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Dealing with bluegreen algae
Worldwide, excessive nutrient loads in lakes and reservoirs have led to the rapid increase of harmful cyanobacteria. Blooms of these algae block the use of surface water for drinking, irrigation and recreation. Climate change is expected to further increase the frequency, duration, and magnitude of cyanobacterial blooms. Aquatic ecologists from NIOO are busy gaining more detailed insights into cyanobacterial blooms across scales, in future climates and in respect to toxicity. -
Costs of scaring grass-eating barnacle geese often outweigh the benefits
At the current population sizes, the practice of scaring geese off pastures in the province of Friesland probably ends up costing more than it saves. Ecologist Monique de Jager and colleagues from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Utrecht University, Wageningen University & Research and the University of Amsterdam conclude this based on a model study, that was conducted as part of the Dutch contribution to European goose management. The results suggest that scaring geese is cost-effective only when there are few geese in the area. -
Climate change impacts on harmful algal blooms
Harmful cyanobacterial blooms produce toxins that are a major threat to water quality and human health. Blooms increase with eutrophication and are expected to be amplified by climate change. Yet, we lack a mechanistic understanding on the toxicity of blooms, and their response to the complex interplay of multiple global change factors. Bloom toxicity is determined by a combination of mechanisms acting at different ecological scales, ranging from cyanobacterial biomass accumulation in the ecosystem, to the dominance of toxic species in the community, contribution of toxic genotypes in the population, and the amounts of toxins in cells. -
Great tits don't inherit ability to think on their feet
How important is cognitive flexibility for the ability of great tits to adapt to climate change? Krista van den Heuvel did her PhD research at NIOO on this question. -
Developing digital twins to help understand ecosystems
LTER-LIFE aims to study and predict how global change affects ecosystems. It is one of nine projects that have just won funding for setting up and improving large-scale research infrastructure. -
The relationship between yield loss and grazing pressure: implications for goose management
Grazing by geese can cause a lot of damage to agricultural crops. Goose management aims to reduce such damages, for example by actively reducing population sizes. -
More grazing geese does not always mean less harvest
An international team led by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) looked at the impact of different goose species and the number of geese on agricultural damage in the province of Friesland. -
Multifunctional grounds
Besides the latest ecotechnology, the grounds also feature aviaries, ponds, greenhouses and experimental gardens. -
A living, breathing building
As sustainable as possible, in as many respects as possible: that was the imperative when the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) commissioned a new building. And we have done it! -
Microbial Networks controlling soil greenhouse gases emissions
Soils are considered principally non-renewable resources. Soil ecosystem services have a large impact on numerous societal demands and are of high economic importance. Within the area of sustainable agriculture, it is expected that agricultural production will increasingly rely on the natural nutrient retention and recycling capabilities of soil. This project seeks to provide a fundamental scientific understanding of soil functioning and the resulting ecosystem services in Brazilian and Dutch bio-economies based on innovative microbial ecology and soil science studies. Focus is in sugarcane crop production systems by linking soil microbial composition and functioning, waste residues recycling, fertilizers, soil factors and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions through integrating and complementing the strong expertise of Brazilian and Dutch researchers from different areas of agronomy, soil sciences, plant nutrition, biogeochemistry, soil ecology, microbial ecology, ecological genomics, molecular ecology and bioinformatics. We will quantify the microbial functional groups and microbial abundance of C and N cycle genes and measure GHG emissions (CO2, CH4 and N2O) from soils during the productive cycle of the plant under different management practices and verify the temporal and spatial variability of these emissions in the evaluated treatments with different concentrations of sugarcane vinasse residue combined with N mineral fertilizers in combination with straw additions, and determine the conditions under which such GHG emissions can be counteracted, or minimized most. The proposed project will enhance fundamental scientific understanding of the interactive role of the microbial networks operating in soil and the consequences of bio-based agricultural management practices for the functioning of soil systems.