Ecological research infrastructures in the Netherlands
From experimental mini-ponds to research vessels, and from living labs to collections: in The Netherlands we have many ecological research facilities. This website provides a national overview of the large-scale ecological research infrastructures.
For ecological researchers in the Netherlands this overview offers opportunities to team up with other researchers and to link to existing ecological research facilities and initiatives. Currently, the inventory of large-scale ecological research facilities focuses on ecotrons, scientific (data) collections, long-term field studies and research infrastructures for fieldwork.
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Hole-breeding passerines monitoring: Vlieland
Vlieland is one of four areas in NIOO-AnE's long-term monitoring research on great tits and other bird species that started in 1955. It consists of several smaller forest areas, which together cover about 250 ha of mainly conifers and oak on poor sandy soil. As Vlieland is an island in the Wadden Sea, the area stands completely on its own. Important population questions in NIOO's long term research are/were studied here.
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Land van Ons - Warmond
The foundation 'Land van Ons' has obtained a peat meadow area near Leiden to increase biodiversity in this intensively used agricultural area. The goal is not to recreate nature, but to develop sustainable agricultural use of this land with the goal of increasing biodiversity in the area and developing management strategies that optimise its ecological, economic and recreational value.
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Limnotrons
The limnotrons are nine stainless steel indoor mesocosms with a high level of control. The dimensions are: 0.97 m in diameter, depth between 1.32 m (side) and 1.37 m (centre), volume of 922 L. The vessels can be closed with a removable PMMA flange lid. In addition to the possibility of sampling vertically with specifically designed integrated water samples, sampling can also be done by using the sampling ports positioned at three depths.
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LTSER-platform Dutch Wadden Sea
The Long-Term Socio-Ecological research platform Dutch Wadden Sea area is a large coastal area bordering the north of the Netherlands.
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LTSER-platform Veluwe
The area defined as ‘the Veluwe’ lies in the province of Gelderland, the Netherlands, West of the river IJssel and North of the river Rhine. The region hosts the largest connected nature area of the country. The natural landscape consists of a mix of forests, heathlands, sand drifts, lakes, and moorlands and is surrounded by agriculture, settlements, or infrastructure. This means there is a lot of interaction between humans and nature.
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Marker Wadden
The Marker Wadden is a newly constructed archipelago in lake Markermeer, which aims to improve the lake’s degrading food web by stimulating primary productivity. The archipelago consists of five islands that add a currently missing habitat type to the lake: shallow, sheltered waters with high nutrient availability and gradual land-water transitions.
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Mesocosms for soil-plant-insect interactions
A total of 40 mesocosms are distributed in five rows of eight mesocosms with a spacing of 0.5 m between them. In spring/summer we grow plant species that are currently expanding their range within Europe and species that belong to the same genus while being native in the Netherlands.
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Microcosms
The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) houses 36x10L microcosms (transparent polycarbonate carboys; NALGENE, Rochester, USA) for plankton research. The microcosms can be temperature-controlled in water baths (at 0.5 °C temperature resolution), and automatically stirred through magnetic stirrers mounted below the water baths.
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National Research Fleet
The National Research Fleet of the Netherlands is operated by NMF, the National Marine Facilities at NIOZ and consists of three research vessels: RV Pelagia, RV Navicula and RV Adriaen Coenen. Each is dedicated to a specific area of operation, from the shallow waters of the Wadden Sea to open oceans around the world. In addition to the vessels, NMF operates a pool of seagoing equipment.
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NPEC - Ecotron
NPEC’s Ecotron facility at Utrecht University consists of a range of 36 fully closed and controlled mesocosm systems that allow for real-life plant ecosystem analyses in real time.
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NutNet Planken-Wambuis
Two of the most pervasive human impacts on ecosystems are alteration of global nutrient budgets and changes in the abundance and identity of consumers. In spite of the global impacts of these human activities, there have been no globally coordinated experiments to quantify the general impacts on ecological systems. The Nutrient Network (NutNet) is a grassroots, global research effort to address these questions within a coordinated research network comprised of more than 130 grassland sites worldwide.
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Outdoor mesocosms
A fenced terrain (2500 m2; 80 x 32m) for performing outdoor mesoscosm experiments throughout the year, in the immediate promixity of the NIOO Aquatic Laboratories. Experiments can be performed with > 100 experimental units. There is great flexibility in the spatial set up of experimental units.
www.eco-ri.nl is initiated and maintained by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), and supported by the Dutch universities and research institutes connected to NERN (Netherlands Ecological Research Network) and/or BiodiversityXL (Centre of Excellence for Netherlands Biodiversity Research).
The inventory of ecological research infrastructures is ongoing and is expected to be completed over the course of 2023.