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.