
Frank WesselinghNaturalis Biodiversity Center | NCB · Marine biodiversity
Frank Wesselingh
PhD
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231
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January 2017 - March 2017
Publications
Publications (231)
In 1976, Verduin described the subspecies Pusillina radiata balkei from Galicia, NW Spain. Despite a detailed description, differentiation from the Mediterranean Pusillina radiata (R. A. Philippi, 1836) remained unclear. As a result the new taxon remained poorly understood and has since then been rarely recorded. Based on new findings in NW Spain t...
Oxygen stable isotope (δ18O) analysis of marine biogenic carbonates is widely used to study the temperature at which the hard parts precipitated. This technique enables investigation of the environmental conditions experienced by carbonate-shelled organisms throughout their life. We used this approach on four bivalve species from the Coralline Crag...
Aquatic biodiversity hotspots often emerge in regions with active tectonism, diverse climate conditions and complex basin configurations enabling episodic biotic isolation and exchange. The Anatolian microcontinent, located between the Mediterranean and Pontocaspian regions, has been considered a cradle of biodiversity for continental aquatic organ...
The Late Pleistocene Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 – MIS 4 transition (at ca. 75 ka) is globally known to correspond to a period of strong cooling and sea‐level lowering. Terrestrial records indicate the transition had a large impact on terrestrial environments, but the impact on coastal and shallow‐marine areas is poorly documented due to a lack of...
Documenting the seasonal temperature cycle constitutes an essential step toward mitigating risks associated with extreme weather events in a future warmer world. The mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (mPWP), 3.3 to 3.0 million years ago, featured global temperatures approximately 3°C above preindustrial levels. It represents an ideal period for directed p...
The comprehensive overview of Neogene lithostratigraphy in the eastern Netherlands dates back to the mid-1970s. In the present study, continuous gamma-ray logs and in situ sediment core samples from six boreholes in the area allowed palynological and mollusc analyses and wireline log-based correlation. These investigations were aimed at updating an...
We describe here a newly discovered, diverse fossil fauna of freshwater gastropods and bivalves from the Denizli Basin in SW Turkey. The material was collected from the Kolankaya Formation, for which latest chronostratigraphic and magneto-stratigraphic data indicate an Early Pleistocene age, which is much younger than previously assumed for the fos...
Documenting the seasonal temperature cycle constitutes an essential step towards mitigating risks associated with extreme weather events in a future warmer world. The mid-Piacenzian Warm Period (mPWP), 3.3 – 3.0 million years ago, featured global temperatures approximately 3°C above pre-industrial levels. It represents an ideal period for directed...
Stable isotope analyses of oxygen in marine biogenic carbonates are now widely used to study the temperature in which the carbonates precipitate. This technique enables investigation of the environmental conditions experienced by carbonate-shelled organisms throughout their life, thereby allowing assessment of the stability of their thermal niche o...
Bivalves record seasonal environmental changes in their shells, making them excellent climate archives. However, not every bivalve can be used for this end. The shells have to grow fast enough so that micrometre- to millimetre-sampling can resolve sub-annual changes. Here, we investigate whether the bivalve Angulus benedeni benedeni is suitable as...
Cross-border correlations of the Pliocene–Pleistocene successions in the southern Netherlands and northernmost Belgium are problematic, because biostratigraphic markers are often lacking. Correlation is further hampered by the poor age constraints of the Belgian Merksplas Formation. To address these issues, sedimentary, mollusc and dinoflagellate c...
The Lower-Upper Pleistocene sedimentary record of the Baklan Basin, a long-lived continental half-graben basin in SW Turkey, is characterized by shallow lacustrine and palustrine deposits. The paleoenvironmental changes recorded in the basin succession allow for a multiproxy approach in reconstructing the paleoclimatic, paleoecological, and paleobi...
We report a marine Middle Pleistocene mollusc fauna from a borehole near Luxwoude (Friesland, northern Netherlands). The fauna contains several species, including Bittium species, Acanthocardia paucicostata and Polititapes senescens , that hitherto have been used as indicative for warm (lusitanian) conditions in the southern North Sea Basin during...
Obtaining temperature data from the mid-Piacenzian warm period (ca. 3 Ma, Pliocene epoch) is a key factor in outlining the impact of projected anthropogenic climate change. The mid-Piacenzian warm period was a high-CO2 world with a paleogeography similar to modern times. The time interval has been used to validate and improve climate model retrodic...
Quaternary Caspian Sea level variations depended on geophysical processes (affecting the opening and closing of gateways and basin size/shape) and hydro-climatological processes (affecting water balance). Disentangling the drivers of past Caspian Sea level variation, as well as the mechanisms by which they impacted the Caspian Sea level variation,...
Supplementary information for "What are the drivers of Caspian Sea level variation during the late Quaternary?"
Supplementary information for "What are the drivers of Caspian Sea level variation during the late Quaternary?"
In the Miocene, a large wetland system extended from the Andean foothills into western Amazonia. This system has no modern analogue and the driving mechanisms are not yet fully understood. Dynamic topography and Andean uplift are thought to have controlled deposition, with allocyclic base level changes driven by eustasy and orbital forcing also pla...
The declining biodiversity has upsetting consequences for social and economic development and represents a major concern for humanity. Legal and political framework plays an important role in biodiversity conservation planning, implementation, and coordination of actions. Legal provisions are complex and operate on different levels of governance (f...
The declining biodiversity has upsetting consequences for social and economic development and represents a major concern for humanity. Legal and political framework plays an important role in biodiversity conservation planning, implementation, and coordination of actions. Legal provisions are complex and operate on different levels of governance (f...
The malacological world has suffered a great loss. Adrianus Willem Janssen, better known as Arie W. Janssen, Nestor of research in the Netherlands on fossil and extant molluscs, passed away in the night of August 6, 2021, at the age of 84. During the last few months of his life, his physical condition had been rapidly deteriorating; despite this, u...
The unique aquatic Pontocaspian (PC) biota of the Black Sea Basin (BSB) is in decline. The lack of detailed knowledge on the status and trends of species, populations, and communities hampers a thorough risk assessment and precludes effective conservation. This paper reviews PC biodiversity trends in the BSB (Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, an...
Biodiversity and conservation assessments rise and fall with taxonomic accuracy. An example of a still largely unresolved taxonomy is found in the Gastropoda of the Caspian Sea. The present paper clarifies the taxonomy of the genus Abeskunus and its three species of anomalohaline gastropods endemic to the Caspian Sea. Based on material from Pleisto...
The Cretaceous–Paleogene mass extinction event 66 million years ago eradicated three quarters of marine and terrestrial species globally. However, previous studies based on vertebrates suggest that freshwater biota were much less affected. Here we assemble a time series of European freshwater gastropod species occurrences and inferred extinction ra...
Aim The unique aquatic Pontocaspian (PC) biota of the Black Sea Basin (BSB) is in decline. Lack of detailed knowledge on the status and trends of species, populations and communities hampers a thorough risk assessment and precludes effective conservation. This paper aims to review PC biodiversity trends using endemic molluscs as a model group. We a...
The Caspiinae comprise small gastropod species inhabiting low-salinity environments of the Pontocaspian region, specifically the Caspian Sea and the limans, estuaries and lower river reaches of the northern Black Sea Basin. There is considerable discrepancy in the literature as to which taxa are attributed to this hydrobiid subfamily, which of them...
When dealing with stratigraphic successions in marginal basin settings, the geological record is often fragmented due to erosion and reworking processes. The North Sea Basin is an example: it has a fragmented Quaternary record; in particular, Middle Pleistocene intervals are poorly known. As a result, we have little insight into climate, marine env...
Detailed observations at a large temporary outcrop south of Antwerp International Airport (northern Belgium) reveal the complexity of a thin interval of fossil-rich Pliocene sediments found on top of the upper Miocene Diest Formation. Based on the lithological characteristics and mollusc faunas, several units were tentatively attributed to the Katt...
Water levels in inland seas and lakes globally will drop, often dramatically, over the 21st century in response to climate change. Based on the case of the Caspian Sea, we argue for a concerted campaign to raise awareness of threats to people, biodiversity and geopolitical stability.
Romania and Ukraine share the Black Sea coastline, the Danube Delta and associated habitats, which harbor the endemic, aquatic Pontocaspian biota. Currently, this biota is diminishing both in numbers of species and their abundance because of human activities, and its future persistence strongly depends on the adequacy of conservation measures. Roma...
The Caspian Sea is renowned for its endemic mollusk biodiversity. However, over the past decades,
increasing anthropogenic pressures have caused decreases in abundances and even extinction of species.
Both key pressures and endemic taxa are distributed spatially unevenly across the Caspian Sea, suggesting
that ecologically different taxa such as ga...
The Dardanelles region has formed a key gateway connecting the Eastern Paratethys and the Aegean/Mediterranean since the late Miocene. Its sedimentary sequences contain crucial information about connectivity and tectonics but so far lack unambiguous age constraints. Only a few Miocene marine episodes have been documented and fossil assemblages are...
The scarcity of high-resolution empirical data directly tracking diversity over time limits our understanding of speciation and extinction dynamics and the drivers of rate changes. Here, we analyze a continuous species-level fossil record of endemic diatoms from ancient Lake Ohrid, along with environmental and climate indicator time series since la...
In recent years, 3D analyses, new indices to describe the complexity of morphological structures and sophisticated machine learning approaches have advanced morphometrical analyses to assist species determination. However, the applicability of these modern approaches to the determination of cryptic species or fossil taxa has rarely been investigate...
Homo erectus paleoenvironments in the early Pleistocene Denizli Basin: an integrated
paleontological, sedimentological and geochemical approach
Social networks, defined as sets of relationships between stakeholder organizations, are important determinants of constructive actions for biodiversity conservation. Such actions are achieved through cooperation between various stakeholders, exchange of information, and joint planning and implementation. We used a mix of qualitative and quantitati...
Terrestrial fossil records from the SW Anatolian basins are crucial both for regional correlations and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. By reassessing biostratigraphic constraints and incorporating new fossil data, we calibrated and reconstructed the late Neogene and Quaternary palaeoenvironments within a regional palaeogeographical framework....
During the late Miocene, the Andean–Amazonian region experienced drastic climatic and environmental changes, notably due to a major phase in the Andean uplift. The fossil record is virtually undocumented for this period in the Subandean Zone, where very few palaeoenvironmental and palaeontological investigations have been undertaken. Here, we descr...
The sedimentary record of the Caspian Basin is an exceptional archive for the palaeoenvironmental, palaeoclimatic and biodiversity changes of continental Eurasia. During the Pliocene–Pleistocene, the Caspian Basin was mostly isolated but experienced large lake level fluctuations and short episodes of connection with the open ocean as well as the Bl...
The Pontocaspian (Black Sea - Caspian Sea) region has a very dynamic history of basin development and biotic evolution. The region is the remnant of a once vast Paratethys Sea. It contains some of the best Eurasian geological records of tectonic, climatic and paleoenvironmental change. The Pliocene-Quaternary co-evolution of the Black Sea-Caspian S...
The Caspian Sea is an evolutionary island whose rich and endemic fauna have evolved in partial isolation over the past two million years. Baseline studies of pre-20th Century communities are needed in order to assess the severity of the current Caspian biodiversity crisis, which mostly involves invasive species. An inventory of late Holocene shelly...
Romania and Ukraine share the Black Sea coastline, the Danube Delta and associated habitats, which harbor the unique Pontocaspian biodiversity. Pontocaspian biota represents endemic aquatic taxa adapted to the brackish (anomalohaline) conditions, which evolved in the Caspian and Black Sea basins. Currently, this biota is diminishing both in the num...
The Caspian Sea, the largest isolated lake in the world, witnessed drastic lake‐level variations during the Quaternary. This restricted basin appears very sensitive to lake‐level variations, due to important variations in regional evaporation, precipitation and runoff. The amplitude, frequency and drivers of these lake‐level changes are still poorl...
Palaeoecological records are required to test ecological hypotheses necessary for conservation strategies as short-term observations can insufficiently capture natural variability and identify drivers of biotic change. Here, we demonstrate the importance of an integrated conservation palaeobiology approach when making validated decisions for conser...
The native Caspian Sea fauna underwent severe changes since the early 20 th century, mostly due to anthropo-genic activities. However, the nature, magnitude and rate of biodiversity change can only be assessed by comparison with natural baseline settings. A mostly in-situ mollusk fauna retrieved from Late Pleistocene (Hyrcanian, 107 ± 7 ka) deposit...
Defining and recording the loss of species diversity is a daunting task, especially if identities of species under threat are not fully resolved. An example is the Pontocaspian biota. The mostly endemic invertebrate faunas that evolved in the Black Sea – Caspian Sea – Aral Sea region and live under variable salinity conditions are undergoing strong...
Palaeoecological records are required to test ecological hypotheses necessary for conservation strategies as short-term observations can be insufficiently to capture natural variability and identify drivers of biotic change. Here, we demonstrate the importance of an integrated conservation palaeobiology approach to make validated decisions for cons...
Nineteen species of fossil gastropods in a number of groups (Trochoidea, Littorinoidea, Architectoniconidea and Omalogyroidea), dominated by very small, planorbiform species are reported from the coastal zone of The Netherlands. In Dutch.
The unique history of connection and disconnection of Pontocaspian basins caused the fauna to adapt to specific salinity regimes. Currently the endemic Caspian fauna is under severe pressure from anthropogenic impact and many species seem to have diappeared. To be able to quantify the current decline, we need a natural baseline of the molluscs dive...
The Black Sea and Caspian Sea experienced water level changes on various time-scales during the Quaternary period. The Caspian Sea in particular has undergone extreme water level changes ranging from tens to hundreds meters. Numerous studies have suggested that, the water level variations of this region have depended on both geophysical processes,...
Disentangling Quaternary deposits and faunas in the Marmara Basin (Turkey) shows its key
position between Mediterranean and Pontocaspian Basins
The species composition, diversity and abundance of the native Caspian fauna are presently under severe pressure from invasive species and anthropogenic impact. However, the magnitude and rate of diversity decline and abundance loss can only be estimated based on comparison with communities that lived before the onset of the crisis. An in-situ moll...
The present paper details a very diverse non-marine gastropod fauna retrieved from Caspian Pleistocene deposits along the Volga River north of Astrakhan (Russia). During time of deposition (early Late Pleistocene, late Khazarian regional substage), the area was situated in shallow water of the greatly expanded Caspian Sea. The fauna contains 24 spe...