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Monitoring indicators in Dutch food forests
Ecosystem service indicators are currently an important topic in the Dutch agricultural sector, because so many indicators are tightly linked to impacts, such as water buffering, nitrogen cycles, carbon fixation, biodiversity, crop growth and productivity, etc. Since food forests mimic natural forests, they are a promising approach to help increase biodiversity while enhancing food production, profitability and social cohesion.
Food production
Help to understand the current food production of food forests
Biodiversity
Analyse the underground or aboveground biodiversity, such as insects and birds.
Social
Research the social value of food forests, complement-ary to previous research
Improving research
Our organisation has developed a standardised methodology to analyse these indicators, still, there is very little known about how food forests perform in terms of biodiversity, food production, profitability and social cohesion. Previous research analysed these indicators, though we do not know how they evolve over time, what the main covariables and drivers are, and how they compare with other land-use systems such as natural forests and conventional agricultural land.
Indicators
Biodiversity
Food production
Profitability
Social Cohesion
Vegetation
Soil health
CO2 sequestration
Methods
The student’s project would involve: collecting more data in the field in a total pool of 31 food forests and several reference sites, building on an existing database of indicators, analysing the data to see if there are any trends visible over time and factors influencing theses trends. Protocols have already been developed for a range of the indicators (e.g. birds, participation file, social interview). Part of the sample analysis will be done by existing soil labs.On the other hand, there is room to expand with new indicators and improve current methods, like monitoring pollinators or improving the participation, depending on the student’s interests.
Practical information
Fieldwork will be from November to early February, approximately two months, but can be expanded into spring for other indicators depending on the student’s interests. Large thesis/internship projects (min 36 ECTS) are preferred, so students have enough time for fieldwork, data analysing and writing. The student will work in duos to improve data collecting, with additional supervision from our team members Bastiaan Rooduijn and Bram Wendel. The background of the student is preferably soil-related, biology or forestry. Interest in Food Forests is preferred. Speaking Dutch is not obliged yet satisfactory. Are you interested in a meaningful thesis while analysing one or more of these indicators (see our indicators above), please contact us for further information. Contact: info@monitoringvoedselbossen.nl