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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. -
Impact of nutrients
Nutrient availability in natural ecosystems has increased due to anthropogenic activities like spill-over from agricultural ecosystems. In the Netherlands, this has led to the acidification of natural areas for example. At NIOO, we aim to understand the impact of nutrients on natural systems in more detail, to help to bring back the balance. -
Inaugural lecture by Dedmer van de Waal
Op donderdag 6 juli houdt Dedmer van de Waal zijn oratie als bijzonder hoogleraar Aquatische Functionele Ecologie aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam. -
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. -
Is agroforestry the answer for rainforest restoration?
The conversion of Amazon rainforest for agriculture has led to deforestation and soil degradation. Agroforestry has been suggested as a sustainable alternative, but NIOO's Eiko Kuramae says its impact on the soil needs to be more fully considered. -
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. -
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. -
Large herbivores can bend the curve of biodiversity loss in tropical forests
A 10-year experiment in Brazil’s endangered Atlantic Forest, led by NIOO-researcher Nacho Villar, has found that there's less biodiversity loss in areas where large herbivores can roam free. -
Vroege Vogels in Wageningen: where nature and science meet
28/05/2020 According to the Dutch television programme Vroege Vogels, Wageningen is 'thé place where nature and science meet", with NIOO in a starring role. -
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.