Animal Ecology
The department’s research is aimed at understanding the causes and consequences of variation in life-history traits, including the underlying genomic mechanisms, as well as the variation in time and space, of population numbers and population composition.
The research of the department of Animal Ecology aims to integrate processes at the level of genes, physiology, behaviour and the population, within an evolutionary framework. Much of the research takes anthropogenic changes explicitly into account, such as adaptation to climate change, the impact of climate extremes, effects of urbanisation and changes in land-use.
The department’s research has two main objectives, which are ultimately to be integrated. In our evolutionary research, the dot on the research horizon is the transition from understanding to predicting evolution. This will involve understanding the genotype-phenotype map, with an emphasis on the role of genome methylation and on the drivers of selection. To predict these, we will focus on the role of climate extremes and human induced selection (climate change and land use change), mainly using our long-term field studies and our aviary research on small song-birds.
In our ecological research we will focus on forecasting population trends using integrated population models (for geese and swans in collaboration with CAPS partners), with an emphasis on Arctic systems (for geese and swans). Our greatest challenge is to connect evolutionary and ecological dynamics for a better understanding of the population consequences of anthropogenic effects, taking evolution into account.
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Long-term population studies
A major hallmark of the research in Animal Ecology is long-term studies on hole-breeding passerines. At four locations in the Netherlands (Hoge Veluwe, Vlieland, Oosterhout, Liesbos) we have studied populations of great tits, blue tits, pied flycatchers and a few more species. These studies started in 1955 and are the longest running studies worldwide on individually known wild birds.
The study serves three main purposes. Firstly, we analyse long term trends in our populations, for instance in how species respond to climate change. Secondly, shorter term experimental work is done that makes use of the vast amount of background data that is available. Thirdly, we collaborate with a huge number of research groups in the world where our long-term data are used either to validate new methodology or as part of a comparative study.
Because of our central role in these collaborative projects, the department has initiated the Studies of Populations of Individuals – Birds (SPI-Birds) database, which greatly facilitates such collaboration.

Animal personality
Yes, animals have personality too! Anyone who has owned a pet can confirm this. In fact, animal personality represents one of the fastest-growing research areas in ecology and behavioural biology. Animal Ecology was at the cradle of this research field, and harbours one of the longest-term datasets of personality-typed individuals in a natural population. So, why does animal personality exist? What is causing this variation and what are the consequences? In Animal Ecology, we aim to answer these questions by combining our long-term field data with focused in- and outdoor experiments.

Impact of light
Today, natural darkness at night can only be found in remote areas. With economic growth and urbanisation, we - unintentionally - expose our natural environment to ever more artificial light. We study the effects on the presence, behaviour and physiology of different species groups, and their interactions. Knowledge on why and how animals respond to light at night enables us to prevent and mitigate negative impact.

Medewerkers
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Prof. dr. Marcel Visser
- Functie
- Afdelingshoofd
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Prof. dr. Bart A. Nolet
- Functie
- Senior Researcher
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Prof. dr. Kees van Oers
- Functie
- Senior Researcher
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Dr. Melissah Rowe
- Functie
- Tenure Track
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Dr. ir. Kamiel Spoelstra
- Functie
- Researcher
Peer-reviewed publicaties
The epigenetics of animal personality
Ingrained city rhythms
Developmental stress does not induce genome‐wide DNA methylation changes in wild great tit (Parus major) nestlings
The effect of climate change on avian offspring production: A global meta-analysis
Combining acoustic tracking and LiDAR to study bat flight behaviour in three-dimensional space
Manipulating spectra of artificial light affects movement patterns of bats along ecological corridors
Variation in DNA methylation in avian nestlings is largely determined by genetic effects
Sharing habitat: Effects of migratory barnacle geese density on meadow breeding waders
Song overlapping and matching during low‐arousal singing and their relation to visual ornaments, parental care and breeding success in the great tit ( Parus major )
Rapid formation of new migration route and breeding area by Arctic geese
Environmental refuges from disease in host‐parasite interactions under global change
Estimating Density Dependence, Environmental Variance, and Long-Term Selection on a Stage-Structured Life History
Blue tits are outperformed by great tits in a test of motor inhibition, and experience does not improve their performance
Experimentally testing mate preference in an avian system with unidirectional bill color introgression
Energetic and behavioral consequences of migration
Wild goose chase:
On the Origin and Evolution of Sperm Cells (editorial)
Substrate composition impacts long-term vegetation development on blue-green roofs
Predicting the non-breeding distributions of the two Asian subspecies of Black-tailed Godwit using morphological information
Temperature synchronizes temporal variation in laying dates across European hole‐nesting passerines
Species-specific song responses emerge as a by-product of tuning to the local dialect
More grazing, more damage? Assessed yield loss on agricultural grassland relates nonlinearly to goose grazing pressure
Biased adult sex ratios in Western Europe populations of Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax as a potential warning signal of unbalanced mortalities
Transcriptional regulation underlying the temperature response of embryonic development rate in the winter moth
Forest hoverfly community collapse
Publication practice in Taxonomy
Age-dependent timing and routes demonstrate developmental plasticity in a long-distance migratory bird
The opportunity for selection
Conservation of birds in fragmented landscapes requires protected areas
Priorities for translating goodwill between movement ecologists and conservation practitioners into effective collaboration
Risk screening and management of alien terrestrial planarians in The Netherlands
A new fossil species of kiwi (Aves: Apterygidae) from the mid-Pleistocene of New Zealand
Integrated population modeling identifies low duckling survival as a key driver of decline in a European population of the Mallard
Microarthropod communities and their ecosystem services restore when permanent grassland with mowing or low-intensity grazing is installed
Causes of spatiotemporal variation in reproductive performance of Eurasian oystercatchers in a human-dominated landscape
Quantifying fixed individual heterogeneity in demographic parameters
Brood Sex Ratio in European Honey Buzzards Pernis apivorus is Related to Spring Phenology
epiGBS2
Using skin temperature and activity profiles to assign chronotype in birds
The demographic causes of population change vary across four decades in a long-lived shorebird
Sea crossings of migratory pink-footed geese: seasonal effects of winds on flying and stopping behaviour
Genomic consequences of a century of inbreeding and isolation in the Danish wild boar population
GPS tracking data of Eurasian oystercatchers (Haematopus ostralegus) from the Netherlands and Belgium
Performance of methods to detect genetic variants from bisulphite sequencing data in a non-model species
Genetic variance in fitness indicates rapid contemporary adaptive evolution in wild animals
Current breeding distributions and predicted range shifts under climate change in two subspecies of Black-tailed Godwits in Asia
Postnatal growth rate varies with latitude in range-expanding geese: The role of plasticity and day length
Sperm Numbers as a Paternity Guard in a Wild Bird
Effect of Land-Use Change on the Changes in Human Lyme Risk in the United States
Large mammal telomere length variation across ecoregions
Acceleration as a proxy for energy expenditure in a facultative-soaring bird
Extensive transgressive gene expression in testis but not ovary in the homoploid hybrid Italian sparrow
Love thy neighbour?—Spatial variation in density dependence of nest survival in relation to predator community
Host–parasite dynamics shaped by temperature and genotype: Quantifying the role of underlying vital rates
Local abundances of terrestrial mammal and bird species around indigenous villages in Suriname
An ecologist's guide for studying DNA methylation variation in wild vertebrates
Quantifying research waste in ecology
Barnacle geese Branta leucopsis breeding on Novaya Zemlya
Avian seasonal reproduction in times of global warming
Temporal correlations among demographic parameters are ubiquitous but highly variable across species
Rhizosphere microbiome response to host genetic variability
A Seed Dispersal Effectiveness framework across the mutualism-antagonism continuum
No evidence of immediate fitness benefits of within-season divorce in monogamous birds
Effects of hunting on genetic diversity, inbreeding and dispersal in Finnish black grouse ( Lyrurus tetrix )
Prior territorial responses and home range size predict territory defense in radio-tagged great tits
No reproductive fitness benefits of dear enemy behaviour in a territorial songbird
Songbird parents coordinate offspring provisioning at fine spatio-temporal scales
Warming temperatures drive at least half of the magnitude of long-term trait changes in European birds
Cross-continental differences in Black-tailed Godwit breeding densities are best explained by arthropod abundance in the chick-hatching period
The hidden cost of disturbance
Neckband loss and its effect on apparent survival estimates in Greylag Geese (Anser anser): variation with season, sex and age
Extreme bill dimorphism leads to different but overlapping isotopic niches and similar trophic positions in sexes of the charismatic extinct huia
State-dependent environmental sensitivity of reproductive success and survival in a shorebird
Bird populations most exposed to climate change are less sensitive to climatic variation
Searching for the causes of decline in the Dutch population of European Turtle Doves (Streptopelia turtur)
Biological Earth observation with animal sensors
Integrated molecular and behavioural data reveal deep circadian disruption in response to artificial light at night in male Great tits (Parus major)
Population bottleneck has only marginal effect on fitness evolution and its repeatability in dioecious Caenorhabditis elegans
Evaluation of the use of alternative sample types for mosquito-borne flavivirus surveillance
Changes in the rearing environment cause reorganization of molecular networks associated with DNA methylation
Artificial light at night affects plant‐herbivore interactions
Hotspots in the grid
Facultative and persistent offspring sex-ratio bias in relation to the social environment in cooperatively breeding red-winged fairy-wrens (Malurus elegans)
Scientists' warning on climate change and insects
11 Pressing Research Questions on How Light Pollution Affects Biodiversity
Bats seek refuge in cluttered environment when exposed to white and red lights at night
Towards open, reliable, and transparent ecology and evolutionary biology
Connecting foraging and roosting areas reveals how food stocks explain shorebird numbers
Timing of increased temperature sensitivity coincides with nervous system development in winter moth embryos
Does Arsenic Contamination Affect DNA Methylation Patterns in a Wild Bird Population? An Experimental Approach
Anyone listening? No evidence for eavesdropping on male singing interactions in the great tit, Parus major
Sperm Sizer: a program to semi-automate the measurement of sperm length
Artificial light may change flight patterns of bats near bridges along urban waterways
Motivation, accuracy and positive feedback through experience explain innovative problem solving and its repeatability
Epigenetics and Early Life Stress: Experimental Brood Size Affects DNA Methylation in Great Tits (Parus major)
Predicting impacts of food competition, climate and disturbance on a long-distance migratory herbivore
Integrating Causal and Evolutionary Analysis of Life-History Evolution
Density-dependent adaptive topography in a small passerine bird, the collared flycatcher
Migration route, stopping sites, and non-breeding destinations of adult Black-tailed Godwits breeding in southwest Fryslân, The Netherlands
Species-specific effects of thermal stress on the expression of genetic variation across a diverse group of plant and animal taxa under experimental conditions
A new fossil species of procellaria (Aves
Recent natural variability in global warming weakened phenological mismatch and selection on seasonal timing in great tits (Parus major)
Continent-wide genomic signatures of adaptation to urbanisation in a songbird across Europe
The effect of experimental lead pollution on DNA methylation in a wild bird population
Feeding ecology analysis supports a marine diet in the extinct Chatham Island Duck (Anas chathamica)
The Impact of Light Pollution on Bats Varies According to Foraging Guild and Habitat Context
Nocturnal foraging lifts time constraints in winter for migratory geese but hardly speeds up fueling
Color of Artificial Light at Night Affects Incubation Behavior in the Great Tit, Parus major
Cross-lags and the unbiased estimation of life-history and demographic parameters
Mutual mate preferences and assortative mating in relation to a carotenoid-based color trait in blue tits
Heterogeneous selection on exploration behavior within and among West European populations of a passerine bird
Prenatal auditory learning in avian vocal learners and non-learners