involved in each of the EMODnet Thematic portals. A distinction is made between 2 phases in the life cycle of a data submission: ■ Phase I: from submission to publishing of the submitted datasets package ‘as is’ ■ Phase II: further elaboration of the data sets and integration (of subsets) in national, European and EMODnet thematic portals. This split allows to publish already in an early stage the original data package with high quality metadata. For operational oceanography a close cooperation takes place with EMODnet Physics. This aims at identifying and arranging inclusion of additional stations for Near Real Time (NRT) data exchange. The Data Ingestion portal explains how the NRT exchange is organised with EuroGOOS – Copernicus and guidance how to connect in practice. Furthermore a Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) pilot is set-up for Real Time data exchange. A client service to locate stations and to retrieve data streams in a time series viewer is hosted at the EMODnet Physics portal and ‘advertised’ at the EMODnet Data Ingestion portal. Promotion and outreach activities are equally important as technical developments. In the first year it has focused on establishing cooperation and synergy within the EMODnet community. A portfolio of promotional items has been developed, such as leaflets, posters, presentations, stickers, and a wonderful animation. These are part of the promotion and marketing strategy that was designed to reach out to potential data providers. In the second year this plan has been put into motion on full scale for a wider outreach and marketing to potential data providers in government, science and industry. This has so far resulted in many submissions and also in development of special use cases, such as for monitoring data from offshore renewable energy projects or minting DOIs for research data to support data citing for data submitters.
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From SeaDataNet to SeaDataCloud: historical data collections and new data products
- Temperature and Salinity historical data collections covering the time period 1900-2013/2014 were created for each European marginal sea (Arctic Sea, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, North Sea, North Atlantic Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea) within the framework of SeaDataNet2 Project and they are available as ODV collections through a web catalog (https://www.seadatanet.org/Products/Aggregated-datasets). Two versions have been published and they represent a snapshot of the SeaDataNet database content at two different times: V1.1 (January 2014) and V2 (March 2015). A Quality Control Strategy (QCS) was developped and continuously refined in order to improve the quality of the database content and create the best data products. The QCS consists of four main phases: 1) data harvesting from the data infrastructure; 2) file and parameter aggregation; 3) secondary quality check analysis; 4)correction of data anomalies. The approach is iterative to facilitate the upgrade of the database content and it allows a versioning of data products. Regional temperature and salinity monthly climatologies have been produced from V1.1 historical data collections and they are also available (https://www.seadatanet.org/Products/Climatologies). Within the new SeaDataCloud Project the release of updated historical data collections and new climatologies is planned. SeaDataCloud novelties are the introduction of decadal climatologies at various resolutions, the development of climatologies for the Global Ocean and a task dedicated to new data products, like Mixed Layer Depth climatologies, Ocean Heat Content estimates, coastal climatologies from HF radar data. All SeaDataCloud products are available through a dedicated web catalogue together with their relative Digital Object Identifier (DOI) and Product Information Document (PIDoc) containing all specifications about product’s generation, quality assessment and technical details to facilitate users’ uptake. The presentation will briefly overview the existing SeaDataNet products and introduce the SeaDataCloud products’ plan, but the main focus will be on the first release (February 2018) of SeaDataCloud Temperature and Salinity historical data collections, spanning the time period 1900-2017, their characteristics in terms of space-time data distribution and their usability.
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Online catalogue of Species in Belgium - 1st RBINS roundtable discussion
- Report of RBINS round table meeting held on 30/01/2018 Belgian Species List (BSL) – Website SPECIES.BE Belgian Bioarchaeological Inventory (BBI) – SPECIES.BE/archeo Participants: Wouter Dekoninck (OD Taxo & Phylogeny), Marc Peeters (OD Nature – BIOPOLS), Wim Van Neer (OD Earth and History of Life) For OD Nature – BEDIC: Marianne Schlesser, Yvan Stojanov, Francis Strobbe, Thomas Vandenberghe. The report contains a summary of discussions + a priority list on possible actions for BSL project.
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Improving 3D photogrammetry models through spectral imaging: Tooth enamel as a case study
- Reflective or translucent materials are a challenge to digitize in 3D. Results are better with a matt coating although objects from museum collections are often too fragile or too valuable to be treated in this way. It is therefore essential that alternative solutions are found. This study analyzed spectral photogrammetry as a possible solution. Spectral photogrammetry is an emerging technique which uses images at different wavelengths to create 3D models. Tooth enamel is a challenging material to digitize. Six sets of teeth were photographed at different wavelengths. The results showed that the quality of the models enamels parts improved when taken with ultraviolet wavelengths whilst models were less accurate when photogrammetry was performed with the red and infrared spectrum. This can be explained by the optical properties of enamel. This study demonstrates that knowing the optical properties of a material beforehand could help future photogrammetric digitization of challenging materials.
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NICHE PARTITIONING OF THE EUROPEAN CARNIVOROUS MAMMALS DURING THE PALEOGENE
- We here describe the first partial cranium of Hyaenodon leptorhynchus, the type species of the taxonomically diverse and widely distributed hypercarnivorous genus Hyaenodon (Hyaenodonta). The cranium is from the S´eon Saint-Andr´e deposits (Marseille, France; Chattian, MP26). It is preserved in a dense red marl matrix that obscures key morphological features. CT-scans were used to reconstruct the specimen. The morphology of the cranium reinforces the homogeneity previously observed in Hyaenodon despite its specific diversity. The fossil represents a juvenile: it preserves its deciduous canines and the P3 is almost fully erupted. This pattern of delayed canine eruption is a trait shared among North American and European Hyaenodon. This discovery is the third occurrence of this species in the early Chattian: indeed, over a period of 5 My (from MP24 to MP27), only two occurrences (Rigal-Jouet and Saint-Martin de Casselvi, MP25) have been reported. Based on body mass and the general Hyaenodon body plan, we confidently identify H. leptorhynchus as a cursorial hypercarnivorous predator, hunting prey such as small artiodactyls. In order to understand the evolution of the European carnivorous faunas, we compared taxonomic diversity and the evolution of body mass in Hyaenodon and amphicyonids: this reveals stasis in Hyaenodon through the late Eocene and Oligocene, while amphicyonids show an extensive ecological diversification, especially during the Chattian.
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Les Ostracodes des schistes à aspect "Matagne" de la partie supérieure du Frasnien de l'affleurement protégé de Boussu-en-Fagne.
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La Zone à Svantovites lethiersi n. sp., zone nouvelle d'Ostracodes de la fin du Frasnien et du début du Famennien
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Les Entomozoacea (Ostracodes) du Frasnien de l'extrémité occidentale du bord sud du Bassin de Dinant, Belgique
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Les Ostracodes du Frasnien et de la base du Famennien de la coupe du Km 30 (Saoura, Sahara algérien)
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Olentangiella n. gen., nouveau genre d'Entomozoidae (Ostracode)
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Geological evidence for extreme wave events on a coastal lowland facing the Tokai segment of the Nankai-Suruga Trough
- Located close to Japan’s densest concentrations of people and industry, the easternmost region of the Nankai-Suruga subduction zone has long been the focus of attempts to forecast and even precisely predict future earthquakes. While historical records attest to the occurrence of great earthquakes and subsequent tsunamis that may have originated from the Tōkai segment, past rupture zone extents and recurrence intervals remain poorly understood. Coastal stratigraphy has the potential to record the occurrence of both tsunami inundation and coseismic vertical land-level change over timescales far exceeding the historical record, with important implications for refining understanding of future hazards (Garrett et al., 2016). Here we present initial results from an extensive coring survey of the lower reaches of the floodplain of the Sagara River, close to the town of Sagara, Shizuoka Prefecture. The site lies at an altitude of ~1 – 5 m and is within the anticipated inundation zone of future worst-case tsunami scenarios. Typhoon-driven storm surges and river floods are also likely to have inundated the site, complicating the interpretation of potential tsunami deposits. Using CT scans, multi-sensor core logs, diatom assemblages and radiocarbon dates, we evaluate sedimentary processes and make the distinction between extreme wave events and fluvial deposits. Where possible, we assess methods to differentiate between storm surges and tsunami deposits. Finally, we evaluate the potential for the site to provide a long and continuous record of extreme wave events and highlight the probable influence of changing thresholds of evidence creation and preservation over time.
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Early Researchers Involved with Branchiobdellidans (Annelida: Clitellata) on Japanese Crayfish, and a Reassessment of the Taxonomic Status of Branchiobdella digitata Pierantoni, 1906
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Collision risk for six seabird species in the first Belgian offshore wind farm zone
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Collision risk for six seabirds species in the first Belgian offshore wind farm zone
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Le mammouth laineux
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Characterization of a West African coastal lagoon system: Case of Lake Nokoué with its inlet (Cotonou, South Benin)
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Multi-scale ocean colour synergy producs for coastal water quality monitoring
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CREST Final Administrative Report
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Contribution to the knowledge of the fauna of the family Pyramidellidae Gray, 1840 (Mollusca, Gastropoda) on the islands of Saint Helena and Ascension
- The Pyramidellidae of the islands of Saint Helena and Ascension are studied. New information is provided on the Pyramidellids described in the work of SMITH (1890a). Five species new to science are described: Cingulina boirai n. sp, Miralda verhaeghei n. sp., Parthenina stanyi n. sp., Odostomia lucsegersi n. sp. and Odostomia templadoi n. sp. Syntypes of Obeliscus (Syrnola) sanctaehelenae, Obeliscus (Syrnola) pumilio, Turbonilla truncatelloides, Turbonilla haroldi, Turbonilla brachia, Turbonilla assimilans, Leucotina minuta and Odostomia glaphyra are figured. A lectotype is designated for Turbonilla (Dunkeria) eritima, considered a synonym of T. assimilans. New generic allocations are proposed for seven species.
