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Suzanne McGowan appointed Professor of Aquatic Ecosystem Dynamics
Meet the new Special Professor of Aquatic Ecosystem Dynamics: Suzanne McGowan. As of 2024 she is appointed at Utrecht University. Her chair offers a unique combination between the university's faculties of Science and Geosciences. McGowan integrates this with her main affiliation as the Head of Aquatic Ecology at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). As a professor, she aims to uncover how water ecosystems have been functioning, and how the major changes on our planet affect this. -
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. -
Plants provide power
Need a place to recharge your phone? Our roof features 25 m2 of energy-producing green! -
Learning from nature: Using plant-soil feedback effects to improve disease control and sustainability in greenhouse cut-flowers
In this post I will look back on our past project on using plant-soil feedbacks to improve the growth of Chrysanthemum, an important cut flower crop in The Netherlands. -
Live-in bacteria protect plants against infections
Micro-organisms living inside plant roots team up to boost the plant’s growth and tolerance to stress. This research is featured this week in the scientific journal Science. -
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. -
Caterpillars retrieve 'voicemail' by eating soil
Leaf-feeding caterpillars greatly enrich their intestinal flora by eating soil. It's even possible to trace the legacy effects of plants that previously grew in that soil through bacteria and fungi in the caterpillars. -
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. -
Extinction of Pleistocene herbivores induced major vegetation and landscape changes
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. -
Migratory animals create worldwide ecosystem
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.