R. H. Drent's research while affiliated with University of Groningen and other places

... In the barnacle goose, only females incubate. As females have to incubate on the nest almost constantly for the eggs to hatch (Prop et al. 1984), females that are less likely to leave the nest in response of disturbance will have higher hatching success. 2) The male intensity hypothesis, where the hatching success of the nest depends on the intensity of the male defensive behaviour only. ...

... Insects face a complex nutrient environment that varies as a function of food abundance and distribution in space and time, host plant and prey species, nutrient composition, defensive chemistry and the age of nutrient resources (Barbosa, Letourneau, & Agrawal, 2012;Drent & Prins, 1987;Michaud, 2000;Price, Denno, Eubanks, Finke, & Kaplan, 2011;Smith, Halpin, & Rowe, 2016). ...

... Many insects and worms adjust their life cycle to the moon phase (Raible et al. 2017), which has been proposed as a potential explanation for full moon grassland foraging by birds (Ydenberg et al. 1984). All birds allocated more foraging time to daytime tides, probably, because waders achieve a higher foraging efficiency in daylight (Zwarts and Drent 1981;Lourenço et al. 2008). We found that worm specialists allocated approximately 1-1.4 h (depending on moon stage) more foraging time to daytime tides compared with shellfish specialists. ...

... Another explanation follows from the ability of grass to regrow after grazing. Previous studies suggest that geese maintain grass at a preferred height through cyclic grazing (Drent & van der Wal, 1997;Prins et al., 1980;Rowcliffe et al., 1995), stimulating continual regrowth (Bakker & Loonen, 1998;Hik & Jefferies, 1990;McNaughton, 1979). As grass recovers after each grazing event, grazing pressure accumulates, but damage does not, causing fields grazed over a longer period of time to experience less damage in relation to grazing pressures than those grazed less frequently. ...

... Parus caeruleus (Nilsson and Svensson 1996], or decreased fecundity and delayed breeding time [Common Goldeneye Bucephala clangula (Milonoff et al. 2004)] in the next breeding season. Decreased survival probabilities for breeding than non-breeding individuals have been documented in several precocial species [Black Grouse Tetrao tetrix (Angelstam 1984); Willow Tit Parus montanus (Ekman and Askenmo 1986); Mallard Anas platyrhyncho (Bergmann and Flake 1994;Dufour and Clark 2002); Common Eider Somateria mollissima (Flint et al. 1998); Willow Ptarmigan Lagopus lagopus (Hannon et al. 2003); Barnacle Goose Branta leucopsis (Prop et al. 2004;) Wood Duck Aix sponsa (Hartke et al. 2006); Lesser Prairie-chicken Tympanuchus pallidicinctus (Hagen et al. 2011); Greater Sage-grouse Centrocercus urophasianus (Blomberg et al. 2013)]. Moreover, mortality of breeding adults is an important force shaping avian life histories (Nur 1988) and may have a major effect on population demography (Flint et al. 1998;Hagen et al. 2011). ...

... However, such plasticity might be limited by energetic ceilings that cannot be surpassed, at least without costs (Tinbergen & Verhulst, 2001;Harding et al., 2009). Across avian species, DEE during chick rearing clusters around ~4 × basal metabolic rate (BMR), suggesting energetic constraint (Drent & Daan, 1980), and an ultimate energetic ceiling of ~7 × BMR has been proposed for DEE in endotherms (Hammond & Diamond, 1997;Elliott et al., 2014). Moreover, different species adopt distinct strategies when adjusting energy expenditure (EE) to environmental challenges (Mueller & Diamond, 2001;Speakman et al., 2003;Wojczulanis-Jakubas, 2021). ...