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Project properties |
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| Title | Re-creating pastures: a new land management approach in Northeastern Portugal |
| Group | Soil Physics and Land Management group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | Luuk Fleskens, Tomas de Figueiredo (IPB)
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| Examiner(s) | Coen Ritsema |
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| Begin date | 2020/02/09 |
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| Description | Problem context
Rural Northern Portugal is experiencing severe depopulation and aging of the remaining residents, leading to less and less land being in use for agriculture and grazing, especially in marginal mountain areas. Whereas this offers an opportunity for rewilding, the transition from managed land to natural land produces a thick shrubland that is not accessible to wildlife and poses a risk of wildfires. In the Montesinho Natural Park, the Habmonte project is attempting to recreate pasture lands for grazing by deer, with the ultimate aims to better control wildfires and stimulate the population of the Iberian wolf. Research Objective/Question There are multiple entry points to study the land management impacts in the area, answering questions such as: What is the most (cost-)effective way to convert shrubland to grazing land? Are the recreated pastures used for grazing and kept open? What management input is required for the new land management system, and can this model be economically sustainable? What is expected from the student (type of research) Type of research can be tailored to student interest. It could for example include field measurements to characterize the recreated pastures, mapping of patterns of land use changes, ecological methods, and interviews. |
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