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Project properties |
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| Title | Assessing benthic diversity along environmental gradients |
| Group | Marine Animal Ecology |
| Project type | thesis |
| Credits | 24-39 |
| Supervisor(s) | Merlijn Hulsenboom |
| Examiner(s) | Tinka Murk, Ronald Osinga, Reindert Nijland, Rosa van der Ven or Diede Maas |
| Contact info | merlijn.hulsenboom@wur.nl
mae.education@wur.nl |
| Begin date | 2025/03/01 |
| End date | 2026/03/01 |
| Description | Towards more eco-friendly foreshore nourishments: impacts on & solutions for biodiversity
PEN & MAE offer 2 MSc projects in marine (benthic) ecology Using molecular techniques (metabarcoding) and next generation sequencing to identify species composition in the foreshore near Ameland. Potential research questions involve determining community composition or abundance estimates using haplotyping. The project (source-research.nl) Society - Shoreface nourishments are increasingly needed for coastal protection due to sea level rise & coastal erosion - New nourishments designs are being explored to meet increasing demand, e.g. Sand Motor, or varying in distance to coast & sediment characteristics (this project) Ecology - Burial of benthic species, but recolonization after ± 1 year - Changing community composition due to altered abiotic circumstances |
| Used skills | |
| Requirements | Interest in benthic ecology. Affinity with lab work. Strong statistical skills or experience in bio-informatics (depending on the final research question). |