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Project properties |
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| Title | Ecological boundaries for sustainable biomass harvest in production forests |
| Group | Forest Ecology and Forest Management Group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 27-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | Marleen Vos & Frank Sterck |
| Examiner(s) | Prof. Dr. F.J.J.M (Frans) Bongers |
| Contact info | marleen.vos@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2019/01/07 |
| End date | |
| Description | Background
The European Union is promoting greater mobilisation of existing timber reserves in order to exploit the full potential of biomass (Directive 2009/28/EC) both for energy and industrial applications. This leads to an increased pressure on the nutriënt budgets of these production forests. Yet, it is unclear under which conditions current-day harvest practices are sustainable or not, especially concerning the nutriënt poor sandy soils on which a major part of the Dutch forests are located. Design We will set up a complete randomized block design to test the effect of management on the nutrient budget. In total 20 blocks of 1 ha will be installed in 5 sets across the Netherlands. Each set will consist of a 1 ha block of all included tree species. For this experiment, only production forests on poor sandy soils are selected. We aim to provide science-based guidelines for ecological sustainable biomass harvest by quantifying the effects of management on the forest nutriënt budget. Student projects working on the following three hypotheses are available: 1. Nutriënt export by harvest depends on tree species 2. Forest structure affects dry deposition 3. Leaching is influenced by harvest intensity and by treepart removal and mulching 4. The effects of management should be considered to achieve sustainable biomass harvest |
| Used skills | |
| Requirements | FEM-30306 Forest Ecology and Forest Management; REG-31806 Ecological Methods I |