News
Monday 27 November 2023
A warmer Wadden Sea: tough choices for fish
For cold-blooded species, temperature determines their activity and metabolism: if it is warm enough, they become active and if it gets too cold, they remain still. But apart from temperature, fish respond to more environmental factors: for example,…
Tuesday 21 November 2023
Looking for ‘LUCA’ and the timing of cellular evolution
LUCA, the ‘last universal common ancestor’ of all living organisms, lived 4.32 to at most 4.52 billion years ago. This is indicated by a study from NIOZ biologists Tara Mahendrarajah and senior author Anja Spang, with collaborating partners from…
Tuesday 21 November 2023
Changing climate homogenizes diversity in migratory birds
Changing climate may slowly erode the difference between two subspecies of bar-tailed godwits. That warning is voiced by bird researchers from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and the University of Amsterdam (UvA) in the latest…
Thursday 16 November 2023
Succesful sanderlings go for shrimp
Against the trends for many shorebirds, sanderlings have been doing relatively well in the Wadden Sea for the past years. The key to that success lies in the timing of these little birds' main food: shrimp on the mudflats. That is one of the…
Thursday 16 November 2023
Calciferous organisms are a good tool in climate research (but you should know how to operate it!)
The fossil calciferous skeletons of single-celled foraminifers are a beautiful history book with information on CO2-levels in the oceans of the distant past. "But if you want to fully understand that history, you must first understand exactly how…
Tuesday 14 November 2023
Quality of tidal mudflats changes in gas extraction area of Wadden Sea
As tidal flats subside due to gas extraction, their composition changes. This is shown in a paper that is published in this month’s Journal of Applied Ecology. "The average grain size in the parts of the mudflats where gas is extracted has decreased…
Thursday 09 November 2023
43 years on the Navicula: about seabirds, flatfish and pancakes
On Thursday 9 November, the RV Navicula returned to Texel from her last planned cruise for the National Research Fleet. Since 1980, she has made a lot of research possible on water movements, plankton, benthic animals, fish and birds in the Wadden…
Wednesday 08 November 2023
How do plants outside the dikes keep up with sea level rise? They build a growing creek landscape
Salt marshes are hugely important natural areas on the seaward side of our dikes. They are home to plants and animals, they store a lot of CO2 and they protect the coast against the force of the waves. However, these salt marshes face threats from…
Monday 06 November 2023
David Thieltges receives the 29th Petersen Excellence Professorship
With his work in the field of marine parasite ecology, NIOZ researcher David Thieltges provides important insights into the functioning of marine ecosystems and ocean health. In honour of his contributions, the Prof. Dr. Werner Petersen Foundation…
Thursday 02 November 2023
Delta Climate Center in Vlissingen is taking shape
More than 500 million people worldwide live in deltas like Zeeland. The livability of these delta areas is under pressure, partly due to climate change, rising sea levels and loss of biodiversity. The question of how we can make deltas safe and…
