About:

 

 

Piet J. van den Hout

scientist

 

Expertise

foraging ― predator-prey interactions ― phenotypic flexibility ― age-related behaviour

 

Employment record

2011 − present:   Post-doc researcher at Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), Texel, The Netherlands.

2010 − present:   Teaching fellow at A.P. Leventis Ornithological Institute (APLORI), Jos, Nigeria

2003 − 2009:        PhD-student at NIOZ (anti-predation adaptations in shorebirds)

2002:                     Teaching assistant Animal Ecology Group, CEES, University of Groningen

1992 − 1993:       Co-worker at Law firm (penal tax law)

1988 – 1992:       PhD-student at University of Tilburg (penal aspects of fraud)

 

 

Education

2010:                     PhD Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Groningen (thesis: "Struggle for Safety:                                                    adaptive responses of wintering waders to their avian predators")

2001:                     MSc Biology, University of Groningen (cum laude)

1993:                     PhD Penal Law, University of Tilburg (thesis: "Oplichting: knooppunt van valsheid en bedrog")

1988:                     LL.M General Law, University of Leiden

1981:                     VWO, Christelijk Lyceum, Dordrecht

 

Research Interests

Habitat use in animals is governed by a numbers of factors, which basically are the interactions between on the one hand natural limiting factors, such as resources, competitors, predators, parasites, weather conditions and on the other hand phenotypic characteristics of individuals. With a special interest in the impact of predation by apex predators on prey at the level of individuals and populations, which originates from my PhD research (click here for my dissertation), I am particularly interested in the question how patterns of distribution and abundance emerge from individual behaviour, and the intriguing cause-and-effect questions that arise from the interplay between phenotypic state, behaviour of individuals, and the distributions of foragers. This involves questions such as how variation between individual feeding behaviours comes about, and how it is maintained.

Projects

METAWAD (term: 2011-2016, funded by Waddenfonds). On a yearly basis 10-12 million birds utilize the Wadden Sea, and a substantial part of them are migrants that use the mudflats only on their travels between their arctic breeding areas and their limited wintering areas along the coast of western and southern Africa. Lacking alternative areas for resting and feeding, to prepare for further migration, these migrants are fully dependent on the Wadden Sea. In view of these travels migrants perceive the Wadden Sea as part of global network of ecosystems. Therefore, the Wadden Sea cannot be regarded as an ecosystsem on its own but is part of what is called a ‘meta-ecosystem’.

Degradation of the Wadden Sea habitat in the past years has led to government incentives to restore habitat quality (Natuurherstelprogramma – Nature Restoration Program). Effective restoration must lead to better opportunities for migrants in terms of safety and energy gain, which should yield increased chances for survival and recruitment.

METAWAD aims to materialize these targets by in-depth long-term studies on distribution, habitat use, survival and recruitment of five species that are typical in the ways they exploit Wadden Sea food resources: Red Knot Calidris canutus being a consumer of bivalves on open mudflat, Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica of polychaetes on open mudflat, Sanderling Calidris alba of shrimps on sandy mudflat and beach,  Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia of shrimp and flatfish in gullies, and Brent Goose Branta bernicla being a seagrass and algae grazer on mudflat and saltmarsh.

In my research, among these target species, the Red Knot is central. We examine the relationships between the distributions of Red Knots and their food stocks. Assuming that birds optimize their behavior, individual characteristics like body weight, gizzard size, pectoral muscle size, and activity patterns, can serve as predictors of their distribution. We aim to link these features to survival of marked individuals in order to better understand the complex relationship between population dynamics of Red Knots and the state of the habitats they live in.

Click here for the METAWAD website: www.metawad.nl

 

 

 

 

Publications

International peer-reviewed journals:

van Gils, J.A., van der Geest, M., Leyrer, J. Oudman, T., Lok, T., Onrust, J., de Fouw, J., van der Heide, T., van den Hout, P.J., Spaans, B., Dekinga, A., Brugge, M., & Piersma, T. 2013  Toxin constraint explains diet choice,survival and population dynamics in a molluscivore shorebird, Proceedings of the Royal Society, B, 20130861

Mathot, K.J. , van den Hout, P.J., Piersma, T., Kempenaers, B., Réale, D. & Dingemanse, N.J. 2011 Disentangling the roles of frequency-vs. state-dependence in generating individual differences in behavioural plasticity, Ecology Letters 14: 1254-1262. [pdf]

van den Hout, P.J. & Martin, G.R. 2011. Extreme head-tilting in shorebirds: predator detection and sun avoidance. Wader Study Group Bulletin 118(1): 18–21. [pdf]

van den Hout, P.J., Mathot, K.J., Maas, L.R.M. & Piersma T. 2010. Predator escape tactics in birds: linking ecology and aerodynamics, Behavioural Ecology 21(1): 16-25. [pdf]

Mathot K.J. , van den Hout, P.J. & Piersma, T. 2009 Differential responses of red knots, Calidris canutus, to perching and flying sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus, models, Animal Behaviour 77: 1179-1185. [pdf]

van den Hout, P.J., Spaans, B. & Piersma, T. 2008 Differential mortality of wintering shorebirds on the Banc d’Arguin, Mauritania, due to predation by large falcons. Ibis 150 (Suppl. 1): 219–230. [pdf]

Van Gils, J.A., Dekinga, A., van den Hout, P.J., Spaans, B. & Piersma, T. 2007 Digestive organ size and behavior of red knots (Calidris canutus) indicate the quality of their benthic food stocks. Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution 53: 329–346. [pdf]

van den Hout, P.J., Piersma, T., Dekinga, A., Lubbe, S.K. & Visser, G.H. 2006. Ruddy turnstones Arenaria interpres rapidly build pectoral muscle after raptor scares. Journal of Avian Biology 37: 425-430. [pdf]

De Heij, M.E., van den Hout, P.J. & Tinbergen, J.M. 2006. Fitness cost of incubation in great tits (Parus major) is related to clutch size. Proceeding of the Royal Society of London Series B. 273: 2353-2361. [pdf]

van den Hout, P.J. 2006. Dense foraging flotillas of Eurasian Coots Fulica atra explained by predation by Ganges Soft-shell Turtle Aspideretus gangeticus? Ardea 94: 271-274. [pdf]

National journals:

van den Hout, P. J. & Piersma, T. 2013. Laagwaterverspreiding van steltlopers in de Waddenzee. Limosa, 86: 25-30. [pdf]

van den Hout, P.J. 2009. Mortaliteit is het topje van een ijsberg van angst: over Slechtvalken en steltlopers in de Waddenzee. Limosa 82: 122-133. [pdf]

van den Hout, P.J. 2007 Nachtzwaluwen op Texel in 2006. Limosa 80: 102-107. [pdf]

 

Click here for a digital version of my dissertation: "Struggle for Safety: Adaptive responses of wintering waders to their avian predators".