The soil expertise found at Wageningen enjoys international recognition. So it is only fitting that in 2015, the International Year of Soils, numerous activities are taking place in Wageningen. On Monday 26 January, various Wageningen-based institutions and organisations laid a plaque in the Walk of Fame on campus to kick off the IYS. The gesture symbolises their collaboration in the new Wageningen Soil Network.

The strain of bird flu responsible for the recent outbreak in the Netherlands is a highly pathogenic form of H5N8.

ZEIST/WAGENINGEN/NIJMEGEN - Birds that breed in the Dutch Wadden Sea are facing serious problems, according to a new report that brings together all available data from the past two decades. The report was launched at the inaugural symposium of the new Centre for Avian Population Studies (CAPS).

06/10/2014 Migratory birds are often blamed for spreading avian influenza. But new research proves for a specific flu type that instead of importing the virus into the Netherlands, migratory mallards actually contract it here. NIOO-researcher Jacintha van Dijk defends her thesis on the topic at Utrecht University on Wednesday.

06/10/2014 Dutch broadcaster VPRO has revisited the territory of its award-winning tv documentary Green Gold, about ecosystem restoration. NIOO-director Louise Vet comments on Green Gold 2.

01/10/2014 You’ll find as much biodiversity in the soil of New York’s Central Park as in a tropical rainforest. That’s the surprising conclusion of research conducted by Dr. Kelly Ramirez, microbial ecologist at NIOO-KNAW in Wageningen. In fact, the same soil microbes that thrive in forests, tundras and deserts can be found living right beneath New York.

11/09/2014 Ecology, nature conservation and scientific advocacy: a personal journey

Migratory birds are often blamed for spreading avian influenza. But new research proves for a specific flu type that instead of importing the virus into the Netherlands, migratory mallards actually contract it here. NIOO-researcher Jacintha van Dijk defends her thesis on the topic at Utrecht University on Wednesday.

WAGENINGEN – In the animal kingdom, travel is key: that is the conclusion of Silke Bauer’s research in a nutshell. The NIOO-ecologist and an Australian colleague list the numerous species that migrate from one location to another. According to the two researchers, the effects of these migrations on world ecosystems have been overlooked. Time to give the billions of geese, locusts, butterflies, herrings and wildebeest that wander the globe their proper due.

WAGENINGEN - NIOO-KNAW's Centre for Avian Migration and Demography has ringed birds and studied their migration patterns for over a century. In its first-ever peer review, the Centre has been rated 'excellent'.

WAGENINGEN – The Netherlands Institute of Ecology is to have its own 'food forest'. Researchers and students have begun planting a variety of fruits, vegetables and other edible plant species in the grounds around the NIOO building. No fertilizers are being used: the principles of a natural forest apply. In the future, fruits from the agroforest will be served in the NIOO canteen.

WAGENINGEN – Insects are choosier than you might think: whether or not they end up feeding on a particular plant depends on much more than just the species to which that plant belongs. The quality of the individual plant is an important factor as well. As is the variety of other plants growing around it. But what, ultimately, makes an insect choose one plant over another?