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Buzzing decline: Dutch landscape is losing insect-pollinated plants
The Netherlands is losing plant species that rely on pollination by insects. Leiden environmental scientist Kaixuan Pan demonstrates this after analysing 87 years of measurements from over 365,000 plots. The news is alarming for our biodiversity and food security. "75 per cent of our crops and 90% of the wild plants rely on insects." -
Seasonal timing
Species can adapt over the course of time. As the lives of species are altered by climate change, a different seasonal timing could make them adapt to an early spring, for example. How does this work, and what are the limits to such adaptations? -
The pandemic and the 'anthropause': European lessons for water managers
The COVID-19 pandemic presented scientists with a unique opportunity to study the effects of an ‘anthropause’: an abrupt reduction of, and/or alteration in, human activities. -
‘Insects need our help in a warming world, now’
‘If no action is taken to better understand and reduce the impact of climate change on insects, we will drastically limit our chances of a sustainable future with healthy ecosystems.’ This warning in a very topical paper in Ecological Monographs comes from 70 scientists from 19 countries around the world. But, they also provide ways to help insects in a warming world complete with management strategies. -
PhD thesis defence Azkia Nurfikari: residual streams from insect cultivation for sustainable crop management
Azkia Nurfikari will defend her PhD thesis "Prospects of residual streams from insect cultivation for sustainable crop management".
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Sustainable toilet use
An average toilet cistern has a 10-liter capacity. How can we prevent wasting all that water? -
Using wastewater as a resource
Not all wastewater is necessarily 'dirty'. Toilet water can even be used as a clean energy source! -
Nature research and society
NIOO has a vigorous and long-standing commitment to societal impact. Not only is NIOO housed in a sustainable building designed to translate our ecological principles in terms of architecture and construction, we also have a number of units that are tailor-made for disseminating our ecological knowledge to specific target groups, we have a very active outreach policy, and we actively involve citizens in our research through large-scale citizen-science projects. -
Common insecticide linked to extreme decline in freshwater insects
Thiacloprid, a widely-used pesticide, can cause a large-scale decline in freshwater insects. This was discovered by a team of researchers from Leiden University, including current NIOO-director Geert de Snoo. -
Sustainable use of land & water
Healthy surface water and soils are essential for life on earth, providing diverse life-support functions. How are these ecosystem services affected by human activity, and how can we change this?