
Dossier
Exotic species in the Netherlands
Exotic species, also known as alien or introduced species, are animals, plants, fungi or micro-organisms imported through human activity into an area where they do not originally occur, but where they proceed to thrive. Species which were introduced to the Netherlands before the year 1500, such as the rabbit, the pheasant and the mute swan, do not count and are considered indigenous.
Exotic species are sometimes introduced deliberately. An example is the multicoloured Asian ladybird, released in Europe 20 years ago to combat aphids. Pheasants and fallow deer were once released as hunting game. And every year hundreds of turtles and pond perch are released into Dutch watercourses when their owners have had enough of them.
But a lot of species get introduced by accident. Sometimes pets or ornamental animals escape from captivity, as did the Egyptian goose, the Pallas’s squirrel and the Italian crested newt. Marine creatures such as the Chinese mitten crab are brought in with ballast water from ships; the tiger mosquito hitches a ride on tropical plants. And since a canal was dug between the Rhine and Danube 20 years ago, fish species from the Danube watershed, such as the round goby and the money goby, have been able to reach our waters.
There is another category of newcomers that we do not count as exotic: species such as the great egret, whose habitat is shifting as a result of climate change. They are counted in the same category as the lynx, wildcat, wolf and perhaps the golden jackal: animals that settle here of their own accord.
Species monitoring through eDNA
With the help of environmental DNA (eDNA), researchers can demonstrate the presence of animal species, for example based on water samples.
Publications
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Essential plant nutrients impair post-germination development of Striga in sorghum
Plants People Planet (2025), Volume: 7, Issue: 2 - ISSN 2572-2611 - p. 422-435. -
Assessing chronic effects of chemical pollution on biodiversity using mean species abundance relationships
Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (2025) - ISSN 0730-7268 -
Current methods and best practice recommendations for skate and ray (Batoidea) research: Capture, handling, anaesthesia, euthanasia and tag attachment
Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries (2025), Volume: 35, Issue: 1 - ISSN 0960-3166 - p. 117-144. -
Association of circulating fatty acids with cardiovascular disease risk: analysis of individual-level data in three large prospective cohorts and updated meta-analysis
European Journal of Preventive Cardiology (2025), Volume: 32, Issue: 3 - ISSN 2047-4873 - p. 233-246. -
Complexity, Uncertainty, and Entropy: Applications to Food Sensory Perception and Other Complex Phenomena
Entropy (2025), Volume: 27, Issue: 2 - ISSN 1099-4300 -
Voor practor Miriam Quataert is het mbo een cadeau
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Microbiological hazards associated with the use of water in the post‐harvest handling and processing operations of fresh and frozen fruits, vegetables and herbs (ffFVHs)
EFSA Supporting Publications (2025), Volume: 22, Issue: 1 - ISSN 2397-8325 -
Monitoring contaminants in Lac Bay water samples by applying passive samplers : A combination of target and non-target screening approach
IJmuiden: Wageningen Marine Research (Wageningen Marine Research report C002/25) -
Selling extinction : The politics of cheetah conservation in Namibia : “Cheetah capital of the world”
Wageningen University. Promotor(en): A. Hardon, co-promotor(en): D. Ludwig - Wageningen: Wageningen University -
Diet, lifestyle and telomere length: using Copula Graphical Models on NHANES data
Aging (2025), Volume: 17 - ISSN 1945-4589