Beginning this February, Paul Bodelier has joined our department as extraordinary professor of Functional Microbial Ecology.

How do geese know when it’s time to move north? 🪿 In a recent NPR story on goose migration, Andrea Kölzsch, assistant professor in our Department of Ecology, explains how geese “follow the green wave” in spring, tracking warmer temperatures, melting snow, and fresh vegetation along the way.

PhD candidate Yvet Telgenkamp @ecology-radboud.bsky.social was awarded a Christine Mohrmann stipend by our university. Congratulations! Read more about Yvet and the history and goal of the stipend here www.ru.nl/en/about-us/...

Christine Mohrmann Stipend for ten female PhD candidates | Radboud University

Ten female PhD candidates from Radboud University received a Christine Mohrmann Stipend on 24 February.

ru.nl

🚨 Paper alert! A new study published in Ecology Letters by Wilco Verberk and colleagues synthesized data on heat tolerance and heat tolerance plasticity across more than 500 fish species in freshwater, brackish, and marine environments.

🧵 Paper Alert! 🚨 We are happy to share a new study published in Aquatic Botany, "Macrophyte-associated methane oxidation as a key process diminishing methane emissions from agricultural drainage ditches." 🫧🌿

🧵 Today is World Wetlands Day, celebrating the importance of wetlands and their impact on people and the planet! 🌍 Two weeks ago, RTV Drenthe interviewed one of our PhD candidates, Quint van Giersbergen, in a drained peatland in Gasteren, Drenthe.

🧵 Yesterday Ana Paula Dalbem Barbosa successfully defended her doctoral thesis, a cotutelle between Radboud University and UNEMAT (Brazil), titled "Nutrient fluxes in aquaculture systems." 🎓🐟🌿

Nooit te jong om te leren: wat doet een ecoloog. Met in de hoofdrol onze collega Robin Lexmond 🦋 npo.nl/start/afspel...

Raad eens wat ik doe | NPO Start

In de mysterybox zit weer een beroep verstopt. Maar welk beroep is het dit keer? Is het een huisarts, een bouwvakker, een zangeres... of misschien wel iets heel anders? Door vier hints komen we stap v...

npo.nl

Methaan is een krachtig broeikasgas, en een deel van de uitstoot komt uit een bron die lang minder aandacht kreeg: onze binnenwateren (sloten, meren en rivieren). In het wetenschapsprogramma Focus volgt presentator Petra Grijzen het spoor van methaan.

🚨 Paper Alert! 📢We are excited to announce the publication of a new study in Nature Communications, “Identifying hotspot of peatland emissions in the EU+”, in which researchers from our department in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Greifswald, the Greifswald Moor (1/11)

New paper alert! 🚨 RU researchers Lucia Cabrera Lamanna, Ilenia Marquina Luévano, Eric Visser, and Sarian Kosten, along with co-authors Dick van Oevelen and Andreas Lorke published a study in Limnology and Oceanography Letters. Read here: aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Rooted macrophytes reduce sediment CH4 storage and net production: An experimental approach using a novel scanning method

Methane (CH4) emissions from freshwater ecosystems are significant but rarely quantified in vegetated zones. We assessed the influence of five macrophyte species that root in the sediment differing i...

aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Onderzoek van onze afdeling in de spotlight! 🌾 De “future dikes” combineren waterveiligheid met biodiversiteit - een duurzaam ontwerp voor de toekomst. Lees meer: 👉 www.intonijmegen.com/blijf-op-de-...

De Future Dikes: onze biodiverse beschermers

Onderzoekers van de Radboud Universiteit zijn al een tijd bezig met het innovatieproject ‘Future Dikes’. Het doel? Dijken ontwikkelen met een sterke, soortenrijke grasbekleding, zodat ze ons land bete...

intonijmegen.com

Gefeliciteerd aan Joost Vogels met het succesvol verdedigen van zijn proefschrift cum laude, getiteld “Out of Balance: A Stoichiometric Perspective on Heathland Biodiversity Loss.” Lees hier een interview met Joost over zijn onderzoek 👇 www.voxweb.nl/nieuws/ook-i...

Ook insecten hebben last van het stikstofprobleem – én van de maatregelen daartegen - Vox magazine

Stikstof is nog slechter voor heidegebieden dan al gedacht, laat promotieonderzoek van Joost Vogels zien. Niet alleen de planten lijden eronder, ook insecten verdwijnen, ontdekte de bioloog.

voxweb.nl

Kom kijken in ons Kassencomplex en de proeftuin! In ons kassencomplex wordt veel onderzoek gedaan, bv naar het effect van klimaatverandering op planten of naar bestuiving door insecten.

There have been some busy bees 🍯in the department! Judith van der Knaap and colleagues published a paper in Ecosystems about the contribution of drainage ditches to greenhouse gas emissions in drained peatlands here in the Netherlands. Read here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Disproportionately High Contribution of Ditches to Landscape Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Drained Peatlands - Ecosystems

Drained peatlands are a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; however, research has predominantly focused on terrestrial areas, with much less attention given to drainage ditches. Desp...

link.springer.com

Our paper on the Library of Identification Resources is out! In it, we describe how and why to record publications for the taxonomic identification of organisms in a FAIR database, and how to query that data to find applicable resources for an insect or a plant in NW Europe. doi.org/10.3897/BDJ....

Library of Identification Resources: a FAIR overview of taxonomic keys

Biodiversity is declining globally, and ecological research is key to monitor and counteract this decline. Such research requires the taxonomic identification of organisms by both professional and cit...

doi.org

Paper alert! 🚨 Check out: "Lines in the landscape" published in Nature Communications with contributions from our very own Judith van der Knaap, Sarian Kosten, and Quinten Struik! www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Lines in the landscape - Communications Earth & Environment

Ditches have many overlooked environmental and societal roles, including impact on biodiversity and pollution, and management strategies to enhance their multifunctional landscape-scale benefits are n...

nature.com

Today (August 27, 2025) is the inaugural United Nations World Lake Day. Lakes, reservoirs, and ponds are essential in ensuring global water security, flood mitigation, biodiversity, and other services. Find here a recent news story featuring department researchers: www.tubantia.nl/video/produc...

Hier wordt onderzoek gedaan naar de 'scheten' van een vijver

Uit slootjes, meren en zelfs vijvers in de achtertuin borrelen soms giftige broeikasgassen omhoog zoals methaan en lachgas. Ecoloog prof dr. Sarian Kosten van de Radboud Universiteit onderzoekt hoe di...

tubantia.nl

Paper alert! PhD student Yvet Telgenkamp and colleagues measured Sphagnum carpet subsidence in a long-term vascular plant removal experiment at Store Mosse National Park in Sweden. They found that vascular plants provide scaffolding for Sphagnum moss. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Standing tall together: Peatland vascular plants facilitate Sphagnum moss microtopography

To preserve the heterogenic and diverse nature of peatland ecosystems, a well-functioning plant community is imperative. In intact peat bogs, such com…

sciencedirect.com

Funding granted to create SMART experimental hub for aquatic-processes! What if you connect the best aquatic facilities in the Netherlands, and add data scientists? See: https://www.nwo.nl/en/news/over-eu21-million-awarded-for-projects-in-scientific-infrastructure (1/5)

Wilco Verberk recently joined an episode of the Big Biology podcast discussing heat tolerance in insects, fish, and other ectothermic animals and how collecting and sharing trait data is important to inform and implement predictive models. Tune in! bigbiology.substack.com/p/feel-the-h...

Feel the heat (Ep 132)

How do scientists measure thermal tolerance and predict organismal responses in the wild?

bigbiology.substack.com

José Paranaíba, Quinten Struik, Sarian Kosten, and colleagues published a study measuring C accumulation in the sediments of Lake Berendonck, a nearby human-made lake. They found the lake has a C storage potential, even comparable to some temperate forests! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Hydroacoustic surveys reveal high sediment carbon accumulation in an urban lake - Journal of Soils and Sediments

Purpose Insight into the distribution and sedimentation patterns of organic and inorganic carbon (OC and IC) in urban lake sediments is essential for understanding their role in the carbon (C) cycling...

link.springer.com

Looking for some inspiring reading after the long weekend? 🐣🐇 Adam Koks and colleagues from the ecology department and B-ware recently published a study in which they investigated ways to mitigate the toxicity of bicarbonate for Sphagnum mosses. Read here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Acidifying surface water and water level management promote Sphagnum health for peatland restoration and paludiculture

Sphagnum-dominated peatlands play a vital role in carbon storage worldwide. However, large areas are strongly degraded due to land-use change. Success…

sciencedirect.com

🌍 Ditches and canals in the climate spotlight! 🌊 This week, our colleagues Sofia Baliña, Jose Reinaldo Paranaíba, Quinten Struik, Judith van der Knaap, and Sarian Kosten participated in the symposium "Towards net zero: accounting for and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from ditches and canals."

Department researchers Caspar Hallmann, Eelke Jongejans, Henk Siepel and Hans de Kroon along with colleagues from Germany recently published a study in Nature demonstrating that climate change alone cannot explain declines in insect biomass. Read here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Weather anomalies cannot explain insect decline - Nature

Nature - Weather anomalies cannot explain insect decline

nature.com

Our colleague Bjorn Robroek co-authored a recently published study in Nature Climate Change discussing the role of photosynthetic microbes in peatland carbon dynamics. 🦠 Check it out: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Microbial photosynthesis mitigates carbon loss from northern peatlands under warming - Nature Climate Change

The authors use experimental and modelling approaches to understand the response of microbial photosynthesis to peatland warming. They show that warming amplifies microbial photosynthesis, which could...

nature.com

🚨Senatoren, doe het niet! Vandaag debatteert de Eerste Kamer over de desastreuze bezuinigingen op onderwijs en wetenschap. Bezuinigingen die iedereen zullen raken: van studenten tot onderzoekers, medewerkers, het bedrijfsleven en de samenleving als geheel. Doe het niet! 🟥

New paper! Comparative morphology of the larval stages of Cholevinae (Coleoptera: Leiodidae), with special reference to those in the Netherlands (doi.org/10.1163/2211...) larsgw.blogspot.com/2025/03/new-...

Paper alert! Department researchers (Judith van der Knapp, Jose Reinaldo Paranaíba, Sarian Kosten, and Quinten Struik) collaborated with colleagues abroad on a project assessing the importance of ditches and canals on global N2O and CO2 budgets. Read more: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Yesterday department researchers installed equipment to measure greenhouse gas emissions in a small lake largely covered by floating solar panels. The goal is to unravel the effects of floating solar on aquatic greenhouse gas emissions. Thanks to #Solinor for facilitating this research!