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Project properties |
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| Title | Land use and climate interactions |
| Group | Water Systems and Global Change |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Ronald Hutjes
Bart Kruijt Ruchita Ingle |
| Examiner(s) | Carolien Kroeze |
| Contact info | Maria del Pozo (maria.delpozogarcia@wur.nl) MIL
Wouter Smolenaars (wouter.smolenaars@wur.nl) MCL, MES and MUE |
| Begin date | 2024/01/01 |
| End date | |
| Description | Theme introduction
TThis theme’s focus is on dynamic feedbacks and interactions between water, carbon and climate change, modelled and observed at mostly regional scales. We study the effects of natural vegetation, crops, and large scale land use change (e.g. climate corridors/regreening) on climate. Thus, we aim to contribute to better respect the constraints of landuse on climate. And we analyse the impacts of adaptive and mitigating actions. We use crop-, vegetation- water models to study the effects of climate change and climate variability on the productivity of crops and the resilience of carbon stored in natural vegetation. At the same time (micro) meteorological models and remote sensing to study the direct effects of vegetation on climate. Projects and possibilities for students Climate corridors: Under certain conditions vegetation density on the ground may influence local to regional weather patterns, like rainfall. Land use changes like deforestation and urbanization may cause lower rainfall but the contrary may be true too: re-planting of trees and re-greening may lead to more rainfall and uptake of CO2. Research on these interactions is being executed in (mostly) semi-arid conditions around the world, e.g. Kenia, Morocco and Spain. We are looking for thesis students who want to study these phenomena. The research is inspired by, but not limited to: https://justdiggit.org/approach. We also work with a company involved in CO2 capture by planting forests. Greenhous gas exchange of fen meadows and wetlands The fen meadows of The Netherlands are under pressure from drainage and subsidence and thus emit large amounts of CO2. Mitigation measures proposed include raising water tables and restoring wetlands, reducing peat oxidation but also enhancing methane emissions. We develop methods to better understand this delicate balance and directly monitor CO2 and CH4 emissions using. Eddy Covariance and other techniques in farmland, wetland nature and from above, using an aircraft. We look for students interested to explore the field work and work with the collected data on solutions. |
| Used skills | Possible methods used in the thesis:
- Model conceptualization & development - Sensitivity analysis - Field data collection & experiments - Data processing & analysis - GIS - Theoretical analysis |
| Requirements | |