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Project properties |
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| Title | Effects of different mowing regimes on botanical biodiversity in grassland road verges. Can we fight climate change? |
| Group | Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Wiene Bakker & Philippine Vergeer |
| Examiner(s) | Wiene Bakker & Philippine Vergeer |
| Contact info | wiene.bakker@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2024/03/01 |
| End date | 2024/11/01 |
| Description | New studies suggest that climate change has a detrimental effect on grassland biodiversity. Additionally grasslands are still pressured by nitrogen deposition. Can we deal with this by changing the mowing regime?
To study this, we set up a mowing experiment in ten grassland road verges in 2021. Road verges are underappreciated refugia for grassland diversity and can potentially connect fragmented nature areas. In 2022, one year after the start of the experiment, not much appeared to have changed. In 2023 however, we were happy to see that something changed. Some mowing regimes were clearly affecting the plant community and benefiting biodiversity, with some plots increasing 50% in species richness. We want to know whether this trend continues in 2024. We are looking for a MSc student with interest in grassland biodiversity, preferentially with at least some basic knowledge of grassland plants species and a driver’s license. |
| Used skills | Vegetation surveys, Analysis of vegetation data, Multivariate data analysis, Investigation of the link between soil and vegetation |
| Requirements | |