The potential of the “Programmatic Approach Nitrogen” to protect biodiversity : The prospects of nitrogen deposition, the reliability of the critical load and the possibilities of restoration measures

Koumans, Johannes (2019) The potential of the “Programmatic Approach Nitrogen” to protect biodiversity : The prospects of nitrogen deposition, the reliability of the critical load and the possibilities of restoration measures. Bachelor's Thesis, Biology.

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Abstract

The amount of nitrogen deposition on the Dutch ecosystems has increased in the last century, but did lower and stabilized in the last decade. Still, currently in more than 50% of the nature conservation areas in the Netherlands the critical load is exceeded. This means that at least 50% of the ecosystems are at risk to decrease in quality and biodiversity. In order to protect the nature in the Netherlands while allowing room for economic growth, the Programmatic Approach Nitrogen (PAN) was constructed by the Dutch government. However, according to the prospects of the programme this will not result in a substantial reduction of ecosystems in which the critical nitrogen load is exceeded, maybe even less than predicted, as it turns out that in some cases the critical load has been calculated too low. PAN relies on restoration measures that remove nitrogen after is has been deposited to compensate for the high nitrogen input. However, removal of excess nitrogen from an ecosystem brings a lot of disturbance, or can even be impossible due to the time the ecosystem needs to recover from these interventions. All in all, it is unlikely that PAN will remove or significantly lower the risk of decreasing quality and biodiversity in Dutch nature areas.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis)
Supervisor name:	Elzenga, J.T.M.
Degree programme:	Biology
Thesis type:	Bachelor's Thesis
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	17 Jul 2019
Last Modified:	18 Jul 2019 08:58
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/20290

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