news 2021

A scientific consortium has found that ancient El Niño-like weather patterns were the primary drivers of environmental change in sub-Saharan Africa over the last 620 thousand years - the critical timeframe for the evolution of our species. The group, including Dr William Gosling from the University of Amsterdam, found that these ancient weather patterns had more profound impacts in sub-Saharan Africa than glacial-interglacial cycles more commonly linked to human evolution.

A new study shows that differences between juvenile and adult individuals are crucial for the stability of complex ecological communities. These findings, now published in the scientific journal Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences by Prof. André de Roos from the University of Amsterdam, provides important information about the dynamics and functioning of diverse ecological communities.

Researchers of the University of Amsterdam have installed a BirdScan radar at the elephant enclosure in ARTIS Amsterdam Royal Zoo to record bird migration. This BirdScan radar is part of the first site of the national research project ARISE that has the ultimate aim to monitor biodiversity in the Netherlands.

Marine biologists have been able to visualize for the first time how tropical sponges and their symbiotic bacteria work together to consume and recycle organic food. The research led by Meggie Hudspith and Jasper de Goeij from the University of Amsterdam, was a collaborative project with colleagues from the Australian Universities of Sydney, Queensland and Western Australia, and the research institute Carmabi on Curaçao, and is now published in the scientific journal Microbiome.

The feeding behaviour of several invertebrate animals in aquatic food webs is drastically changed by increasing inputs of nitrogen and phosphorus into surface waters. This is demonstrated in a new study by researchers from the University of Amsterdam and Wageningen Environmental Research, that is now published in the scientific journal Ecology.