The Wadden Sea is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern continental Europe and the range of low-lying Frisian Islands,forming a shallow body of water with tidal flats and wetlands. It has a high biological diversity and is an important area for both breeding and migrating birds. In 2009,the Dutch and German parts of the Wadden Sea were inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List and the Danish part was added in June 2014.
Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement,often north and south,along a flyway,between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality,including from hunting by humans,and is driven primarily by the availability of food. It occurs mainly in the northern hemisphere,where birds are funnelled onto specific routes by natural barriers such as the Mediterranean Sea or the Caribbean Sea.
The University of Groningen is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614,the university is the second oldest in the country and one of the most traditional and prestigious universities in the Netherlands.
The red knot or just knot is a medium-sized shorebird which breeds in tundra and the Arctic Cordillera in the far north of Canada,Europe,and Russia. It is a large member of the Calidris sandpipers,second only to the great knot. Six subspecies are recognised.
The bar-tailed godwit is a large and strongly migratory wader in the family Scolopacidae,which feeds on bristle-worms and shellfish on coastal mudflats and estuaries. It has distinctive red breeding plumage,long legs,and a long upturned bill. Bar-tailed godwits breed on Arctic coasts and tundra from Scandinavia to Alaska,and overwinter on coasts in temperate and tropical regions of Australia and New Zealand. The migration of the subspecies Limosa lapponica baueri across the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to New Zealand is the longest known non-stop flight of any bird,and also the longest journey without pausing to feed by any animal. The round-trip migration for this subspecies is over 29,000 km (18,020 mi).
The ruff is a medium-sized wading bird that breeds in marshes and wet meadows across northern Eurasia. This highly gregarious sandpiper is migratory and sometimes forms huge flocks in its winter grounds,which include southern and western Europe,Africa,southern Asia and Australia.
Mandø or Manø is one of the Danish Wadden Sea islands off the southwest coast of Jutland,Denmark in the Wadden Sea,part of the North Sea. The island covers an area of 7.63 square kilometres and had 31 inhabitants in January 2022. The island is part of Esbjerg Municipality and is situated approximately 12 kilometres southwest of the ancient town of Ribe.
The red-necked avocet also known as the Australian avocet,cobbler,cobbler's awl,and painted lady,is a wader of the family Recurvirostridae that is endemic to Australia and is fairly common and widespread throughout,except for the north and north east coastal areas of the country. Closely related to the stilts,it shares their fragile slender elegance,however the deep red head and neck distinguish them. It appeared on a 13 cent postage stamp in 1966.
The Spinoza Prize is an annual award of 2.5 million euro prize money,to be spent on new research given by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). The award is the highest scientific award in the Netherlands. It is named after the philosopher Baruch de Spinoza.
The East Atlantic Flyway is a migration route used by about 90 million birds annually,passing from their breeding areas in the United States,Canada,Greenland,Iceland,Siberia and northern Europe to wintering areas in western Europe and on to southern Africa. It is one of the eight major flyways used by waders and shorebirds. The migrants follow a great circle route,which is shorter although more challenging. When avoiding the barriers created by the Sahara Desert and Atlas Mountains,European honey buzzards were found to overcompensate for the winds they expected to encounter,and take a longer route than was necessary.
The Dutch Research Council is the national research council of the Netherlands. NWO funds thousands of top researchers at universities and institutes and steers the course of Dutch science by means of subsidies and research programmes. NWO promotes quality and innovation in science. NWO is an independent administrative body under the auspices of the Dutch Ministry of Education,Culture and Science. NWO directs its approximate budget of 1 billion euros towards Dutch universities and institutes,often on a project basis. Also,NWO has its own research institutes and facilitates international cooperation. Current president of NWO since April 1,2021 is Marcel Levi. Former NWO presidents include Stan Gielen,Peter Nijkamp and Jos Engelen.
Serge Daan was a Dutch scientist,known for his significant contributions to the field of Chronobiology.
Hendrik Johannes (Henny) van der Windt is a Dutch associate professor at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen,specialized in the relationship between sustainability and science,in particular the relationship between nature conservation and ecology and between energy technologies,locale energy-initiatives and the energy transition.
Allan John Baker was a Canadian ornithologist of New Zealand descent. He was an authority on wading birds,in particular studies on red knots were one of his main research fields.
The Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research,also known as NIOZ,in Dutch the Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee,is the Dutch national oceanographic institute. It is located on the island of Texel,and in Yerseke,in the Netherlands. The institute was founded in 1876 as the Zoological Station and in 1960 it was renamed to its current name. NIOZ carries out marine research in the waters of the Netherlands and overseas;it also plays a role in educating students,and it offers research facilities to marine scientists from the Netherlands and other countries worldwide. NIOZ has a longstanding collaboration with Utrecht University,for instance in an interdisciplinary Master’s programme Marine Sciences. NIOZ is part of the institutes organization of the Dutch Research Council (NWO).
Tjitske Nienke"Cisca"Wijmenga is a Dutch professor of Human Genetics at the University of Groningen and the University Medical Center Groningen. She has been Rector Magnificus of the University since September 2019.
Henricus "Hein" J.W. de Baar is a Dutch professor of Oceanography. He has worked in the group of Harry Elderfield at the University of Cambridge,at the University of Groningen and at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ).
Willem Gerrit "Wim" Mook was a Dutch isotope physicist.
Corina Brussaard is a leading scientist for Antarctic viral ecology working for the Royal Institute of Sea Research (NIOZ) and is a Special Professor of Viral Ecology at the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics of the University of Amsterdam (UvA).
Marileen Dogterom is a Dutch biophysicist and professor at the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience at Delft University of Technology. She published in Science,Cell,and Nature and is notable for her research of the cell cytoskeleton. For this research,she was awarded the 2018 Spinoza Prize.
