Erik Verheyen

Erik Verheyen
Institute of Natural Sciences · Direction Taxonomy and Phylogeny

Dr Sci

About

379
Publications
178,325
Reads
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8,025
Citations
Introduction
A retired researcher with a focus on the evolution of Afrotropical vertebrates and the role of small African mammals in the transmission of zoonotic diseases. Also occasionally involved with actions to raise awareness about the threats of habitat degradation, the commercial bushmeat trade, and the risks associated with hydrocarbon extraction in African lakes.
Additional affiliations
January 2003 - present
Institute of Natural Sciences
Position
  • Researcher
April 2002 - May 2002
University of Konstanz
Position
  • Professor
April 2000 - May 2000
University of Rennes 2
Position
  • Professor
Education
January 1990
University of Antwerp
Field of study
  • Biology
July 1982
Ghent University
Field of study
  • Biology

Publications

Publications (379)
Preprint
Full-text available
The processes involved in acquiring, trading, preparing, and consuming wild meat pose significant risks for the emergence of zoonotic infectious diseases. Several major viral outbreaks have been directly linked to the wild meat supply chain, yet our knowledge of the virome in many mammals involved in this chain remains limited and disproportionatel...
Preprint
Full-text available
The wildlife reservoir and spillover mechanisms of the Ebola virus remain elusive despite extensive research efforts in endemic areas. This study employed a One Health approach to examine the virus circulation in wildlife and the associated human exposure risks in the Tshuapa province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2021, we collected a...
Article
Full-text available
Over the past decades, the number of arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) outbreaks has increased worldwide. Knowledge regarding the sylvatic cycle (i.e., non-human hosts/environment) of arboviruses is limited, particularly in Africa, and the main hosts for virus maintenance are unknown. Previous studies have shown the presence of antibodies against c...
Preprint
Full-text available
Over the past decades, the number of arthropod-borne virus (arbovirus) outbreaks has increased worldwide. Knowledge regarding the sylvatic cycle (i.e., non-human hosts/environment) of arboviruses is limited, particularly in Africa, and the main hosts for virus maintenance are unknown. Previous studies have shown the presence of antibodies against c...
Article
Full-text available
Interspecific competition, environmental filtering, or spatial variation in productivity can contribute to positive or negative spatial covariance in the abundances of species across ensembles (i.e., groups of interacting species defined by geography, resource use, and taxonomy). In contrast, density compensation should give rise to a negative rela...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background Over five billion people globally rely on a plant- and animal-based pharmacopoeia for their healthcare needs. The inhalation, topical application, subcutaneous injection, or ingestion of animal products - such as faeces, fur, milk, blood, brain tissue, or meat - likely facilitates the spill over of zoonotic pathogens. Certain practices u...
Data
This file is the Electronic Supplemental Material (ESM) of this MS: Plisnier, P.-D., Kayanda, R., MacIntyre, S., Obiero, K., Okello, W., Vodacek, A., Cocquyt, C., Abegaz, H., Achieng, A., Akonkwa, B., Albrecht, C., Balagizi, C., Barasa, J., Bashonga, R.A., Bishobibiri A.B., Bootsma, H., Borges, A.V., Chavula, G., Dadi, T., De Keyzer, E.L.R., Doran,...
Article
Full-text available
To ensure the long-term sustainable use of African Great Lakes (AGL), and to better understand the functioning of these ecosystems, authorities, managers and scientists need regularly collected scientific data and information of key environmental indicators over multi-years to make informed decisions. Monitoring is regularly conducted at some sites...
Article
Previous literature suggests that Indigenous cultural practices, specifically traditional medicine, are commonplace among urban communities contrary to the general conception that such practices are restricted to rural societies. We reviewed previous literature for records of herptiles (frog and reptile species) sold by traditional health practitio...
Article
Full-text available
The wild meat trade poses a significant threat to public health as it facilitates the spillover of zoonotic pathogens through high-risk activities such as the hunting, butchering, trade, and consumption of wild animals. Despite the health risks and association with marking epidemics including SARS, Ebola, and COVID-19, the global wild meat trade co...
Article
Assessing how bats respond to habitat attributes requires an integrative approach to reliably predict direct community‐level effects. We focused on hipposiderid and pteropodid bats because of their diverse resource use patterns, body size ranges, and dispersal abilities. We combined an array of bat species‐level characteristics with key forest stan...
Preprint
Full-text available
In the search for natural reservoirs of hepatitis C virus (HCV), a broad diversity of non-human viruses within the Hepacivirus genus has been uncovered. However, the evolutionary dynamics that shaped the diversity and timescale of hepaciviruses evolution remain elusive. To gain further insights into the origins and evolution of this genus, we scree...
Preprint
Full-text available
In the search for natural reservoirs of hepatitis C virus (HCV), a broad diversity of non-human viruses within the Hepacivirus genus has been uncovered. However, the evolutionary dynamics that shaped the diversity and timescale of hepaciviruses evolution remain elusive. To gain further insights into the origins and evolution of this genus, we scree...
Article
Bats exhibit a variety of life-history traits that can serve as valuable surrogate metrics of terrestrial ecosystem health. Here, we investigate how sonotype activity of hipposiderid bats covaries with habitat structure at finer spatial scales. We recorded passive echolocation calls and measured key habitat attributes in six rainforests in the Loma...
Article
Full-text available
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to millions of human infections and deaths worldwide. Several other mammal species are also susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, and multiple instances of transmission from humans to pets, farmed mink, wildlife and zoo animals have been recorded. We conducted a systematic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in all mammal species in two z...
Preprint
Full-text available
Many tropical biosphere reserves face the problem of overexploiting biological resources, which is a major cause of biodiversity loss. We used an integrative approach, combining camera trapping and bat trapping in diverse habitats over multiple surveys in Yangambi Biosphere Reserve, Democratic Republic of the Congo. We investigated whether species-...
Article
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Although bats carry out important beneficial ecological and agricultural functions such as pollination and dispersion of seeds, they often carry dangerous diseases. This is worrying because of the increased dependency of the urban populations in Kisangani on bats as a source of animal proteins. The straw-coloured fruit bat (Eidolon helvum) is one o...
Poster
Full-text available
The arboreal Sciuridae of the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are relatively unknown (Baelo et al., 2016; Baelo 2019). Yet, some species are considered potential reservoirs of monkeypox virus (MPXV) (Fuller et al., 2011) endemic in some parts of the country. Sciuridae are sampled in order to inventory them - to identify those tha...
Preprint
Full-text available
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to millions of human infections and deaths worldwide. Several other mammal species are also susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, and multiple instances of transmission from humans to pets, farmed mink, wildlife and zoo animals have been recorded. We conducted a systematic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in all mammal species in two z...
Preprint
Published literature suggests that indigenous cultural practices, specifically traditional medicine, are commonplace among urban communities contrary to the general conception that such practices are associated to rural societies. We reviewed literature for records of herptiles sold by traditional health practitioners in urban South Africa, then us...
Article
Full-text available
Background Invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS–mainly serotypes Enteritidis and Typhimurium) are major causes of bloodstream infections in children in sub-Saharan Africa, but their reservoir remains unknown. We assessed iNTS carriage in rats in an urban setting endemic for iNTS carriage and compared genetic profiles of iNTS from rats with those...
Article
Full-text available
Background : Following an outbreak of cases of vesicular-pustular rash with fever evocative of human monkeypox in Bas-Uélé province, Democratic Republic of Congo, surveillance was strengthened. Methods : Households with at least one active generalized vesicular-pustular rash case were visited, and contact and clinical history information was colle...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background Following an outbreak of cases of vesicular-pustular rash with fever evocative of human monkeypox in Bas-Uélé province, Democratic Republic of Congo, surveillance was strengthened. Methods Households with at least one active generalized vesicular-pustular rash case were visited, and contact and clinical history information was collected...
Article
Aim: This chapter explains hydrocarbon extraction and discusses its effects on inland water resources. Main concepts covered: Section “Hydrocarbon extraction overview” provides an overview of the history of hydrocarbon extraction, the occurrence, and formation of hydrocarbon resources, and explains the conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon ex...
Article
Full-text available
Cichlid radiations often harbour closely related species with overlapping niches and distribution ranges. Such species sometimes hybridise in nature, which raises the question how they can coexist. This also holds for the Tanganyika mouthbrooders Ophthalmotilapia ventralis and O. nasuta. Earlier studies found indications of asymmetrical hybridisati...
Poster
Full-text available
Identification moléculaire d'une espèce envahissante de Sarotherodon dans la retenue d'eau douce d'Atchakpa (bassin de l'Ouémé, Bénin) et comparaison au sein de S. melanotheron à l'aide du marqueur mitochondrial COI
Article
The morphological identification of raw biological material used to produce archaeological artefacts is sometimes difficult or even impossible. In recent years, newly developed biochemical techniques have allowed more reliable identification of exploited animal species, even for otherwise taxonomically undiagnostic fragments, and thus can help pinp...
Preprint
Full-text available
A bstract Cichlid radiations often harbour closely related species with overlapping niches and distribution ranges. Such species sometimes hybridise in nature, which raises the question how can they coexist. This also holds for the Tanganyika mouthbrooders Ophthalmotilapia ventralis and O. nasuta . Earlier studies found indications of asymmetrical...
Article
The tribe Praomyini is a diversified group including 64 species and eight extant rodent genera. They live in a broad spectrum of habitats across whole sub-Saharan Africa. Members of this tribe are often very abundant, they have a key ecological role in ecosystems, they are hosts of many potentially pathogenic microorganisms and comprise numerous ag...
Article
Full-text available
The Atchakpa freshwater reservoir (Ouémé Basin, Benin) was found to harbour an unexpected population of a cichlid species that was presumed to be Sarotherodon melanotheron. This species became dominant in the reservoir and became the main fisheries target species. We applied DNA barcoding to identify this population. Besides specimens from the rese...
Article
Full-text available
Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has recently emerged as an alternative to morphological and molecular tools to identify tick species. In this study, we set out to evaluate and confirm the ability of MALDI-TOF MS to identify different species of ticks collected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and...
Article
Full-text available
Background: The speckled-pelage brush-furred rats (Lophuromys flavopunctatus group) have been difficult to define given conflicting genetic, morphological, and distributional records that combine to obscure meaningful accounts of its taxonomic diversity and evolution. In this study, we inferred the systematics, phylogeography, and evolutionary hist...
Article
Full-text available
Hepatitis C virus (HCV; genus Hepacivirus) represents a major public health problem, infecting about 3% of the human population. Because no animal reservoir carrying closely related hepaciviruses has been identified, the zoonotic origins of HCV still remain unresolved. Motivated by recent findings of divergent hepaciviruses in rodents and a plausib...
Preprint
Full-text available
We determined near complete and complete monkeypox virus genomes in a shrew ( Crocidura littoralis ), two squirrels ( Funisciurus anerythrus, Funisciurus bayonii ), and produced shorter sequences from two rats ( Stochomys longicaudatus, Cricetomys sp. 2) originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This suggests that a number of rodents b...
Preprint
Full-text available
We determined a near complete and complete monkeypox virus (Mpox) genome in an elephant shrew ( Petrodromus tetradactylus ), a squirrel ( Funisciurus bayonii ), and produced shorter sequencesobtained from two rats ( Stochomys longicaudatus, Cricetomys sp. 2 ) originating from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We also ran a series of molecular c...
Article
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This paper documents a community of eastern chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii Giglioli, 1872) inhabiting three relict forest fragments situated on the Lake Albert escarpment, down the Ituri highlands, of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The area explored had a combined forested surface of ±18.15 km2 in 2017, shrinking by 1....
Article
Full-text available
The manatee family encompasses three extant congeneric species: Trichechus senegalensis (African manatee), T. inunguis (Amazonian manatee), and T. manatus (West Indian manatee). The fossil record for manatees is scant, and few phylogenetic studies have focused on their evolutionary history. We use full mitogenomes of all extant manatee species to i...
Article
Full-text available
We provide a first survey of hard ticks (Ixodidae) infesting transhumant cattle imported in Kisangani, Tshopo Province, Democratic Republic of Congo and discuss their potential implication in veterinarian health. Indeed, herds of cattle are being brought from the Central African Republic and Eastern regions to Kisangani after at least 550km journey...
Preprint
Full-text available
Background: The speckled-pelage brush-furred rats (Lophuromys flavopunctatus group) has been difficult to define given conflicting genetic, morphological, and distributional records that combine to obscure meaningful accounts of its taxonomic diversity. In this study, we inferred the systematics, phylogeography, and evolutionary history of the L. f...
Article
Hybridization is suggested to contribute to ecomorphological and taxonomic diversity in lacustrine East African cichlids. This is supported by studies demonstrating that genetic diversity within lake radiations has been influenced by hybridization events, leading to extensive phenotypic differentiation of genetically closely related species. Hybrid...
Article
The tribe Arvicanthini (Muridae: Murinae) is a highly diversified group of rodents (ca. 100 species) and with 18 African genera (plus one Asiatic) represents probably the most successful adaptive radiation of extant mammals in Africa. They colonized a broad spectrum of habitats (from rainforests to semi-deserts) in whole sub-Saharan Africa and thei...
Article
Full-text available
The European Union prohibits the import of meat (products) unless specifically authorised and certified as being eligible for import. Nevertheless, various scientific papers report that passengers from west and central African countries illegally import large quantities of meat, including bushmeat, into Europe via its international airports. They a...
Preprint
Full-text available
Hepatitis C virus (HCV; genus Hepacivirus) represents a major public health problem, infecting about 3 % of the human population (± 185,000,000 people). Because no plausible animal reservoir carrying closely related hepaciviruses has been identified, the zoonotic origins of HCV still remain elusive. Motivated by recent findings of divergent hep-aci...
Article
Full-text available
After the 2017 Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak in Likati, a district in northern Democratic Republic of the Congo, we sampled small mammals from the location where the primary case-patient presumably acquired infection. None tested positive for EBOV RNA or antibodies against EBOV, highlighting the ongoing challenge in detecting animal reservoirs for EB...
Article
Full-text available
Understanding the determinants of species coexistence in complex and species-rich communities is a fundamental goal of ecology. Patterns of species coexistence depend on how biotic interactions and environmental filtering act over ecological and evolutionary time scales. Climatic fluctuations in lowland rainforests of the Congo Basin led to the num...
Article
Full-text available
Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation into development cooperation—highlights from an ALTER-NET-EKLIPSE workshop - Volume 54 Issue 1 - Jean Hugé, Maarten Vanhove, Bruno Verbist, Els Dekeyzer, Piet Stoffelen, Ingrid Leemans, Jennifer Sjölund, Isabelle Vertriest, Erik Verheyen, Hilde Keunen, Anne-Julie Rochette, Luc Janssens de Bisthoven
Article
Full-text available
The Congo Basin rainforest is the second largest rainforest in the world and one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth. Nevertheless, the Congo Basin biodiversity remains to be fully mapped, with many species awaiting discovery or official description. In recent years, much effort has been put into research on shrews (Soricidae), particularly in...
Article
Wood mice of the genus Hylomyscus, are small-sized rodents widely distributed in lowland and montane rainforests in tropical Africa, where they can be locally abundant. Recent morphological and molecular studies have increased the number of recognized species from 8 to 18 during the last 15 years. We used complete mitochondrial genomes and five nuc...
Article
Full-text available
Conserving African biosphere reserves: a workshop on the valuation of ecosystem services in Man and the Biosphere Reserves
Poster
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Since its launch in 2007 the African Rodentia database has become an important reference with on average 100 unique visitors per month, about 50,000 page views per year and more than 150 registered users. Because of its proven usefulness for the diffusion of data on African rodents the taxonomical range of the database was expanded in 2019 to inclu...
Article
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Understanding the degree to which aquatic and terrestrial primary production fuel tropical aquatic food webs remains poorly understood, and quantifying the relative contributions of autochthonous and allochthonous inputs is methodologically challenging. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios (δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N) can provide valuable insights about contr...
Poster
Full-text available
Background: Notwithstanding the prohibition at national and European Union level to import individual consignments of meat (products), various publications report that large quantities of meat, including bushmeat, are entering Europe via its international airports, without authorization or certification. These studies suggest an organized market fo...
Article
Full-text available
Aim We investigate the Plio‐Pleistocene evolutionary history of one of the most abundant rodents in Afrotropical forests. Specifically, we ask how their diversification was influenced by climate change, topography and major rivers. Location Tropical Africa: Lower Guinea (including Cameroon volcanic line; CVL), Congolia, Albertine Rift (AR), Kenyan...
Article
Full-text available
African Grass Rats of the genus Arvicanthis Lesson, 1842, are one of the most important groups of rodents in sub‐Saharan Africa. They are abundant in a variety of open habitats, they are major agricultural pests, and they became a popular model in physiological research because of their diurnal activity. Despite this importance, information about t...
Article
The taxonomy of African shrew species is still unresolved due to their conserved morphology. This also affects knowledge concerning their geographic distribution. In Nigeria, using mitochondrial Cytochrome b gene sequences, we carried out a survey for shrews from the genus Crocidura across various ecological zones to determine taxa that are present...
Article
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One of the most widely recognized patterns in ecology is the increase in species richness from poles to tropics. Literature suggests that the Congolian lowland rainforest does not follow this pattern: the Central Congolian forest (CCLF), south of the Congo River, is thought to harbor fewer vertebrate species and endemics than the Northeastern (NELF...
Article
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The Congolese and Lower Guinean ichthyological provinces are understudied hotspots of the global fish diversity. Here, we barcoded 741 specimens from the Lower and Middle Congo River and from three major drainage basins of the Lower Guinean ichthyological province, Kouilou‐Niari, Nyanga and Ogowe. We identified 194 morphospecies belonging to 82 gen...
Poster
Full-text available
The European Union prohibits any personal consignment of meat (products) from entering the Union unless specifically authorized and certified as being eligible for import. Notwithstanding these regulations, various recent papers report that large quantities of meat, including bushmeat, are entering Europe via its international airports without such...
Article
Full-text available
Amongst small mammals, rodents are the largest order in terms of both species and population numbers. They have a high rate of reproduction, are cosmopolitan and have the ability to adapt to a wide variety of habitats. Several studies were carried out on myomorphic rodents in the Kisangani ecoregion, while those on sciuromorphic rodents are very sc...
Article
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Pangolins, considered the most-trafficked mammals on Earth, are rapidly heading to extinction. Eight extant species of these African and Asian scale-bodied anteaters are commonly recognized, but their evolutionary relationships remain largely unexplored. Here we present the most comprehensive phylogenetic assessment of pangolins, based on genetic v...
Chapter
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Large and small mammals, likewise bat, have been used as main animal protein source and even income source for many urban and rural families in the African lowland rainforest regions, like in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These findings imply that bat consumption is associated with human culture, which augurs eventual harmful consequences o...
Article
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Protecting aboveground carbon stocks in tropical forests is essential for mitigating global climate change and is assumed to simultaneously conserve biodiversity. Although the relationship between tree diversity and carbon stocks is generally positive, the relationship remains unclear for consumers or decomposers. We assessed this relationship for...
Article
Full-text available
The detection of external and internal cues alters gene expression in the brain which in turn may affect neural networks that underly behavioral responses. Previous studies have shown that gene expression profiles differ between major brain regions within individuals and between species with different morphologies, cognitive abilities and/or behavi...