|
Project properties |
|
| Title | Restoring pollinator habitats: where, for what and by whom? |
| Group | Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Remco Ploeg |
| Examiner(s) | |
| Contact info | remco1.ploeg@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2024/03/01 |
| End date | 2025/09/01 |
| Description | Pollinators play a key role in crop and wildflower pollination, but populations show steep declines driven by human disturbances. Despite substantial efforts in Europe to reverse this negative trend, pollinators remain severely threatened. To bend the curve of pollinator decline, conventional restoration efforts mainly focus on increasing crop pollination on farmlands. It is however questionable if this is the most effective approach to restore plant-pollinator communities of conservation concern.
In your thesis, you will contribute to answering this question by sampling pollinators and plants and performing pollination tests in one of the most biodiverse regions of the Netherlands: the Geul valley in Southern Limburg, aka ‘het boshommellandschap’. Since several years, restoration measures targeted at pollinators are supporting the local community and have even brought back the previously extinct shrill carder bee. Besides, your thesis project is embedded within the RestPoll European Horizon consortium. Field work will take place in spring and summer 2024 and 2025. Apart from that, you will identify collected insects and analyze the data. Do not hesitate to contact me for more information or questions! |
| Used skills | Pollinator sampling, pollination tests, insect and plant identification, data analysis |
| Requirements | |