WAGENINGEN – In the animal kingdom, travel is key: that is the conclusion of Silke Bauer’s research in a nutshell. The NIOO-ecologist and an Australian colleague list the numerous species that migrate from one location to another. According to the two researchers, the effects of these migrations on world ecosystems have been overlooked. Time to give the billions of geese, locusts, butterflies, herrings and wildebeest that wander the globe their proper due.

WAGENINGEN - NIOO-KNAW's Centre for Avian Migration and Demography has ringed birds and studied their migration patterns for over a century. In its first-ever peer review, the Centre has been rated 'excellent'.

WAGENINGEN – Insects are choosier than you might think: whether or not they end up feeding on a particular plant depends on much more than just the species to which that plant belongs. The quality of the individual plant is an important factor as well. As is the variety of other plants growing around it. But what, ultimately, makes an insect choose one plant over another?

It’s no secret that many insects are struggling worldwide. But we could fix these insects’ problems, according to more than 70 scientists from 21 countries. Their road map to insect conservation and recovery is published in Nature Ecology & Evolution this week. From urgent ‘no-regret’ solutions to long-term global comparisons.

On 6 July, His Majesty King Willem-Alexander will pay a working visit to the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) in Wageningen.  

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.

The extinction of large herbivores such as mammoths could explain massive prehistoric changes in vegetation and landscape structure, with major implications for our understanding of present-day ecosystems. Modern and paleo-ecologists joined forces in an international study led by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). The results are being published online by PNAS this week.

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.

‘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.