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Project properties |
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| Title | Effects of solar parks on soil biodiversity and functioning |
| Group | Soil Biology |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | Luuk Scholten, Gerlinde De Deyn |
| Examiner(s) | prof.dr. Rachel Creamer |
| Contact info | Luuk Scholten (luuk.scholten@wur.nl); Gerlinde De Deyn (gerlinde.dedeyn@wur.nl)
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| Begin date | 2023/09/01 |
| End date | |
| Description | Introduction: Solar parks are a relatively new and rapidly expanding land use to produce renewable energy and meet CO2 reduction targets. However, their impact on soil quality raises concern. Solar parks cause shading and change the microclimate (temperature, moisture) below the panels, thereby influencing vegetation and soil processes. By reducing light availability to the vegetation, solar parks are expected to reduce plant carbon inputs, which is vital to maintain SOM, therefore risking soil degradation in solar parks. SOM and plant residues play important roles as food source for soil biota, including soil fauna (e.g. earthworms, nematodes). The microclimatic changes imposed by the solar panels are also expected to have an influence on the spatial distribution of the soil fauna and its diversity. However, to date, it is unknown how solar parks impact soil ecosystem services and the soil biota.
Aim: This thesis aims to research how different soil fauna groups (earthworms, nematodes) are influenced by the presence of solar parks and what the spatial distribution (e.g. between and below panels) of this fauna is within solar parks. Context: This research is part of the research program EcoCertified that aims to establish guidelines for ecologically sound design of solar panel parks. Your work will be carried out within a PhD project of the Soil Biology Group (SBL). |
| Used skills | Literature review, writing proposal and thesis, field sampling of earthworms and nematodes, sorting, extraction and identification of the fauna, data analysis |
| Requirements | MSc SBL thesis requirements (SBL-81836) |