Date Time
Ecologist Michiel Veldhuis is Discoverer of Year 2020
Michiel Veldhuis received the most public votes for the C.J. Kok Public Award and may therefore call himself Discoverer of the Year. Veldhuis researches how climate change affects savannah ecosystems in Africa and how we can protect them.
In the voting, Veldhuis managed to stay ahead of seven other nominees. Chemist Elliot Mock came in second and physicist Stefania Ketzetzi finished third. Besides votes from colleagues, Veldhuis also received many votes from outside his institute. In total, 1570 people voted for one of the nominees.
Lions and prey animals
The ecologist discovered that lions limit their prey, such as zebra and gnu, in their options for adapting to global warming. Normally, the herbivores could opt for grazing during the cooler nights. But if they live in an area with lions – which are also mainly active during the cool nights – they are forced to forage for food at hotter times of the day. With h