Marleen Vos, PhD student at Wageningen University & Research.
Background. During my MSc study at Wageningen University, I developed a strong in interest in the functioning of trees and forests. After my MSc, I wanted to further develop my skills as forest ecologist, also with the aim to contribute to sustainable forest management. I like digging into details of ecological processes with the aim of better understanding the functioning of forests, but always with the aim to apply such scientific understanding for improving the sustainability of forest use by foresters and forest policy makers. For my PhD, I choose to focus on forests on poor sandy soils, dominating ~80% of forests in the Netherlands and ~40% in Central Europe. In the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, those forests faced soil acidification and lower soil fertility posing potential risks for the their productivity.
This project. For my PhD, I set up the forest experiment that includes the 15 replicate plots, and the tree harvest intensity treatment, stem only versus whole tree harvest treatment and soil mulching treatment (see “Experimental Design” page). I quantified the nutrient input and output fluxes of the forest, including export by harvest, loss by leaching and input by deposition and weathering, for different treatments. With my results, I aim at understanding the dynamics of the nutrient balance after harvest and, in from that, contribute to creating better guidelines for sustainable use of forests.
Climate Smart Forestry 