Conclusion

In the following chapter conclusion will be made based on the results of the literature study, the laboratory results and the GIS results.

The two main goals of this project are to:

-         Create a monitoring plan, regarding the vegetation of low nutrient requiring plants, to visualize causes and effects of succession in the Natura 2000 area the National Park the Loon and Drunen Dunes.-         Create a management plan, which new management type or combination of existing management types can be carried out to ensure the "Goal vegetation" for this Natura 2000 area.

The sub goals of this project are:

-         The goal will be to create a GIS layer of the vegetation from the study area and compare it with previous GIS data.

-         Write an advice report for the RIVM regarding the GIS layer, and give a presentation about it on the ANC day (18th April).

-         Promotional work (blog and social media) for both RIVM and province Noord-Brabant regarding the research and the National Park the Loon and Drunen Dunes.

Based on both the laboratory results it can be concluded that nitrogen deposition is indeed taking place in the area of study. In addition to that it is also possible to say that the nitrogen deposition has a contribution to the pH of the soil. The soil that contained a high concentration of ammonium showed that the soil was rather acidic. This means that species that require a low amount of nutrients and a pH natural environment will struggle in this area.

In addition to this the GIS research and report conclude that the heather area in the area of study is noticeably declining. Aside from this the maps also show that the amount of grassy area has been increasing. Since this is the case, it further supports the idea of successions since the dominant grass vegetation has a linear correlation to the decrease in heater. Just like the grass, the trees have also increased over time, whereas the sandy areas have been rather level, meaning there has not been a lot of change in the area of study.

Due to these two results, it can be stated that the causes and effects of succession in the area of study have been indicated and visualised by the methods used in this report. These methods can be used in future projects to determine and visualise any effects of measurements taken. In this way a new monitoring can be created by using the methods used in this report.

Regarding the management plan, the conclusion made in this chapter indicate that deposition is still a problem in the area of study, even after measurements taken. From this it can be concluded that changes should be made regarding the existing management plan.

The advice on how to improve the management plan and implement a new monitoring plan within the National park of Loon and Drunen dunes can be found here.