Bart A. Nolet

Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen | KNAW · Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO)

Many Arctic-breeding animals are at risk from local extirpation associated with habitat constriction and alterations in phenology in their Arctic environment as a result of rapid global warming.1 Migratory species face additional increasing anthropogenic pressures along their migratory routes such as habitat destruction, droughts, creation of barri...

Seasonal migrations are used by diverse animal taxa, yet the costs and benefits of migrating have rarely been empirically examined. The aim of this study was to determine how migration influences two ecological currencies, energy expenditure and time allocated towards different behaviors, in a full annual cycle context. We compare these currencies...

The Russian breeding population of barnacle geese Branta leucopsis has shown a rapid increase in numbers since 1980, which has coincided with a southwest-wards breeding range expansion within the Russian Arctic. Here barnacle geese also started to occupy coastal and marsh land habitats, in which they were not know to nest on their traditional breed...

In the present Anthropocene, wild animals are globally affected by human activity. Consumer fireworks during New Year (NY) are widely distributed in W‐Europe and cause strong disturbances that are known to incur stress responses in animals. We analyzed GPS tracks of 347 wild migratory geese of four species during eight NYs quantifying the effects o...

In recent decades, conflict between geese and agriculture has increased. Management practices to limit this conflict include concentrating geese in protected areas, derogation shooting or population reduction. To justify such management, we need to understand their effects on goose‐related damages, which requires an understanding of how yield loss...

Migratory birds may need to cross barriers such as seas, without opportunities to rest or refuel. Waterbirds, unlike land birds, can stop at sea to rest or wait for better winds and thus may be less selective for supportive winds at departure and tolerate larger drift. However, pay‐offs of waiting are likely to depend on circumstances (e.g. pressur...

Many angiosperms rely on vertebrates for seed dispersal via gut passage, an interaction that has been traditionally classified as a mutualism. The seed dispersal effectiveness (SDE) framework provides a mechanistic approach to evaluate evolutionary and ecological characteristics of animal‐mediated seed dispersal, by synthesising the quantity and th...

In animal ecology, energy expenditure is used for assessing the consequences of different behavioural strategies, life‐history events, or environments. Animals can also influence energy expenditure through instantaneous behavioural responses to their external environment. It is therefore of interest to measure energy expenditure of free‐ranging ani...

Climate warming in the Arctic has led to warmer and earlier springs, and as a result, many food resources for migratory animals become available earlier in the season, as well as become distributed further northwards. To optimally profit from these resources, migratory animals are expected to arrive earlier in the Arctic, as well as shift their own...

The postnatal growth period is a crucial life stage, with potential lifelong effects on an animal’s fitness. How fast animals grow depends on their life history strategy and rearing environment, and interspecific comparisons generally show higher growth rates at higher latitudes. However, to elucidate the mechanisms behind this gradient in growth r...

Abstract Sensors, such as accelerometers, in tracking devices allow for detailed bio-logging to understand animal behaviour, even in remote places where direct observation is difficult. To study breeding in birds remotely, one needs to understand how to recognise a breeding event from tracking data, and ideally validate this by direct observation....

Climate warming advances the optimal timing of breeding for many animals. For migrants to start breeding earlier, a concurrent advancement of migration is required, including premigratory fueling of energy reserves. We investigate whether barnacle geese are time constrained during premigratory fueling and whether there is potential to advance or sh...

Climate change is driving worldwide shifts in the distribution of biodiversity, and fundamental changes to global avian migrations. Some arctic-nesting species may shorten their migration distance as warmer temperatures allow them to winter closer to their high-latitude breeding grounds. However, such decisions are not without risks, since this int...

Many species of large herbivore rely on agricultural land for their feeding habitats, but available food resources are highly variable in space and time. The conservation and management of farmland-dependant herbivores would therefore benefit from predictions about how species will respond to changes in their environment. We developed an individual...

Migratory species are threatened worldwide by climate change, overexploitation, and habitat changes. Availability of suitable habitat is important for flying migrants, and in particular for large birds that use the energetically expensive flapping flight mode, such as the Bewick's Swan (Cygnus columbianus bewickii). Bewick's Swans largely feed on a...

The ability of a species to adapt to environmental change is ultimately reflected in its vital rates - i.e., survival and reproductive success of individuals. Together, vital rates determine trends in numbers, commonly monitored using counts of species abundance. Rapid changes in abundance can give rise to concern, leading to calls for research int...

Range shifts and phenological change are two processes by which organisms respond to environmental warming. Understanding the mechanisms that drive these changes is key for optimal conservation and management. Here we study both processes in the migratory Bewick's swan (Cygnus columbianus bewickii ) using different methods, analysing nearly 50 year...

Ontogenetic niche shifts have helped to understand population dynamics. Here we show that ontogenetic niche shifts also offer an explanation, complementary to traditional concepts, as to why certain species show seasonal migration. We describe how demographic processes (survival, reproduction and migration) and associated ecological requirements of...

Rapid climate warming is driving organisms to advance timing of reproduction with earlier springs, but the rate of advancement shows large variation, even among populations of the same species. In this study, we investigated how the rate of advancement in timing of reproduction with a warming climate varies for barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis) pop...

GPS‐tracking devices have been used in combination with a wide range of additional sensors to study animal behaviour, physiology and interaction with their environment. Tri‐axial accelerometers allow researchers to remotely infer the behaviour of individuals, at all places and times. Collection of accelerometer data is relatively cheap in terms of...

Breeding output of geese, measured as the proportion of juveniles in autumn or winter flocks, is lower in years with a late onset of spring in some species, but higher in at least one other species. Here we argue that this is because the timing of spring affects different stages of the reproductive cycle differently in different species. Because th...

When using this data, please cite the original publication: Eichhorn G, Enstipp MR, Georges J, Hasselquist D, Nolet BA (2019) Resting metabolic rate in migratory and non‐migratory geese following range expansion; go south, go low. Oikos. https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.06468. Additionally, please cite the Dryad data package: Eichhorn G, Enstipp M...

While many species suffer from human activities, some like geese benefit and may show range expansions. In some cases geese (partially) gave up migration and started breeding at wintering and stopover grounds. Range expansion may be facilitated and accompanied by physiological changes, especially when associated with changes in migratory behaviour....

“Everything changes and nothing stands still” (Heraclitus). Here we review three major improvements to freshwater aquatic ecosystem models — and ecological models in general — as water quality scenario analysis tools towards a sustainable future. To tackle the rapid and deeply connected dynamics characteristic of the Anthropocene, we argue for the...

Background For the conservation and management of migratory species that strongly decrease or increase due to anthropological impacts, a clear delineation of populations and quantification of possible mixing (migratory connectivity) is crucial. Usually, population exchange in migratory species is only studied in breeding or wintering sites, but we...

Many plants and invertebrates rely on internal transport by animals for long‐distance dispersal. Their dispersal capacity is greatly influenced by interactions with the animal's digestive tract. Omnivorous birds adjust their digestive tract morphology to seasonally variable diets. We performed feeding trials in waterfowl to unravel how changing org...

Long-distance migratory birds rely on the acquisition of body stores to fuel their migration and reproduction. Breeding success depends on the amount of body stores acquired prior to migration, which is thought to increase with access to food at the fueling site. Here, we studied how food abundance during fueling affected time budgets and reproduct...

Climate warming challenges animals to advance their timing of reproduction [1], but many animals appear to be unable to advance at the same rate as their food species [2, 3]. As a result, mismatches can arise between the moment of largest food requirements for their offspring and peak food availability [4-6], with important fitness consequences [7]...

Background Tracking devices have enabled researchers to study unique aspects of behavior in birds. However, it has become clear that attaching these devices to birds often affects their survival and behavior. While most studies only focus on negative effects on return rates, tracking devices can also affect the behavior under study, and it is there...

1.Broad‐scale land conversions and fertilizer use have dramatically altered the available staging area for herbivorous long‐distance migrants. Instead of natural land, these birds rely increasingly on pastures for migratory fuelling and stopover, often conflicting with farming practices. To predict and manage birds’ future habitat use, the relative...

Following increases in numbers during the second half of the 20th century, several Arctic-breeding migrant bird species are now undergoing sustained population declines. These include the northwest European population of Bewick’s Swan (Cygnus columbianus bewickii), which declined from ~29 000 birds on the winter grounds in 1995 to 18 000 in 2010. I...

1.Migratory birds are an increasing focus of interest when it comes to infection dynamics and the spread of avian influenza viruses (AIV). However, we lack detailed understanding migratory birds’ contribution to local AIV prevalence levels and their downstream socio‐economic costs and threats. 2.To explain the potential differential roles of migra...

1) Many migratory goose populations have thrived over the past decades and their reliance on agricultural resources has often led to conflicts. Control and management measures are sought after but since migratory geese use several sites in their annual cycle, local management actions should consider their potential effects further down the flyway....

Full text available at: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1Wh9zcA-IV-cz Agricultural crops have become increasingly important foraging habitats to geese and swans in northern Europe, and a recent climate-driven expansion in the area of maize fields has led to a rapid increase in the exploitation of this habitat. However, due to the novelty of maize f...

Economic development and energy exploration are increasing in the Arctic. Important breeding habitats for many waterbird species, which have previously been relatively undisturbed, are now being subjected to these anthropogenic pressures. The conservation of the habitats and the species they support is a significant challenge for sustainable develo...

A common problem with observational datasets is that not all events of interest may be detected. For example, observing animals in the wild can difficult when animals move, hide, or cannot be closely approached. We consider time series of events recorded in conditions where events are occasionally missed by observers or observational devices. These...

Harness attachments have been used for almost 30 years to equip migratory swans and geese with tracking devices. Harnesses for geese need to be sturdy and have the possibility to be adjusted during deployment to fit individual geese. Here we present a novel harness for attaching tracking devices to migratory geese which fits these requirements. The...

Many goose species feed on agricultural land, and with growing goose numbers, conflicts with agriculture are increasing. One possible solution is to designate refuge areas where farmers are paid to leave geese undisturbed. Here, we present a generic modelling tool that can be used to designate the best locations for refuges and to gauge the area ne...

Arctic amplification, the accelerated climate warming in the polar regions, is causing a more rapid advancement of the onset of spring in the Arctic than in temperate regions. Consequently, the arrival of many migratory birds in the Arctic is thought to become increasingly mismatched with the onset of local spring, consequently reducing individual...

During spring migration, herbivorous waterfowl breeding in the Arctic depend on peaks in the supply of nitrogen-rich forage plants, following a “green wave” of grass growth along their flyway to fuel migration and reproduction. The effects of climate warming on forage plant growth are expected to be larger at the Arctic breeding grounds than in tem...

Background Movement behaviour is fundamental to the ecology of animals and their interactions with other organisms, and as such contributes to ecosystem dynamics. Waterfowl are key players in ecological processes in wetlands and surrounding habitats through predator-prey interactions and their transportation of nutrients and other organisms. Unders...

1. Dispersal via animals (zoochory) is a primary mechanism for seed exchange between habitat patches. Recent studies have established that many plant species can survive waterbird gut passage. To quantify the patterns and consequences of waterbird-mediated dispersal, information on ingestion and gut passage must be combined with bird movement data....

According to migration theory and several empirical studies, long-distance migrants are more time-limited during spring migration and should therefore migrate faster in spring than in autumn. Competition for the best breeding sites is supposed to be the main driver, but timing of migration is often also influenced by environmental factors such as f...

In 2014, H5N8 clade 2.3.4.4 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses of the A/Goose/Guangdong/1/1996 lineage emerged in poultry and wild birds in Asia, Europe and North America. Here, wild birds were extensively investigated in the Netherlands for HPAI H5N8 virus (real-time polymerase chain reaction targeting the matrix and H5 gene) and ant...

Population declines among migratory Arctic-breeding birds are a growing concern for conservationists. To inform the conservation of these declining populations, we need to understand how demographic rates such as breeding success are influenced by combinations of extrinsic and intrinsic factors. In this study we examined inter-annual variation and...

The migration timing of birds can be controlled by endogenous parameters. However, little is known about how environmental parameters influence the timing of migration and which have the greatest influence at different stages of migration. In this study we identified the main environmental parameters that correlate with the timing of the last stage...

Breeding success of many Arctic-breeding bird populations varies with lemming cycles due to prey switching behavior of generalist predators. Several bird species breed on islands to escape from generalist predators like Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus, but little is known about how these species interact. We studied brent geese Branta bernicla bernicla t...

In different ecosystems herbivores highly prefer particular plant species. This is often explained in a stoichiometric framework of nutrient-based plant adaptations to herbivory. We hypothesize that such super-palatability can also arise as an evolutionary by-product of osmoregulatory adaptations of plants to stressful environmental conditions, as...

Background GPS and accelerometer tracking presently revolutionises the fields of ecology and animal behaviour. However, the effects of tag characteristics like weight, attachment and data quality on study outcomes and animal welfare are important to consider. In this study, we compare how different tag attachment types influence the behaviour of a...

With increasing numbers of many herbivorous waterfowl species, often foraging on farmland, the conflict with agriculture has intensified. One popular management tool is to scare birds off the land, often in association with shooting. However, the energy costs of flying are considerably higher than those of resting. Therefore, when birds fly off aft...

Predicting the environmental impact of a proposed development is notoriously difficult, especially when future conditions fall outside the current range of conditions. Individual-based approaches have been developed and applied to predict the impact of environmental changes on wintering and staging coastal bird populations. How many birds make use...

p>Breeding success of many Arctic-breeding bird populations varies with lemming cycles due to prey switching behavior of generalist predators. Several bird species breed on islands to escape from generalist predators like Arctic fox Vulpes lagopus, but little is known about how these species interact. We studied brent geese Branta bernicla bernicla...

The increasing spatiotemporal accuracy of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) tracking systems opens the possibility to infer animal behaviour from tracking data. We studied the relationship between high-frequency GNSS data and behaviour, aimed at developing an easily interpretable classification method to infer behaviour from location data....

Recently, Lévy walks have been put forward as a new paradigm for animal search and many cases have been made for its presence in nature. However, it remains debated whether Lévy walks are an inherent behavioural strategy or emerge from the animal reacting to its habitat. Here, we demonstrate signatures of Lévy behaviour in the search movement of mu...

Dispersal of seeds by animals is an important mechanism regulating plant diversity, range expansions and invasions. Many birds, mammals, fish, and reptiles regularly ingest, transport and excrete viable seeds (known as endozoochory).The effectiveness of endozoochory is modelled in dispersal kernels: functions that describe seed shadows in the lands...

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N8) viruses that emerged in poultry in east Asia since 2010 spread to Europe and North America by late 2014. Despite detections in migrating birds, the role of free-living wild birds in the global dispersal of H5N8 virus is unclear. Here, wild bird sampling activities in response to the H5N8 virus outbre...

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N8) viruses that emerged in poultry in east Asia since 2010 spread to Europe and North America by late 2014. Despite detections in migrating birds, the role of free-living wild birds in the global dispersal of H5N8 virus is unclear. Here, wild bird sampling activities in response to the H5N8 virus outbre...

Animal movements may contribute to the spread of pathogens. In the case of avian influenza virus, [migratory] birds have been suggested to play a role in the spread of some highly pathogenic strains (e.g. H5N1, H5N8), as well as their low pathogenic precursors which circulate naturally in wild birds. For a better understanding of the emergence and...

Understanding how climate change and increasing human impacts may exert pressure on ecosystems and threaten biodiversity requires efficient monitoring programs. Indicator species have been proposed as useful tools, and predators and their diet may be particularly suitable. The vast and remote arctic tundra represents a good case study as shifts in...

A comparison of spring migration between three populations of Barnacle Geese Branta leucopsis using GPS satellite transmitters With the help of GPS technology it has recently become possible to track individual birds on migration in great detail. In this study we use GPS satellite transmitters to compare spring migration of three populations of Ba...