Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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An updated subjective global checklist of the extant non-marine Ostracoda (Crustacea)
- We present an updated global checklist of extant non-marine Ostracoda, covering taxonomic changes in the published literature up to 31st December 2023. The checklist is subjective, as apart from published taxonomic changes, also some additional alterations are proposed, including ten candonid tribes which are upgraded to subfamilies, six new combinations, one new name, five synonymies and one new taxonomic placement. The checklist presently includes 2420 accepted species in 295 genera,as well as 84 uncertain species that are too poorly described to be recognisable. We also provide the totals of species numbers for each taxonomic rank, from genera up to order, and numbers of species and endemic species in each of the world’s major zoogeographical regions.
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Benthic Food Webs in Antarctica ~ Would you care for some more (micro)algae ?
- The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is experiencing rapid warming, which will impact ecosystem processes, particularly sympagic algae dynamics. As these ice-associated microalgae are a vital food source for primary consumers, this disruption is likely to cascade through the communities via trophic interactions. To study these effects, we sampled benthic communities along the WAP in February 2023, focusing on macroalgae forests (n=2) and soft bottoms (n=3) at Dodman Island and Blaiklock Island. Basal resources and benthic invertebrates (n=410, 49 morphospecies) were collected for carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis to explore differences in food webs structure between macroalgae forests and soft bottoms, addressing three questions: 1) Are sympagic algae more crucial as basal resources in one of the two habitats? 2) Is there a difference in trophic diversity between macroalgae forests and soft bottoms? 3) How does the vertical food web structure differ between the two habitats? In soft bottoms communities, consumers’ stable isotopes ratios showed a switch toward higher δ¹³C values, typical of sympagic algae in Antarctica. This may suggest a higher vulnerability of WAP soft bottoms communities to alterations of sympagic algae dynamics. Trophic diversity was generally higher in communities with a wider range of basal resources. However, significant local-scale variations in trophic diversity surpassed habitat-related differences, limiting conclusions about habitat influence on trophic diversity. Finally, soft bottoms consumers tended to occupy a higher trophic position than those in macroalgae forests, resulting in a higher mean trophic position at the community scale. This could reflect a diet shift by generalist invertebrates—common in Antarctica—towards increased consumption of more degraded organic matter or necrophagy in habitats with fewer basal resources. Overall, these results underscore the complexity of trophic dynamics in Antarctica, where both local variability and large-scale environmental changes influence food web structure and community resilience to climate change.
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The late Holocene tsunami in the Shetland Islands (UK) identified in Loch Flugarth, north Mainland
- Tsunami deposits around the North Sea basin are needed to assess the long-term hazard of tsunamis. Here, we present sedimentary evidence of the youngest tsunami on the Shetland Islands from Loch Flugarth, a coastal lake on northern Mainland. Three gravity cores show organic-rich background sedimentation with many sub-centimetre-scale sand layers, reflecting recurring storm overwash and a sediment source limited to the active beach and uppermost subtidal zone. A basal 13-cm-thick sand layer, dated to 426–787 cal. a CE based on 14C, 137Cs and Bayesian age–depth modelling, was found in all cores. High-resolution grain-size analysis identified four normally graded or massive sublayers with inversely graded traction carpets at the base of two sublayers. A thin organic-rich ‘mud’ drape and a ‘mud’ cap cover the two uppermost sublayers, which also contain small rip-up clasts. Grain-size distributions show a difference between the basal sand layer and the coarser and better sorted storm layers above. Multivariate statistical analysis of X-ray fluorescence core scanning data also distinguishes both sand units: Zr, Fe and Ti dominate the thick basal sand, while the thin storm layers are high in K and Si. Enriched Zr and Ti in the basal sand layer, in combination with increased magnetic susceptibility, may be related to higher heavy mineral content reflecting an additional marine sediment source below the storm-wave base that is activated by a tsunami. Based on reinterpretation of chronological data from two different published sites and the chronostratigraphy of the present study, the tsunami seems to date to c. 1400 cal. a BP. Although the source of the tsunami remains unclear, the lack of evidence for this event outside of the Shetland Islands suggests that it had a local source and was smaller than the older Storegga tsunami (8.15 cal. ka BP), which affected most of the North Sea basin.
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A 1500-year record of North Atlantic storm flooding from lacustrine sediments, Shetland Islands (UK)
- Severe storm flooding poses a major hazard to the coasts of north-western Europe. However, the long-term recurrence patterns of extreme coastal flooding and their governing factors are poorly understood. Therefore, high-resolution sedimentary records of past North Atlantic storm flooding are required. This multi-proxy study reconstructs storm-induced overwash processes from coastal lake sediments on the Shetland Islands using grain-size and geochemical data, and the re-analysis of historical data. The chronostratigraphy is based on Bayesian age–depth modelling using accelerator mass spectrometry 14C and 137Cs data. A high XRF-based Si/Ti ratio and the unimodal grain-size distribution link the sand layers to the beach and thus storm-induced overwash events. Periods with more frequent storm flooding occurred 980–1050, 1150–1300, 1450–1550, 1820–1900 and 1950–2000 ce, which is largely consistent with a positive North Atlantic Oscillation mode. The Little Ice Age (1400–1850 ce) shows a gap of major sand layers suggesting a southward shift of storm tracks and a seasonal variance with more storm floods in spring and autumn. Warmer phases shifted winter storm tracks towards the north-east Atlantic, indicating a possible trend for future storm-track changes and increased storm flooding in the northern North Sea region.
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Environmental Impacts of Offshore Wind Farms in the Belgian Part of the North Sea: Progressive Insights in Changing Species Distribution Patterns Informing Marine Management. Memoirs on the M
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Coastal wetland adaptability to sea level rise: The neglected role of semi-diurnal vs. diurnal tides
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A dynamic 2DH flocculation model for coastal domains
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Sample basedwater quality monitoring of coastal seas: How significant is the information loss in patchy time series compared to continuous ones?
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Longitudinal survey identifies temporal shift in genetic structure among Dutch house sparrow populations.
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Potential of High Spatial and Temporal Ocean Color Satellite Data to Study the Dynamics of Suspended Particles in a Micro-Tidal River Plume
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Improved correction methods for field measurements of particulate light backscattering in turbid waters
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rocessing and exploitation of Sentinel-2 data for coastal water applications: The HIGHROC Project
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Towards an autonomous turbidimeter network for multi-mission ocean colour satellite data validation activities
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Ocean colour remote sensing of extreme Case-2 waters
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Particulate backscattering retrieval from remotely-sensed turbidity in various coastal and riverine turbid waters
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A single algorithm to retrieve turbidity from remotely-sensed data in all coastal and estuarine waters
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A SWIR based algorithm to retrieve total suspended matter in extremely turbid waters
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Sensitivity Analysis of Semi-Analytical Models of Diffuse Attentuation of Downwelling Irradiance in Lake Balaton
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CoastColour Round Robin data sets: a database to evaluate the performance of algorithms for the retrieval of water quality parameters in coastal waters
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Processing and exploitation of multisensor optical data for coastal water applications - the HIGHROC project
