The goals of this thesis are to increase the understanding of microbial metabolism and to functionally (re-)design microbial systems using Genome- Scale Metabolic models (GSMs). GSMs are species-specific knowledge repositories that can be used to predict metabolic activities for wildtype and genetically modified organisms. Chapter 1 describes the a...
The Netherlands is well-known for its extended networks of drainage ditches, with a total ditch length of about 300.000 km. Their main function is to enable agriculture by draining water. Nonetheless, ditches also have important ecological functions. They serve as ecological corridors and harbor a high biodiversity in which water plants play a cruc...
Wageningen is een van de weinige plekken in Europa waar een masterprogramma Organic Agriculture wordt aangeboden. Hoewel het binnen WUR een van de meest praktische opleidingen is, wordt het gros van de kennis binnen de collegezalen overgedragen. In het vak ‘Analyse en Ontwerp van Biologische Bedrijfssystemen’ verdiepen studenten zich in de zomer vi...
Mitigation of methane production from dairy cows is critical to reduce the dairy industry’s contribution to the production of greenhouse gases. None of current used methane measurement methods are flawless and application of the methods is limited to assess the effects of methane mitigation methods under practical conditions. The main objective of ...
Dynamical ecosystem models are important tools that can help ecologists understand complex systems, and turn understanding into predictions of how these systems respond to external changes. This thesis revolves around PCLake, an integrated ecosystem model of shallow lakes that is used by both scientists and water quality managers to understand and ...
The rising global population has increased the demand for food, renewable energy and other materials. Yet at the same time to meet this demand requires land and the amount of available land is finite. Considering the importance of land and ecosystems in providing benefits for human, I conducted four independent research on the socio-economic and bi...
In the EU the risk of leaching of plant protection products is assessed according to the new regulation 1107/2009. For the assessment of this risk the FOCUS Groundwater scenarios have been developed. The PEARL model is one of the models that can be used to calculate the leaching concentration in groundwaterfor these scenarios. At the national level...
Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) are used everywhere and have large technological and economic potential. Like all novel materials, however, ENPs have no history of safe use. Insight into risks of nanotechnology and the use of nanoparticles is an essential condition for the societal acceptance and safe use of nanotechnology. Risk assessment of ENPs ...
This thesis investigated alternative soil management strategies for vegetable crop systems and their hypothesized effects on increasing systems resilience by sequestering soil carbon, increasing the efficiency of water use, and reducing erosion. The goal was to contribute knowledge on and tools for the integrated assessment of soil management strat...
This thesis describes the production of microalgae under outdoor conditions, for this research was done at pilot scale. Microalgae are an interesting alternative to currently used sources for bulk commodities as food, feed and chemicals. Research activities within the field are shattered; different reactor systems are investigated at different loca...
