Blog entry by Koen Siteur - PhD candidate

Last week, the first year students of the Bachelor study Environmental Sciences went to the island Tiengemeten to do fieldwork. Most of Tiengemeten used to be farmland, however, after the last farmer left the island in 2007 nature has been developing rapidly. The students monitor this development by studying the flora and fauna, the soils, gas emissions from soils and the hydrology.

Blog entry by Myrna de Hoop – PhD student

Land  is essential to support life, ecosystems and food production. Due to population  growth and environmental problems, land is becoming scarce. Especially in drylands, the deterioration in the quality of land is a problem. Dryland systems cover about 40% of the earth surface. Desertification in these areas directly affects about 250 million people. Various factors can cause desertification, such as climatic variations and human activities. My research focuses on rangeland management and the impact on dryland ecosystems. How could we anticipate desertification?