Dr. Martijn van de Pol
Senior ResearcherAnimal Ecology |
Research themes
Research expertiseBehavioural and Population ecology Biostatistics Climate variability and extremes Cumulative impacts Demographic modelling
Page last updated: 04-11-2019
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For my PhD (2006, cum laude) I studied life-history decisions in a long-lived shorebird on a tiny barrier island in the Netherlands. When my field experiments were flooded 3 years in a row, I decided to take this as a sign and switch fields to study the climate change ecology of birds. After a short stay at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany, I first headed up north for a postdoctoral fellowship at the Norwegian University for Science & Technology to get acquainted with theory on stochastic population dynamics. Wondering where the sun had gone, I then headed down south to work as a research fellow at the Australian National University. There I got an opportunity for hands on experience with long-term field studies on iconic fairy-wrens. Although fairy-wrens have quite a reputation because of their extreme promiscuity and complex behavioural strategies, they are actually also a useful model system to study the mechanisms by which individuals and populations respond to climate change (they really, really love rain…). From 2013 onwards I was a group leader at the Australian National University. Most recently I moved to the NIOO-KNAW, in which my group is focussing on theoretical, empirical and comparative work–primarily on a variety of bird species—to further our understanding of how organisms respond to a rapidly changing environment. We are particularly interested in questions such as how climate extremes and variability impact individuals and populations, how human impacts accumulate on shorebirds populations, and understanding why some species are more sensitive to environmental change than others. Since 2013, I am also an Associate Editor of the Journal of Animal Ecology and since 2019 for Proceedings of the Royals Society B and I am a member of the board of the inter-institutional Centre for Avian Population Studies.
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Our research takes a combined approach of theoretical and empirical work, in which hypotheses are mathematically formalized which are put to the test using field experiments and observations from decade-long population studies on wild birds, such as Eurasian oystercatcher and various species of Australian fairy wrens. We also perform comparative intra- and inter-specific studies using large citizen science datasets on many bird specie, and increasingly focus on developing new statistical tools to analyze ecological data.
Specific research questions include:
- What are the mechanisms by which animals adapt to climate change and is it fast enough to keep up with the rapidly changing environment?
- How do individuals and populations respond to stochastic extreme climatic events, such as increased flooding risks and heat waves?
- What determines why some type of species are more prone to extinction than others?
- What is the cumulative effect of different threats to species (climate change, disturbance, mining, fisheries, farming)?
- How do we best identify what aspect of climate is the most important driver of biological response (in traits, vital rates or population size)?.
We are always very interested to hear from people interested in studying exciting aspects of the behavioural or population ecology of animals, either in the field, on the computer or both. You are very welcome to join our group for a student, PhD or postdoc project, please drop by for a chat or email us to discuss topics and/or funding opportunities!
See my personal website for a complete literature list and Google Scholar for citations metrics. Here is some recent work:
- van de Pol, M., Jenouvrier, S. Cornelissen, J. H.C. & Visser, M.E. (2017) Behavioural, ecological and evolutionary response to extreme climatic events: Challenges and directions. Phil. Trans. Roy Soc. B 372: 20160134.
- Bailey, L.D. Ens, B.J., Both, C. Heg, D.H., Oosterbeek, K. & van de Pol, M. (2017) Phenotypic plasticity in nest‐site selection as a response to extreme flooding events. Phil. Trans. Roy Soc. B 372: 20160139.
- McLean, N., Lawson, C., Leech, D. & van de Pol, M. (2016) Predicting when climate-driven phenotypic change affects population dynamics. Ecology Letters 19, 595-608
- van de Pol, M., Bailey, L.D., McLean, N. Rijsdijk, L. Lawson, C.R. & Brouwer, L. (2016) Identifying the best climatic predictors in ecology and evolution. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 7, 1246–1257
- Lawson, C., Vindenes, Y., Bailey, L. & van de Pol, M. (2015) Environmental variation and population responses to global change. Ecology Letters, 18: 724-736.
- Radchuk, V., Reed, T., Teplitsky, C., van de Pol, M., Charmantier, A., Hassall, C.,... Kramer-Schadt, S. (2019). Adaptive responses of animals to climate change are most likely insufficient. Nature Communications, 10(3109), [3109]. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-10924-4
- Evans, T., Salvatore, D., Van de Pol, M., & Musters, K. (2019). Adult firefly abundance is linked to weather during the larval stage in the previous year. Ecological Entomology, 44(2), 265-273. https://doi.org/10.1111/een.12702
- Haest, B., Hüppop, O., Van de Pol, M., & Bairlein, F. (2019). Autumn bird migration phenology: A potpourri of wind, precipitation, and temperature effects. Global Change Biology, 25(12), 4064-4080. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14746
- Allen, A. M., Ens, B. J., van de Pol, M., van der Jeugd, H., Frauendorf, M., van der Kolk, H-J.,... Jongejans, E. (2019). Colour-ring wear and loss effects in citizen science mark-resighting studies. Avian Research, 10(1), 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-019-0151-z
- Bulla, M., Reneerkens, J., Weiser, E. L., Sokolov, A., Taylor, A. R., Sittler, B.,... Kempenaers, B. (2019). Comment on "Global pattern of nest predation is disrupted by climate change in shorebirds". Science, 364(6445). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw8529
- van der Kolk, H., Krijgsveld, K. L., Linssen, H., Diertens, R. J., Dolman, D. D., Jans, M.,... Van de Pol, M. (2019). Cumulative energetic costs of military aircraft, recreational and natural disturbance in roosting shorebirds. Animal Conservation, Online. https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12546
- Linssen, H., Van de Pol, M., Allen, A., Jans, M., Ens, B. J., Krijgsveld, K.,... van der Kolk, H. (2019). Disturbance increases high tide travel distance of a roosting shorebird but only marginally affects daily energy expenditure. Avian Research, 10(31). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-019-0171-8
- Bailey, L. D., Ens, B. J., Both, C., Heg, D., Oosterbeek, K., & Van de Pol, M. (2019). Habitat selection can reduce effects of extreme climatic events in a long‐lived shorebird. Journal of Animal Ecology, 88(10), 1474-1485. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13041
- Lichtenauer, W., Van de Pol, M., Cockburn, A., & Brouwer, L. (2019). Indirect fitness benefits through extra-pair mating are large for an inbred minority, but cannot explain widespread infidelity among red-winged fairy wrens. Evolution, 73(3), 467-480. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.13684
- Brouwer, L., Van de Pol, M., & Cockburn, A. (2019). Integrating fitness components reveals that survival costs outweigh other benefits and costs of group living in two congeners. American Naturalist. https://doi.org/10.1086/706475
- Van de Pol, M., & Bailey, L. D. (2019). Quantifying how sensitive individuals, populations and species are to climate change. In P. Dunn, & A. Moller [Eds.], Effects of Climate Change on Birds (2nd ed., Vol. Section 2: chap. 5). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198824268.001.0001
- Aranzamendi, N. H., Hall, M., kingma, S. A., Van de Pol, M., & Peters, A. (2019). Rapid plastic breeding response to rain matches peak prey abundance in a tropical savannah bird. Journal of Animal Ecology, 88(11), 1799-1811. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13068
- Allen, A., Ens, B. J., Van de Pol, M., van der Jeugd, H. P., Frauendorf, M., Oosterbeek, K. H., & Jongejans, E. (2019). Seasonal survival and migratory connectivity of a partially migratory wading bird revealed by citizen science. Auk, 136(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1093/auk/uky001
- van der Kolk, H., Ens, B. J., Oosterbeek, K. H., Bouten, W., Allen, A., Frauendorf, M.,... Van de Pol, M. (2019). Shorebird feeding specialists differ in how environmental conditions alter their foraging time. Behavioral Ecology, Online, [arz189]. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arz189
- McLean, N., van der Jeugd, H. P., & Van de Pol, M. (2018). High intra-specific variation in avian body condition responses to climate limits generalisation across species. PLoS One, 13(2), [e0192401]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0192401
- McLean, N., & Van de Pol, M. (2018). Life in a changing world: climate change impacts on common European birds (PhD Thesis).
- Clements, C., Van de Pol, M., & Ozgul, A. (2018). Weighted trait-abundance early warning signals better predict population collapse. bioRxiv, 282087, [282087]. https://doi.org/10.1101/282087
- Van de Pol, M., Jenouvrier, S., Cornelissen, J. H. C., & Visser, M. E. (2017). Behavioural, ecological and evolutionary response to extreme climatic events: Challenges & directions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 372(1723), [134]. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0134
- Brouwer, L., van de Pol, M., Aranzamendi, N. H., Bain, G., Baldassarre, D. T., Brooker, L. C.,... Cockburn, A. (2017). Multiple hypotheses explain variation in extra-pair paternity at different levels in a single bird family. Molecular Ecology, 26(23), 6717-6729. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.14385
- Bailey, L., Ens, B. J., Both, C., Heg, D., Oosterbeek, K., & Van de Pol, M. (2017). No phenotypic plasticity in nest-site selection in response to extreme flooding events. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 372(1723), [139]. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0139
- Bailey, L., & Van de Pol, M. (2016). climwin: An R Toolbox for Climate Window Analysis. PLoS One, 11(12), [167980]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0167980
- Bakker, J. P., Baas, A. C. W., Bartholdy, J., Jones, L., Ruessink, G., Temmerman, S., & van de Pol, M. (2016). Environmental Impacts-Coastal Ecosystems. In M. Quante, & F. Colijn [Eds.], North Sea Region Climate Change Assessment (pp. 275-314). ( Regional Climate Studies). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39745-0_9
- Aranzamendi, N., Hall, M., kingma, S. A., Van de Pol, M., & Peters, A. (2016). Fast response to rainfall connects the timing of breeding to food abundance and reproductive output in a tropical bird. In N. A. H. Aranzamendi [Ed.], Life-history variation in a tropical cooperative bird: Ecological and social effects on productivity (Thesis ed., pp. 17). Monash University. https://doi.org/10.4225/03/58ca02c680e51
- Van de Pol, M., Bailey, L., McLean, N., Rijsdijk, L., Lawson, C. R., & Brouwer, L. (2016). Identifying the best climatic predictors in ecology and evolution. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 7(10), 1246-1257. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12590
- Mourocq, E., Bize, P., Bouwhuis, S., Bradley, R., Charmantier, A., de la Cruz, C.,... Griesser, M. (2016). Life span and reproductive cost explain interspecific variation in the optimal onset of reproduction. Evolution, 70(2), 296-313. https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.12853
- Lejeune, L., van de Pol, M., Cockburn, A., Louter, M., & Brouwer, L. (2016). Male and female helper effects on maternal investment and adult survival in red-winged fairy-wrens. Behavioral Ecology, 27(6), 1841-1850. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arw121
- McLean, N., Lawson, C. R., Leech, D., & Van de Pol, M. (2016). Predicting when climate-driven phenotypic change affects population dynamics. Ecology Letters, 19(6), 595–608. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12599
- Cockburn, A., Brouwer, L., Margraf, N., Osmond, H. L., & Van de Pol, M. (2016). Superb fairy-wrens: Making the worst of a good job. In W. D. Koening, & J. L. Dickinson [Eds.], Cooperative Breeding: Studies of Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour (Vol. chap 8, pp. 133-149). Cambridge University Press.
- Bailey, L., & Van de Pol, M. (2016). Tackling extremes: Challenges for ecological and evolutionary research on extreme climatic events. Journal of Animal Ecology, 85, 724-736. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12451
- Herfindal, I., van de Pol, M., Nielsen, J. T., Sæther, B-E., & Møller, A. P. (2015). Climatic conditions cause complex patterns of covariation between demographic traits in a long-lived raptor. Journal of Animal Ecology, 84(3), 702-711. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12318
- Lawson, C. R., Vindenes, Y., Bailey, L., & van de Pol, M. (2015). Environmental variation and population responses to global change. Ecology Letters, 18(7), 724-736. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.12437
- Van de Pol, M., Atkinson, P. W., Blew, J., Duriez, O. P. M., Ens, B. J., Hälterlein, B.,... Yésou, P. (2014). A global assessment of the conservation status of the nominate subspecies of Eurasian oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus ostralegus). International Wader Studies, 20, 47-61.
- Brouwer, L., Van de Pol, M., & Cockburn, A. (2014). Habitat geometry does not affect levels of extrapair paternity in an extremely unfaithful fairy-wren. Behavioral Ecology, 25(3), 531-537. https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/aru010
- Brouwer, L., Van de Pol, M., & Cockburn, A. (2014). The role of social environment on parental care: offspring benefit more from the presence of female than male helpers. Journal of Animal Ecology, 83(2), 491-503. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12143
- Ens, B. J., Van de Pol, M., & Goss-Custard, J. (2014). The study of career decisions: Oystercatchers as social prisoners. Advances in the Study of Behavior, 46, 343-420. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-800286-5.00008-0
- Dingemanse, N. J., Bouwman, K. M., Van de Pol, M., van Overveld, T., Patrick, S. C., Matthysen, E., & Quinn, J. L. (2012). Variation in personality and behavioural plasticity across four populations of the great tit Parus major. Journal of Animal Ecology, 81(1), 116-126. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2656.2011.01877.x
- Van de Pol, M., Pen, I., Heg, D., & Weissing, F. J. (2007). Variation in habitat choice and delayed reproduction: Adaptive queuing strategies or individual quality differences? American Naturalist, 170(4), 530-541. https://doi.org/10.1086/521237
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- Our group page
- My personal website and Google Scholar site
- Centre for Avian Population Studies
- R package climwin and its user forum
- Our citzien science Android app to enter bird nesting data
- Citizen science: www.scholekstersophetdak.nl
- Project CHIRP: Cumulative Human Impacts on biRd Populations
- Student projects here
