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Project properties |
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| Title | Soil macroinvertebrates distribution in conventional and organic farms |
| Group | Soil Physics and Land Management group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | violette.geissen, Esperanza Huerta Lwanga & Tamas Salanki |
| Examiner(s) | Violette Geissen |
| Contact info | violette.geissen@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2021/05/25 |
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| Description | Pesticides are heavily used in agriculture to reduce crop losses due to pests, weeds and pathogens. Between 1961 and 2011 the global agricultural production more than tripled, largely due to pesticide use. Currently, global pesticide use exceeds 4 million tonnes per year. Such long term and intensive pesticides use raises major health and environmental concerns since part of applied products does not reach the target, being instead distributed into the environment. Several pesticide active substances and/or their metabolites are persistent, bio accumulative and/or toxic to non-target species.
The recently launched SPRINT project will make an internationally valid contribution to assess integrated risks and impacts of pesticides on environment and human health, both at regional and European level SPRINT will inform and accelerate the adoption of innovative transition pathways towards more sustainable plant protection in the context of a global health approach https://sprint-h2020.eu/ Research Objective/Question How soil macroinvertebrates abundance and diversity are present under a gradient of pesticides use. What is expected from the student - Collect soil samples in Groningen region (organic and conventional farms) - Physical and chemical characterization of soils - Identification of soil macro invertebrates species |
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