Nature reports

A British enthusiasm for feeding birds may have caused UK great tits to have evolved longer beaks than their European counterparts, according to new research. The findings, published in Science, identify for the first time the..

If the weather's clear, you can see them from the air: the Marker Wadden. They're brand new islands in the Markermeer, a lake in the central Netherlands that was once part of the saltwater Zuiderzee. As more and more land emerges..

In late March, the Netherlands Institute of Ecology launched an appeal to submit any sightings of mother ducks with ducklings to researcher Erik 'Dr. Duck' Kleyheeg. The aim of his citizen science project is to find out why..

Northern lapwings are easy to spot during the breeding season, with their noisy aerial acrobatics. But as research led by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) shows, lapwings that breed virtually next to each other in..

Artificial light at night can have a disruptive effect on bats, but not if the light is red. Switching to red light may therefore limit or prevent habitat loss for rare, light-shy bat species. The latest issue of Proceedings of..

A new article published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution suggests that the best way to prevent loss of biodiversity is by maintaining a species-rich environment. Sounds obvious? Not according to one of the authors of..

An oystercatcher nest is washed away in a storm surge. Australian passerine birds die during a heatwave. A late frost in their breeding area kills off a group of American cliff swallows. Small tragedies that may seem unrelated,..

The breeding grounds of Arctic migratory birds such as the barnacle goose are changing rapidly due to accelerated warming in the polar regions. They won't be able to keep up with the changes unless they can somehow anticipate..

When it comes to their role in aquatic ecosystems, exotic water plants are generally no different than indigenous species. In fact, they can be an asset, argues Bart Grutters of NIOO-KNAW in his PhD thesis. That doesn't mean all..

Now that the first ducklings of the season have hatched, NIOO's own 'Dr Duck' - researcher Erik Kleyheeg - is appealing to citizen scientists in the Netherlands to help him solve a mystery...