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Project properties |
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| Title | MSc Thesis: Effectiveness of biodiversity offsetting for pollinator conservation |
| Group | Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 36 |
| Supervisor(s) | Klara Leander Oh, David Kleijn, Jeroen Scheper |
| Examiner(s) | David Kleijn, Jeroen Scheper |
| Contact info | klara.leanderoh@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2022/04/01 |
| End date | 2022/09/30 |
| Description | In the Netherlands, protected grasslands destroyed due to development (e.g., road construction) need to be compensated for in the form of biodiversity offsets (the creation or restoration of ecologically equivalent habitat elsewhere). Biodiversity offsets are a much discussed yet little studied form of conservation, particularly in the context of wild pollinators. This research will entail sampling wild pollinators (wild bees, hoverflies, and butterflies) and conducting floral inventories in several biodiversity offset and control sites in the Netherlands. The aim is to determine 1) the effectiveness of newly created/restored grasslands as replacement pollinator habitat for destroyed grasslands, and 2) the suitability of biodiversity offsetting as a conservation intervention for pollinators. At a minimum the student will do fieldwork between May-August 2022 on pre-determined paired offset and control sites (approx. 14 sites), however it is possible to expand the thesis into other topics. |
| Used skills | Bee/butterfly/hoverfly identification, plant idenfitication, insect sampling, statistical analysis |
| Requirements | Drivers license
Comfortable with long field days & travelling long distances for fieldwork |