M. (Michella) Ligtelijn, MSc

PhD project:  Ecology of arthropod populations impacted by agriculture

I am a PhD-student in the Conservation Ecology Group. During my masters at the VU (Amsterdam) I worked on the effect of neonicotinoids (first project) and nitrogen deposition caused by dairy farms (second project) on soil mesofauna communities. I started my PhD in September 2021 and during this time I will extend my knowledge of arthropod communities. This all will be in relation to godwits, since the chicks feed on arthropods. The arthropod populations will be monitored using several methods (malaise traps, sticky traps, pitfall traps, and emergence traps). This all will be done on several farms that differ in their management in terms of land-use intensity and ground water levels.