The Academy’s Ecology Fund supports ecological fieldwork within the Netherlands and beyond, and ecological research abroad carried out by young researchers. Kat Bebbington (Lecturer in Behavioural Ecology, Wageningen University and Research) and Ronja Knippers (PhD Candidate Human-Wildlife Coexistence, Utrecht University) are two of the researchers who received a grant this year. They talked to us about how the Fund contributes to their research project.
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Interview recipients KNAW Ecology fund: from speckled mousebirds to 'crop raiders'.
What do you hope to discover in your research/fieldwork?
Kat: 'I hope to find out how group-living birds can maximise the benefit of communal huddling while minimising the risks associated with this behaviour. In lots of different animals, individuals huddle together to keep warm – penguins are a famous example of this behaviour, but it occurs in lots of birds, mammals and even reptiles. While keeping warm is crucial to conserve energy, animals in close contact are at extremely high risk of contracting infectious diseases from others in the group. In this project, I will study communal roosting in speckled mousebirds, a small southern-African bird. I will first explore the link between group size and various health and disease measures, then test whether mousebirds can adapt their behaviour to maximise the energetic benefits and minimise the risk of infection in communal roosts.'
Ronja: 'My study involves trying to unravel the complex relationship between indigenous people and animals around some villages deep in the rainforest of Suriname. I observe animals that eat or destroy crops on farmland, also known as "crop raiders". Conflict between humans and crop raiders compromises the villagers' food security and also wildlife protection. The relationship between humans and crop raiders is influenced partly by the fear animals have of humans and predators. There's a lot of food that attracts animals onto the farmland, but they’re then also at greater risk of encountering a human, who might be looking for dinner. Animals therefore have to make a difficult decision about where they can best go to eat. The driving forces underlying this animal behaviour are still only poorly understood. With my study, I'm trying to understand those forces and so foster a more peaceful relationship between humans and animals, both in Suriname and elsewhere. '
'With my study, I'm trying to (...) foster a more peaceful relationship between humans and animals, both in Suriname and elsewhere. '
Kat Bebbington
What possibilities does the Academy Ecology Fund bring to your research/fieldwork?
Kat: 'To test my ideas about the costs and benefits of communal roosting, detailed study of physiology and behaviour is needed; studying animals in captivity makes this much easier. The Ecology Fund grant has given me the opportunity to build a set of in-situ aviaries at my field site in Eswatini (southern Africa), where I can temporarily house groups of mousebirds in their natural environment and test how behaviours like avoidance of infected individuals, grooming of other group members to remove lice and mites, and intense social contact (mousebirds like to kiss each other a lot!) varies in with group size and ambient temperatures.'
Ronja: 'Without the Ecology Fund, I couldn't afford to pay for the extremely expensive flights needed to reach the indigenous villages. The upcoming fieldwork will enable me to greatly expand my dataset, which will increase the impact of my research. The people in the villages that I'll be visiting have lived with the nature around them for thousands of years, but climate change and illegal logging and mining, among other things, have put a strain on that relationship. The fact that they're so remote means that these communities are often not included in scientific research. There's a wealth of knowledge there just waiting to be published, so that everyone can learn about these special places, and we can draw attention to the problems the villagers face.'
'In five years’ time, I hope to have used this Ecology Fund grant as a spring board to (...) hopefully reveal some exciting new mechanisms, both behavioural and physiological, that can help to keep animal populations healthy.'
Ronja Knippers
What will your ecological research be like in five years’ time?
Kat: 'Coping with increased disease risk is arguably one of the most important hurdles in the evolution of social behaviour in animals. We humans have had first-hand experience of how sociality interacts with the spread of disease over the last few years, but as scientists I feel that we still have a lot left to learn about the kind of traits that help group-living animals to handle contagious disease. In five years’ time, I hope to have used this Ecology Fund grant as a spring board to explore this topic in more detail and hopefully reveal some exciting new mechanisms, both behavioural and physiological, that can help to keep animal populations healthy.'
Ronja: 'Five years from now, my thesis will have been published, and everyone will be able to read exactly how humans and animals live together in the rainforest of Suriname. What's more important is that it will contain lessons on how conflict between humans and animals can be transformed into coexistence. Those lessons can then be applied in nature conservation policy – not just in Suriname but wherever humans and crop raiders live together in the rainforest. I’m already taking the first steps towards actually implementing my results, for example through local education programmes and projects to reduce wildlife damage. I hope to still be working hard on this in five years' time, and that I'll have made as much impact as possible on nature conservation and food security in the region.'
About the Academy Ecology Fund
- Apply:Is opening 1 October 2025
Academy Ecology Fund
Young ecologists may apply for a grant of up to EUR 9,000 to cover expenses associated with fieldwork in the Netherlands or abroad or research abroad.
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