On 1 October, Wim van der Putten took over the directorship from predecessor Geert de Snoo. For the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) he is a familiar face. Van der Putten started at the 'IOO' back in 1984. He shares stories about his career so far, and his work as interim director.

Until October last year, Geert de Snoo was at the helm of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). A few months later, we look back with him on five years of directorship and talk about his new role as director of research policy at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

How do microbes influence the methane release in the arctics? And how will climate change influence these microorganisms? These questions and more are what a new research project led by Suzanne McGowan of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) will try to answer.

West Greenland is home to tens of thousands of blue lakes that provide residents drinking water and sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Yet after two months of record heat and precipitation in fall 2022, an estimated 7,500 lakes turned brown, began emitting carbon and decreased in water quality, according to a new study NIOO is involved in.

City dandelions grow better in hot summers and flower better after mild winters than their rural counterparts. This is according to research by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) that compared dandelions from the centre of Amsterdam with plants outside the city. These experiments - published in the December edition of Evolution Letters - show that dandelions evolved to adapt to urban heat. Such knowledge is essential for sustainable urban planning.

We are happy to welcome Ciska Veen as the new head of the department of Terrestrial Ecology of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). Ciska will start on 1 February 2025.

Lakes play a major role in providing ecosystem services. But the ecological status and water quality of these lakes is often still not good enough, and is further threatened by the effects of climate change. Two new projects at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) will look for solutions to this problem.

Three NIOO researchers are on this year's Clarivate Analytics' “Highly Cited Researchers” list. Paolina Garbeva for the first time, two others for the seventh consecutive year: Jos Raaijmakers and Wim van der Putten.

From 1 October, the Belgian university KU Leuven has appointed Steven Declerck as professor at the Department of Biology. Steven Declerck is an aquatic ecologist at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), where his research focuses on the ability of zooplankton to adapt to environmental changes. In this interview, Declerck talks about his career and field of research.

Of all the components of dead plants, wood is the hardest to break down. How come fungi know how to do this? What issues did they need to solve to achieve this? The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) tries to find answers to these questions. The research has yielded surprising discoveries. These could be useful for sustainable forest and nature management, sustainable agriculture and even the development of new medicines.

‘Outstanding research’, an ‘impressive societal impact’ and ‘highly viable’. This is how the independent international assessment committee sees the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). Such an evaluation visit takes place once every six years to assess quality, relevance and viability of research. The evaluation report and its responses have now been finalised and published.

Societal developments with a link to ecology and ecological research are easy to find. How can the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) support these? How will we share and use ecological knowledge? To achieve this, the institute will from now on receive help from the new Societal Advisory Board.