Search
Filter by
Type
Tags
Dossiers
Themes
Departments
Active filters
45 search results
Search results
-
Water hyacinths: use them or lose them?
Water hyacinths: use them or lose them? Improving human and ecosystem health by bringing the science to the people of Lake Chivero, Zimbabwe
Water hyacinth (WHY), an invasive species in (sub-)tropical inland waters, clogs waterways and affects aquatic life and human activities, in addition, it can facilitate the spread of diseases. On the other hand, water hyacinth can be exploited to produce biofuels and other sources of income. A sustainable solution to water hyacinth encroachment "uses" WHY rather than just trying to "get rid of it". This project will use scientific research, satellite data and stakeholder experiences to co-create such solutions for Lake Chivero, the main source of drinking water for Harare, Zimbabwe's capital. This project is coordinated by Professor Timothy Dube (University of the Western Cape) & Dr. Ing. Marloes Penning de Vries (University of Twente). Consortium partners: University of the Witwatersrand; IHE Delft Institute for Water Education; Environmental Management Agency; Midlands State University; Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) -
Climate change impacts on harmful algal blooms
Harmful cyanobacterial blooms produce toxins that are a major threat to water quality and human health. Blooms increase with eutrophication and are expected to be amplified by climate change. Yet, we lack a mechanistic understanding on the toxicity of blooms, and their response to the complex interplay of multiple global change factors. Bloom toxicity is determined by a combination of mechanisms acting at different ecological scales, ranging from cyanobacterial biomass accumulation in the ecosystem, to the dominance of toxic species in the community, contribution of toxic genotypes in the population, and the amounts of toxins in cells. -
Steering the microbial community composition of bio-waste for tailor-made organic fertilizers
Producing tailor made-fertilizer from steering cultivation conditions of photogranules -
Rapid evolutionary adaptation to multiple stressors: cross-tolerance or cross-inhibition?
Due to anthropogenic activities, the global environment is changing rapidly, and is expected to continue doing so over the coming decades. Many of these changes lead to increased levels of stress to living organisms with negative impacts on their natural populations. Rapid evolutionary adaptation is increasingly recognized as an important mechanism that increases the coping ability of multicellular organisms to deal with increased stress levels. Applying an experimental evolution approach with freshwater zooplankton, we aim at testing specific hypotheses related to the causes and consequences of rapid adaptation to increased stress levels (e.g. poor food quality, salinization, warming and copper contamination). Our recent research focuses strongly on a multiple stressor context and addresses questions such as whether adaptation to one stressor impedes or enhances abilities to cope with other stressors and how past selection regimes determine the evolutionary potential of populations to adapt to new stressors. -
Zoogeochemistry: Alchemists of the Wild
Zoogeochemistry: Alchemists of the Wild -
Impact of sea turtles on seagrass bed ecology
Impact of sea turtles on seagrass bed ecology -
Rewilding
Rewilding -
Climate Change and Governance in Indonesia and the Caribbean: A Pilot Program on Marine Protected Areas
Climate Change and Governance in Indonesia and the Caribbean: A Pilot Program on Marine Protected Areas -
Rewilding wetlands
Restoring wetlands by allowing water level dynamics and connecting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems can be considered as a form of aquatic rewilding. Lake restoration project Marker Wadden and the Oostvaardersplassen marsh reset are part of our research program studying the impact of lake and wetland restoration measures on the biodiversity and functioning of aquatic ecosystems.