What’s up? Publications relevant for current issues
Gruttomonitor 2012 – 2019
De vinger aan de pols van de grutto populatie met een actueel overzicht van de demografische parameters op basis van langjarig veldonderzoek in Súdwest Fryslân. By Egbert van der Velde, Rosemarie Kentie, Theunis Piersma, Eldar Rakhimberdiev, Jos Hooijmeijer
Lissabon airport
Our work at the staging sites in Portugal and Spain is crucial to keep an eye on the overall population trends. This means that the relevance of studying godwits in the Lissabon estuaries, is flyway-wide. Want to understand how we estimate the total population size of Continental Black-tailed Godwits in the East-Atlantic Flyway?
The GFN team monitors Black-tailed Godwits in Portugal (Sado & Tejo estuaries), collecting lots of information on numbers and conditions for godwits. The maximum numbers in Portugal in 2019 were 40.000, and currently our team is there for this year’s count and data collection!
More on 2019 here: Black-tailed Godwit Demographic Project Spring migration of Black-tailed Godwits in Iberia between 31 January and 24 February 2019. By Jos Hooijmeijer, Egbert van der Velde, Maarten Hotting, Age Hulder, Wim Tijsen, Marten Sikkema, Marycha Franken, Jacob Jan de Vries, Siebe Bonthuis, Kees de Jager & Bob Loos.
Recent book: “Het Waddengebied bij nader inzien”, onder redactie van Bas Eenhoorn
In samenwerking met Arjan Berkhuysen, Robbert Coops, Gert-Jan Hospers,
Theunis Piersma, Gert de Roo en Geert de Vries.
De bijdrage van Theunis kunt u vinden in hoofdstuk 4: “Waddenwetenschap. Zouden we iets aan onze waddennatuur moeten doen?”
De PDF is hier beschikbaar.
Annual reports from the Chair
August 2019: New annual report!
Report of the Chair in Global Flyway Ecology (July 2018 – July 2019) at the University of Groningen. Download here.
Report of the Chair in Global Flyway Ecology (July 2017 – July 2018) at the University of Groningen. Download here.
Report of the Chair in Global Flyway Ecology (July 2016 – July 2017) at the University of Groningen. Download here.
Report of the Chair in Global Flyway Ecology (July 2015 – July 2016) at the University of Groningen. Download here.
All publications
Scientific and popular publications of Theunis Piersma and his team, and a full list of journal and book publications can be found at the website of the University of Groningen.
Meadow bird publication
“Meadowbirds on the horizon of southwest Friesland” Harvesting international ecological knowledge to connect farming practices in the southwest of Friesland with biodiversity. Download PDF here.
The book is both in English and Dutch, called “Een horizon vol weidevogels“:Internationale ecologische kennis die de landbouw in Zuidwest-Friesland met biodiversiteit verbindt.
Authors: Ruth A. Howison, Heinrich Belting, Jennifer Smart, Mark Smart, Rob Schuckard, Ole Thorup & Theunis Piersma + International Wader Study Group
Summary: In the low countries of Europe, the downsides of industrial agriculture have been highlighted by the rampant loss of farmland birds, some of the most enigmatic of which are waders. The International Wader Study Group (IWSG) has played its role by first summarizing the ever declining numbers of breeding waders in Europe. In an attempt to be upbeat rather than the usual ‘depressed’, the IWSG international workshop in Workum, Friesland, The Netherlands on 28 September 2018 took an idealistic approach. We put all the work on our disappearing breeding waders to good use in the design of ideal landscapes with various species of meadowbirdson the horizon!
Publisher: International Wader Study Group.
Expedition reports
Teams from the University of Groningen and Global Flyway Network frequently go on expeditions. A selection of expedition reports will appear here. The reports of the Australian chapter of Global Flyway Network can be found here.
The latest
Describing habitat and finding colour rings of Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa) in the Brakna region (Mauritania) and in the Senegal River Valley between Djoudj/ Diawling NP and Kaédi (Senegal and Mauritania) from 23 October – 5 November 2019. By Jos Hooijmeijer, Ruth Howison, Mohamed Ahmed Sidi Cheikh & Theunis Piersma. Between 23 October and 5 November 2019 the team visited the most import areas in the Senegal River
valley in both Senegal and Mauritania from Djoudj and Diawling NP all the way inland towards Kaédi and beyond Lake Aleg (Brakna region). They recorded resightings of individual birds and describe godwit habitat.
Black-tailed Godwit Demographic Project Spring migration of Black-tailed Godwits in Iberia between 31 January and 24 February 2019. By Jos Hooijmeijer, Egbert van der Velde, Maarten Hotting, Age Hulder, Wim Tijsen, Marten Sikkema, Marycha Franken, Jacob Jan de Vries, Siebe Bonthuis, Kees de Jager & Bob Loos. The team monitored in Portugal (Sado & Tejo) and Spain (Doñana & Extremadura), collecting lots of information on numbers and conditions. February 2019 was much wetter than 2018 with equal maximum numbers in Portugal (40.000!), slightly more in Extremadura and many more in Doñana. They are doing a pretty good job out there with an estimated 65% of all ringed birds seen! Enjoy the read! And the pictures…
Describing habitat and finding colour rings of Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa) in the Senegal River Delta, Senegal, from 2 – 9 July 2019. By Jos Hooijmeijer, Ruth Howison, Idrissa Ndiaye & Theunis Piersma. The team visited the most import areas in the Senegal River delta and Djoudj NP Northern Senegal to record resightings of individual birds and describe godwit habitat. This report gives daily overviews of their findings with photos, locations visited, numbers present and the first conclusions and recommendations.
DE GRUTTO MONITOR 2018 (in Dutch). Tussenrapportage door Egbert van der Velde, Jos Hooijmeijer en Theunis Piersma. De vinger aan de pols van de grutto-populatie met een actueel overzicht van de demografische parameters op basis van langjarig veldonderzoek in Súdwest Fryslân.
Earlier reports
Describing habitat and finding colour rings of Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa) in Morocco, from 25 February-5 March 2019. By Jos Hooijmeijer, Ruth Howison and Theunis Piersma. The team visited areas in Morocco previously identified as godwit areas, as well as new areas that showed up as hotspots from the accumulated transmitter locations.
Describing habitat and finding colour rings of Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa) in Guinea-Bissau, from 8 – 19 December 2018. By Jos Hooijmeijer, Ruth Howison, Hamilton Monteiro and Theunis Piersma. Includes detailed re-sighting reports of each observed colour-marked Black-tailed Godwit.
Describing habitat and finding colour rings of Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa) in Doñana, Spain, from 3 – 10 October 2018. By Jos Hooijmeijer, Ruth Howison and Theunis Piersma. Includes detailed re-sighting reports of each observed colour-marked Black-tailed Godwit
Describing habitat and finding colour rings of Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa) in the Casamance, Senegal, from 27 August – 6 September 2018. By Jos Hooijmeijer, Ruth Howison and Idrissa Ndiaye. Includes detailed re-sighting reports of each observed colour-marked Black-tailed Godwit.
(Further reading: Our German colleagues also worked in Senegal, in December 2018. Their report can be found here: “African winter habitats of Black-tailed Godwits breeding in the Dümmer area. Report of an expedition from 9 – 18 December 2018 in the Senegal. Authors: Heinrich Belting, Christopher Marlow, Idrissa Ndiaye & Johannes Melter, NLWKN, Naturschutzstation, Hüde, Germany. – see also: www.wiesenvoegel-life.de/en/meadow-birds.html).
Black-tailed Godwit Demographic Project Spring migration of Black-tailed Godwits in Iberia 2018. By Jos Hooijmeijer, Egbert van der Velde, Maarten Hotting, Haije Valkema, Wim Tijsen, Mario Huizinga, Libbe Zijlstra, Jacob Jan de Vries, Siebe Bonthuis and Kees de Jager. Includes detailed re-sighting reports of each observed colour-marked Black-tailed Godwit.
Black-tailed Godwit Demographic Project Spring migration of Black-tailed Godwits in Iberia 2017. By Jos Hooijmeijer, Egbert van der Velde, Maarten Hotting, Wiebe Kaspersma, Wim Tijsen, Fred Cottaar, Ysbrand Galama, Gjerryt Hoekstra, Siebe Bonthuis, Astrid Kant, Bob Loos, Ronald Messemaker, Jacob Jan de Vries and Ruth Howison.
Habitat use and Observations of Black-tailed Godwits between the Saloum and Senegal River delta’s. Expedition report 5 to 16 November 2017. By
Jos Hooijmeijer, Tom Jager and Theunis Piersma. Report of the University of Groningen & Global Flyway Network, The Netherlands.
DE GRUTTO MONITOR 2016 (in Dutch). By Rosemarie Kentie, Jos Hooijmeijer, Egbert van der Velde and Theunis Piersma. De vinger aan de pols van de grutto-populatie met een actueel overzicht van de demografische parameters op basis van langjarig veldonderzoek in Súdwest Fryslân.
Recent book
Oudman, T. & Piersma, T. (2018) De Ontsnapping van de Natuur: Een nieuwe kijk op kennis. Publisher: Athenaeum – Polak & Van Gennep, Amsterdam (more info).
Not so old, and still relevant
On 21 February 2006 Theunis Piersma became professor at the University of Groningen, the text of the inaugural lecture is available in Dutch and in English:
- Piersma, T. “Animal ecology: habitat choice and changing numbers of animals in a changing world” (2006).
For the students of today, what can not be easily reached by a mouse click, seems old and probably irrelevant. This is true for much of the scientific literature from before 1990. In this section we make available a few ‘golden oldies’, publications on which the current work of Team Piersma builds which have not been published in digital form:
- Altenburg, W., Engelmoer, M., Mes, R. & Piersma, T. (1982). Wintering waders on the Banc d’Arguin, Mauritania. Report of the Netherlands Ornithological Mauritanian Expedition 1980.. Leiden: Stichting Veth tot steun aan Waddenonderzoek.
Books
An compilation of books by Theunis Piersma and various team members:
Feature photo: Red Knots with chick, Sterligova, Taimyr, 1994 (Jan van de Kam)