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Project properties |
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| Title | BSc - Topics on agro-ecosystems diversity |
| Group | Farming Systems Ecology |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 12-24 |
| Supervisor(s) | Dirk van Apeldoorn |
| Examiner(s) | prof |
| Contact info | dirk.vanapeldoorn@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2017/03/01 |
| End date | 2022/01/01 |
| Description | Spring and summer 2017 at innovative farms in NL
Introduction Today’s intensive agriculture is dominated by large scale monocultures which highly depend on high external inputs like fossil fuels, synthetic fertilizer and pesticides, resulting in climate change, eutrophication and biodiversity loss. Ecological intensifications assumes that by making smart use of biodiversity sustainability of farming systems can be enhanced. At the field level diversity can be increased genetically, spatially or temporally. For example the genetic diversity in a field can be enhanced by intercropping, temporal diversity by rotations and spatial diversity by strip cropping. We hypothesize that the increased diversification will lead to more stable and robust systems. An open question is what the effect of the combination of different diversification strategies are on ecosystem services like food, soil-fertility and -biodiversity, pest control and disease suppression and their interactions. Since 2010 Wageningen Plant Research (Lelystad), FSE and a group of innovative farmers have been experimenting with within field diversity. In these experiments different options for within field diversity are explored and evaluated on crop yield and the suppression of pest and diseases. Topic: In this research you will visit innovative farmers and monitor pest, diseases or yield for different options of within-field diversification. For example you can investigate the spatial effect of flower strips in pea. The spread of phytophthora Infestans in potato in different strip widths or the effect of neighbouring crop in strip on yield. Objective: monitor pest, diseases or yield for different options of within-field diversification. Methods: • visits farmer and fields • depending on topic: o pitfalls or sticky cards o scouting of crop diseases o yield sampling |
| Used skills | Experiences gained
• preparation of a simple proposal and field sampling protocol • hands on practical experience on options for systems diversification • knowledge on organic crop production • writing report |
| Requirements | Assumed knowledge on:
• crops • command of the Dutch language in order to interact with farmers • having a valid driving license to visit fields |