As a new year begins, NIOO looks back not just on the past twelve months but on 150 years of ecology. We've come a long way since German biologist Ernst Haeckel first coined the term in 1866...

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.

Climate change could result in more toxic cyanobacteria. But what determines their toxicity? Dedmer van de Waal has won a major European grant to find out.

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.

Climate change could lead to an increased occurrence of harmful algal blooms in Dutch coastal waters in the future. NIOO-researchers Karen Brandenburg and Dedmer van de Waal have been studying the dense blooms formed by tiny organisms known as dinoflagellates.