Under the bird ring's spell
Under the bird ring's spell
Ringing of wild birds has become indispensable as a research method to track individual birds. Since 1911, some 16 million birds have been fitted with a metal ring in the Netherlands. What has that brought in terms of knowledge, protection and policy? And what do new tracking techniques add? We dive into the world of meadow birds, goose visits and infectious diseases.
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News
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Funding granted to create SMART experimental hub for aquatic processes
A consortium for aquatic research facilities has received funding from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) programme for large research infrastructure consortia.
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Less intensive works best for agricultural soil
The less intensively you manage the soil, the better the soil can function. Such as not ploughing as often or using more grass-clover mixtures as cover crops. These are the conclusions from a research team led by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). Surprisingly, it applies to both conventional and organic farming. These important insights for making agriculture more sustainable are published in the scientific journal Science today. ‘It offers clear evidence to help farmers manage soils better.’
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Up and down the marshes
Lower the water level in a marsh temporarily and you get a more resilient, healthy and biodiverse ecosystem in return. That is the advice of ecologist Kerstin Bouma and her colleagues at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). An extraordinary opportunity presented itself in the Oostvaardersplassen to find out how this works. She defended her PhD on that research in the mud and among the reeds on Friday 4 April.
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Ancient blue-green algae bloom more and more
Every summer there they are again, blue-green algae. Why are they a problem, are they getting worse with climate change and what can we do about them? These are questions that the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) has over the past few years been and still is seeking answers to. The research has provided new insights into fundamental processes, from the cellular level to large-scale changes in lakes and ponds. This allows better assessment of risks and possible development of new control methods.
