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Department of Animal Ecology

The department of Animal Ecology studies how the life-history of birds is shaped by evolution: from personalities to seasonal timing, and from genes to populations.

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2021

ArcticMigrants - Arctic migratory birds pushed over the edge? Due to its favourable location, the Netherlands harbours at times large numbers of migratory birds, and bears an international responsibility to accommodate...

2021

AtlanticSwans: From individual movement to population distribution Bewick’s swans breed on the Russian tundra and the European population winters in the North Sea countries. Ring-resightings of Bewick’s swans have shown a >...

2019

SPI-Birds We are a network of researchers working on populations of breeding, individually marked birds. On this website, you can learn more about our work, search for...

2018

Ecological epigenetics and the brain: the evolutionary consequences of epigenomic modifications in a songbird This unique inter-disciplinary collaboration between three of the larger institutes of the KNAW aims to elucidate the function of epigenetic regulation in the...

2018

Epigenetics of animal personality: DNA methylation and its influence on exploratory behaviour in great tits Recent studies have shown that early developmental effects and environmental conditions experienced by parents also affect personality traits, even over...

2018

GooseScare: Indirect effects of goose disturbance Goose management is based on safeguarding (migratory) goose populations, while preventing excessive damage. Barnacle geese forage on agricultural grasslands...

2018

Pair-bonds beyond the breeding season – a new approach to understanding divorce and fidelity using the power of Open Data In animals, as in humans, not all individuals pair for life. Pair-bonds and their stability likely affect survival and reproduction and hence influence all...

2018

Predicting the evolution of an avian trait under human-induced natural selection This project aims to predict the genetic and the phenotypic changes of a trait that is expected to be under directional selection: beak size in great tits (...

2018

Timing of growth and reproduction: ultimate functions and proximate mechanisms For many species, there is only a short period in the annual cycle in which conditions are suitable for reproduction or growth. This period is often determined...

2017

ArcticPinkfeet: Response of geese to climate warming in the Arctic Climate is warming faster in the Arctic than elsewhere in the northern hemisphere. As a result, migratory Arctic-nesting birds may arrive too late to benefit...

2017

CHIRP: Cumulative Human Impact on biRd Populations How do human impacts such as climate change affect bird populations, and in particular the oystercatcher? As part of the new Centre for Avian Population...

2017

GooseHeart: A new style of life in a traditionally Arctic migratory bird Anthropogenic change paved the way for a traditionally arctic-breeding, long-distance migratory bird, the barnacle goose to stop migrating and also breed...

2017

Next generation miniaturized microscopes for high-throughput screening and decoding neural correlates of naturalistic behaviour. Fluorescence imaging is a widely-used technique in the life sciences and has been applied to the study of cell division, in vivo tumour growth, but also...

2016

Open Science in Ecology and Evolution Open Science is changing the way scientific research is conducted. Open Science includes open (i.e. available to anyone to access and use) data, code,...

2015

Ageing in the light: the effect of light pollution on the rate of ageing in wild animals Artificial light at night (LAN) is an emerging problem. Recent studies have demonstrated short-term effects of LAN on animals, including humans, but the long-...

2015

ArcticSwans: Unravelling the annual cycle of an Arctic migrant in search of its decline The decline of long-distance migratory birds is a great challenge for European nature conservation. The Netherlands harbours many migratory birds in winter and...

2014

Evolutionary responses to a warming world: physiological genomics of seasonal timing The world is seasonal and organisms’ adjustment of their seasonal timing to this environmental variation is crucial for their fitness. Climate change is...

2013

ArcticBarnies: How can Arctic-nesting geese cope with Arctic amplification? Most Arctic-nesting birds are long-distance migrants, wintering in tropical or temperate regions, many of those in The Netherlands (e.g., 85% of the flyway...

2013

How is phenotypic variation in great tits maintained by sexual selection? Female choice for top quality males is expected to result in the evolution of exaggerated male secondary sexual characters. However, a strong directional...

2010

Host-pathogen interaction Avian influenza has become one of the most dangerous infections for animals and humans at present. Around the world, surveillance programs are initiated to...

Adaptive management of migratory populations; developing novel tools at the interface between ecology, economy, agriculture and society (MIGRAPOP) Various management tools and economic incentives have been used to reduce the increasing agricultural damage caused by migratory geese wintering/staging in...

Artificial light What are the effects of nocturnal illumination on daily and seasonal timing of activity and how does this affect fitness? Research Nocturnal illumination leads...

E-Track: EGNOS and EDAS enhanced tracking of animal movement and behaviour E-Track will develop GPS animal tracking and analysis tools for sophisticated behavioural research on wild and domestic animals. The project makes use of the...

Horizon project Linking quantitative genetic variation in life-history traits with polymorphisms in genes that code for this variance is essential for our understanding of the...

Metawad 1: work package Brent Goose Brent geese Branta bernicla are high-arctic breeding birds that feed extensively on intertidal mudflats outside the breeding season, where they graze on...

Seasonal Timing Timing of growth and reproduction: ultimate functions and proximate mechanisms For many species, there is only a short period in the annual cycle in which...

Towards adaptive management of white-fronted geese wintering in the Netherlands In winter, the Netherlands harbours a large proportion of the arctic-nesting geese in Europe, and as such bears an international responsibility for these...

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Contact

Head of Department

 

Marcel Visser
m.visser@nioo.knaw.nl

 

Visiting Address

 

Droevendaalsesteeg 10
6708 PB Wageningen
T 0317 47 34 00 

 

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