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Project properties |
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| Title | MSc thesis/internship: Can solar parks contribute to the recovery of butterfly populations in agricultural landscapes? |
| Group | Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group |
| Project type | internship |
| Credits | 24-30 |
| Supervisor(s) | Michiel Wallis De Vries (Dutch Butterfly Conservation, Vlinderstichting), Timea Kocsis/Thijs Fijen (PEN, WUR) |
| Examiner(s) | Thijs Fijen |
| Contact info | michiel.wallisdevries@vlinderstichting.nl & timea.kocsis@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2023/04/01 |
| End date | 2024/09/01 |
| Description | The agricultural landscape will change drastically in the coming decades because of the increasing demand for solar parks. These solar parks provide us with sustainable, green electricity and may also contribute in solving part of the biodiversity crisis in our agricultural landscape. A large consortium of researchers and project developers, is currently developing guidelines for biodiverse solar parks. In this internship you will make an important contribution to this, by mapping which characteristics of solar parks make a positive contribution to butterfly populations, and which management measures have an effect on butterflies. This knowledge ensures that existing and future solar parks can make a positive contribution to the protection of insects, and butterflies in particular.
For this internship we are looking for an independent student who gets excited about butterflies. A driver's license is essential, because you will visit 12 different existing solar parks to make an inventory of butterflies, between May and August. In this internship you will work together with researchers from Wageningen University & Research and the Dutch Butterfly Conservation. A background in ecology/biology is an advantage, but affinity with butterflies is more important. |
| Used skills | Literature study, fieldwork, species identification, data analysis, reporting |
| Requirements | - affinity with butterflies
- valid driver license |