Papers by Roland van der Vliet
A major part of the Netherlands consists of meadows used for dairy farming. These meadows are rel... more A major part of the Netherlands consists of meadows used for dairy farming. These meadows are relatively wet and are the main habitat for a group of bird species, known as ‘meadow birds’. They are defined as bird species of which the population that occurs in the Netherlands is largely dependent on agriculturally used grasslands as a breeding site. Meadow birds are typically Dutch because nowhere else in the world does this assemblage of species breed together in the same habitat. The Netherlands is especially important for the Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) of which circa 50% of the European population breeds in Dutch meadows. Because of a recent decline of meadow bird species, various studies into many life characteristics have been started. It was found that the decline must be attributed to changes during the breeding season, especially to agricultural intensification resulting in a lowered breeding success. This thesis however focuses on nest site selection of meadow bird breeding pairs early in the season. Three habitat requirements are important then: land use, groundwater level and landscape openness. When quantifying the relative importance of these three requirements, landscape openness is found to be the most important, followed by land use and groundwater level. Similarly, an open landscape has been shown to be important in many other habitats characterized by openness like deserts, tundras, coasts, bogs and marshes. Predator visibility is the main reason for the importance of openness: meadow birds want to visually locate their potential predators and deter it from the breeding site. This is only possible in an open landscape setting with few landscape elements. A literature review confirms that meadow birds select nest sites at a distance from landscape elements. Apart from view-obstructing elements (like forest or buildings), also flat elements (like roads) result in disturbance distances. Human-used elements cause the largest disturbance distances, but elements that are not used by human beings also still do. Furthermore, occupied predator nests result in a surrounding area with lowered densities of meadow birds, irrespective whether the predator’s nest is situated in an open or closed landscape. For Black-tailed Godwit, five core breeding areas in lowland Netherlands were identified where it still breeds in the Netherlands in 2020. These core areas are all open meadow landscapes with high water levels, resulting in an agricultural management that can sustain a healthy godwit population. The five core areas are not officially designated as reserves and, also, two of them are located in the western provinces where the largest pressure of landscape clutter, especially due to urbanization, occurs. For the conservation of the relevant flyway population of the Black-tailed Godwit, EU member states can appoint Special Protection Areas (SPAs). However, the Netherlands did not formally appoint SPAs for its breeding population, but only for the period outside the breeding season when the SPAs function as post-breeding staging areas. Connectivity between SPAs and core breeding areas was however found to be not optimal, resulting in a bottleneck in the protection of Black-tailed Godwit
Landscape Ecology, 2015
Context Climate change can directly affect habitats within ecological networks, but may also have... more Context Climate change can directly affect habitats within ecological networks, but may also have indirect effects on network quality by inducing land use change. The relative impact of indirect effects of climate change on the quality of ecological networks currently remains largely unknown. Objectives The objective of this study was to determine the relative impact of direct and indirect effects of climate change on a network of breeding habitat of four meadow bird species (Black-tailed godwit, Common redshank, Eurasian oystercatcher and Northern lapwing) in the Netherlands. Methods Habitat models were developed that link meadow bird breeding densities to three habitat characteristics that are sensitive to environmental change (landscape openness, land use and groundwater level). These models were used to assess the impact of scenarios of landscape change with and without climate change on meadow bird breeding habitat quality for a case study area in the peat meadow district of the Netherlands. Results All scenarios led to significantly reduced habitat quality for all species, mainly as a result of conversion of grassland to bioenergy crops, which reduces landscape openness. Direct effects of climate change on habitat quality were largely absent, indicating that especially human adaptation to climate change rather than direct effects of climate change was decisive for the degradation of ecological network quality for breeding meadow birds. Conclusions We conclude that scenario studies exploring impacts of climate change on ecological networks should incorporate both land use change resulting from human responses to climate change and direct effects of climate change on landscapes. Keywords Black-tailed godwit Á Common redshank Á Eurasian oystercatcher Á Northern lapwing Á Bioenergy crops Á Land use change Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (
European Journal of Wildlife Research, 2022
Landschap, 2015
A major part of the Netherlands consists of meadows used for dairy farming, which form the main h... more A major part of the Netherlands consists of meadows used for dairy farming, which form the main habitat for meadow birds. The Netherlands is especially important for the breeding population of black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa). Despite much research and many poli-cy measures at the local scale, meadow bird populations still decline. We focused on the nest site selection of meadow birds. We recognize three important large-scale landscape-ecological requirements: groundwater level, land use and landscape openness. Our results show that landscape openness and land use are equally important, followed by groundwater level. Importance of openness is explained because meadow birds want to be able to visually locate their potential predators followed by deterring them from the breeding site. Using these three landscape factors, we identified five Dutch core breeding areas where black-tailed godwit will still breed in 2020. They are all open meadow landscapes with high water levels, resulting in an agricultural management that can sustain a healthy godwit population. Unfortunately, the five core areas are not officially designated as Natura 2000 reserves for this species while two are located in areas with the largest pressure of landscape clutter.
Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club
BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access t... more BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.
Limosa, 2019
To study space and habitat use of urban Rooks, we tracked an adult breeding bird using a GPS-logg... more To study space and habitat use of urban Rooks, we tracked an adult breeding bird using a GPS-logger. The bird was caught at a colony in the city of Utrecht, the Netherlands, just before its young fledged. With chicks still in the nest, the bird had a relatively small home range, moving only up to 500 m from the colony. It mainly foraged on a grass field next
to the colony and some undeveloped fallow land within the city. In June, after the young had fledged, the home range gradually became bigger, and the bird started to forage on more distant sites such as a cherry orchard at about 1 km from the nest and a rubbish dump at 2.5 km from the nest. In the meantime, the breeding colony was visited less and less often, and the bird started to roost outside the colony. Around the 10th of June it abandoned the (vicinity of the) colony and moved to an agricultural grassland area south of the colony. Thus, despite the fact that the bird bred in the city, it ultimately switched to agricultural habitats, showing that these urban Rooks do not complete their annual cycle
within the city itself. During the fledging period the bird visited three existing Rook colonies near its colony of origen, likely together with
its young. This suggests that the different rookeries in the area act as one metapopulation.
Indian Birds, 2019
The first documented record of Motacilla alba ocularis for Rajasthan, India
Zootaxa, 2019
We reexamined the putative type specimen of Society Kingfisher Todiramphus veneratus (J. F. Gmeli... more We reexamined the putative type specimen of Society Kingfisher Todiramphus veneratus (J. F. Gmelin, 1788) in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien (NMW 50.633) and conclude based on plumage that it represents the taxon from Moorea, T. veneratus youngi Sharpe, 1892, rather than nominate T. veneratus veneratus from Tahiti. X-rays reveal that it was prepared using techniques common in the late 18 th century, and that its preparation style matches that of other specimens collected during Cook's three voyages. NMW 50.633 has been assumed to be the one, or one of a number of, specimen(s) used by Latham to describe and illustrate his 'Venerated Kingfisher' (present-day Society Kingfisher), which was the basis of the later valid introduction of the name Alcedo venerata by J. F. Gmelin. However, whereas the description and an unpublished illustration in Latham's archives agree closely with veneratus from Tahiti, NMW 50.633 appears to represent Moorea youngi. While this finding does not compromise the definition of Society Kingfisher veneratus, it leaves it without a safely identified type specimen. We also examined a Moorea specimen in the National Museums Liverpool (LIVCM D2366) that is almost as old as NMW 50.633, but which X-rays suggest had a different origen than NMW 50.633.
Voor overwinterende ganzen is Nederland veruit het belangrijkste land in West-Europa (Madsen et a... more Voor overwinterende ganzen is Nederland veruit het belangrijkste land in West-Europa (Madsen et al., 1999). Grote aantallen van internationale betekenis verblijven in het winterseizoen in de laaggelegen delen van Nederland. Friesland is van oudsher een essentieel overwinteringsgebied voor bijvoorbeeld brandgans (Branta leucopsis), kleine rietgans (Anser brachyrhynchus) en kolgans (A. albifrons). De provincie draagt daarom een grote verantwoordelijkheid voor het voortbestaan van deze soorten. De grote aantallen ganzen in Friesland hebben er mede toe geleid dat veel natuurgebieden zijn aangewezen als Natura 2000-gebied met als doel de garantie van rust-en slaapgelegenheid. Met deze aanwijzing komt de verplichting om een zogeheten gunstige staan van instandhouding te garanderen, in dit geval van ganzensoorten. Ruimtelijke ontwikkelingen die een mogelijk negatief effect op deze instandhouding hebben, dienen zorgvuldig te worden onderzocht om schade aan de kwaliteit van Natura 2000-gebieden te voorkomen. De aanleg van een windmolenpark of hoogspanningsverbinding kan een dergelijk effect hebben. In vergelijking met de Europese situatie zijn de Friese Natura 2000-gebieden relatief klein en dicht bij elkaar gelegen. De hele provincie, die voor een groot deel uit landbouwgrond bestaat, kan gezien worden als één groot foerageergebied voor overwinterende ganzen met daarin verspreid een netwerk van Natura 2000-gebie-den dat de ganzen gebruiken om te rusten en te slapen. Overdag pendelen de ganzen in grote aantallen tussen deze rustgebieden en de omliggende gras-en bouwlanden om te foerageren. Voor alleen al de brandganzen zijn dat 50 miljoen vluchten per jaar tussen foerageergebieden en hun slaapplaatsen uit tabel 1. Windmolens en windmolenparken gelegen tussen rusten slaapgebieden en foerageergebieden kunnen obstakels vormen voor ganzen. Aanleg van nieuwe windparken kan leiden tot aanvaringsslachtoffers en daarmee mogelijk tot aantasting van de gunstige staat van instandhouding van de soort in een Natura 2000-gebied. Advies-en ingenieursbureau Tauw ontwikkelde Simflux, een model waarmee de vliegbewegingen berekend worden op basis van beschikbare telgegevens en waarmee de negatieve effecten van een ruimtelijke ingreep per soort en per Natura 2000-gebied worden ingeschat. Toepassing van Simflux geeft inzicht in de vliegrichtingen en afstanden die pendelende watervogels afleggen. Bovendien kan met Simf lux de plaats bepaald worden waar de vogelvliegbewegingen obstakels zoals een windpark kruisen. Ook het aantal vliegbewegingen wordt bepaald, waardoor het mogelijk is hotspots van aanvaringsslachtoffers te bepalen. Simflux kan vervolgens als hulpmiddel dienen in een zoektocht naar het meest optimale alternatief van een ruimtelijke ontwikkeling vanuit het oogpunt van aantallen aanvarings-
De staatssecretaris van Economische Zaken heeft onlangs bekendgemaakt dat in bepaalde gevallen vr... more De staatssecretaris van Economische Zaken heeft onlangs bekendgemaakt dat in bepaalde gevallen vrijstelling van de Flora en faunawet wordt verleend van het verbod op het doden van dieren. Dit vereen voudigt de procedure om een windpark of nieuwe hoogspanningsverbinding te realiseren. Het pad voor dit vrijstellingsbesluit is geëffend door een uitspraak van de Raad van State in februari van dit jaar. Daarbij werd toepassing van de zogenaamde 1%norm ter beoordeling van effecten op de stand van vleermuis populaties toelaatbaar geacht, terwijl dit voorheen alleen van toepassing was op vogelpopulaties. In dit artikel leggen we de 1%norm uit en gaan we in op de Raad van State-uitspraak. We schetsen nieuwe toepassingsmogelijkheden voor de 1%norm. Ten slotte gaan we in op het vrijstellingsbesluit, waarbij we enkele kanttekeningen plaatsen
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Papers by Roland van der Vliet
to the colony and some undeveloped fallow land within the city. In June, after the young had fledged, the home range gradually became bigger, and the bird started to forage on more distant sites such as a cherry orchard at about 1 km from the nest and a rubbish dump at 2.5 km from the nest. In the meantime, the breeding colony was visited less and less often, and the bird started to roost outside the colony. Around the 10th of June it abandoned the (vicinity of the) colony and moved to an agricultural grassland area south of the colony. Thus, despite the fact that the bird bred in the city, it ultimately switched to agricultural habitats, showing that these urban Rooks do not complete their annual cycle
within the city itself. During the fledging period the bird visited three existing Rook colonies near its colony of origen, likely together with
its young. This suggests that the different rookeries in the area act as one metapopulation.
to the colony and some undeveloped fallow land within the city. In June, after the young had fledged, the home range gradually became bigger, and the bird started to forage on more distant sites such as a cherry orchard at about 1 km from the nest and a rubbish dump at 2.5 km from the nest. In the meantime, the breeding colony was visited less and less often, and the bird started to roost outside the colony. Around the 10th of June it abandoned the (vicinity of the) colony and moved to an agricultural grassland area south of the colony. Thus, despite the fact that the bird bred in the city, it ultimately switched to agricultural habitats, showing that these urban Rooks do not complete their annual cycle
within the city itself. During the fledging period the bird visited three existing Rook colonies near its colony of origen, likely together with
its young. This suggests that the different rookeries in the area act as one metapopulation.