Prof. Dr. Jan van Gils

'The red knot is the canary in our global coal mine'

Research interests

In the current biodiversity decline, predators are often the first to disappear. Predators are thought to play a positive role in biodiversity maintenance as they prevent certain prey species in achieving dominance, relaxing resource competition among prey, hence promoting prey growth rates, prey coexistence and diversity. Losses of species at the highest trophic levels in communities may therefore cause extinctions and shifts in size structure at lower trophic levels. However, this role of predators is still often underappreciated, largely because many ecosystems have already lost their top-predators and/or human-induced disturbances now blur the positive predation effects. Most of all, the role of migrant predators structuring communities along their migratory route has mostly been neglected.

Aiming to fill this knowledge gap, we study the role of molluscivore shorebirds for intertidal benthic communities, with a focus on the pristine and uninhabited Banc d’Arguin (Mauritania). On their way to and from Mauritania, these shorebirds (re)fuel in the Dutch Wadden Sea, an area that has lost much of its value due to human disturbance (notably bottom-disturbing fisheries). Therefore, molluscivore shorebird numbers are on the decline, both in the Wadden Sea and in West-Africa, and we are investigating whether the benthic community changes observed at Banc d’Arguin may in fact represent ‘spatial knock-on effects’ of human disturbance in the Wadden Sea. Recently, in parallel with the project in Mauritania, a project on crustacean-eating crab plovers in Barr al Hikman (Oman) has started. 

Functions

From 2020: Honorary Professor, Global Change Ecology of Migrant Shorebirds, University of Groningen

2015-2019: Lecturer, MSc programme Marine Biology, University of Groningen (ad honorem)

From 2014: Senior Scientist at NIOZ

2010-2014: Tenure Tracker at NIOZ (NWO-VIDI grant)

2006-2010: Postdoc at NIOZ (NWO-WOTRO grant)

2006-2007: Postdoc at Bristol University, UK (NWO-TALENT grant)

2003-2008: Postdoc at NIOO (KNAW-Vernieuwingsfonds)

1997-2004: PhD-student at NIOZ/University of Groningen (NWO-PIONIER grant)

Key-publications 

Rakhiemberdiev, E., Duijns, S., Karagicheva, J., Camphuysen, C. J., VRS Castricum, Dekinga, A., Dekker, R., Gavrilov, A., ten Horn, J., Jukema, J., Saveliev, A., Soloviev, M., Tibbitts, T.L., van Gils, J.A. & T. Piersma (2018). Fuelling conditions at staging sites can mitigate Arctic warming effects in a migratory bird. Nature Commun. 9, 4263.

van Gils, J.A., Lisovski, S., Lok, T., Meissner, W., Ożarowska, A., de Fouw, J., Rakhimberdiev, E., Soloviev, M.Y., Piersma, T. & M. Klaassen (2016). Body shrinkage due to Arctic warming reduces red knot fitness in tropical wintering range. Science 352, 819-821.

van Gils, J.A., van der Geest, M., Leyrer, J., Oudman, T., Lok, T., Onrust, J., de Fouw, J., van der Heide, T., van den Hout, P.J., Spaans, B., Dekinga, A., Brugge, M. & T. Piersma (2013). Toxin constraint explains diet choice, survival and population dynamics in a molluscivore shorebird. Proc. R. Soc. B 280, 20130861.

van der Heide, T., Govers, L.L., de Fouw, J., Olff, H., van der Geest, M., van Katwijk, M.M., Piersma, T., van de Koppel, J., Silliman, B.R., Smolders, A.J.P. & J.A. van Gils (2012). A three-stage symbiosis forms the foundation of seagrass ecosystems. Science 336, 1432-1434.

Piersma, T. & J.A. van Gils (2011). The Flexible Phenotype: A Body-Centred Integration of Ecology, Physiology, and Behaviour. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 238 p.

Please find my complete list of my publications on:

Google Scholar

ResearchGate

ResearcherID

Find my PhD thesis here.

Professional education

2004: PhD Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Groningen (cum laude)

1996: MSc Biology, University of Groningen (cum laude)

1990: BSc Biology, University of Groningen (cum laude)

1989: Athenaeum B, Theresialyceum, Tilburg

Awards and Prizes

2019: Vici Grant, NWO (1,5 M€)

2018: ALW Open Competition, NWO

2017: Netherlands Polar Programme Grant, NWO

2015: MARES Grant (Erasmus Mundus, EU) 

2013: Research Project Grant, TRC (Oman)

2011: ALW Open Competition, NWO

2009: Vidi Grant, NWO

2007: Dutch Zoology Prize, Royal Dutch Zoological Society

2006: WOTRO Integrated Programme, NWO

2005: Rubicon Grant, NWO

2004: Best PhD Thesis in Functional Ecology Graduate School

Projects

Arctic warming and migrant shorebirds: an in-depth investigation of warming-induced phenotypic changes and their lifelong impact in both the Arctic and the tropics (NWO-VICI grant)

Coping with phenological mismatch: how an insectivorous migrant shorebird may mitigate the negative effects of a warming Arctic by prey and patch selection (NW-ALW grant)

BodyShrinkage: investigating Arctic warming-induced body shrinkage of long-distance migrants (NWO-NPP grant)

Pervasive impact of avian migrant predators on intertidal communities may connect  ecosystems on a global scale (NWO-VIDI grant)  

Remote sensing and geospatial data analysis of Barr al Hikman intertidal ecosystem (TRC grant, Oman)

Cascading predator-prey effects in a pristine seagrass-based food web (NWO-ALW grant)

Fragile biodiversity linkages: production and consumption in a nutrient-poor seagrass-dominated intertidal ecosystem, the Banc d’Arguin, Mauritania (NWO-WOTRO grant)