Dossier
Exotic species in the Netherlands
Exotic species, also known as alien or introduced species, are animals, plants, fungi or micro-organisms imported through human activity into an area where they do not originally occur, but where they proceed to thrive. Species which were introduced to the Netherlands before the year 1500, such as the rabbit, the pheasant and the mute swan, do not count and are considered indigenous.
Exotic species are sometimes introduced deliberately. An example is the multicoloured Asian ladybird, released in Europe 20 years ago to combat aphids. Pheasants and fallow deer were once released as hunting game. And every year hundreds of turtles and pond perch are released into Dutch watercourses when their owners have had enough of them.
But a lot of species get introduced by accident. Sometimes pets or ornamental animals escape from captivity, as did the Egyptian goose, the Pallas’s squirrel and the Italian crested newt. Marine creatures such as the Chinese mitten crab are brought in with ballast water from ships; the tiger mosquito hitches a ride on tropical plants. And since a canal was dug between the Rhine and Danube 20 years ago, fish species from the Danube watershed, such as the round goby and the money goby, have been able to reach our waters.
There is another category of newcomers that we do not count as exotic: species such as the great egret, whose habitat is shifting as a result of climate change. They are counted in the same category as the lynx, wildcat, wolf and perhaps the golden jackal: animals that settle here of their own accord.
Species monitoring through eDNA
With the help of environmental DNA (eDNA), researchers can demonstrate the presence of animal species, for example based on water samples.
Publications
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Food essentialism is associated with perceptions of plant-based meat alternatives possessing properties of meat-based products
Food Quality and Preference (2025), Volume: 123 - ISSN 0950-3293 -
Arthropod abundance is most strongly driven by crop and semi-natural habitat type rather than management in an intensive agricultural landscape in the Netherlands
Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment (2025), Volume: 378 - ISSN 0167-8809 -
Durability assessment of lignin-based asphalt for sustainable road construction
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Carbon and greenhouse gas budgets of Europe: trends, interannual and spatial variability, and their drivers
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Mapping the development of agroecology in Europe - Volume 2
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A spatially explicit model of beaver river-floodplains: understanding drivers and mapping opportunities for restoration
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Food systems resilience dialogue and pathway development : Jonglei State and Greater Pibor Administrative Area - South Sudan
Wageningen: Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (Report / Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation WCDI-24-323) -
Transcriptomic Analysis of Pubertal and Adult Virgin Mouse Mammary Epithelial and Stromal Cell Populations
Journal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia (2024), Volume: 29 - ISSN 1083-3021 -
KPI’s voor dierenwelzijn : achtergronddocument
Bunnik: Louis Bolk Instituut -
Dataset Spiritual Values in Forest Management Practices