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Seasonal timing
Species can adapt over the course of time. As the lives of species are altered by climate change, a different seasonal timing could make them adapt to an early spring, for example. How does this work, and what are the limits to such adaptations? -
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. -
How do nutrients and temperature affect cyanobacterial bloom toxicity?
Toxic cyanobacterial blooms threaten freshwater quality, made worse by climate change and eutrophication. The toxicity of these blooms depends not only on cyanobacteria quantity but also on the presence potentially toxin-producing species and genotypes, and their varied toxin production. -
Climate change impacts on harmful algal blooms
Harmful cyanobacterial blooms produce toxins that are a major threat to water quality and human health. Blooms increase with eutrophication and are expected to be amplified by climate change. Yet, we lack a mechanistic understanding on the toxicity of blooms, and their response to the complex interplay of multiple global change factors. Bloom toxicity is determined by a combination of mechanisms acting at different ecological scales, ranging from cyanobacterial biomass accumulation in the ecosystem, to the dominance of toxic species in the community, contribution of toxic genotypes in the population, and the amounts of toxins in cells. -
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. -
PhD thesis defence Natalie van Dis: rapid adaptation to climate change in winter moth
On 6 June 2023, Natalie van Dis will defend her PhD thesis titled "Evolution in action: drivers of rapid adaptation to climate change in the winter moth". The ceremony will start at 12:45 h., in the academy building of the University of Groningen.
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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. -
Seasonal timing of growth and reproduction: ultimate functions and proximate mechanisms
For many species, there is only a short period in the annual cycle in which conditions are suitable for reproduction or growth. -
Climate change could make cyanobacteria more toxic
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. -
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.