Arctic migratory birds project wins Netherlands Polar Programme funding
The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded funding to four projects in the Netherlands Polar Programme. The winning applications include 'Arctic migratory birds over the edge?', main applicant: NIOO's Bart Nolet. Netherlands Polar Programme 'Arctic migratory birds over the edge?' was submitted by a consortium of experienced researchers that includes not just NIOO but KNMI, NIOZ, University of...(read more)
28-08-2020
28-08-2020
Project ICARUS to spot starlings from space
After almost two decades of preparations, a special antenna on board the International Space Station will soon start tracking individual animals from space. This autumn already, NIOO’s Centre for Avian Migration will redo a classic experiment on starlings using the new technology. ICARUS website The project's official name is ICARUS: International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space. It's...(read more)
24-08-2020
24-08-2020
High time to open up ecological research
Share the code and data behind the research: it’s easy, but will have a major positive impact on progress and trust in science. That is the clear message from a new paper in PLOS Biology. An international team of ecologists found that currently, only about a quarter of the scientific papers in...(read more)
Published 29-07-2020
Learning to recover biodiversity in three 'living labs'
What actually works when it comes to protecting plants and animals, and increasing natural diversity in the Dutch countryside? Researchers are joining forces with businesses and societal organisations in three 'living labs' to find out. Funding from the Dutch Research Agenda and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality is available. NIOO is to lead one of the labs, and carry out soil...(read more)
24-07-2020
24-07-2020
Nationwide approach to boosting knowledge of biodiversity in the Netherlands
To boost knowledge about biodiversity in the Netherlands, a nationwide approach to scientific research is required. To make such an approach possible, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ-NWO) and...(read more)
Published 10-07-2020
Open Science prize for Antica Culina's SPI-Birds project
In a special online session, Antica Culina from NIOO's department of Animal Ecology has received an award for using Open Science to make research more accessible. The Open Science Use Case Awards are part of the National Open Science Festival, which has had to be rescheduled because of the corona situation. A call for use cases was published earlier this year, inviting researchers and PhD...(read more)
03-07-2020
03-07-2020
Where have the swans gone?
Nearly 13 kilometres per year: that is the rate at which the wintering area of Bewick's swans has shifted east over the past 50 years. It's a discovery with consequences for the conservation of this migratory species, writes a team of researchers led by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-...(read more)
Published 12-06-2020
Fatal accident Scheveningen linked to unusual plankton bloom
Metres-high seafoam during a fatal accident on 11 May in Scheveningen, in which five surfers drowned, is likely to have been caused by an exceptional combination of algal remains and strong winds. That's according to a new report compiled by researchers from a number of organisations including NIOO. Read a summary in English of the report The report, coordinated by the Royal Netherlands Institute...(read more)
05-06-2020
05-06-2020
Eiko Kuramae appointed professor of Microbial Community Ecology & Environmental Genomics
NIOO-researcher Eiko Kuramae has been named professor by special appointment of Microbial Community Ecology & Environmental Genomics at Utrecht University. Kuramae is a leading expert in the ecology of terrestrial microbial communities. Her work has been instrumental in bringing the environmental genomics toolbox into the field of microbial ecology. Eiko Kuramae Kuramae brings together...(read more)
04-06-2020
04-06-2020
Vroege Vogels in Wageningen: where nature & science meet
According to the Dutch television programme Vroege Vogels, Wageningen is 'thé place in the Netherlands where nature and science meet". That's partly in reference to all the projects and experiments taking place in and around the city itself, with NIOO in one of the starring roles. • First Dutch site joins NutNet Vroege Vogels compiled its special 'Wageningen edition' at a time when there is...(read more)
28-05-2020
28-05-2020
Liesbeth Bakker appointed as Europe's first professor of rewilding
NIOO-researcher Liesbeth Bakker has been appointed Special Professor of Rewilding Ecology at Wageningen UR. It's a pioneering position: the first of its kind in all of Europe, and quite possibly the world. Rewilding is a conservation method that returns habitats to their natural state, enabling natural processes to shape land and sea and repair damaged ecosystems. Liesbeth Bakker, who has a...(read more)
23-04-2020
23-04-2020
How plants call for backup to help them stay healthy
The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded 3 million euros to a major new project on micro-organisms and plant health. The consortium carrying out the project is led by NIOO-researcher and professor at Leiden University, Jos Raaijmakers. "Our aim is to disentangle how plants recruit micro-organisms inside their roots in order to help them stay healthy". The project's findings could be a...(read more)
12-03-2020
12-03-2020
Problems with cyanobacteria will get worse if CO2 concentrations keep rising
Problems caused by toxic cyanobacteria are likely to become worse in the future. In an article in the journal Science Advances , scientists from the University of Amsterdam, together with NIOO-researcher Dedmer van de Waal, demonstrate that one common cyanobacterium in particular adapts exceptionally well to rising CO 2 concentrations. Its CO 2 uptake rate can even reach record-breaking levels...(read more)
20-02-2020
20-02-2020
Hidden dots on our world map: protist distribution uncovered
The soil is full of protists: single-celled organisms that aren't animals, plants, bacteria or fungi. Scientists including NIOO's Stefan Geisen have for the first time identified the dominant types of protists in soils from around the world. Their study, published in Science Advances , highlights the importance of this ' hidden majority ' for the belowground ecosystem. Dazzling diversity: (a)...(read more)
19-02-2020
19-02-2020
Together for biodiversity: new award for your initiative
Do you live in a rural area in the Netherlands, and do you have an idea or project that brings together the residents and the farmers in your area with the aim of boosting biodiversity? The Samen voor Biodiversiteitsprijs ('Together for Biodiversity Award') is a new Dutch prize that could see your initiative rewarded with €25,000! "We're looking forward to receiving lots of inspiring ideas, and...(read more)
27-01-2020
27-01-2020
It takes more than two to tango: Microbial communities influence sex and reproduction in animals
It is an awkward idea, but a couple’s ability to have kids may partly depend on who else is present. The reproductive tracts of males and females contain whole communities of micro-organisms. These microbes can have considerable impact on (animal) fertility and reproduction, as shown by Melissah...(read more)
Published 17-01-2020
Researchers united on international road map to insect recovery
It’s no secret that many insects are struggling worldwide. But we could fix these insects’ problems, according to more than 70 scientists from 21 countries. Their road map to insect conservation and recovery is published in Nature Ecology & Evolution this week. From urgent ‘no-regret’ solutions...(read more)
Published 06-01-2020
Inspiration for nature's future
Nature's future was the theme of NIOO's Open Day on Saturday 5 October, an event that only takes place every three years. Around 1600 visitors immersed themselves in the science of nature: ecology! Their impressions - very positive, as it turns out - kick off a short series looking back at NIOO's 2019 and ahead at what's to come. How do we cope with extreme weather and climate change? How can we...(read more)
20-12-2019
20-12-2019
Box tree moth control unlikely to cause higher great tit mortality
It is unlikely that pesticides used against the caterpillars of the box tree moth have caused higher great tit mortality in Dutch cities, according to a study carried out by CLM Research & Advice and the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). The researchers did find traces of 26 different pesticides in samples taken from dead great tit nestlings. Surprisingly, a number of these could...(read more)
18-12-2019
18-12-2019
Dedmer Van de Waal wins 2020 Yentsch-Schindler Early Career Award
NIOO-researcher Dedmer van de Waal is the winner of the 2020 Yentsch-Schindler Early Career Award, for his fundamental research on the impacts of global change on harmful algal bloom dynamics and toxicity in freshwater and marine systems, and for translating these complex scientific results into language understandable by the public. With the annual Yentsch-Schindler Early Career Award, the US-...(read more)
17-12-2019
17-12-2019
