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Project properties |
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| Title | The effect of horizontal and vertical biodiversity on stability of food webs.
(Thesis/Internship) |
| Group | Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | Name: Paul van den Brink
Email: paul.vandenbrink@wur.nl |
| Examiner(s) | Paul van den Brink |
| Contact info | general information thesis/internship AEW: Ddwin Peeters (Edwin.Peeters@wur.nl) |
| Begin date | 2017/03/15 |
| End date | 2018/03/15 |
| Description | Whether biodiversity can increase stability (i.e., resistance and resilience) is one of the most controversial issues in ecology. While some studies mathematically showed that biodiversity tended to destabilize community dynamics, a number of results from theoretical and experimental studies proved that biodiversity enhances ecosystem stability. Although more and more evidence shows a positive relationship between biodiversity and stability, these findings came from papers studying either the same trophic level or simple trophic interactions. The impact of trophic diversity in complex trophic interactions, especially of horizontal (i.e., within a trophic level) and vertical biodiversity (i.e., food chain length) on stability received little attention. The aim of this research is to evaluate how horizontal and vertical biodiversity changes food-web stability using chemically induced stress in microcosms and mesocosms (see also www.sinderhoeve.org). |
| Used skills | lab experiment, fieldwork/observations, data analysis/statistics, modelling |
| Requirements | Preferably AEW30806 Chemical Stress Ecology |