Lisette de Senerpont Domis is to be appointed professor of Smart Ecological Monitoring of Aquatic Systems at the University of Twente as of 1 May.

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.

Fields and meadows provide a range of key services, as long as the soil is healthy. A group of researchers and companies will study how farmlands can be returned to multifunctionality.

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.

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

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.

New head of Aquatic Ecology Suzanne McGowan comes to NIOO with a passion for lakes, wide experience working across disciplines and a research and teaching record that includes Malaysia and Greenland.

Thiacloprid, a widely-used pesticide, can cause a large-scale decline in freshwater insects. This was discovered by a team of researchers from Leiden University, including current NIOO-director Geert de Snoo.

‘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.

A team of ecologists and microbiologists that includes NIOO's Paul Bodelier has identified a unique organism in samples from a Romanian cave nicknamed 'Stinky Mountain'. The novel bacteria can grow on methane, an important greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.