Climate change
Ewout Knoester
Marine ecosystems are challenged by various aspects of climate change. In order for ecosystems to persist they need to be resilient: able to absorb and withstand stress, maintain function and, if necessary, evolve into configurations that are able to thrive. Marine Animal Ecology aims to increase climate resilience of reefs through understanding how organisms respond to change and how we can best protect them.
Projects
Ewout Knoester
In Kenya, the REEFolution Foundation is working to actively restore degraded reef areas in collaboration with local communities. MAE plays a key role in shaping and conducting the scientific research behind the restoration work. Together with Kenyan and international partners, MAE develops and implements applied research to improve the effectiveness, scalability, and climate resilience of reef restoration in the Western Indian Ocean.
Ronald Osinga
To combat the loss of corals through bleaching, we must better understand the physiological basis of the bleaching process. To study bleaching under controlled laboratory conditions, MAE has designed an aquarium system that is specifically targeted to execute field-relevant heat stress tests on live corals.
Research themes
Biodiversity
We perform fundamental research to answer questions such as how biodiversity is generated and maintained and what the underlying processes are.
Climate change
Marine Animal Ecology aims to increase climate resilience of reefs through understanding how organisms respond to change and how we can best protect them.
Local stressors
Marine Animal Ecology studies the effect of stressors on marine life through various experiments.
Nature-based solutions
Marine Animal Ecology works in Kenya, the Dutch Caribbean and the North Sea on various restoration projects.
Marine Animal Ecology
The Marine Animal Ecology group, led by Tinka Murk, studies how marine animals adapt in response to a changing environment.