Research facilities

There are many ecological research facilities at NIOO: from experimental mini-ponds to research vessels, and from living labs to bacterial culture collections. 

  1. Hole-breeding passerines monitoring: Hoge Veluwe

    Faciliteit
    Dry sandy areas
    NIOO-KNAW
    Hoge Veluwe is one of four areas in NIOO-AnE's long-term monitoring research on great tits and other bird species that started in 1955. It consists of a large forest area of more than 350 ha of mainly conifers and oak on poor sandy soil. This area is part of the largest forest complex in the Netherlands, De Veluwe. Every breeding season, many students and researchers are involved in doing field work at Hoge Veluwe.
    AnE nestkasten
  2. Hole-breeding passerines monitoring: Liesbos

    Faciliteit
    Dry sandy areas
    NIOO-KNAW
    Liesbos is one of four areas in NIOO-AnE's long-term monitoring research on great tits and other bird species that started in 1955. It consists of a large forest area of about 100 ha of deciduous trees, mainly oak, on rich sandy-loam soil.
    Liesbos
  3. Hole-breeding passerines monitoring: Oosterhout

    Faciliteit
    Dry sandy areas
    NIOO-KNAW
    Oosterhout is the last of four areas in NIOO-AnE's long-term monitoring research on great tits and other bird species. Research there started in 1956, one year after the other three areas. It consists of deciduous forest of mainly oak trees on a country estate of about 8 ha, and has a rich clay-sandy-loam soil. Oosterhout has around 150 nestboxes.
    Oosterhout
  4. Hole-breeding passerines monitoring: Vlieland

    Faciliteit
    Dunes and coastal areas
    NIOO-KNAW
    Vlieland is one of four areas in NIOO-AnE's long-term monitoring research on great tits and other bird species that started in 1955. It consists of several smaller forest areas, which together cover about 250 ha of mainly conifers and oak on poor sandy soil. As Vlieland is an island in the Wadden Sea, the area stands completely on its own. Important population questions in NIOO's long term research are/were studied here.
    Vlieland
  5. Land van Ons - Warmond

    Faciliteit
    Fen and Sea Clay landscapes
    Agricultural and Rural Areas
    NIOO-KNAW
    Leiden University
    Naturalis Biodiversity Center
    The foundation 'Land van Ons' has obtained a peat meadow area near Leiden to increase biodiversity in this intensively used agricultural area. The goal is not to recreate nature, but to develop sustainable agricultural use of this land with the goal of increasing biodiversity in the area and developing management strategies that optimise its ecological, economic and recreational value.
    Land van Ons - Warmond
  6. Limnotrons

    Faciliteit
    NIOO-KNAW
    The limnotrons are nine stainless steel indoor mesocosms with a high level of control. The dimensions are: 0.97 m in diameter, depth between 1.32 m (side) and 1.37 m (centre), volume of 922 L. The vessels can be closed with a removable PMMA flange lid. In addition to the possibility of sampling vertically with specifically designed integrated water samples, sampling can also be done by using the sampling ports positioned at three depths.
    Limnotrons
  7. Living Lab B7

    Faciliteit
    Dunes and coastal areas
    NIOO-KNAW
    Radboud University
    HAS Green Academy
    The aim of Living Lab B7 is best summarised as providing insights and KPI’s (critical performance indicators) to Greenport Duin- and Bollenstreek, Nationaal Park Hollandse Duinen and the Deltaplan Biodiversiteitsherstel to contribute to the practice of biodiversity recovery in rural areas on local, regional and national scales.
    Demoveld met rijen bloembollen en een insectenval
  8. LTSER-platform Dutch Wadden Sea

    Faciliteit
    Marine and intertidal areas
    Dunes and coastal areas
    NIOZ
    Rijkswaterstaat
    NIOO-KNAW
    The Long-Term Socio-Ecological research platform Dutch Wadden Sea area is a large coastal area bordering the north of the Netherlands.
    Luchtfoto van Vlieland
  9. Marker Wadden

    Faciliteit
    Large fresh water areas
    NIOO-KNAW
    The Marker Wadden is a newly constructed archipelago in lake Markermeer, which aims to improve the lake’s degrading food web by stimulating primary productivity. The archipelago consists of five islands that add a currently missing habitat type to the lake: shallow, sheltered waters with high nutrient availability and gradual land-water transitions.
    Marker Wadden 2018
  10. Mesocosms for soil-plant-insect interactions

    Faciliteit
    NIOO-KNAW
    A total of 40 mesocosms are distributed in five rows of eight mesocosms with a spacing of 0.5 m between them. In spring/summer we grow plant species that are currently expanding their range within Europe and species that belong to the same genus while being native in the Netherlands.
    Mesocosms soil-plant-insect interactions
  11. Microcosms

    Faciliteit
    NIOO-KNAW
    The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) houses 36x10L microcosms (transparent polycarbonate carboys; NALGENE, Rochester, USA) for plankton research. The microcosms can be temperature-controlled in water baths (at 0.5 °C temperature resolution), and automatically stirred through magnetic stirrers mounted below the water baths.
    Microcosms
  12. Molecular laboratory

    Faciliteit
    NIOO-KNAW
    The molecular laboratories offer a wide range of facilities needed for handling, preparing and analysing a wide variety of DNA and/or RNA samples. The lab is well-equipped, and in addition to the general molecular laboratory there are several specialised laboratories such as an MLII Lab, an RNA Lab and a PCR lab with UV-cupboards.
    Laboratory