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Project properties |
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| Title | Effects of summer drought on grassland biodiversity and ecosystem services. |
| 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 | 2024/04/01 |
| End date | 2024/11/01 |
| Description | Summer droughts can have drastic effects on grasslands.
To study the effects in detail, we set up a common garden experiment in 2021 where we apply simulated summer drought and different mowing regimes. For this experiment, we dug out mesocosms from a species rich grassland road verge. We want to know what the effects of summer drought are on botanical diversity, carbon storage (grasslands are very underappreciated when it comes to carbon storage) and soil chemistry, soil microbes, and rooting (as a proxy for erosion and drought resistance). We are also interested in whether the effects of summer drought are different for different mowing regimes. We are looking for a MSc student with interest in the effects of climate change, grassland biodiversity and grassland ecosystem services. |
| Used skills | Vegetation surveys, Root sampling and analysis, Soil sampling, Data analysis |
| Requirements | |