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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?
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New NIOO department head Suzanne McGowan: "Water networks are the world’s waste disposal system"
New head of Aquatic Ecology Suzanne McGowan comes to NIOO with a passion for lakes, wide experience working across disciplines and a research and teaching record that includes Malaysia and Greenland. -
National Science Agenda: how do we keep our biological clocks healthy?
27/11/2020 Dutch researchers joining forces in the BioClock consortium - including NIOO's Kamiel Spoelstra - have won 9.7 million euros to keep our biological clocks healthy. -
Gardens can be havens for soil animals in towns and cities
Nearly 1000 'citizen scientists' sent in their observations this year on Soil Animal Days 2019. And a surprisingly high number of people tried to do something in return for the vital services these soil creatures provide for us. -
Not all lakes are alike: spatial differences key to successful restoration
Degradation of lakes is a worldwide problem, with symptoms including toxic algae blooms. Restoration is possible, but takes a lot of time and effort. To determine what approach is most effective, spatial differences between lakes must be considered. -
Red light has no effect on bat activity
Artificial light at night can have a disruptive effect on bats, but not if the light is red. Switching to red light may therefore limit or prevent habitat loss for rare, light-shy bat species. The latest issue of Proceedings of the Royal Society B publishes results from five years of pioneering research led by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). -
Testing early warning signals for crises, in lakes
Wouldn't it be great if we could tell the state of an ecosystem or the like - healthy or heading for a crisis - by keeping track of a few key signals? Thanks to the theory of ‘tipping points’, that’s not unthinkable. Now a team of researchers led by Alena Gsell of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) has tested early warning signals: in lakes. In the Early Edition of PNAS online, they conclude that predicting works...but not yet in all cases. -
Nocturnal light makes birds change their behaviour
Songbirds change their behaviour and timing when nestboxes are exposed to artificial light at night. "They become light sleepers, literally and metaphorically", says Maaike de Jong (NIOO-KNAW). She successfully defended her thesis on the effects of different colours of light at Wageningen University on Friday. The most surprising effect she's found? Some birds are forced to become more monogamous...