De Noordwaard is a recently established highwater flow area located near the Brabantse Biesbosch. In this area, dykes have been adapted and creeks have been dug, some of which are connected to the Hollands Diep and are subject to tidal influence. A large part of theagricultural land has been transformed into a flow area with nature as a secondary function and is partly grazed by water buffaloes, koniks, Scottish highlanders and sheep. In order to guarantee the flow of the area at high water on the Merwede, additional mowing managementis carried out in addition to grazing in autumn. To this end, all vegetation is reset to the maximum height that has been set as astandard for safety reasons. This mowing is expensive and sometimes contrary to the nature objective in the area, where a great diversity in structures is sought.
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Reducing the use of pesticides by early visual detection of diseases in precision agriculture is important. Because of the color similarity between potato-plant diseases, narrow band hyper-spectral imaging is required. Payload constraints on unmanned aerial vehicles require reduc- tion of spectral bands. Therefore, we present a methodology for per-patch classification combined with hyper-spectral band selection. In controlled experiments performed on a set of individual leaves, we measure the performance of five classifiers and three dimensionality-reduction methods with three patch sizes. With the best-performing classifier an error rate of 1.5% is achieved for distinguishing two important potato-plant diseases.
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During times of high activity by predators and competitors, herbivores may be forced to forage in patches of low‐quality food. However, the relative importance in determining where and what herbivores forage still remains unclear, especially for small‐ and intermediate‐sized herbivores. Our objective was to test the relative importance of predator and competitor activity, and forage quality and quantity on the proportion of time spent in a vegetation type and the proportion of time spent foraging by the intermediate‐sized herbivore European hare (Lepus europaeus). We studied red fox (Vulpes vulpes) as a predator species and European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) as a competitor. We investigated the time spent at a location and foraging time of hare using GPS with accelerometers. Forage quality and quantity were analyzed based on hand‐plucked samples of a selection of the locally most important plant species in the diet of hare. Predator activity and competitor activity were investigated using a network of camera traps. Hares spent a higher proportion of time in vegetation types that contained a higher percentage of fibers (i.e., NDF). Besides, hares spent a higher proportion of time in vegetation types that contained relatively low food quantity and quality of forage (i.e., high percentage of fibers) during days that foxes (Vulpes vulpes) were more active. Also during days that rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) were more active, hares spent a higher proportion of time foraging in vegetation types that contained a relatively low quality of forage. Although predation risk affected space use and foraging behavior, and competition affected foraging behavior, our study shows that food quality and quantity more strongly affected space use and foraging behavior than predation risk or competition. It seems that we need to reconsider the relative importance of the landscape of food in a world of fear and competition.
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Zand en andere grove grondstoffen worden steeds schaarser door intensief gebruik in infrastructuur en industrie, terwijl miljarden kubieke meters slib wereldwijd worden uitgebaggerd om vaargeulen en havens operationeel te houden. Vanwege dit groeiende tekort aan traditionele grondstoffen is er behoefte aan het ontwikkelen van nieuwe methodieken voor hergebruik van slib en lokaal sediment, onder andere voor dijkversterking en ophoging van landbouwgronden. Echter wordt gebaggerd slib volgens de regelgeving nog als een van de grootste potentiële afvalstromen gezien. Ook is slib complexer in het gebruik omdat het bestaat uit een heterogeen mengsel van onder meer water, zand, organisch materiaal, fijnstof en gas. Vanwege schaarste in bouwmaterialen lopen er steeds meer initiatieven voor het nuttig hergebruiken van gebaggerd slib, maar de optimale laagdikte en aanlegtechnieken moeten nog worden onderzocht. Met dit project zoeken lectoraat Sustainable River Management samen met Hogeschool Van Hall Larenstein en de praktijkpartners Klaei B.V., Waterschap Noorderzijlvest en EcoShape naar de best practices voor het produceren van waardevol klei uit havenslib. Via laboratoriumexperimenten en veldproeven binnen grootschalige pilots worden mechanische eigenschappen van havenslib uit de Lauwersoog haven in beeld gebracht. Er wordt gezocht naar de optimale dikte van havenslib om bruikbare klei te produceren. Daarbij wordt onderzocht of de mechanische eigenschappen van de geproduceerde klei afhankelijk zijn van de laagdikte van de initiële laag of havenslib. De resultaten verbinden de laagdikte in rijpingscompartimenten met materiaaleigenschappen en monitoren de initiële verouderingsprocessen na de aanleg van de klei in een proefdijk. Het eindresultaat biedt inzicht in de best practices voor toepassing van havenslib en de daarbij horende materiaaleigenschappen. Dit project draagt daarmee direct bij aan de ontwikkeling van een nieuw, duurzaam materiaal voor gebruik in dijkversterkingen en landbouw en een circulaire economie in Nederland in 2050.
The Netherlands must build one million homes and retrofit eight million buildings by 2030, while halving CO₂ emissions and achieving a circular economy by 2050. This demands a shift from high-carbon materials like concrete—responsible for 8% of global CO₂ emissions—and imported timber, which inflates supply-chain emissions. Mycelium offers a regenerative, biodegradable alternative with carbon-sequestration potential and minimal energy input. Though typically used for insulation, it shows structural promise—achieving compressive strengths of 5.7 MPa and thermal conductivities of 0.03–0.05 W/(m·K). Hemp and other lignocellulosic agricultural byproducts are commonly used as substrates for mycelium composites due to their fibrous structure and availability. However, hemp (for e.g.) requires 300–500 mm of water per cycle and centralized processing, limiting its circularity in urban or resource-scarce areas. Aligned with the CLICKNL Design Power Agenda, this project explores material-driven design innovation through a load-bearing mycelium-based architectural product system, advancing circular, locally embedded construction. To reduce environmental impact, we will develop composites using regional bio-waste—viz. alienated vegetation, food waste, agriculture and port byproducts—eliminating the need for water-intensive hemp cultivation. Edible fungi like Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom) will enable dual-function systems that yield food and building material. Design is key for moving beyond a singular block to a full product system: a cluster of modular units emphasizing geometry, interconnectivity, and compatibility with other building layers. Aesthetic variation (dimension, color, texture) supports adaptable, expressive architecture. We will further assess lifecycle performance, end-of-(service)-life scenarios, and on-site fabrication potential. A 1:1 prototype at The Green Village will serve as a demonstrator, accelerating stakeholder engagement and upscaling. By contributing to the KIA mission on Social Desirability, we aim to shift paradigms—reimagining how we build, live, grow, and connect through circular architecture.
In the coming four years, the Hedwige-Prosperpolder in the Schelde estuary will be reopened for nature restoration. This creates opportunities, within a binational Dutch-Belgian consortium, to experiment with the existing dike and to perform targeted dike breach experiments and breach monitoring. We will exploit this opportunity to investigate a newly described, potentially valuable contribution of vegetated foreshores to flood safety: the restriction of dike breach extent, and thus of flooding volume, in the case of failure of the dike. Fostering marsh development in front of realigned dikes could improve safety more than hitherto thought. Not only does it reduce dike failure probabilities, it may also restrict the consequences of failures. Even though this is not the primary goal of the HPP realignment, in this Living Lab we will study how management realignment can be used as a nature-based solution for flood safety. We will model the contribution of vegetated foreshores to breach development, calculate its contribution to reduction of risks, and validate the model using the breach experiment. We will also study the conditions for, and rates of, vegetation and soil strength development in front of realigned dikes. We will explore novel designs and maintenance schemes for realigned dikes connected to a vegetated foreshore. Finally, we will study how people experience physical changes in the landscape in terms of place attachment: will they be reconnected to the changed landscape when properly informed on the new role of this landscape in ecosystem development and safety enhancement? The project consortium is composed of engineers, ecologists and social scientists with a strong track record in multidisciplinary co-operation. It is externally supported by national and regional water authorities, contractors and engineering companies. It is ideally situated to translate new knowledge into operational procedures, and incorporate this into the education of future coastal professionals.
