Project properties

Title MSc thesis or internship: field campaign for assessing Safe operating Space for European peatlands
Group Plant Ecology and Nature Conservation Group
Project type thesis
Credits 36
Supervisor(s) Enahu.Tahitu@wur.nl, Juul.Limpens@wur.nl, Milena.Holmgren@wur.nl
Examiner(s) dr. Juul Limpens (PEN), dr. Milena Holmgren (WEC)
Contact info Enahu.Tahitu@wur.nl
Begin date 2023/01/10
End date 2024/12/01
Description Wetlands store significant amounts of soil carbon and freshwater on Earth, regulate climate and flooding, and provide habitat for biodiversity and people. Yet, over a third of the global wetlands have disappeared, with the most serious losses occurring in Europe. Despite successful restoration projects, there remains a dire need to synthesize and extrapolate individual successes to increase the climate change adaptation capabilities of European wetlands. We are seeking for students motivated to help us determine the safe operating space of the European wetlands. The safe operating space of ecosystems allows us to determine the interactions of global (environmental) and local (anthropogenic) drivers to prevent shifts in ecosystem states. Students will help with field work, validating wetland models and data. Our work focusses on the environmental and anthropogenic factors influencing wetland resilience, but exploration of other factors influencing wetland resilience are possible.
This summer (2023) we will visit a selected number of peatlands at the edge of their theoretical climate distribution to explore if and how key indicators, such as biodiversity, vegetation structure, and environmental conditions (water table, water quality) change nearby, and perhaps beyond, the expected climate niche. We need hands and minds to help us to collect, process and analyse the data.

Field Work will take place during summer 2023 and summer 2024 (starting from mid-August until mid September) in Northern Europe.
Used skills
Requirements For this project good organizational skills and proficiency with large datasets are required, familiarity with GIS software and RStudio/Matlab (and a driver’s license) are a plus.