Towards a Sustainable Management of Pond Diversity at a Landscape Level - PONDSCAPE

Institution CRP Gabriel Lippmann
Partenaire(s) : Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (B) , University of Ghent (B) , University of Namur (B) , University of Louvain (B)
Du : 15/12/2006
Au : 31/01/2011
Budget : 118 512,00€
Contact(s) : Cauchie Henry-Michel

Summary

Ponds are often situated in agricultural landscapes and the perception of values and risks of pond use by this sector is largely unknown. Yet, they are one of the major stakeholders in pond management as these people often own the land on which these ponds are situated. Therefore, sustainable management of ponds can only be realized if it is made acceptable to the various groups of stakeholders.

The strategic objectives of PONDSCAPE are thus to reconcile desires to protect and increase biodiversity levels at various spatial scales in a scientifically underpinned way, with the need to sustain economic activities and ensure economic growth. The fieldwork in 2009 was focused on measuring the effects of management actions on pond biodiversity. In October 2008, some ponds of the Tommelen nature reserve (Belgium) were dredged using a mechanical excavator. A part of these dredged ponds were planted. CRP-Gabriel Lippmann has investigated the dredged ponds (planted and unplanted) and some control, undredged ponds for microbial activities.

Samples were taken just after the dredging (November 2008) and 7 months later (June 2009). The analyses of the samples will be finished by the end of January 2010. On the other hand, the analyses of samples collected in 2008 during a multiscale survey covering the whole Belgian and Luxembourgish territories were finalized. This work coupled with the efforts of the Belgian teams to identify the plants and animals collected in the ponds during the whole study will allow the building of large databases that will be analyzed using multivariate statistical tools and artificial neural networks.

Programme:
  • La Science pour un Développement Durable
Foreign Funding Agency:
  • Service Fédéral Pulic de Programmation Scientifique Belgium
Project Website :

Figure 1: Sampling of sediment in one of the ponds created during the bombing of the Hasselt railway station (Belgique ) in 1945

Figure 2: Nymphaea alba L. in a flemish pond (Belgium)