- Population ecology, mark-recapture analysis
- Evolution, phenotypic plasticity, developmental plasticity
- Migration
- Environmental change
- Foraging ecology, habitat choice
Dr. Tamar Lok
Interests
Research interests
I am a biologist with a broad interest in animal behaviour, population ecology and evolution. I have a special interest in the evolution of migratory behaviour. Understanding the mechanisms underlying the intriguing phenotypic variation in migratory behaviour will learn us more about the flexibility and constraints of migratory animals to keep track in a world that is constantly changing.
Functions
Functions
2019-present: VENI post-doctoral fellow, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Texel, The Netherlands. Project: The ontogeny of migration: the interplay of genes and environment and how this affects the adaptability of migratory species to a changing world.
2017-2018: Post-doctoral researcher, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Texel, The Netherlands. Project: Individual development of migratory strategies of coastal birds.
2015-2016 : Rubicon post-doctoral fellow, Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionelle et Evolutive, CNRS, Montpellier, France. Project: The adaptability of migratory animals to a rapidly changing world: novel measures from an integrated analysis of count, mark-recapture and telemetry data. Collaborators: Dr Olivier Gimenez, Dr Roger Pradel
2013–2014: Post-doctoral researcher, Animal Ecology Group, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. Project: Demography of waders along the East-Asian Australasian flyway. Collaborator: Prof. Theunis Piersma
Publications
Publications
A complete list of my publications can be found on my personal website and on Researchgate.
Education
Professional education
2013 PhD, University of Groningen, cum laude (Promotors: Prof. Dr. Theunis Piersma and Prof. Dr. Joost Tinbergen). Thesis title: Spoonbills as a model system: a demographic cost-benefit analysis of differential migration.
2005 M.Sc. Evolutionary Biology (Topmaster programme), University of Groningen, cum laude
2003 B.Sc. Biology, University of Groningen
Awards
Awards and prizes
2018: NWO Veni award. The ontogeny of migration: an interplay of genes and environment (250 k€)
2015: NWO Rubicon award. The adaptability of migratory animals to a rapidly changing world: novel measures from an integrated analysis of count, mark-recapture and telemetry data. (110 k€)
2014: Van Swinderen prize (2nd place) for best Dutch summary of a PhD-thesis at University of Groningen
2008: NWO Open Aanvraag. Fitness consequences of migration in the spoonbill: a comparative approach. (175 k€)
Other
Other
For more information about me and my research, please visit my personal website.
Linked news
Tuesday 29 October 2019
Migratory birds are worse off in West Africa
Migratory sandpipers breeding in Greenland who choose to spend the winter in West Africa instead of elsewhere along the East Atlantic coast have a lower chance of survival, are more likely to skip their first breeding season and arrive later at their…
Thursday 05 September 2019
Help mee bij het volgen van jonge lepelaars op eerste zuidwaartse trek vanuit de Waddenzee
Onderzoekers van het NIOZ Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Zeeonderzoek vragen natuurliefhebbers om als ‘citizen scientist’ (burgerwetenschapper) mee te helpen bij het in kaart brengen van de trekroutes van jonge lepelaars. Belangrijk, want we…
Monday 16 July 2018
2 Veni-financieringen voor NIOZ-onderzoekers | 2 Veni grants for NIOZ researchers
[Scroll down for English version] De Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) heeft twee veelbelovende NIOZ wetenschappers een Veni-financiering van 250.000 euro toegekend. Hiermee kunnen zij gedurende drie jaar hun eigen…
Linked blogs
Monday 15 March 2021
NIOZ podcast Van Delta tot Diepzee aflevering 9 De lepelaar als pleegkind
Texel heeft vanouds een kolonie gehad, ook toen de vogel in de rest van Nederland bijna was verdwenen. Maar ze zijn weer terug, ook op de andere eilanden, een vertrouwde, zwijgzame, sneeuwwitte, slanke en sierlijke verschijning, hoog op de poten,…
Monday 31 August 2020
Tracking juvenile spoonbills 2020
This is the second year of tracking juvenile spoonbills, with the aim to investigate the importance of social information and habitat quality in shaping the migration routes of young spoonbills.
Tuesday 08 October 2019
SPOONBILLS | Alex crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to Africa
After a stay of two weeks at the Bay of Cadiz, Alex decided to make the crossing to Africa in the morning of October 1st. An intensive monitoring of the departure of spoonbills from Spain to Morocco is being performed every year in autumn by the…
Friday 20 September 2019
SPOONBILLS | Arno and Veer were observed in France!
Ornithologists from the Maison de l’Estuaire managed to trace Arno in the Seine estuary. He was resting in a group of 27 other spoonbills, and looked healthy. One of his group mates was colour-ringed.
Tuesday 17 September 2019
SPOONBILLS | The French are closely followed by the Dutch: also Arno and Veer are on their way!
Blog4: Last Friday, one day after the first Camargue juvenile spoonbills departed, the Dutch juvenile Arno left from Schiermonnikoog, and flew to the Grevelingenmeer in the Dutch Delta where he spent the night. The next morning, he continued his trip…
Friday 13 September 2019
SPOONBILLS | Migration has started, Ravi and Alex have departed
Blog 3: Yesterday (12 September), around midday, Ravi departed from the Marais du Vigueirat in westerly direction. He stayed close to the coast, maximally 17 km offshore, from where he could still see the coast, flying at about 300 m altitude. The…
Tuesday 03 September 2019
SPOONBILLS | Post-fledging movements
Blog 2: After fledging, and before their first southward migration, juvenile spoonbills often roam around much more than adult birds do during this period. These so-called post-fledging movements allow juvenile birds to explore their environment and…
Thursday 15 August 2019
SPOONBILLS | Meet the Juveniles
Blog 1: To investigate the importance of social information and habitat quality in shaping the migration routes of young spoonbills, we have equipped 20 juvenile spoonbills with a GPS-GSM transmitter in June 2019, 10 on Schiermonnikoog (The…
Wednesday 26 June 2019
Introduction | Tracking movements of Spoonbills
Spoonbills that breed in The Netherlands spend the winter along the Atlantic coast between France and Senegal. But why do some spoonbills fly only a few hundred kilometres to spend the winter in France, whereas others continue their journey for more…
NIOZ publications
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2023
Lok, T.; van der Geest, M.; Bom, R.A.; de Goeij, P.; Piersma, T.; Bouten, W. (2023). Prey ingestion rates revealed by back-mounted accelerometers in Eurasian spoonbills. Animal Biotelemetry 11(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40317-022-00315-w
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2021
Foekema, E.; van der Molen, J.; Asjes, A.; Bijleveld, A.; Brasseur, S.; Camphuysen, K. (C.J.); Van Franeker, J.A.; Holthuijsen, S.; Kentie, R.; Kühn, S.; Leopold, M.; Kleine Schaars, L.; Lok, T.; Niemann, H.; Schop, J. (2021). Ecologische effecten van het incident met de MSC Zoe op het Nederlandse Waddengebied, met focus op microplastics. NIOZ-rapport, 2021(03). NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research: Texel. 98 pp. https://doi.org/10.25850/nioz/7b.b.mb
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2020
Reneerkens, J.; Versluijs, T.S.L.; Piersma, T.; Alves, J.A.; Boorman, M.; Corse, C.; Gilg, O.; Hallgrimsson, G.T.; Lang, J.; Loos, B.; Ntiamoa-Baidu, Y.; Nuoh, A.A.; Potts, P.M.; ten Horn, J.; Lok, T. (2020). Low fitness at low latitudes: Wintering in the tropics increases migratory delays and mortality rates in an Arctic breeding shorebird. J. Anim. Ecol. 89(3): 691-703. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13118
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2019
Chan, Y.-C; Tibbitts, T.L; Lok, T.; Hassell, C.J.; Peng, H.-B.; Ma, Z.; Zhang, Z.; Piersma, T. (2019). Filling knowledge gaps in a threatened shorebird flyway through satellite tracking. J. Appl. Ecol. 56(10): 2305-2315. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13474Lok, T.; Hassell, C.J.; Piersma, T.; Pradel, R.; Gimenez, O. (2019). Accounting for heterogeneity when estimating stopover duration, timing and population size of red knots along the Luannan Coast of Bohai Bay, China. Ecol. Evol. 9(11): 6176-6188. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5139van der Geest, M.; van der Lely, J.A.C.; van Gils, J.A.; Piersma, T.; Lok, T. (2019). Density-dependent growth of bivalves dominating the intertidal zone of Banc d’Arguin, Mauritania: importance of feeding mode, habitat and season. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 610: 51-63. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps12851
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2018
Jouta, J.; de Goeij, P.; Lok, T.; Velilla, E.; Camphuysen, C.J.; Leopold, M.; van der Veer, H.W.; Olff, H.; Overdijk, O.; Piersma, T. (2018). Unexpected dietary preferences of Eurasian Spoonbills in the Dutch Wadden Sea: spoonbills mainly feed on small fish not shrimp. J. Ornithol. 159(3): 839-849. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-018-1551-2
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2017
Oudman, T.; de Goeij, P.; Piersma, T.; Lok, T. (2017). Colony-breeding Eurasian spoonbills in the Netherlands: local limits to population growth with expansion into new areas. Ardea 105(2): 113-124. https://dx.doi.org/10.5253/arde.v105i2.a2
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2016
Piersma, T.; Lok, T.; Chen, Y.; Hassell, C.J.; Yang, H.-Y.; Boyle, A.; Slaymaker, M.; Chan, Y.-C; Melville, D.S.; Zhang, Z.W.; Ma, Z. (2016). Simultaneous declines in summer survival of three shorebird species signals a flyway at risk. J. Appl. Ecol. 53: 479-490. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12582
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2015
Lok, T.; Overdijk, O.; Piersma, T. (2015). The cost of migration: spoonbills suffer higher mortality during trans-Saharan spring migrations only. Biol. Lett. 11(1): 0140944. dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2014.0944
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2014
El-Hacen, E.-H. M.; Piersma, T.; Jouta, J.; Overdijk, O.; Lok, T. (2014). Seasonal variation in the diet of Spoonbill chicks in the Wadden Sea: a stable isotopes approach. Journ. Ornithol. 155: 611-619. hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10336-014-1043-yLok, T.; Overdijk, O.; Piersma, T. (2014). Interpreting variation in growth of Eurasian Spoonbill chicks: disentangling the effects of age, sex and environment. Ardea 102(2): 181-194. dx.doi.org/10.5253/arde.v102i2.a8
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2013
El-Hacen, E.-H.M.; Overdijk, O.; Lok, T.; Olff, H.; Piersma, T. (2013). Home Range, Habitat Selection, and Foraging Rhythm in Mauritanian Spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia balsaci): A Satellite Tracking Study. Waterbirds (De Leon Springs Fla.) 36(3): 277-286. dx.doi.org/10.1675/063.036.0305Leyrer, J.; Lok, T.; Brugge, M.; Spaans, B.; Sandercock, B.K.; Piersma, T. (2013). Mortality within the annual cycle: seasonal survival patterns in Afro-Siberian Red Knots Calidris canutus canutus. J. Ornithol. 154(4): 933-943. dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10336-013-0959-yLok, T. (2013). Spoonbills as a model system: A demographic cost-benefit analysis of differential migration. PhD Thesis. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen: [s.l.]. ISBN 978-90-367-6572-5. 1-239 pp.Lok, T.; Overdijk, O.; Piersma, T. (2013). Migration Tendency Delays Distributional Response to Differential Survival Prospects along a Flyway. American Naturalist 181(4): 520-531. dx.doi.org/10.1086/669679Lok, T.; Overdijk, O.; Tinbergen, J.; Piersma, T. (2013). Seasonal variation in density dependence in age-specific survival of a long-distance migrant. Ecology 94(10): 2358-2369. hdl.handle.net/10.1890/12-1914.1van 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. Proc. - Royal Soc., Biol. Sci. 280(1763). dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2013.0861
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2012
Leyrer, J.; Lok, T.; Brugge, M.; Dekinga, A.; van Gils, J.A.; Sandercock, B.K.; Piersma, T. (2012). Small-scale demographic structure suggests preemptive behavior in a flocking shorebird. Behav. Ecol. 23(6): 1226-1233. dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/ars106Piersma, T.; van der Velde, M.; El-Hacen, E.M.; Lok, T.; Overdijk, O.; El-Hacen, E.M. (2012). Molecular verification of the subspecies status of the Mauritanian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia balsaci. Ardea 100(2): 131-136. dx.doi.org/10.5253/078.100.0204
Linked projects
How do migratory birds find their way
Supervisor
Tamar Lok
Funder
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research - Veni/Vidi/Vici
Project duration
1 Jan 2019 - 31 Dec 2021
