Professor of migration ecology Theunis Piersma has been appointed a Knight in the National Order of Mauritania, in recognition of 40 years of scientific research in the Banc d’Arguin. This wildlife region covers one-third of the Mauritanian coast and has a strong connection to our Wadden region. Spoonbills that breed with us, for instance, winter in the Banc d’Arguin.
Red knots and bar-tailed godwits need the Wadden Sea to ‘recharge their batteries’ in order to bridge the 10.000 km between West Africa and the Siberian tundra.
From the NIOZ, the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research on the island of Texel, Theunis organises a yearly expedition, in close collaboration with the ecologists in Mauritania. The fieldwork in the Banc d’Arguin has influenced his understanding of ecosystems. There, he witnessed how organisms like the sea grass, the soil and the birds help each other to survive. The Mauritanian government plays an active part in looking after this fragile ecosystem. Over the years, the Banc d’Arguin has become a source of inspiration and a frame of reference for the management of the Dutch Wadden region, listed by Unesco as World Heritage.
Theunis is delighted with this prestigious recognition of the research into different populations on the Mauritanian coast. In due course he will receive this distinction in person, on behalf of all the researchers involved.
