- Animal Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution
- Movement Ecology, Animal Personality, Spatial Ecology, Social Behaviour
- Habitat Use, Optimal Foraging, Trophic Interactions, Social Information Use
- Animal Tracking, Experimental Design
- Wadden Sea
Dr. Allert Bijleveld
'Tracking animal movement in a changing and dynamic environment'
Behavioural ecologist Allert Bijleveld studies how animals adapt to the changing and dynamic tidal environment of the Wadden Sea. He is particularly interested in animal movement and spatial distributions. ‘Where do birds and fish go, and where do they find their food? How do birds adapt to sea level rise and land subsidence due to gas or salt extraction when intertidal mudflats become inaccesible for finding food? How long do fish stay in the Wadden Sea while migrating from lake IJssel to the English Channel? What are hotspots for biodiversity of worms, shellfish and shrimp living in and on the intertidal mudflats? The answers to questions like these will tell us what areas are crucial and what animals will get into trouble due to human activities, such as mining, fishing, and climate change.’
Ideal model
‘One of my study species are Red Knots. These are shorebirds that breed in the Arctic and winter in Europe and Africa. Because we have studied them for so long, they have now become an ideal model system that can also help us understand other animals, even fish. The interaction between an animal and its environment is, by definition, complex, and so it is good to work with a species that we already know a lot about. Red Knots feed on shellfish, such as small cockles and Balthic tellins, that they swallow whole and crush in their muscular gizzard. If there is one thing that we have learned in these years, it is the intricate relationship between Red Knots and their food. When less food is available, for instance due to shell fisheries or land subsidence, shorebirds will disappear. In the past decades, we have seen that the numbers of Red Knots in this part of the world - the so-called flyway population – have not changed. Red Knots that had settled in the Dutch Wadden Sea could so-far – thankfully – find an alternative elsewhere.'
Baseline
To know how animals adapt to a changing world, you also need to know how they would normally behave in a steady environment. And this is almost a contradiction: the Wadden Sea is dynamic and per definition not steady. Moreover, we have learned that, even within species, there are huge differences between individuals. Some individuals are very cautious, and other fly huge distances per tide in search of food.
‘My research is mainly driven by an intrinsic fascination for the dynamic Wadden Sea. I am convinced that if one persists with that fundamental, curiosity-driven research for long enough, then practical applications will always emerge. For example, already Red Knots teach us about how nature responds to the changes that we cause in their world.’
More information about the work of Allert Bijleveld can be found here.
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Interests
Research interests
I am a behavioural ecologist focussed on studying consistent individual differences (animal personality), social behaviour, and trophic interactions in coastal ecosystems. Particularly, I am interested in studying how different phenotypes interact with the environment to shape movement, spatial distributions and fitness. In my studies, I combine experiments, modelling, field observations, and the latest tracking technologies. I have mainly studied marine macrozoobenthos and birds, but I will expand my research to include fish.
If you are interested in a project or a collaboration with me, please feel free to send me an e-mail or contact me on Twitter @AllertBijleveld.
Linked news
Linked blogs
NIOZ publications
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2024
Colina Alonso, A.; Van Maren, D.S.; Oost, A.P.; Esselink, P.; Lepper, R.; Kösters, F.; Bartholdy, J.; Bijleveld, A.I.; Wang, Z.B. (2024). A mud budget of the Wadden Sea and its implications for sediment management. Commun. Earth Environ. 5(1): 153. https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01315-9de la Barra, P.; Aarts, G.M; Bijleveld, A. (2024). The effects of gas extraction under intertidal mudflats on sediment and macrozoobenthic communities. J. Appl. Ecol. 61(2): 390-405. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.14530Edwards, J.E.; Buijse, A.D.; Winter, H.V.; Bijleveld, A.I. (2024). Gone with the wind: environmental variation influences detection efficiency in a coastal acoustic telemetry array. Animal Biotelemetry 12(1): 21. https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40317-024-00378-xEdwards, J.E.; Buijse, A.D.; Winter, H.V.; Van Leeuwen, A.; Bijleveld, A.I. (2024). A multi-scale tracking approach for conserving large migratory fish in an open coastal environment. Est., Coast. and Shelf Sci. 301: 108737. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2024.108737
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