research > the management and exploitation of natural resources

The management and exploitation of natural resources

Key words: decision support systems, spatial planning and economic aspects, water management, wildlife, biodiversity in relation to global change, landscape ecology in relation to geophysics, linking hydrological research to ecological research

Key participants: IMW, Physical Geography, Biology, TNO Built Environment and Geosciences

Recent publications:
Endangered plants persist under phosphorus limitation.
Modelling hydrological management for the restoration of acidified floating fens.
Self-organized Patchiness and Catastrophic Shifts in Ecosystems.
The values of wetlands: landscape and institutional perspectives.
Food Web Ecology: Playing Jenga and Beyond.

Short description: In this project, the history of spatial water management in the Netherlands back to the time before people intervened in the hydrology is being reconstructed with the aid of spatial hydrological models. The model simulations are validated with data on peat deposits and old maps. In addition, using models that describe the survival chances of plant populations as dependent on the volume and quantity of water, the size of areas and the degree of isolation, the current ecohydrological situation is being related to the ecohydrological set-up. In order to identify key processes that contribute to the recovery of disturbed and fragmented areas, the historical and current situation in a number of areas in the Netherlands is being compared with relatively undisturbed areas abroad.

This project will yield an integrated spatial model that can contribute to the development of systems for managing areas in which groundwater plays an important role, and a decision support system. This will enable the spatial planning of core hydrological areas, corridors and stepping stones for wildlife to be optimised in relation to other landuse functions.