Diversity and Drought Project (PBC)

The changing climate has a major impact on Dutch nature and landscape. One of the changes in the climate is desiccation, which puts habitats of various species of plants and animals under enormous pressure. Both habitats and food sources are disappearing or losing the ability to provide a biotope for different species of flora and fauna. This applies to plants and animals in nature reserves as well as in the agricultural landscape. Recent climate models predict we will experience more extremes when it comes to the weather: periods of heavy rainfall alternated with periods of long-time drought. With this project we aim to quantify the relationship between biomass production, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in light of these expected changes.