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Project properties |
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| Title | MSc thesis or internship: Salt marsh adaptive capacity to climate change: plant-sediment interactions in salt marshes |
| Group | Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-36 |
| Supervisor(s) | dr. J. (Juul) Limpens and (depending on subtopic) dr. Marinka van Puijenbroek (Wageningen Marine Research), Jantsje van Loon-Steensma (WSG-WUR), Petra Goessen (HHNK) |
| Examiner(s) | Juul Limpens (PEN-WUR) |
| Contact info | juul.limpens@wur.nl; marinka.vanpuijenbroek@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2022/03/31 |
| End date | 2025/12/20 |
| Description | Salt marshes play an important role in coastal safety and harbor a unique biodiversity. One of the big questions is to what extent rising sea water levels and associated increases in flooding frequency will affect salt-marsh vegetation. Salt marshes are characterized by salt-tolerant vegetation, that is spatially arranged according to flooding frequency and successional stage. Inundation both maintains the typical halophytic conditions and brings in sediment for salt marshes to grow vertically. In case sedimentation rates are smaller than local sea-level rise, inundation frequencies may become too high for the plants to tolerate so that the salt marsh collapses. The interaction between plants, sediment and water largely determine the rate at which the salt marshes can grow with sea-level rise, making them very interesting to study resilience of coastal ecosystems to climate change.
MSc topics are available on the barrier island Texel and/or on salt-marsh areas along the coast of Groningen and Friesland. Specific topics can be tailored to common research interests. Potential research questions to be answered could be: 1) Does low nitrogen availability constrain growth response and vegetation succession of salt marsh plants? Field sampling of soil (N availability, organic matter, grain size distribution, thickness clay layer), vegetation, elevation and salt-marsh age using old aerial images. 2) How does the balance of marine vs terrestrial carbon in salt marshes shift with vegetation type and marine dynamics? Field sampling of soil, organic matter content, grain size distribution), vegetation, elevation and marsh age using old aerial images. 3) Which factors explain the colonization by an invasive ecosystem engineer Spartina anglica versus the endemic pioneer species Salicornia sp.? Characterise habitat conditions (soil texture, pH, aeration, elevation, temperature, wave exposition) in different salt marshes dominated by Spartina anglica or Salicornia sp. 4) How to optimise future management of the Slufter for floodprotection and biodiversity? Synthesizing available multidisciplinary data and results of modelling studies combined with literature research .... |
| Used skills | depends on subtopics, see description |
| Requirements | comfortable with doing field work |