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Project properties |
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| Title | Spatio-temporal patterns in zooplankton communities in Dutch floodplain systems |
| Group | Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Edwin Peeters (AEW) / Leo Nagelkerke (AFI) / Twan Stoffers (AFI) |
| Examiner(s) | Edwin Peeters |
| Contact info | Edwin.peeters@wur.nl (0317-483899) |
| Begin date | 2020/02/01 |
| End date | 2020/11/30 |
| Description | The lower river Rhine has been extensively modified throughout history, resulting in a drastic loss of important habitats, and hence the decline or even disappearance of many of its original fish species. Especially floodplains act as critical habitat for many of these fishes. Survival of larval and juvenile fishes is largely determined by rapid growth in the first months after hatching, with the bigger, potentially stronger, fish most likely to survive. The availability and accessibility of zooplankton as food items is hereby critical. The student will study the abundance and species composition of zooplankton communities in the secondary channel (floodplain system) of Hurwenen, along the river Waal in the Netherlands. Zooplankton communities were sampled in 2018 and 2019 at multiple sampling sites (different habitats) on a (bi-)weekly basis (March-October). The student will analyse zooplankton communities in the lab by identifying species richness and abundances for different habitat types. The data will also be related to phytoplankton, macrofaunal and juvenile fish community data to identify possible predation effects. This work will help identifying aquatic food-web interactions in Dutch floodplain systems. |
| Used skills | Identification of zooplankton species in the lab, analysis of large data set (2018-2019); food web analysis; optional fieldwork |
| Requirements | Interest in freshwater ecology and fish biology; basic knowledge of R; analytical attitude |