Species rich grasslands provide ecosystem services such as floral and faunal diversity, livestock forage, carbon sequestration and water regulation. However, the best combinations of sward diversity and management intensity to achieve the above-mentioned ecosystem services are not fully known. To address …

Parasitoids lay their eggs in or on a host, usually another insect. During foraging, parasitoids can encounter insects that differ in terms of host suitability and quality. At one extreme end of this spectrum are non-hosts that are unsuitable for offspring development.Non-hosts are generally ignored …

Over the last decades, the increased demand in beef by the growing population led to an industrialization and intensification of the production systems. This resulted in many issues such as environmental impact, animal welfare, consumers acceptability, resource-use efficiency, growing reliance on edible …

Renewing agricultural grasslands for improved yields and forage quality generally involves eliminating standing vegetation with herbicides, ploughing and reseeding. However, grassland renewal may negatively affect soil quality and related ecosystem services. On clay soil in the north of the Netherlands, …

During times of high activity by predators and competitors, herbivores may be forced to forage in patches of low‐quality food. However, the relative importance in determining where and what herbivores forage still remains unclear, especially for small‐ and intermediate‐sized herbivores. Our objective …

There is no clear overview of the current dietary practices and problems with regard to elephants within Dutch and Belgian zoos, so to be able to assess whether zoos comply with current requirements. The goal of this study was to gain insight in the present feeding practices of the African (Loxodonta …

A previous study done by the chamber of agriculture in Hannover indicates that soaking hay reduces the fructan level. That is why this study will investigate if that is true and how long the hay must be soaked for the best outcome. The questions which will be answered are: - main question: Does soaking …