Pumping carbon into soils through Rewilding

Pumping carbon into soils through Rewilding

Vacature
Aquatic Ecology

Contact Person:

Droevendaalsesteeg 10
6708 PB Wageningen

The relentless pace of Climate Change has triggered a race to devise effective ways to mitigate Climate Change by sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. Rewilding, a form of nature restoration that aims to restore ecosystems by enhancing natural processes, has the potential to contribute to these mitigation efforts via aboveground and/or belowground carbon sequestration (e.g. in the vegetation and the soil). Yet, we still lack estimates on how much carbon can be captured through rewilding in different ecosystem types and how this changes as rewilding progresses.

What

In this project we will evaluate how rewilding impacts on belowground carbon sequestration in riverine floodplain open-mosaic forests. Briefly we will:

  • extract field soil cores from different habitats and soil types in a network of rewilded areas
  • measure the carbon accumulated in the soil
  • investigate how these have changed over time as rewilding develops

The student will have the opportunity to interact with a larger team of students at NIOO working on “sister projects” trying to understand the impact of rewilding on biodiversity, Climate Change mitigation & adaptation.

When

The project will be developed over summer (June-Sept, mostly fieldwork) and autumn (Oct-Dec, mostly labwork and analyses)

Where: 

Gelderse Poort (a charismatic rewilding site close to Nijmegen)
For who: this project is suitable for an MSc thesis and/or internship, and involves both fieldwork and laboratory work. A good candidate must show:

  • genuine interest in ecosystem restoration, soil ecology and trophic interactions
  • ability to conduct fieldwork, labwork & work in a team
  • experience or interest to learn some basic statistical analyses
  • availability during summer months for developing the project (flexible dates)
  • at least some basic level of English
  • optional: driving license preferred but not strictly required