VUB Department of Biology

“Bellwethers of change”

A new study, which features VUB researchers, tracked humpback whale populations in the North Pacific Ocean for the past 20 years with the largest individual identification dataset ever compiled for a whale species. After a period of recovery following the end of commercial whaling in 1976, numbers peaked in 2012 then declined by 20% by 2021, likely due to the impact of a severe marine heatwave from 2014 to 2016, which reduced food availability for humpback whales. This study highlights the humpback whale as an indicator species for the health of the North Pacific ecosystem in a changing climate.

NPR: https://www.npr.org/2024/02/28/1234633319/climate-change-is-hindering-humpback-whales-return-from-the-brink-of-extinction
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/28/did-a-marine-heatwave-cause-7000-humpback-whales-to-starve-to-death-aoe
Original study: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.231462

Did a marine heatwave cause 7,000 humpback whales to starve to death? Populations were recovering, but a new study reveals that numbers dropped by 20% coinciding with a period of record temperatures in the North Pacific

In a new online video for the "Universiteit van Vlaanderen", Prof. Harry olde Venterink explains why many plant species face extinction. (Dutch language);

Hoe komt het dat de helft van de plantensoorten hier met uitsterven bedreigd is? :: Universiteit van Vlaanderen Hebben planten mest nodig? En bestaat er zoiets als te veel mest? Is de overvloed aan stikstof bij ons eigenlijk geen voordeel voor planten?

📅Save the date and join us!

Our VUB Department of Biology upcoming with Prof. Dr. Steven Van Belleghem from KU Leuven, offers a unique opportunity to gain insights into the genetic mechanisms behind environmental adaptation 👉👉👉

-'Pangenomes, Adaptations, Gene Regulation & Plasticity'

-16:00-17:00, 28 Nov, F5.66

Dr. Van Belleghem won the prestigious FWO Odysseus Grant early this year. His lab 'Eco-Evolutionary Genomics' (https://bio.kuleuven.be/eeb/sv/) is aiming to understand the molecular and genetic mechanisms behind examples of ‘high evolvability’ and to what extent they are present in other species will help us better forecast the effects of environmental change.

https://kvab.be/nl/nieuws/citizen-science-de-klas-heeft-veel-voordelen-iris-stiers-wecomprijzen2023

Prof Iris Stiers received an award for her work as science communicator!

"Citizen science in de klas heeft veel voordelen" Iris Stiers #wecomprijzen2023 | Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten Iris Stiers (VUB, ULB) doet onderzoek naar duurzaam beheer van invasieve soorten. Ze wordt bekroond met een Jaarprijs Wetenschapscommunicatie 2023.

Our next DBIO seminar will take place at 16:00-17:00 on Tuesday this week in our seminar room F5.66. Prof. Bram Vanschoenwinkel will discuss the work of his team on the impact of climate change on freshwater pond communities. Here is a Teams link for those who wish to join virtually:

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MWNkNzllOTAtYzMyYi00MmU5LWIxZWUtYjU0MGJkMDMxOWY0%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22695b7ca8-2da8-4545-a2da-42d03784e585%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%225f4fa2ac-b18f-4497-8a8e-e31dbbec8507%22%7d

VUB alumnus Alvise Dabala's thesis research has been published in Nature Communications. Alvise was a Tropimundo student who worked with Farid Dahdouh-Guebas and Anthony Richardson. Congratulations!

Priority areas to protect mangroves and maximise ecosystem services - Nature Communications Mangroves provide ecosystem services but are threatened by anthropogenic activities. This study identifies priority areas that maximise the protection of mangrove biodiversity and ecosystem services. The authors show that biodiversity can be protected whilst maximising ecosystem benefits, with littl...

Our next DBIO seminar will take place at 16:00-17:00 on Tuesday this week in our seminar room F5.66.
Postdoc Dr. Sagar Shinde, recently joined the Ma lab and will present his work entitled:
Evolution at different timescales: Gene, Genome, and Pan-genome

Here is a Teams link for those who wish to join virtually:
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_YjVjMWM5M2YtOTI2Yy00ZWNiLWFlNGQtZWNkZmE1OWRhZWFk%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22695b7ca8-2da8-4545-a2da-42d03784e585%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%225f4fa2ac-b18f-4497-8a8e-e31dbbec8507%22%7d

Seminar can be attended online:
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MzA0NzdkNGItMWY1Yi00MzRjLWFhOTItYTdmNTVmMDVhMDMz%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%22695b7ca8-2da8-4545-a2da-42d03784e585%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%225f4fa2ac-b18f-4497-8a8e-e31dbbec8507%22%7d

An international research team, led by PhD researcher Joëlle DW, sheds light on the migratory destinations of the Central American humpback whale population.

Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-41923-7

VUB ornithologists Evelien Deboelpaep and Steven Pint developed a simulation model to investigate how waders with different bill lengths compete when they forage on mudflats. It was assumed that long billed birds have the advantage because they can reach food the other birds can't. Yet, the authors show it is not that simple. It also matters how scarce prey is and how it is distributed. In the future they hope to derive wetland suitability for different water birds by quantifying the horizontal and vertical distribution of prey.

You can read the publication here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ibi.13274

Congratulations to PhD researcher Joëlle DW for earning a 2023 grant from the Leopold III Fund! The grant supports Joëlle’s fieldwork on the ecology of the endangered Central American humpback whale population.

“Joëlle is currently in the field using bioacoustics to study song transmission between the northern and southern hemisphere humpback whale populations. Identifying potantial song transmission will help us better understand song propagation between humpback populations at large spatial scales”, says VUB professor Tom Van der Stocken who supports the project.

Image credit: Joëlle De Weerdt & Vera Volinski.

James G. Hagan will give a seminar about 'Causal inference for the biological sciences' on Monday (4th of September). The seminar will start at 14:00 in the big seminar room on the 5th floor of building F.

What is causal inference? Most simply, causal inference is a sub-discipline of statistics and computer science that aims to infer causes from data. James will go through some basic principles of causal inference, illustrate why many standard analyses conducted in the biological sciences (e.g. multiple regression, model selection) frequently violate causal inference principles, show you why experiments are not safe from thinking causally and, finally, provide some recommendations about how to improve causal inference in the biological sciences.

PS: This is not a statistics lecture per se. Causal inference goes beyond statistics and most of the work is done before touching a statistical model.

Zoom link: https://gu-se.zoom.us/j/62833161174?pwd=L3AzSkpBK2o4SDBsS1V0TmYxOFRaZz09 (meeting ID: 628 3316 1174, passcode: 658174)

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Last year VUB approved a new management plan of campus greenspace. Changes in grassland management already paid of as the Bee orchid population increased with about 30% with some plants popping up even along the steps of the outdoor theater.

Every year our MSc students in Ecology and Biodiversity participate in an integrated field course in the Mediterranean. This year, we visitied NE Greece and climbed Mnt Olympus.

The Marine Biology Laboratory of Prof. Marc Kochzius is on an expedition to Sri Lanka. The aim is to collect tissue samples from coral reef and mangrove fauna for different research projects on population genetics and phylogenetics. Kushlani Dissanayake, VUB PhD student and lecturer at the University of Ruhuna (Sri Lanka), is focussing on connectivity of coral reef fauna. The VUB/ULB student Stephen Bergacker collects ray and shark samples at fish markets, with a focus on the Spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari). The Oceans & Lakes student Lode op ‘t Roodt collects samples for his master thesis. Dr. Filip Huyghe is interested in anemonefish and giant clams.

The VUB team is accompanied by two filmmakers and a cameraman, shooting footage for a documentary about the research of the Marine Biology Laboratory .

They’re silent. They’re mysterious. And now… we know their secret.

Rarely seen and even less understood, caecilians have long been considered the enigmatic underdogs within the world of amphibians. Recently, an international team of researchers involving members of the Amphibian Evolution Lab has unearthed just how these animals have successfully evaded another, more potent threat: that of venomous snakes. By engaging in a globe-spanning chemical arms race, caecilians have learned to outmaneuver their predators by developing resistance to the snakes’ deadly neurotoxins, using a variety of simple but sophisticated molecular mechanisms. Think Cold War espionage, just slower and closer to the ground.

The research was mostly conducted by Biology master student Marco Mancuso in preparation of his Master thesis, supervised by Shabnam Zaman and Kim Roelants. Marco successfully defended his thesis in September last year and the results were published last week in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.


Find out more caecilian evasive tactics and the art of limbless war here:
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241411353

Researchers from various Dutch and Belgian universities and research institutes, including Prof Harry olde Venterink from the VUB, show that negative effects of nitrogen enrichment on natural ecosystems is not restricted to plants. The study shows that the fauna, which consume the enriched plants, is also affected.
Nitrogen enrichment not only leads to a shrinking diversity of plant species, but also to a changed nutritional value and elemental stoichiometry of the plants. As a result, generalized herbivores are favored at the cost of specialized ones, causing an impoverishment of species diversity of the herbivore community as well. Here is the link to the paper published in Biological Reviews: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/brv.12972
(picture by Edo Goverse)

https://www.pintofscience.be/Event/A-deep-dive-into-the-future

Get ready for a big jump into the waves as Marc Kochzius and Filip Huyghe will take you on a journey from the impact of global fisheries on marine life to the conservation of coral reefs. Discover how our seafood choices affect the health of the ocean and learn about sustainable fishing practices. And, hold onto your fins, as we take a closer look at the life of Nemo's little siblings and how they can help protect coral reefs. Don't miss this chance to get up close and personal with the wonders of the sea!

A deep dive into the future Pint of Science event

In a recent study, published in Journal of Applied Ecology, a research team - led by VUB professor Thomas Merckx - showed that light pollution may have detrimental effects on insect populations. This may explain part of the global decline of insects.

Check out the (Open Access) publication here: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.14373

PS: The pictures show Chiasmia clathrata (the Latticed heath), which was used as study species in the experiment.

Nitrogen deposition is major threat to biodiversity, also in Brussels as Prof. Olde Venterink explained on television.

VUB onderzoekt impact van stikstof: 'Negatieve invloed op natuur, ook in Brussel' "Stikstof is belangrijke voedingsstof voor planten" aldus Harry Olde Venterink, professor plantenecologie aan de VUB.

Ever considered getting a master in Tropical Ecology? The call for TROPIMUNDO 2023-2024 applications is now open and we count on prospective applicants to submit their applications (no nationality criteria apply). All application requirements and deadlines can be found on our website www.tropimundo.eu.
Full Erasmus Mundus scholarships are available.

A team of scientists from VUB and partners in South Africa and the USA has been able to show for the first time that ocean currents and coastal geomorphology may continue to hold back the spread of mangrove forests along the South African coast, even as global warming creates a more ideal climate for them. Their study was published in the renowned Journal of Ecology.
https://press.vub.ac.be/researchers-discover-unknown-mangrove-forest
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2745.14020

Dispersal and coastal geomorphology limit potential for mangrove range expansion under climate change This study shows that dispersal substantially limits mangrove distribution at the southern African range limit and highlights the importance of including this process in species distribution models. ...

A mini symposium on VUB & ULB research on climate change will be organized on 8/11 !

We welcome David Ellsworth, who will give us a seminar on: Climate risks for key ecosystem services for human livelihood: water and biodiversity.

Furthermore, one of our very own will also be giving a talk at this event: Tom Van Der Stocken!

To those that are interested, details regarding the program and location are outlined here: https://sciences.ulb.be/research-on-climate-change-at-ulb-and-vub-%E2%80%93-a-symposium-in-honour-of-prof-david-ellsworth

Participation is free but registration is required: https://forms.office.com/r/HvFV761m8p

Research on climate change at ULB and VUB – a symposium in honour of Prof. David Ellsworth - Faculté des Sciences Prof. David S. Ellsworth (Western Sydney University) is a highly cited scientist in the field of ecology and the environment with a specific focus on climate change effects on plants and ecosystems.

Last week, colleagues of the department of Biology and of the master Oceans & Lakes participated in the CORRIENTE XXI activities at the EBUS conference this week in Lima, Peru. These activities included a career event for young scientists, promotional booths for the involved programmes, and a more general workshop. The E. U. funded CORRIENTE XXI project thus concludes 3 years of succesful collaboration on capacity building.

Corriente21 Facultad de Ingeniería Marítima y Ciencias del Mar - ESPOL Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia

Our very own Iris Stiers is shortlisted in the final four of the Women Award in Technology and Science!
However, to win this award, she needs to win the popular vote. For this, we need your help. It's really easy, all you need to do is like a video, posted by Innoviris. You can find it here:
https://fb.watch/fFe1mZf99U/
https://fb.watch/fFF9VHuteH/ (french version, but the likes also count!)
We have until the 16th of October to vote! (but why wait?)

A study from the global research consortium NutNet (with a substantial contribution of Judith Sittters and Harry olde Venterink from the VUB Biology Department) showed that the effect of large herbivores on plant species diversity differs among sites with a long or short coevolutionary history of grazing. Only in sites with long history of grazing plant diversity is stimulated by herbivores, in sites with a short history of grazing herbivores promote invasive plant species. The paper about this NutNet study in 57 grassland sites across six continents appeared yesterday in Nature Ecology and Evolution.

Evolutionary history of grazing and resources determine herbivore exclusion effects on plant diversity - Nature Ecology & Evolution A NutNet experiment in 57 grasslands across six continents shows that when herbivores are excluded from grasslands with a long coevolutionary history of grazing plant diversity is reduced, while in grasslands without a long grazing history the evolutionary history of the plant species regulates the....