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NatureTodayINT

@naturetodayint

Brings news from nature worldwide. Share passion for nature.

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Latest posts by NatureTodayINT @naturetodayint

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Baobabs on Madagascar have low genetic diversity and only rejuvenate in national parks Baobabs are among the most iconic trees on Earth. They store water in their bottle-shaped trunks during the raining season. This allows them to survive long periods of drought. Many baobab species are threatened with extinction because of habitat destruction. An international research team investigated genetic diversity and reproduction and recently published the results in Annals of Botany.
02.03.2026 06:01 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Looking back on the LIFE IP webinar: improving biodiversity with best practices and tools for area-oriented collaboration On the 29th of January, the webinar ‘Improving biodiversity with best practices and tools for area-oriented collaboration throughout the supply chain’ was organised by the Dutch Deltaplan for Biodiversity Restoration and LIFE IP All4Biodiversity. More than 120 interested people attended the webinar. Read more about the highlighted topics and watch recordings of the several sessions.
27.02.2026 14:03 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Early interactions between siblings shape social skills How young animals interact with their siblings during their first months of life determines their social skills later on. This is shown by experimental research on the tropical freshwater fish Neolamprologus pulcher, published in PNAS. Not only does the number of siblings matter, but whether they can interact freely with one another does too.
26.02.2026 08:33 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Roadmap for Europe’s biodiversity monitoring system New study charts how digital technologies, DNA, and coordinated governance can transform biodiversity observation across Europe and support global conservation goals. The Biodiversity Observation Network (BON), proposed by several organisations, has the potential to become a global model.
23.02.2026 06:01 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Invasive moth on garden conifers identified The identity of the invasive Argent moth, earlier identified as Argyresthia reticulata or Argyresthia freyella is established as being Argyresthia sabinae from Japan and China. This emphasizes an important point about DNA-barcodes and morphology for species identification.
20.02.2026 10:02 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Carbon benefits of forest management presented in new factsheets Forests and nature play an important role in achieving climate targets. But how much can forest management measures contribute to CO₂ uptake? New factsheets provide key figures to help estimate this contribution. A valuable tool for forest managers, policymakers and advisers working on climate-smart forest and nature management.
19.02.2026 06:02 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Stronger winds, less food for shorebirds The increasing number of westerly storms, expected as a result of climate change, will lead to a decline in the availability of food for wading birds, such as the red knot. This is shown in a study by master student Timo Keuning and colleagues at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ). The results were published this month in the ornithological journal Ibis.
12.02.2026 10:47 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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European Grassland Butterfly Index: further decline In the European Nature Restoration Act, the Grassland Butterfly Index (GBI) is one of three indicators that member states can use to evaluate their agricultural ecosystem policies. This GBI must increase. Butterflies have been systematically monitored in Europe for decades using standard protocols that are now applied in more than 30 countries. This index has been updated using this data.
12.02.2026 06:03 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Discarded pear trees bring new life to the Wadden Sea Research using a consumer-grade ‘fish finding’ sonar, shows that artificial tree reefs in the Wadden Sea provide habitat for up to 3.5 times more fish, including larger fish, than comparable locations without such reefs. This is shown in a recent publication by Jon Dickson and colleagues from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research in the journal Marine Ecology Progress Series.
07.02.2026 09:02 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Occurrence of the threatened dugong in Indonesia In Indonesia, the dugong appears to be concentrated in specific regions, but bycatch in fishing nets is a major cause of death and few young animals are observed. This is evident from an international study towards publicly accessible information on observations of dugongs in Indonesia.
24.01.2026 12:02 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Confusion with willow bent-wing? The willow bent-wing Phyllocnistis triandricola, only described in 2023, has now also been found in the Netherlands and Belgium, but DNA research shows that the long-known Phyllocnistis saligna does not occur in the Netherlands and Belgium. The common willow bent-wing should now be named Phyllocnistis asiatica.
24.01.2026 08:04 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Three Caribbean heart cockles new to science, also occurring on the ABC islands Discovering a species new for science is on every researcher’s wish list. Jan Johan ter Poorten is a Dutch expert on cardiid species (family Cardiidae). Recently, he discovered three new species in the Caribbean. These were also found to occur on the ABC islands and on Sint Eustatius and Saba. There are plausible reasons why they were overlooked until now.
23.01.2026 06:04 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Global warming and CO2 emissions 56 million years ago resulted in massive forest fires and soil erosion The climate warmed up almost as quickly 56 million years ago as it is doing now. When a huge amount of CO2 entered the atmosphere in a short period of time, it led to large-scale forest fires and erosion. Mei Nelissen, PhD candidate at NIOZ and UU, and her colleagues were able to see this very clearly in the layers of sediment drilled off the Norwegian coast. Published in PNAS on January 19.
19.01.2026 20:01 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Novel method to measure pollen response in exhaled air Researchers from Hortus botanicus Leiden and Radboud University have developed a novel, non-invasive method to measure the body’s response to pollen by analyzing exhaled breath. During walks along flowering grasses, concentrations of organic compounds were measured in exhaled air of hay fever patients. In Leiden, a walk along flowering trees will be organized to apply the method to tree pollen.
18.01.2026 06:03 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Decades of dredging are pushing the Dutch Western Scheldt estuary beyond its ecological limits The Dutch Western Scheldt estuary has been pushed onto an unsustainable trajectory since large-scale navigation channel deepening began in the 1970s. The dramatic increase in the annual volume of dredged sediment from the navigation channel has reduced feeding grounds for birds and made the estuary more vulnerable to sea level rise, as is shown by a new NIOZ report.
17.01.2026 06:02 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Microorganisms too can cooperate and rewild From insignificant individual cells to a rich community full of cooperation. That is how our understanding of the world of microscopic organisms has developed. This 'microbiome' has an enormous impact on the environment. Researchers at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology are studying various functions, such as the 'consumption' of greenhouse gases and 'microbial friends' to endangered plants.
14.01.2026 06:00 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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In the footsteps of Wallace A historical bee collection from the Oxford University Museum of Natural History has been newly researched and photographed. Collected by the famous British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, it includes many specimens that were once used to describe new species. The digitization of the collection increases scientific understanding of Southeast Asian bee species and aids conservation efforts.
08.01.2026 11:05 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Problem: frugivores are too small these days Fruiting plants rely on fruit-eating animals for seed dispersal. These animals have become increasingly scarce, especially the large ones. This is especially the case in areas where the balance is lost due to human interference. Large frugivores should be brought back into ecosystems where they have disappeared from. Researchers published their results last week in Ecology Letters.
16.12.2025 16:03 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Chinese intertidal shellfish farming: an unexpected fuel station for millions of migrating shorebirds China’s intertidal shellfish mariculture provides critical food for the world’s most threatened shorebird flyway. A continental-scale, decade-long study found that intertidal shellfish farms are shaping when and where millions of shorebirds congregate. The Chinese-Dutch study was published in Nature Communications on December 9th 2025.
15.12.2025 09:04 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Long-term nest box research offers insight into trends in nature Great tits can't complain about a lack of attention. NIOO has hung nearly two thousand nesting boxes for this 'model species'. For seven decades researchers have been following these songbirds. This makes it the longest-running study in the world of individually recognisable animals. The results outline the development of climate change, acid rain and adaptation to a changing world.
14.12.2025 11:02 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 1
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A new parental pool for edible orchids Edible terrestrial orchids are endangered worldwide due to overharvesting in the wild. Creating artificial hybrids from horticulture that do not occur naturally, for production of traditional beverages to meet consumer demand, could make harvesting of edible orchids more sustainable and prevent endangered species from going extinct. The study results were published in Frontiers.
08.12.2025 17:34 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Mediterranean seabirds carry very high amounts of plastic in their stomachs A new international study, led by Wageningen Marine Research, shows that shearwaters in the Mediterranean ingest significantly more plastic than their counterparts in the Atlantic Ocean. The research, recently published in Marine Pollution Bulletin, is based on the analysis of the stomach contents of 529 birds.
06.12.2025 14:48 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Complex life developed earlier than previously thought, Nature study reveals Complex life began to develop almost a billion years earlier, and over a longer span of time, than previously believed. This is shown by research conducted by, among others, NIOZ researcher Anja Spang. The study challenges several long-standing scientific theories in this area. The availability of abundant oxygen, for example, does not appear to be a prerequisite for the evolution of complex life.
04.12.2025 11:02 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Bio-based concrete substitute can give coastal restoration a natural boost An innovative alternative to concrete could enable important coastal restoration work. The material Xiriton, made with local grass species and seawater, captures CO2 instead of emitting it, as conventional concrete does. NIOZ researchers successfully tested the material for its suitability as a substrate for shell banks or salt marsh restoration. They published in Frontiers, in Marine Science.
28.11.2025 11:19 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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A broad, natural “cushion” can protect the hinterland The Netherlands can make good use of the natural dynamics in coastal areas to protect against sea level rise. A broad, natural 'cushion' can protect the hinterland. That is the conclusion of the exploratory study ‘Meegroeien’ (Growing with the sea), which was presented at the Delta Conference on 13 November 2025. Coastal ecologist Jim van Belzen contributed to the study.
16.11.2025 11:01 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Knowing nature in the Netherlands: ARISE is live Recognizing all Dutch species – in every conceivable way. Starting today, everyone can utilize ARISE, the research facility that makes this possible. ARISE makes biodiversity measurable on a large scale. A new tool for species specialists, ecologists, computer scientists and the like. ARISE could not have been developed without the input of many expert volunteers.
11.11.2025 09:30 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Life after dead: how earthworms keep facilitating carbon capture Earthworms do not stop shaping soil processes after they die. A new study shows they can still help store carbon in the soil, even after death. “This is quite surprising”, says lead author Tullia Calogiuri. “Most of our knowledge about earthworms comes from their activity while alive, such as burrowing, feeding, and producing feces. Discovering that they also play a role after death is exciting”.
04.11.2025 08:18 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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A big frog on a small island: how the Cuban Treefrog invaded St. Eustatius A large, poisonous frog from Cuba has quietly established itself on the small Caribbean island of St. Eustatius. Researchers have found that the invasive Cuban Treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis) is breeding in and around a resort on the island. Conservationists are now racing to eradicate the frog before it spreads further.
02.11.2025 09:02 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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The winners take it all: how intensive land use affects insects New research reveals how the increasingly intensive use of grasslands affects insects and other arthropods. Surprisingly, their total number remained stable when land use intensified, but species richness halved. This shows that species react in different ways. In the areas studied 85 per cent of species declined and the majority disappeared completely. A few widespread species, however, thrived.
25.10.2025 10:01 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Turning the Tide: The documentary Turquoise waters, vibrant coral reefs, tranquil mangrove forests – that’s how we know Aruba. But this rich underwater world is under pressure and disappearing fast. Still, there is hope. Through the project Turning the Tide, researchers and island residents are working together to restore it. They share their story in an inspiring documentary, now coming to the big screen in Wageningen.
22.10.2025 11:16 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0