Research

The University of Groningen and Radboud University Nijmegen will conduct scientific research into the behaviour and effects of Europe’s last wild and largest bovine species. A large part of the ecological studies at Kraansvlak will be focused on the subject of grazing in natural areas.

The research into wisents at the Kraansvlak will be carried out by two PhD students, assisted by students and volunteers. The researchers work together with wisent research projects elsewhere in Western and Eastern Europe, so that a broad picture of the ecology of the wisent will be obtained. Until now hardly anything is known about the role of the wisent in the ecosystem. The few studies available mainly deal with other aspects than ecology and most of them were carried out in populations who were given supplementary feeding. The research to be carried out, using conventional as well as new research methods, will lift a corner of the veil.

One of the aspects to be studied, in particular by the University of Groningen, is terrain usage. In order to discover how the animals use their territory, they will be equipped with collar transmitters with GPS receiver (the same principle as a car navigation system) and a GSM telephone. The position of the animals is reported by telephone every hour and can then be related to the vegetation maps.

The animals will also be observed directly, in order to establish what plants they eat and how they behave towards one another. In the beginning there will be no other large grazers (horse, cow) in the area, but in future it is planned to put horses out as well, to observe the differences in terrain usage, food selection and behaviour between the different species.

Another major aspect to be studied is the effect of wisents on the biodiversity. This aspect will mainly be studied by Radboud University Nijmegen. Because of their weight and the facts that they eat trees and shrubs and are fond of taking sand baths, wisents might bring more, and partly a different, diversity into the vegetation structure than horses and cows do. The dynamic environment thus created provides opportunities for a great many organisms that depend on such an environment and are characteristic of the sand dunes.