Projects

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Implementation of soil fauna effects into the forest ecosystem model ANAFORE (ANAFAUNA). University of Antwerp

Reinhart Ceulemans
Plant and Ecosystems (PLECO) - Ecology in a time of change
Understanding soil processes and their role in ecosystem functioning is essential for effective protection, restoration and sustainable use of soils and terrestrial ecosystems. Forest ecosystem models dynamically simulate fluxes of carbon, water, nitrogen and other nutrients through a forest ecosystem. Only models that account for all key interactions between climate, soil and plants can become versatile and reliable tools to predict the effect ...

Insight into the combined effects of eutrophication and climate warming on fish. University of Antwerp

Essie Rodgers
Systemic Physiological and Ecotoxicological Research (SPHERE)
Worldwide habitat degradation has created a matrix of stressors for species to navigate but understanding interactions among stressors is one of the largest knowledge deficiencies in ecological conservation. Anthropogenic eutrophication (hereafter, eutrophication) and climate warming are two of the most pervasive global stressors. The environmental and economic burdens of eutrophication and climate warming by themselves are well documented, with ...

Ecological speciation in orchids: the contribution of mycorrhizal divergence to reproductive isolation KU Leuven

Hans Jacquemyn
Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation

The major aim of this research project is to disentangle the absolute and relative contribution of specific adaptations to distinct habitats and mycorrhizal divergence to reproductive isolation in closely related Epipactis species. Adaptive divergence due to habitat differences is thought to play a major role in formation of new species. However the extent to which individual reproductive isolating barriers related to habitat differentiation ...

Managing plant species translocations: using genomic tools to unraveling interactions between adaptation to climate and adaptation to habitat fragmentation KU Leuven

Olivier Honnay
Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation

Global warming is occurring to a rate that exceeds the potential of most species to evolve phenotypes adapted to warmer climates. Assisted migration, or the deliberate northward translocation of individuals, is a widely discussed conservation strategy aiming to introduce phenotypes pre-adapted to projected climate change. However, there is a critical lack of assisted migration studies integrating the effects of habitat fragmentation, another ...

Eco-evolutionary study of geographic patterns in the pace-of-life syndrome KU Leuven

Robby Stoks
Ecology, Evolution and Biodiversity Conservation

To understand how species respond to global warming we need to know how their trait values evolved along two geographic axes: latitudinal gradients and poleward range expansion fronts. This asks for an integrated multi-trait approach. Therefore, we will follow as framework the pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) which states that individuals/populations align along a fast-slow continuum with animals with a fast type showing a fast life history ...

Physiological functionalities of natural body armour: insights from reptiles and amphibians. University of Antwerp

Chris Broeckhoven
Functional Morphology
A great diversity in natural body armour has been developed by nature throughout millions of years of evolution. Body armour in animals has served as inspiration for artificial armour since ancient times and continues to be the focus of a growing number of biomimetic studies that explore its protective nature. Unfortunately, the majority of these studies often unambiguously assume that the morphological diversity in natural body armour is the ...

Physiological stress as a mechanism underlying the effects of forest logging on tropical birds: an experimental approach. University of Antwerp

Marcel Eens
Behavioural Ecology & Ecophysiology
key driver of land-use changes in tropical areas is commercial logging. Recent assessments of biodiversity have shown that there is a decrease of biodiversity in logged tropical forests, but also that there is large variation in how species are affected, indicating that some species are more vulnerable to logging than others. An important question then is which traits affect the species' capability to persist in degraded habitats. The answer to ...

How conditional cooperation can be achieved to resolve the conflict between caring parents. University of Antwerp

Wendt Müller
Behavioural Ecology & Ecophysiology
Biparental care requires that two unrelated individuals raise their offspring together, which increases offspring survival and therefore parental fitness. However, each parent has to invest in care which comes with an individual cost and thus both parents aim to invest as little as possible. Recently, a parental strategy has been proposed that could provide a resolution for this conflict between the parents, that is taking turns in offspring ...

Are you shy or are you bold? Is personality along the bold-shy axis linked with foraging behaviour, physiology and reproductive investment in northern fulmars? University of Antwerp

Nina Dehnhard
Behavioural Ecology & Ecophysiology
The fishing industry is estimated to kill hundreds of thousands of seabirds incidentally each year across the globe as bycatch on either longlines or in nets. On the other hand, many seabird species also benefit from fishery discards which are an easy and predictable food source. Thereby, it is remarkable that not only some species are more likely to approach fishing vessels than others, but in recent years evidence has grown that also within ...