Orfeo BELSPO Instutional Open Access Repository for Federal Organisation
Not a member yet
14207 research outputs found
Sort by
Virtual collections: an essential tool in fruit fly (Diptera: Tephritidae) species identification
No full text
Protecting an artificial savanna as a nature-based solution for restoring carbon and biodiversity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Full text linkA large share of the global forest restoration potential is situated in unstable mesic African savannas, contributing about 23% to the worldwide mismatch between potential and actual terrestrial carbon stocks. However, uncertainty regarding central African forest recovery rates impedes science-informed implementation of forest restoration efforts. Here, we quantify the forest restoration success of 17 years of fire exclusion within a mesic artificial savanna patch in the Kongo Central province of the DR Congo. We found a rapid increase in the stem density of pioneer forest species (e.g., Xylopia aethiopica and Albizia adianthifolia) and a significant decrease in the stem density of savanna species (e.g., Hymenocardia acida and Maprounea africana). On average, forest species above ground carbon (AGC) recovery was 11.97 ± 0.20 Mg C ha−1. We predicted that AGC stocks take 112 ± 3 years to recover to 90% of AGC stocks in old-growth forests. We showed that unstable artificial savannas across DR Congo, Congo, and Angola have a total carbon uptake potential of 12.13 ± 2.25 Gt C by 2100. Species richness recovered to 33.17% after 17 years, and we predicted a 90% recovery at 54 ± 2 years. In contrast, the recovery of species composition was much slower, with an estimated 90% recovery after 12 ± 3 years. We conclude that the relatively simple and cost-efficient measure of fire exclusion in artificial savannas is an effective Nature-based solution to climate change and biodiversity loss. However, more long-term and in situ monitoring efforts are needed to quantify variation in longterm carbon and diversity recovery pathways
Relieken en reliekschrijnen
Full text linkNajaarslezing, 17 november 2024, Brugge, Vriendenzaal (Groeningemuseum
L'abbaye de Forest, le projet inachevé de Laurent-Benoît Dewez (1764-1767) : étude archéologique de l'aile courbe orientale et du moulin domestique de l'abbaye (RBC)
No full textPhylogenomics of Psammodynastes and Buhoma (Elapoidea: Serpentes), with the description of a new Asian snake family.
No full textAsian mock vipers of the genus Psammodynastes and African forest snakes of the genus Buhoma are two genera belonging to the snake superfamily Elapoidea. The phylogenetic placements of Psammodynastes and Buhoma within Elapoidea has been extremely unstable which has resulted in their uncertain and debated taxonomy. We used ultraconserved elements and traditional nuclear and mitochondrial markers to infer the phylogenetic relationships of these two genera with other elapoids. Psammodynastes, for which a reference genome has been sequenced, were found, with strong branch support, to be a relatively early diverging split within Elapoidea that is sister to a clade consisting of Elapidae, Micrelapidae and Lamprophiidae. Hence, we allocate Psammodynastes to its own family, Psammodynastidae new family. However, the phylogenetic position of Buhoma could not be resolved with a high degree of confidence. Attempts to identify the possible sources of conflict in the rapid radiation of elapoid snakes suggest that both hybridisation/introgression during the rapid diversification, including possible ghost introgression, as well as incomplete lineage sorting likely have had a confounding role. The usual practice of combining mitochondrial loci with nuclear genomic data appears to mislead phylogeny reconstructions in rapid radiation scenarios, especially in the absence of genome scale data
Rapport technique d'expertise réf. exp-149 du 12/01/2016 - Demandeur: Mr. Armand Stockmans, SOMEX S.A., Malachietstraat 2 - 2030 Antwerpen, 09/12/2015
No full text
Soapbox Science Brussels: an Outreach Platform for the Promotion of Women in Science in Belgium
Full text linkSoapbox Science is a public outreach platform whose purpose is to promote the visibility of women and non-binary scientists and their research by bringing them on to the streets to meet the passers-by. Soapbox Science aims at tackling stereotypes about science and scientists by showing, in an interactive way, attractive role models for women and nonbinary people, who represent a minority in sciences. This initiative was founded in London, UK, in 2011 and has been spreading worldwide since then. In 2019, the idea to endorse the organisation of Soapbox Science events in Brussels started germinating in the head of a small group of scientists from two Belgian Federal Scientific Institutes. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the first Brussels event was held online in the fall of 2020, but, since 2021, the team succeeded in organizing Soapbox Science events every June in Brussels. These proceedings present the development of the Soapbox Science initiative in Belgium and describe the motivations, challenges, issues and opportunities encountered throughout the process, and how Soapbox Science Brussels gradually takes its place in the Belgian context of the promotion of women in sciences
