Project properties

Title Global modelling of aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem services
Group Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group
Project type internship
Credits 18-24
Supervisor(s) Dr. Jan Janse, PBL and NIOO
Ir. Annette Janssen, NIOO
Examiner(s) Prof. Wolf Mooij
Contact info Jan Janse, PBL: jan.janse@pbl.nl / 06-5083 4609
Begin date 2014/11/01
End date 2016/07/01
Description Water bodies around the world suffer from increasing anthropogenic pressure such as land-use changes, hydrological disturbance, overexploitation and climate change. The GLOBIO-Aquatic model aims to link these broad-scale anthropogenic pressures on lakes, wetlands and rivers to their biodiversity and their ability to deliver ecosystem goods and services. It is part of the IMAGE-GLOBIO model framework for global environmental change, developed at PBL (Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency). There is a need to improve the aquatic model by additional data survey and incorporation, by better integration of the different modules, and by coupling biodiversity and ecosystem services of these aquatic systems. Examples of questions are: do ‘tipping points’ coincide with shifts in biodiversity? To what extent do water systems differ in their sensitivity to pressures? What are the combined effects of land use changes, climate change and water abstraction? How to achieve ‘wise use’ of aquatic systems, in a way that their use can be combined with preservation of their natural values. The project covers a wide subject, in which the student can focus on a subtopic according to his/her interest.
PBL will provide an internship fee.
Used skills Literature survey, data analysis, modelling
Requirements Interest in literature research, modelling, and science-policy interface; integrative capacity.