Theunis Piersma

Theunis Piersma

Theunis Piersma (* 1958 in Hemelum ) is a Dutch ornithologist .

Life

Piersma studied biology at the University of Groningen , received her doctorate in ornithology under Rudi Drent in 1994 and has been professor of animal ecology there since 2003. Since 2012 he has held a chair for migratory bird ecology there, financed by the WWF and the Dutch Vogeschutzbund. He is also at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Marine Research (NIOZ) in 't Horntje .

He is known for research on the ecology of bird migration on a global scale and has done research in Africa, Australia, North and South America and China, among others. He built up a worldwide network of observers on the migratory bird routes and is active in nature conservation for migratory birds. In the Netherlands he mainly dealt with birds in the Wadden Sea (especially the black godwit , red knot ) and criticized the lack of protection of the Wadden Sea in his home country. He was involved in campaigns against cockle fisheries in the Netherlands (which were heavily fished there and the birds therefore lacked food).

In 2014 he received the Spinoza Prize . He has been a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences since 2009 . In 2004 he received the Prince Bernhard Foundation Prize for Nature Conservation.

Fonts

• with J. van de Kam, PF Battley, BJ McCaffery, DI Rogers, J.-S. Hong, N. Moores, J.-Y. Ki, J. Lewis: Invisible connections. Why migrating shorebirds need the Yellow Sea. Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing 2010
• with J. van de Kam, BJ Ens, L. Zwarts: Ecologische atlas van de Nederlandse wadvogels, Haarlem: Schuyt 1999
• with J. van de Kam, B. J: Ens, L. Zwarts: Shorebirds. An illustrated behavioral ecology. Utrecht: KNNV Publishers 2004

Web links

• Homepage, University of Groningen (English)
• Biography at the NWO (English)