Type
PhD research
Duration
December 2024 – November 2028
Persons involved
Martin Meijer – PhD candidate
Kathelijne Wijnberg - Promotor
Erik Horstman – Daily supervisor
Funding of the project
SALTGARDEN
Summary of the research
Salt marshes are affected by a “triple crisis” of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Many salt marshes in and around the Wadden Sea may not be equipped to deal with these three threats, as they are often heavily managed for agricultural ends with drainage and grazing resulting in static monocultures. Within this context, more knowledge is needed on how salt marsh vegetation traps pollutants and how natural ecosystem dynamics play a role in shaping the salt marsh, now and in the future.
Through numerical modelling on both the vegetation scale (OpenFOAM) and landscape scale (Delft3D-FM), these questions will be analyzed. By simulating the transport of microplastic particles on the vegetation scale, the capturing of these particles by different types of vegetation can be assessed. By incorporating ecological competition and succession into well-established morphodynamic models, as well as a parametrization of the pollutant trapping in the vegetation-scale modelling, the resilience of a dynamic and biodiverse salt marsh in face of the triple crisis will be investigated.
Keywords
salt marshes, microplastics, morphodynamic modelling, biogeophysical feedback
More information
Martin Meijer
HR-Z236
martin.meijer@utwente.nl