Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Group
In the Anthropocene, human pressures on wildlife are reaching unprecedented levels. Animals, plants, and entire ecosystems must bear these pressures across different spatial and temporal scales. We, the members of the Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Group (WEC), study how humans influence wildlife. We examine both direct mechanisms like hunting and fire, and mechanisms that are more indirect and that are part of larger-scale processes, such as climate change.
Featured
Wild bird distribution a good predictor of avian influenza outbreaks on poultry farms
Data on the distribution of mallard ducks, mute swans, and brent geese can help predict the risk of an avian influenza outbreak on poultry farms. This conclusion is derived from research conducted by Janneke Schreuder of Wageningen University & Research in collaboration with Utrecht University and Sovon Vogelonderzoek.
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In general, we engage in three main research lines:
- We investigate how individual animals perform and adapt in response to both anthropogenic and natural changes, and how this affects functioning, viability, and resilience from populations to ecosystems.
- We study ecological interactions and their cascading effects on processes and patterns at lower and higher levels of biological organisation.
- We identify conservation options, and we test the effectiveness of conservation interventions.
Important themes that cut across our main research lines include:
- animal movement and distributions
- population dynamics
- trophic interactions
- disease and physiology
News
Selected projects
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SmartParks: using technology for anti-poaching
The Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Group, together with Welgevonden Game Reserve, MTN and IBM, is working on a new anti-poaching system (called... -
Snapshot Hoge Veluwe - Wildlife ecology with camera traps
National Park De Hoge Veluwe and Wageningen University operate a wildlife survey system that is unique in the world. Since 2013, 50-70 camera traps... -
Using technology to benefit bird conservation
Lack of knowledge is one of the factors often limiting effective species conservation. Even in this day and age fundamental knowledge on species... -
The importance of carcasses in nature
How do dead animals (i.e. “carcasses”) decompose in nature? Which nutrients are stored in the bodies of carcasses? How important is the... -
Greening the desert: What can we learn from the Chinese dryland restoration projects?
Latest publications
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Contrasting effects of nitrogen fertiliser application on the performance of closely related grasshoppers through changes in plant nutrient concentrations
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Spatial genetic structure of European wild boar, with inferences on late-Pleistocene and Holocene demographic history
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Growth portfolios buffer climate‐linked environmental change in marine systems
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Priorities for translating goodwill between movement ecologists and conservation practitioners into effective collaboration
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Seasonal variation in prey preference, diet partitioning and niche breadth in a rich large carnivore guild
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The emergence of a robust and inclusive framework for a nationwide assessment of African lions
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Unveiling the environmental drivers of intraspecific body size variation in terrestrial vertebrates
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Seed dispersal by waterbirds : a mechanistic understanding by simulating avian digestion
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Green turtles shape the seascape through grazing patch formation around habitat features: experimental evidence
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Defaunation changes leaf trait composition of recruit communities in tropical forests in French Guiana
Latest dissertations
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Competitive co-existence within a rich large carnivore guild
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Restoring aquatic food webs bottom-up : Improving trophic transfer through lake restoration project Marker Wadden
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Connecting divergent worlds : Social and ecological factors influence tick-borne diseases in tropical drylands
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Resilience of dry tropical rangelands : How native palms and trees mediate the effects of seasonal droughts
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Sentinel animals : Enriching artificial intelligence with wildlife ecology to guard rhinos
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Methods to improve forage quality for mammalian herbivores in nutrient poor savannas
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Unravelling networks : Causes and consequences of decreasing connectivity in bird migration pathway
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Tree seedling recruitment dynamics in forest-savanna transitions : Trait responses to vegetation controls mediate differential seedling establishment success of tree functional types
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Some species are more equal than others: phylogenetic relatedness predicts disease pressure
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Genetic variation of wildlife in a human-dominated landscape : Genome-wide SNP analysis of wild boar (Sus scrofa) and red deer (Cervus elaphus) from the European continent