2. Natural functions and services

Below you find the available BSc and/or MSc projects available in the category "Natural functions and services".

The economics of biodiversity; putting the price on scientific collections (BSc/MSc)

Supervisor(s): Edwin Pos
Project type: writing assignment
Starting period: flexible
Duration: flexible

Botanic Gardens around the world store an incredible amount of biodiversity. Simultaneously we see a global decline in biodiversity and large-scale efforts to remedy this decline, to preserve what is still there and restore what has been lost. These efforts, however, are often costly and face the different interests of the various stakeholders involved. Collections of Botanic Gardens provide a prime example of a way to safeguard biodiversity and make it available for restoration efforts; this, however is also not free of charge. But how can we value these collections? Does it depend on the rarity? The success of preservation? How to value biodiversity in itself? Although previous attempts have been made to describe the value of botanic collections, this is already over twenty years old. This project entails the search for evaluating the economics of biodiversity anew, specifically for plant collections of Botanic Gardens. 

Prerequisites:

  • Affinity with biodiversity and an appreciation of botanical collections is advised.

Selected literature:

  • Mann, David G. "The economics of botanical collections." The value and valuation of natural science collections. London: The Geological Society (1997): 279.

Analyzing the flora and vegetation of Suriname with the Teunissen dataset (BSc/MSc)

Supervisor(s): Gijs Steur

    Lookup tables for trees, undergrowth and swamps

    Original notes by Teunissen. Photo: Gijs Steur.

    Suriname has one of the highest covers of intact tropical vegetation but its flora and vegetation remain poorly known. Much headway was made in the last century up to the nineties, with botanical inventories led by the Utrecht Herbarium and projects such as the Flora of Suriname and its successor, the Flora of the Guianas. However, progress on discovering and mapping the flora and vegetation has come slow due to the closure of the Utrecht Herbarium, the lack of newly trained taxonomist and tropical botanists and budget cuts in general. Yet in the meantime the advent of the personal computer and powerful analytical and statistical software has made it possible to analyze large amounts of previously gathered data and systematically test past ideas and suggestions. For example the previously undigitized Teunissen dataset of vegetation plots in Northern Suriname.

    The aim of this project is to assess, update and unlock what has been discovered previously and to start to add to the standing knowledge on the flora an vegetation of Suriname. Questions include, but are not limited to: ‘how do the forests or savannas across Suriname differ in their floristic composition’, ‘where do certain species or vegetations occur and why’ and ‘how has the flora and vegetation of Suriname changed since across time.’

    The Teunissen dataset (1978) includes over 274 vegetation surveys of 0.04 ha taken from Northern Suriname (See Steur, 2020, including Appendix A, for more information). In most of the surveys all plant growth forms have been counted, including herbs, shrubs, palms, trees and sometimes epiphytes and lianas. For most trees the diameter has been measured. Currently, only a part of this dataset has been digitized.

    In this Bachelor research project, the student will help to digitize a part of the Teunissen dataset and use this and previously digitized parts to answer the above research questions or others related to my research focus.

    Prerequisites:

    • Must: UU Course Taxonomy and Identification or similar
    • Nice-to-have: UU Course Introduction in to the Dutch Flora or similar
    • Nice-to-have: LU Course Plant Families of the Tropics or similar

    Selected literature:

    • Lindeman, J.C. and Molenaar, S.P. (1959) Preliminary survey of the vegetation types of northern Suriname. Drukkerij en uitgevers-maatschappij v/h Kemink en Zoon N.V., Utrecht.
    • Teunissen (1980) Overzicht van Surinaamse laagland ecosystemen - Toelichting Vegetatietabellen. Paramaribo, Dienst 's Landsbosbeheer (L.B.B.) en Stichting Natuurbehoud Suriname (STINASU).
    • Funk, V. et al. (2007). Checklist of the plants of the Guiana Shield. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium, volume 55.
    • Flora of the Guianas (https://portal.cybertaxonomy.org/flora-guianas/node/1)