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Adaptation of species
During recent centuries, human activities have dramatically changed the habitats of wild animals, plants and micro-organisms. Ecologists at NIOO are interested in how species can adapt to these rapid changes, for example through (micro)evolution. The ability of organisms to do this has a major impact on biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystems. -
Enhancing Soil Biodiversity
At NIOO, we are on a mission to explore the strange world beneath our feet, to seek out new soil-borne life, uncover new miniature civilisations, and to boldly take humankind where it could not go before. -
Forest soil boost for iconic Dutch national park
A major NIOO-supervised experiment is underway in one of the Netherlands most iconic nature areas, with a key role for the soil. -
Global comparison shows: soil transplantation boosts nature restoration
A new study comparing 46 field experiments in 17 countries across four continents shows that areas in need of nature restoration benefit from soil transplantation. The results were collected by an international team led by Jasper Wubs (NIOO-KNAW). -
Awakening sleeping antibiotics with ERC Advanced grant
Facilitating the search for new antibiotics: that's what Gilles van Wezel aims to do by looking at similarities in the DNA of antibiotic-producing bacteria. -
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. -
Evolution in your back garden – great tits may be adapting their beaks to birdfeeders
British enthusiasm for feeding birds may have caused UK great tits to have evolved longer beaks than their European counterparts, according to new research. The findings, published in Science, identify for the first time the genetic differences between UK and Dutch great tits which researchers were then able to link to longer beaks. -
Restoring nature the fast way
Restoring nature is not for the impatient: it takes a lot of time before the right plant species establish themselves. But experiments show there's a way to speed up the process, from decades to just a few years. A new website from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) tells you everything you need to know. Meanwhile, one of the researchers working on this pioneering approach defended his PhD thesis this week. -
Soil inoculation works!
Restoring nature, for instance on former farmland? That works a lot faster, more precise, and less disruptive via soil inoculation. Take a bit of healthy soil from a natural area close by and restore the desired type of nature within a couple of years. In the journal Nature Plants, the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and Natuurmonumenten (Society for Nature Conservation) also solve a long-lasting subject of discussion: it’s the soil bugs that steer such nature restoration. -
Identifying plant and animal DNA switches much faster and cheaper
Epigenetics is a fast-growing field of research all over the world. Ecological epigenetics has now been further advanced thanks to the development of a new research technique. ‘This technique is cheaper and faster and enables research that was previously impossible to conduct.’ The time has come to look at how important epigenetic changes really are for dealing with climate change, plagues and other stress-factors. The research team led by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) is publishing its technique in the scientific journal Nature Methods.