Do understudied animals contain hidden species?

How can species literacy in the Netherlands be explained and improved?

In the last couple of decades an ‘animal turn’ has taken place in the social sciences. This has led to a call to study social issues by including non-human animal perspectives. This Collaborative Research Group thinks it's high time that African Studies joins the chorus of minds that try to contribute…

Promotor: Prof.dr. E. Smets, Dr. M. Stech

Which traits did change due to the invasion process of plants and how do these traits contribute to the invasiveness of such species. What is the role of carbohydrate accumulation? What is the function of carbohydrate accumulation in plants? Is genetic variation depleted in invasive species under se…

What impact does a mid-season wildfire have on grassland invertebrates?

Do selenium nanoparticles in fish food cause subtle alterations in behavior of fish: effect of particles size and concentration?

Promotor: E. Gittenberger, Co-promotor: B.W. Hoeksema

What the Sex Lives of Bugs, Birds, and Beasts Tell Us About Evolution, Biodiversity, and Ourselves, Menno Schilthuizen reports from the front lines of evolutionary biology, on a quest to make sense of the origins, workings and evolution of our and other species’ reproductive selves.

Does a mid-season fire impact invertebrate populations?

Science, Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL)

Ethiopian wolves are endangered diurnal Afroalpine rodent hunters. I investigated the interaction between wolves, rodents and human land use in Borena Sayint National Park (BSNP), Abune Yosef and Aboi Gara in Ethiopia.

Does the presence of Ring-necked parakeets negatively influence feeding and feeding behaviour of native bird species on artificial bird feeders and if so, what are possible solutions?

This thesis describes the genetic and prokaryotic diversity of giant barrel sponges.

How does invasive hybridization affect threatened native species?

Promotores: Prof.dr. W.J.G.M. Peijnenburg & Dr. M.G. Vijver

What are the phylogenetic relationships among the members of speciation bursts?

Vocal learning is a trait shared by songbirds and humans. It is also a trait that is restricted by the brain rather than by a species' vocal apparatus. In this dissertation, functional MRI is employed in both species in order to explore potential common neural mechanisms underlying the ability to develop…

Promotor: P.G.L. Klinkhamer, Co-Promotores: K. Vrieling, P.P.J. Mulder

The disappearance and reappearance of species of plants in the Netherlands is a normal phenomenon. In the period from 1981-2000 the number of plants to have disappeared was considerably lower than previously, whereas the number of species rediscovered is much higher. Climate change may be the cause.

What is the effect of light at night on plant phenology and physiology, and how does this affect plant interactions with other species?

My PhD thesis investigates the ecological significance of resistance against drought-induced air bubble formation inside the water conduits of plants (embolism), and the plasticity and functional aspects of stem anatomical traits in woody and herbaceous species.

Where did species survive the cold cycles of the current Ice Age?

An international team including Peter van Bodegom shows how trait variability can be incorporated in Essential Biodiversity Variables to allow monitoring how organisms respond to global change. They published their results in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

What invertebrates live in the fields and edges? Do the populations change with landscape complexity?

Does a high quality prairie restoration in an urban/agricultural landscape provide invertebrates necessary for a sustainable ecosystem?

How can we quantify the density of species within a community through environmental DNA concentrations?

Does a moving hybrid zone leave a genomic footprint?

Promotor: Prof.dr. G.R. de Snoo

This research programme aims to increase the scientific understanding of how current and emerging anthropogenic threats affect biodiversity and ecosystem services to facilitate strategic management of natural resources. To this end, we address urgent challenges in relation to the mechanisms involved…

Paleobotanist Menno Booi discovered that 250 previously described fossil tree species are objectively not distinguishable; they belong to only one single species.

Promotor: Prof.dr. P.G.L Klinkhamer

A plant that takes metal from the ground all by itself: a natural way to mine or to clean the soil. PhD student Roderick Bouman (Hortus Botanicus Leiden) described a new plant species from Sabah, Borneo, which can be used to extract nickel. In an open access article in Botanical studies, he and the…

Describe and identify what dosimetry parameters are of importance to interpret dose-response relationships (eg., mortality, sub-lethal, growth or reproduction inhabitation, DNA damage and reactive oxygen species, etc. ) for metal-based nanoparticles? How to develop quantitative models that enable to…

Researchers from Biomon have used DNA-techniques to find 40 different species of fish in the river Dommel. This technique is capable of detecting more species than conventional methods of measuring.

Promotores: G.A. Persoon, H.H. de Iongh

Promotores: Prof.dr. G.A. Persoon & Prof. dr. H.H. de Iongh

For the first time research has been done on species literacy in the Netherlands. Children in primary schools know about 1 in 3 native animal species. Publication in Biological Conservation.

Promotores: J.A.van Veen, P.L.G.Klinkhamer. Co-promotor: E.E.Kuramae

‘In a hole under water there lived a hobbit’: a new species of shrimp named after Bilbo Baggings. Biology student Werner de Gier described this newly discovered species during his bachelor internship at Naturalis Biodiversity Center.

Leiden scientists have discovered a new plant genus with two new species at a potential nickel mine site in Indonesia. Remarkable characteristic of the plants: they store manganese in their leaves.

Promotor: Prof.dr. E.F. Smets, Co-promotores: Dr. B. Gravendeel, F. Pupulin

Promotor: G.R. de Snoo, Co-promotor: H.H. de Iongh, C.J.M. Musters

A new plant species was named after Paul Kessler, prefect of the Leiden Hortus botanicus. Kessler discovered the small tree, which is related to the kiwifruit, himself.