Ecological research infrastructures in the Netherlands

Field station De Herdershut (the shepherd’s hut) of the University of Groningen on the Wadden Island of Schiermonnikoog is the Netherlands' northernmost scientific research station and the home base for research in the eastern Wadden Sea.

This series of facilities hosts different types of flume systems which serve to control water movement by a combination of flow and waves. The flume systems are used to study how water movement affects spatial development, functioning and resilience of the estuarine and coastal ecological landscape. The facility also hosts a wave mesocosm, to study the interaction between hydrodynamics and benthic organisms.

In a set of larger and smaller cuvettes the gaseous atmospheric composition can be adjusted. This primarily concerns elevated or lower CO2 levels, or reduced oxygen content. Alternative gasses can be supplied, such as stable isotopically labelled 13CO2. Cuvettes are connected via a flow though system, which then also allows whole plant/canopy photosynthesis and respiration measurements.

Hackfort is an oak coppice grove in the East-Southeast of the city of Zutphen in the province of Gelderland, the Netherlands. The forest is situated at the transition from western riverine deposits and eastern periglacial cover sands.

Hoge Veluwe 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 a large forest area of more than 350 ha of mainly conifers and oak on poor sandy soil. This area is part of the largest forest complex in the Netherlands, De Veluwe. Every breeding season, many students and researchers are involved in doing field work at Hoge Veluwe.

Liesbos 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 a large forest area of about 100 ha of deciduous trees, mainly oak, on rich sandy-loam soil.

Oosterhout is the last of four areas in NIOO-AnE's long-term monitoring research on great tits and other bird species. Research there started in 1956, one year after the other three areas. It consists of deciduous forest of mainly oak trees on a country estate of about 8 ha, and has a rich clay-sandy-loam soil. Oosterhout has around 150 nestboxes.

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.

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.

The limnotrons are twelve stainless steel indoor mesocosms with a high level of control. The dimensions are: 0.97 m in diameter, 1.32 m (side) and 1.37 m (centre) depth, and a maximum volume of 922 L. In addition to the possibility of sampling vertically with specifically designed integrated water samplers, sampling can also be done by using the sampling ports positioned at three depths. The vessels are equipped with automatic sensors (oxygen, temperature, light), which can make pre-programmed depth profiles.

The Living Lab is an outdoor lab, suited for research on the consequences of pollution from pesticides, fertilisers, microplastics, advanced materials and invasive species such as crayfish. It consists of 32 ditches (8 meter length, 50 cml width, 30-60 cm depth)that are allowed to develop natural communities so that actual biodiversity and ecosystem functionality impacts can be assessed. The ditch systems are connected o a watershed that allows natural colonization of organisms into the test ditches (=cosms).

Besides, it is an important place for education of elementary school pupils to higher education students.

The aim of Living Lab B7 is best summarised as providing insights and KPI’s (critical performance indicators) to Greenport Duin- and Bollenstreek, Nationaal Park Hollandse Duinen and the Deltaplan Biodiversiteitsherstel to contribute to the practice of biodiversity recovery in rural areas on local, regional and national scales.