Research groupsin a row
Naturalis has about 120 full-time scientists, and then another 200 guest researchers. They work together in the following research groups.
Evolutionary Ecology
We have a general interest in contemporary evolution and are specifically focused on the adaptation of organisms to ecological changes in their environment. We study how ancient and more recent man-made environments, such as the city biome, create…
NL Biodiversity and Society
Our mission is to generate scientific knowledge and facilitate societal partners to strengthen biodiversity. We do scientific research, develop biodiversity tools, and give advice to partners. We combine science, policy and practice. Our expertise areas…
Understanding evolution
We study how the interplay of interactions determines evolutionary processes. We integrate a combination of phylogenetic, ecological, genomic, morphological, and anatomical approaches and apply these to several target taxa across the 'Tree of Life'. Our…
Tropical botany
The tropics contain the overwhelming majority of Earth’s plant diversity. Describing species, understanding their distributions, evolutionary and ecological relationships, and recognizing their role in human societies – themes in the Tropical Botany…
Marine biodiversity
Our seas and oceans are changing rapidly: increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations cause warming, acidification, and deoxyxenation at rates higher than in the previous millions of years. These global challenges interact with regional and local processes…
Vertebrate evolution, development and ecology
Vertebrate history ranges back in time over 535 million years documenting major changes in biodiversity, evolutionary success and ecological adaptations. Although vertebrates are a relatively small group in the animal kingdom, their skeletons are well…
Functional Traits
Since plants cannot run away, they have developed a wide array of functional adaptations throughout evolution to survive changing conditions. Our research group focuses on wood formation, one of the most fundamental evolutionary innovations that gave rise…
Marine Evolution & Ecology
We study the diversity, distribution, evolution and ecology of marine animals from diverse habitats ranging from the open ocean to coral reefs and marine lakes. We employ a combination of morphological, molecular and experimental approaches to obtain a…
Our (guest) researchersand specialists
Scientificdirectors
PhDs, postdocs,financing & teaching
Please contact the Research Coordination Office with questions about PhDs, postdocs, financing and teaching: rco@naturalis.nl.